The rockets have an average 80.3 points against a game..good enough for third in the league... It's only the third game of the season but hey... I bet we weren't third this time last year!
All this talk about how the offensive schemes aren't working, I just wanted to mention the defensive schemes...throughout the NBA. That weak ass ppg is 3rd in the league because, first through 29th in the league, defenses are way more effective now that teams have had a little time to implement anti-scoring attacks that oblige the zone defense rules. This wasn't seen as much last year due to the fact that it was the first year with the new rules. What we're going to see for most of this year is this insanely decreased, leaguewide offensive output...until just like the first year of the new defense, the new inversely corresponding offenses get a little time to figure themselves out. So basically, the Rockets aren't the only team that's having trouble instituting a new 5 man, motion offense. Apparently, they're one of the teams that are having the most success adapting to a new arsenal.
I think I am the only one that thinks the rockets can maintain this for the rest of the season. I guess holding a carterless Raptor team and a poor nugget team isnt really much of a accomplishment
I know that olding Carterless Raptor and Nuggests isn't saying much, but I think we will be one of the better defensive teams. Our inside presence has strengthened (more by Cato than by Yao yet!!!) and people like j-Hawk will make some more difference. Apart from that I think we have the ability of dragging the other team's game to our level, keep it close most of the game and then somehow squeak by them in the last Q!
3rd best in the league is pretty darn good. Once are offense starts working well, we will win games with a mixture of great D and O.
Ive discovered that the best way to measure (most of the time) how good your team really is, is to see where they stand after 20 games through the season. Last year we started out 5-1 and through 20 games we had dropped all the way down to 7-13. A good note, however, even at the beginning of last season, our offensive FG% was horrible, last in the league if I remember correctly. At the beginning of this year it is still not very good, but our defense is awesome. We are still missing some players and when we get rolling, the West better watch out!!!
Just thought I would clarify something... I read the post incorrectly at first, but I don't know if anyone else did. Rockets: Points Allowed - 80.3 (3rd in league) Points Scored - 84.3 (25th in league) Opponents FG% - .379 (3rd in league) FG% - .403 (21st in league) League Leaders: Points Allowed - 76.7 (Washington) Points Scored - 108 (Dallas) Opponents FG% - .398 (Washington) FG% - .490 (Memphis)
I'm reserving judgement until a team with a decent pg comes along like Nash or AI. They shredded our D up last year like Mad Cow in a British reprocessing plant...
The Rockets still have some problems to work out. But overall their defense seems to be greatly improved. I think that EG's defense is greatly improved. Cato has been playing really well, and even Steve Francis' defense seems to be better so far this year. I hope we do keep it up. I don't think it's a total fluke, because it looks like the team is concentrating on the defense more this season.
