After an embarrassing loss to the Spurs in their first NBA Cup game, the Rockets needed to cleanse their pallet and get back to doing the things that help them win ball games. Early on against the Bucks
it didn’t look like that was going to happen. The Rockets have struggled at times to defend the three-point shot and despite the win, which did not change in this game. The Rockets allowed the Bucks to shoot nearly 45 percent from the three-point line. Right now, the Rockets are 14th in three point percentage allowed, but this is back-to-back games where their opponent has shot more than 40 percent from the arc.
Besides that, turnovers have been a common theme this season and because of both of those issues the Rockets found themselves giving up 30 points in the first quarter and 31 points in the second quarter, finding themselves down by double digits at several points in the game, at one point trailing by 14 points. However, if I’m going to point out what the Rockets continue to struggle with, I’d be remiss if I didn’t point out that they did get back to doing what now has them with 6-3 record, and that’s dominating the boards and the paint.
The Rockets outrebounded the Bucks 59-34, which included 20 offensive rebounds, leading to 18 second chance points. The Rockets scored 58 paint points and shot a respectable 53 percent from the field in their own right and 38 percent from three. The Rockets scored 32 points in the third quarter, and 40 in the fourth, holding the Bucks to 24 and 30, respectively. Another stat that gave the Rockets an edge is free-throw shooting. The Rockets made 16-of-21 from the stripe while the Bucks took more free-throws, but also missed more, going 14-of-24 from the line.
Rockets fans are thrilled to see a relatively high functioning offense from a team that looked like it didn’t even practice offense at times last season. Seeing a stat line of 31 points, 7 assists, and 3 rebounds from Kevin Durant, 23 points, 7 assists and 11 rebounds from Sengun, six players scoring in double figures, including Reed Sheppard with his second consecutive 16-point game on 6-0f-10 shooting, are all welcomed sights. That being said, the lack of defensive efficiency is cause for concern.
Let’s call it what it is… the zone defense isn’t working. The San Antonio Spurs were able to expose what can happen to the Rockets when they aren’t outrebounding you, and aren’t out scoring you. The Rockets defense has declined. There is no doubt that missing Dorian Finney-Smith is a contributing factor, as he was supposed to be your replacement for Dillon Brooks. However, Josh Okogie has played very well in his place, and the reality is that if the Rockets are going to stay big, they will have a hard time defending the perimeter, with or without Finney-Smith.
Reed Sheppard’s play as of late has been encouraging and at the end of the day the Rockets are now 6-3. The sky isn’t falling, but we should not ignore in victory what we would not ignore in defeat. The Rockets need more time to gel and communicate on defense and figure out who they can trust to handle the ball under pressure. Kevin Durant bouncing back off of a string of poor shooting games and Alperen Sengun making clutch plays against arguably the best player in basketball in the 4th quarter is why Rockets fans are very optimistic that this team will just keep getting better.
They begin a three-game homestand against the Washington Wizards on Wednesday. Don’t forget to chat it up with you fellow Dream Shakers in our TDS Game Thread!
