2024-04-28 08:48:14
To be honest, when Alperen Şengün went down, many people probably thought that the Houston Rockets’ surprise season would be over.
However, they then turned things around with an 11-game winning streak and were once behind the tenth-place Warriors in the Western Conference. However, they then suffered five straight defeats, completely ending their hopes of qualifying for the game-offs.
This description is actually the epitome of the Rockets’ season, oscillating between two extremes like a roller coaster. When you don’t have expectations at the start of the season, they managed to rank among the top eight in the Western Conference before the All-Star Game. But when you start to have expectations, a series of injuries and setbacks. the wall brought this team back to the bottom of the Western Conference, just when it was starting to think that this season’s playoffs might have had nothing to do with them, another wave of consecutive victories finally came to an end. closer to the dam range. Everyone’s hopes were raised, another wave of consecutive defeats sent them packing.
But even so, the Rockets have a record this season of 41 wins and 41 losses, or almost 50%, an improvement of 19 wins from the previous season. Without the extremely competitive Western Conference, there would even be play-offs for play in the Eastern Conference. This is why I think the reason why Ime Udoka is qualified to compete for the best coach of the year, even predicting various awards, I will feel a little disappointed when I find out that Udoka is not. on the shortlist for the best coach.
existSeason opening analysisIt has been mentioned from time to time that the focus of observing the Rockets this season is whether they can improve the weak points of defense and three-point shooting, and help the team establish a system and a healthy culture. These two points are the key. “Udoka to make Rockets record leap”.
defensive winger
Let’s talk defense first. Last season, the Rockets averaged 118.6 points per game, ranking third from bottom in the league. This season, they improved their average by 113.2 points per game, ranking 14th in the league. ranked ninth in the league, indicating that the arrival of Udoka successfully transferred its iron-blooded defense from the Celtics to Houston.
This defensive system is mainly divided into three key points: 1. Pressing the ball support, 2. A large number of wing changes to avoid interference, 3. Protecting the paint zone but not shrinking too much.
The Rockets have abundant advanced resources this season, allowing Udoka to build a defensive team with both height and physicality. The main defensive strategy is to use these tall and long players to press the ball carrier and interfere with their dribbling and passing. other players are waiting for opportunities to steal the ball. This season’s 7.8 interceptions, which rank eighth in the league, are the best example.
Even if the opponent wants to get rid of the defender via pick-and-roll or handoff to create a shot opportunity, the defensive player will most likely choose to step forward and go around the screen to prevent the opponent from passing. the transfer. and continue to apply pressure on the ball.
Even guard Fred VanVleet, who doesn’t have that strong lateral speed, will use his strong body to take on the ball carrier and force him to stop the ball. This system effectively restricts the opponent’s outside shots. This season, the Rockets have limited their opponents’ mid-to-long range shooting rate to 37%, which is seventh in the league. Their long range shooting rate of 25 feet or more. field goal percentage is 33.6%, which is even higher in the league. First, this statistic was the last in the league last season (37.8%).
After limiting three-point shots, another offensive weapon is available in modern basketball: transition fast breaks. Udoka uses a lot of defense and recovery to reduce the opponent’s number of turns, and prevents the opponent from advancing the counterattack by targeting the ball holder from the first move.
This season, the Rockets have a large number of players between 6-foot-6 and 6-foot-11. This group of players allows them to have no obvious physical disadvantage whether facing guards or wings on the court. the opponent cuts into the penalty area, or when receiving the ball at mid-distance, as long as the defensive player can hit the first shot, he can interfere to a certain extent and support the player who originally defended the position to get ready for that.
At the same time, this group of players also has strong mobility, allowing them to quickly return to defense, and also has a certain size advantage when blocking and transitioning quick counters. This gives them the fourth-lowest converted counterattack score rate in the league, at 1.08.
As in the past, the Rockets’ defense has always had the problem of excessive retraction, that is to say, when the opponent gets the ball from mid-distance, many players often want to help defend, but all move back into the penalty area. which causes the rear door to open halfway.
Therefore, the adjustment made by Udoka this season is to make players who do not mark the ball holder stand outside the four corners of the penalty area to protect the penalty area. This approach has successfully improved the Rockets’ average defensive rebounds per game this season. from the middle class to the front-line class. While consolidating the zone, Udoka played a bit of man-to-man defense to prevent off-ball players from sneaking into the zone empty-handed.
Offensive end
On the offensive side, Udoka definitely abandoned last season’s offensive model of using Jalen Green and instead used VanVleet and Şengün’s pick-and-roll, or Şengün’s high post pass and clinch. as a starting method. This approach has immediate results. Thanks to VanVleet’s experience and Şengün’s excellent spatial judgment and passing vision, the Rockets’ offense, which was disorganized last season, established a main axis.
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