How Have Houston Rockets Kept a Top-Flight Defense Without Dwight Howard?
The Houston Rockets should be vulnerable at the defensive end. Center Dwight Howard's absence should have made them that way.
But they aren't, and it hasn't. Despite playing the last 13 games without the three-time Defensive Player of the Year, the Rockets remain as stingy as ever on that side of the floor.
Houston warned the rest of the NBA this would happen. When word leaked that Howard would miss significant time with edema in his right knee—perhaps six to eight weeks, according to what he told Jenny Dial Creech of the Houston Chronicle—the Rockets promised they would proceed without missing a beat.
All-Star guard James Harden said the following to Creech in early February:
"Obviously Dwight brings so much to this team and you can’t just replace him, but we are going to play the same way we always do. We play the same way with Dwight, without Dwight. ... We have a system and whoever is in that lineup, they know their role and have to play to the best of their abilities.
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The words may have brought some reassurance to Space City, but they didn't carry much weight throughout the rest of the basketball world.
That's what teams are supposed to say whenever they lose a key contributor. They can't publicly wave the white flag, so they don their most convincing brave face and promise that the "next man up" is ready for his new role.
Only those weren't hollow words from Harden. The Rockets have spent these last 13 games without Howard, winning nine and backing up their bearded leader's assertion.
| First 44 Games | 44.4 | T-10th | 48.6 | T-Ninth | 99.8 | Fifth |
| Last 13 Games | 43.1 | Eighth | 47.4 | Sixth | 99.4 | T-Sixth |
To stop any thoughts to the contrary before they start, this has not resulted from a break in the schedule.
Eight of these 13 games have come against teams currently occupying a playoff spot. Eight have also come against clubs with a top-10 offense, including two meetings each with the top-ranked Los Angeles Clippers and No. 3 Dallas Mavericks.
In other words, gimmicks aren't at play here. And neither is Howard, who averages 1.4 rejections per game and, as Grantland's Kirk Goldsberry noted, "[deters] opponents from even attempting close-range field goals."
Nevertheless, the Rockets continue to stymie opposing attacks. How? An oversimplified view sees a team with the right discipline and determination to succeed at the defensive end.
"The biggest thing is the guys have bought in and are committed on that end of the floor," Rockets assistant J.B. Bickerstaff told Jon Krawczynski of The Associated Press. "Now you hear guys in tight games saying, 'We're one of the best defensive teams in the league. Let's get a stop. This is what we do.'"
But there's a method to this madness that goes well beyond motivation.
For starters, this roster has been overhauled since last season's playoff run was aptly cut short by a defensive breakdown that led to Damian Lillard's series-clinching walk-off triple.
Key offensive contributors like Jeremy Lin and Chandler Parsons were sent packing, while the Rockets shifted their focus on collecting long-limbed, athletic, instinctive defenders.
Perimeter stopper Trevor Ariza arrived over the offseason, and the Rockets have since bolstered their defensive ranks with the likes of Corey Brewer, Josh Smith and K.J. McDaniels. Incumbents Patrick Beverley and Terrence Jones already fit this new defensive mold, and Harden has made a concerted effort to improve his defensive activity and focus.
With their personnel upgraded, the Rockets now have the bodies to control the action on that end of the floor. Rather than reading and reacting to an offense, Houston dictates the direction its opponent takes.
On pick-and-roll plays, the Rockets quickly identify which options they want to take away. As SI.com's Rob Mahoney explained, Houston's perimeter players close the passing windows teams are trying to exploit and force them away from their preferred options:
"Ariza, Harden, and Brewer (all of whom rank in the NBA's top 16 in steal rate) lurch in from the perimeter to play the passing lanes in pick-and-roll scenarios, forcing complications if not turning an opponent over. It's amazing how much damage can be done by bumping an opponent off of its primary and secondary options on a given sequence. In those scenarios, every non-shooter and shaky ball handler becomes a liability. That Houston plays in a way that almost forces the ball into the hands of those players is a tremendous benefit.
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The Rockets play opportunistic defense.
After finishing last season ranked 17th in steals (7.6) and tied for 25th in opponent's turnover rate (14.0), Houston now sits second in thefts (9.7) and third in opponent's turnover rate (16.9).
That has helped ignite a transition game that is invaluable to this attack. Outside of Harden's individual brilliance, the Rockets don't have many reliable options in the half court, so it's imperative they run whenever they can.
Brewer, who was traded to Houston in mid-December, has been a major boost to the Rockets' running game. He plays with an insatiable energy, and the approach has rubbed off on his fellow reserves.
"It is rare that a player can come in and influence an entire group the way Corey Brewer has, but the Rockets’ bench has entirely adopted his style, getting in passing lanes and forcing tempo from one end of the floor to the other," wrote Jonathan Feigen of the Houston Chronicle.
As important as tempo is to the Rockets, the three-ball plays an even more pivotal role in their success.
Thanks in no small part to number-crunching general manager Daryl Morey and his staff, Houston understands the value of the long ball as well as any team in the league.
The Rockets fire up an NBA-high 33.9 long-range looks per game—the Portland Trail Blazers are second with 27.8. Houston also boasts the the best three-point percentage against (31.6) and, despite playing at the third-fastest pace, allows the fifth-fewest threes per game (7.1).
Removing that weapon from an opponent's arsenal is a major reason Houston sits third overall in defensive efficiency. Even though Howard doesn't directly partake in the team's three-point coverage, his presence at the rim allows the Rockets' perimeter defenders to stay glued onto shooters.
But Houston's downtown defense hasn't slipped without him. Teams have only converted 31.5 percent of their perimeter shots against the Rockets over their last 13 games.
This doesn't seem like it should be possible, but it is due to an oft-overlooked fact: Howard isn't Houston's only premier rim protector.
| Dwight Howard | 3.6 | 8.0 | 45.3 |
| Terrence Jones | 3.6 | 8.0 | 44.6 |
| Donatas Motiejunas | 27 | 5.8 | 46.2 |
Among the 80 defenders who face at least five field-goal attempts at the rim per game, Jones, Howard and Donatas Motiejunas all rank among the top 16 in field-goal percentage against. Just because the Rockets don't have Howard, that doesn't mean they lack an insurance policy underneath.
This shouldn't be construed as a suggestion that Houston is better off without Howard. It isn't.
When he plays, the Rockets outscore their opponents by 6.9 points per 100 possessions. That would be the NBA's second-best net efficiency rating. When he isn't playing, that number drops to 2.0 points per 100 possessions and 14th overall.
Houston needs a healthy Howard to have any shot at securing a title. However, this defensive effort shows the team can survive without him for as long as he needs to get his body right, provided that happens before playoff time.
These numbers could change going forward, but they won't dramatically decline—not with the wealth of defensive talent on this roster.
If anyone looks vulnerable, it's the offenses that have to deal with this stone wall, a unit that will only grow stronger once Superman returns.
Unless otherwise noted, statistics used courtesy of Basketball-Reference.com and NBA.com.
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