Houston Rockets Breakdown: Defense, Yao, Provide Rocket Fuel

Unlike years past, this season’s Houston Rockets actually look like a potential title contender, especially in their 114-91 lambasting of the Nets in the Jersey swamp. The Rockets did a number of things well on both ends of the court.

The Good:

• If Aaron Brooks found a shot to his liking, he’d take it early in the shot clock. If not, he’d bring the ball out, and Houston would run either on-ball or off-ball screens as a diversionary tactic to feed the ball to Yao Ming in the post. With Ming as Houston’s main offensive weapon in the post, the Rockets were able to dissect the Nets from the inside out.
• Yao did a great job of sealing his defender behind him when establishing post position. This enabled Houston to feed the post from awkward angles, such as from the top of the circle to the left block.
• For the most part, Shane Battier initiated most of the entry passes and his deliveries were always spot on.
• Yao had a total of ten traditional back-to-the-basket post ups leading to four made hooks (plus a foul), two fouls in the act of shooting (5-5 FT), a double draw and kick leading to a Ron Artest three, and two potential assist passes that didn’t register when Artest and Battier misfired on a pair of threes. That’s a total of 16 points in ten possessions, certainly a winning number.
• The rest of Yao’s points came on soft jumpers, put backs, and alert moving without the ball.
• When Ming is able to see his teammates, he’s an excellent passer on the move.
• Besides Ming, Luis Scola posted up twice for two points, Ron Artest posted twice for one, Chuck Hayes missed his only post opportunity, and a sweet dish from Tracy McGrady led to a Carl Landry layup out of McGrady’s post up. That’s only five points produced in six possessions, but it forced the Nets to focus their defense inwards.
• Tracy McGrady was able to take one dribble around a high brush screen and nail long jumpers with ease.
• Ron Artest had trouble catching and shooting behind the arc, but he was able to pull left and pop for a brace of tough jumpers.
• Aaron Brooks has electric quickness and nice touch on his high arcing bankers.
• The Rockets interior rotations were absolutely superb. Yao Ming (4 BLK) was consistently aware of all the action in his vicinity, and the shots he didn’t block or deter, he challenged vigorously.
• Ming was an immovable force on the boards, boxing out for 16 rebounds.
• After some early troubles, the Rockets eventually shredded New Jersey’s press.
• On one possession, Shane Battier went under a brush screen and hit a jumper. On another, Ron Artest tried to circumnavigate a wing screen, but Carter faded to the corner and plugged a three. On a third possession, Artest was held up by screens and couldn’t contest a Carter jumper that rimmed out. A fourth possession saw Artest gamble on a steal against Carter and coming up empty forcing his teammates to scramble. Those were the only examples of poor defense played on Carter by Artest and Battier the entire game.
• Carter made a few twisting layups, but Artest, Battier, and Houston’s help combined to hold Carter to zero free throw attempts.
• On one possession, Carter tried to blow by Battier left, when Battier stayed with him, he tried to crossover to his right, only to be met by Battier standing right there in his path. Carter’s attempt to twist away and uncork a desperate fallaway was met by Battier reaching out and swatting the shot. Battier’s the best wing defender in the league, and it’s not even close.
• Battier (and Artest) smartly funneled Carter into Yao whenever he drove, and Battier astutely moved behind New Jersey’s baseline zone to find an open three for himself. His second three came on a nifty jab and fire over Carter late in the shot clock. With his defense, timely shooting, excellent rotations, tough rebounding, and nifty entry passing, Battier is one of the league’s unjustly underrated players.
• Aaron Brooks matched Devin Harris quick for quick in the first quarter. When Brooks forced his counterpart to pick up two early fouls, the ballgame was essentially sealed.
• Luis Scola covered the globe in his showing on screen rolls, and even more impressively, was able to recover to his original responsibility.
• Carl Landry’s an active rebounder, defender, and finisher, and can hit 16 footers to boot. He’s an extremely effective substitute.
• Luther Head and Brent Barry still can shoot.
• The Rockets definitely have the post threat, the wing scorer, and the insufferable defense to make a deep playoff run. Also, the addition of Artest and the growth of Brooks give the Rockets two more offensive threats when an opponent offers the same kind of resistance the Rockets do.

Still, there are glaring reasons why the Rockets are behind the Lakers, the hornets, and the Spurs in the West’s pecking order.

The Bad:

• Houston’s offense was almost exclusively isolation based, with little offensive harmony between their three stars. That shows that the big three isn’t fully integrated yet.
• Tracy McGrady didn’t even bother trying to play defense. His idea of defensive effort was moving his head up to watch the flight of Trent Hassell’s jumpers eight feet away.
• When McGrady was presented any kind of screen, he simply gave up on the spot and hoped his teammates would take care of it.
• McGrady’s fragile game and body may end up being Houston’s ultimate downfall, yet again.
• Luther Head can’t run an offense. He was called for an eight-second violation trying to break New Jersey’s press.
• It’s tough to answer which is worse, Head’s point guard skills or his defense? Brent Barry desperately has to be the third point guard in Houston’s rotation behind Rafer Alston and Brooks.
• Ron Artest looks more comfortable creating his own shot, and isn’t adept as a catch and shoot guy.
• The Rockets were slow to a handful of loose balls early in the game. This is because Ming doesn’t leap high and doesn’t have a huge rebounding radius.
• The Rockets don’t have a great deal of length outside of Ming.
• Ming tends to carry the ball too low when making offensive moves. Defenders are able to strip Yao as he winds up for his hook shots, or goes up at the rim.

The Rockets have the pieces in store for their first deep playoff run since Ming and McGrady arrived in Houston. The trick is whether or not Rick Adelman can integrate every member of the big three into a cohesive nucleus. For once though, Houston can realistically aspire to blast off into championship orbit.