Houston Rockets: Defense Woeful Once Again In Loss

The Houston Rockets put on a woeful defensive display once again on Monday night, giving up 116 points to the offensively inept Detroit Pistons.

Once again the Houston Rockets proved themselves incapable of being able to lock in on defense. After surrendering 114 points a week ago to the Philadelphia 76ers, the worst offensive team in the NBA, they repeated the performance against the Detroit Pistons in a 116-105 loss on the road at the Palace of Auburn Hills.

While the Sixers are in total the worst offensive squad in the NBA, scoring just 90.8 points per 100 possessions, the Pistons have been the worst shooting team this season. The Pistons have an effective field goal rate of 45.3 percent and a true shooting percentage of 48.5 percent, all while playing at the eighth-slowest pace in the league with 97.23 possessions per game.

This Piston squad blew the doors off this one in the first half, racing out to a 60-32 lead late in the second quarter, and taking a 64-41 lead at half. Mind you, the night before, the Pistons scored just 83 points against the all-around inept Brooklyn Nets.

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Again, Rockets are playing the worst shooting team in the NBA. Pistons shooting 60 % in second quarter, 56.3 % for game.
— Jonathan Feigen (@Jonathan_Feigen) December 1, 2015

The only method the Rockets had to slow the Pistons down in the least was to employ the infamous Hack-A strategy on Andre Drummond–who is a career 39.8 percent free throw shooter–in the third quarter.

It succeeded in killing the Pistons’ offensive rhythm and eventually forced head coach Stan Van Gundy to remove Drummond, as he went just 3-for-12 from the free-throw line while being hacked and 4-for-18 on the game.

The Rockets used that disruption in momentum to stage a comeback that trimmed the lead to four points early in the fourth quarter, but the Pistons were able to hold the Rockets at bay and never got within seven points after the seven minute mark.

The Pistons shot the cover off the ball in this one, with an effective field goal percentage of 57.6 percent and a true shooting percentage of 57.3. The only saving grace for the Rockets’ defense was the fact that the Pistons only shot a miserable 18-for-37 from the free throw line.

In spite of the Rockets starting the game with their new big lineup, with Clint Capela and Dwight Howard playing side-by-side in the frontcourt, they were outrebounded by a 46-45 margin. Drummond scored 24 points and grabbed 13 rebounds in just 27 minutes.

His time on the floor was shortened by early foul trouble and late hacking, but he was a dominant force in the paint no matter whether Capela or Howard were guarding him.

James Harden scored 29 points on 6-for-15 shooting and only took four three pointers–hitting two of them–and went 15-for-17 from the free throw line. He added nine rebounds and seven assists for another near triple-double.

At the point guard position, which is a spot full of turmoil for this Rockets’ team, Patrick Beverley got the start and played 28 minutes, scoring 10 points on 4-for-12 shooting from the floor, and he fouled out in the fourth quarter. Jason Terry received a DNP-Coach’s Decision in this one.

Ty Lawson played 18 minutes off the bench. He scored 11 points on 4-for-8 shooting (and 3-for-3 from long range during the Rockets’ third and fourth quarter run) to go with three rebounds just a game after receiving a DNP-CD himself against the New York Knicks.

The point guard position is still an enigma, and there seems to be no easy solution for this team at that spot.

The bench was little relief for the starters in this one. The bench accounted for 43 points, but was a collective minus-34, with Terrence Jones leading the way with a minus-18 mark.