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The Rockets left town 1 to 5 and with a defense that, according to Mike D & # 39; Antoni, "could not keep a paper bag".
Teams often do not have to defend any form of sack, but Victor Oladipo, in the very last seconds of a tight match, can be more than a challenge as a team. a Hefty.
The Rockets have these stops. They made the 3 in the fourth quarter and especially in the section that they had missed. For the first time this season, the Rockets won a tight match against a team that, unlike opponents the Rockets had dominated on their way to Indianapolis, has a winning record.
They go home for a free day and training before heading back, but they stop in Houston a better team than when they left. The Rockets needed to win games and improve on the trip. Until now, they have done both, with matches in Oklahoma City and San Antonio before the rematch against the Pacers in Houston.
1. Defend again
The Rockets have really become a better defense team since signing an agreement with Jeff Bzdelik for his return to the position of Associate Head Coach.
Bzdelik has not done anything yet, aside from watching Monday's win at home. But the Rockets, players and coaches, were happy that Bzdelik was willing to give another season. They found a good way to celebrate the new Monday.
For now, he will mainly consult and maybe join some practices before returning full time at the end of the month.
It seems that he will not have to collect the pieces of a broken defense. Many, but not all, of these repairs are well advanced.
The win at Indianapolis was without a doubt the best of the season for the Rockets. It was built on defense, with the Rockets holding the Pacers at 94 points, and only 39 in the second period.
In the first three games of the road trip, the Rockets allowed 103.2 points for 100 possessions, which, if they stayed for the entire season, would rank fourth in the NBA.
Better still, after half-time, when corrections and adjustments are usually made, the Rockets allowed 85.8 points for 100 possessions, which is ridiculously good, although it's almost ridiculous.
There will probably be bigger tests coming soon. But the Pacers – despite their name, play at the slowest pace of the NBA – were the seventh-ranked offensive before Monday's game. The Pacers scored at 100 points per 100 possessions, a defensive rate that would be second best in the NBA if the Rockets had done so for a season. And it was with the Pacers aided by the Rockets' infamous 3-point shot for much of the night and their game most subject to the rotations of the season.
The Rockets are not only smarter when it comes to switches, they are much more active with their help, then their rotations behind the help. Harden said he knew his help would be available when Victor Oladipo caught up with him at the last minute, allowing Harden to catch up and free the ball with 28.8 seconds to go. P.J. Tucker said that he knew that he could refuse Oladipo a clean look in the final seconds, allowing the Rockets to seal the win.
Bzdelik had to like what he had seen, even though he spent part of the day watching the video of the games before the Rockets left the city.
2. Do not forget James Ennis III
James Ennis III has been neglected since the day of his signing, but in the last two games, he has made the task more difficult.
This may still be the case for members of the team consisting of James Harden, Chris Paul and Carmelo Anthony. Clint Capela and P.J. Tucker have gained attention and appreciation. This is a lot of ground to cover before arriving at the small front. But even when discussing the Rockets' efforts to replace Trevor Ariza and Luc Mbah in the Moute, few people even seem to mention the player who started at the position previously occupied by Ariza and Mbah in the Moute.
Since returning from his hamstring injury, Ennis showed why the Rockets had brought him to this post. In the last two games, he scored 6 of 9 3-point markers, allowing the Rockets to start well in Chicago and helping James Harden stay in the Indianapolis match. But he has demonstrated his ability to do more cornering and to wait for Harden and Chris Paul to pass.
He had a solid game defending Victor Oladipo. Oladipo is a bit distant in the fourth quarter, but it was almost entirely by forcing switches. Ennis also demonstrated his ability to get to the rim by moving without a ball, which the Rockets could use, especially when teams played too much like the Pacers for much of the match.
The Rockets' plan to replace the small strikers of last season was still to use Ennis, probably as a starter, and Eric Gordon in a three-game formation. They have not done so since the second game of the season, with one of the three guards missing each game and Ennis missing three games in the middle.
Carmelo Anthony scored to three when Ennis was injured, but he always thought that he would be PJ Tucker's replacement during the first four games of the match and that he would mingle maybe a little, especially in the last right, to the little attacker.
Evaluating how the Rockets replace Ariza and Mbah a Moute should probably include a glimpse of how they intended to replace Ariza and Mbah a Moute. The game of Ennis over the last two games is only a beginning. But even in this brief overview, do not forget it.
3. The health of Chris Paul
After the match, Chris Paul wore a scarf near the right elbow. But when asked what was wrong, he replied that he did not know.
It may not be worth mentioning, or even being tagged, especially because it troubled him before the Rockets road trip started and he responded with 32 points by entering 27 shots in Brooklyn.
He has missed a lot since then, missing nine of his 3 in the Bulls and Pacers games, scoring in the first half of both games. But since that did not stop him from playing and he played 37 minutes and half Monday, that may not be a problem.
However, it is useful that Paul does not need to shoot well to help in the game of the Rockets offense.
On Monday, he made only four out of 12 shots but 13 assists. In the fourth quarter, when he managed to drop the shots from 3 to 4 from inside the bow, he seemed to repeatedly select the shooters for whom he wanted to close the match. Paul earned five assists in the fourth quarter, including assists for the last four 3-points of the Rockets game.
Mike D'Antoni starting the quarter with his small roster and Eric Gordon being absent, Paul had to play all the quarter, realizing his best time of the evening. If there is something wrong, it does not seem to stop with the game online.
Whatever it is, whatever it may be or not, the two days without a match before the Rockets against the Thunder could be useful.
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