Nearly one month into the regular season, the Rockets have done enough to validate their status as a defensive force.
Houston enters Thursday third in defensive rating at 104.8 points allowed per 100 possessions following Wednesday’s 130-113 home victory over the Indiana Pacers.
The Rockets aim to clamp down even tighter when they continue their three-game homestand on Friday against the Portland Trail Blazers in the second NBA Cup game for both. Houston and Portland are 1-0 in Western Conference Group A action.
Baked into the Rockets’ defensive might is their ability to force turnovers which, combined with their penchant for grabbing offensive rebounds, continues to atone for an inefficient offense. Houston has also cultivated a reputation for scoring in transition, and most of everything behind the Rockets’ early-season success was on display against the Pacers.
Houston turned 23 Pacers turnovers into 30 points and recorded 23 fastbreak points. The Rockets are fourth in the league in points off turnovers at 20.6 per game, and their 18.1 fastbreak points per game rank behind only the Toronto Raptors and Denver Nuggets.
Toronto is the only team scoring more second-chance points than Houston, which is tallying 18.1 per game. The Rockets had a modest 16 second-chance points off 13 offensive rebounds against the Pacers, but they also finished with a plus-19 margin in field goal attempts. The penchant to crash the offensive boards and force opponents into miscues has served Houston well through 16 games, with designs for more of the same as the season unfolds.
“That’s offensive rebounds and turnovers from us,” Rockets coach Ime Udoka said. “We obviously take a look at those things first. Not just 23 turnovers, 16 of those were steals so our activity was great, which leads to live-ball turnovers so we can get out and run. That’s where we came up with those 23 fastbreak points.”
Alperen Sengun led Houston with a season-high 31 points and 12 rebounds in Wednesday’s win. The fourth-year center is second on the team in scoring (18.4 points per game) and leads the Rockets in rebounding (11.1 per game).
On Wednesday, the Trail Blazers’ 109-99 road loss to the Oklahoma City Thunder snapped their three-game winning streak. Portland was without two of its top four scorers in Anfernee Simons (chest) and Deandre Ayton (finger), facilitating the need for others to help fill the offensive void.
Second-year forward Toumani Camara responded by pairing 14 points with nine rebounds. Camara’s 11 shot attempts were one off his season-high, and his points and rebounds matched his second-highest totals this season.
Camara ranks just ninth on the Trail Blazers with 9.1 points per game, but he has proven capable of handling a greater workload when called upon.
“The thing about Tou is there are going to be some nights where he gets four shots and there are going to be some nights where he gets 11. It just happens that way,” Portland coach Chauncey Billups said. “He’s going to have some of these nights where he’s scoring more than normal. He’s certainly capable to do that.
“Tou knows who Tou is. He’s not going to run around out there taking all kinds of crazy shots because they’re just there. He knows who he is, and that’s what’s so special about him.”