The Rockets are finally doing very well without a 3-point shot

As he converted his basket into the corner, Jeff Green pointed with a knowing smile to his former teammate Russell Westbrook, on the opposite bench. The Rockets veteran wasn’t the only one to laugh at this award-winning shot the last minute of the match already won by Houston.

Because it was only the home team’s fifth winning basket of the night.

« On the bench at the end of the match, we laughed when Jeff made this three. We ended up at 5/16, which is extremely low. We shot almost as much a quarter earlier », remark Making of Udok whose team has never shot as little from distance as in this match.

« It’s about taking what the game gives us. They didn’t have a lot of size up front, they take two shots on the pick-and-roll, so we want to attack the basket, pressure the rim “, the coach of Texas justifies.

Instructions that were followed to the letter by their Rockets who scored 78 points in the opponent’s racket – compared to 46 for the Kings – scoring a lot on the counterattack (30 points). If Houston is a top-5 team in scoring from inside, it is at the back of the pack in 3-point field goals with just 30 shots per game.

Don’t shoot for the sake of shooting

« I don’t think we even think about the 3 points we take. We are a defensive team that likes to play inside the post, sometimes on the pick and roll. We don’t shoot threes all the time, but if it comes up, we’ll take it. Tonight that was not the case, the racket was open, we prefer these effective shots in the racket than the others », Kevin Durant book.

Speech and attitude that contradicts the intentions shown ahead of the regular season, where it was an issue to accurately increase the volume of distant recordings. Which wouldn’t be completely crazy on their part when we know their practice success rate: 39.7%, or 3rd in the league. But there is no question of locking in the principle of the game as may have been the case in the past.

« I know it’s a three-point league, but if you see an open racket for a layup, why force threes? “, asks “KD”, according to whom the key to the Rockets’ offensive game is to get into the paint first. And he enjoys his work of Steven Adams, Clint Capela and a company in an offensive rebound.