Swearing defense of Rockets could result in legal title run

We all know the cliché ‘: Defense wins championships. But clichés have become so because there is such an element of truth, and that is no different for these.

The last time we saw the Houston Rockets play lockdown defense, they went all the way to the Western Conference Finals in 2018, where a combination of terrible officiating, an injured hamstring, and some anomalous bad shots at the very least time led to a seven-game defeat at the hands of the Golden State Warriors.

But the Rockets were in sixth overall in defensive judgment that season, and the full development of their exchange schedule was on full display despite the loss.

They have spent the past two years looking to return to the tangibility and communication that took them almost to the Promised Land, and despite finishing this season a 14th of the pack in defensive judgment, they started the intensity to crawl once the bubble games are restored, and they have been fully enclosed since the start of their first round with the Oklahoma City Thunder.

They currently hold the Thunder to an average of 103 points per game in the series, which is seven points less than their average of the seasons. The Thunder shot 44.2 percent through the first two games, also a pretty significant drop from their average season of 46.8 percent.

But it’s not even as much as what they Rockets do, but how they do it. The defense intensity appears frenetic, yet fully controlled. Watch this sequence from yesterday’s fourth quarter of yesterday’s game, where they’ll totally shut down. Apply the clamps.

And that was the case for the majority of the second half yesterday. After scoring 59 points for the time being, the Thunder put up just 39 in the second half as the Rockets fully committed to curbing the defensive heat, which was more than enough to compensate for bad shots from both James Harden (31 % on the field at night) and Eric Gordon (30%).

In fact, Houston’s defense was so energetic and so tight on their rotations that it was sometimes difficult to distinguish when they were playing a man schedule or zone.

Probably the most amazing part of this defensive renaissance is that Houston’s eight man rotation (nine when Russ returns) is not full of guys who have great defensive reputations, apart from PJ Tucker and Robert Covington. In fact, the other guys who have reps as stoppers – DeMarre Carroll, Luc Mbah and Moute – can not even get on the floor.

So while Tucker and RoCo lead the charge, much of this is done by James Harden, Austin Rivers, Jeff Green, Eric Gordon, Danuel House, and Ben McLemore. It’s a total team effort, and boys have bought into it.

In particular, the Rockets went up in heat in the fourth quarter, stopping when they mean the most, which is something we’ve noticed, especially since the bubble rose again. It was also on full display in last night’s win.

It’s only been two games, and the Rockets have a long way to go before we start talking about title. They still need 14 wins before they can bring that ring back. But with a team like this, the air is definitely the limit.

We all know about the Houston offense. They can score with the best of them, even with Russell Westbrook on the sidelines. They even claimed they could score with The Beard underperforming, as they added another 111 with Harden scoring 13 points lower than his season average. Their skills at that end are certainly no secret.

But if they can keep up this defensive intensity – which almost feels like a consequence of the PocketRockets philosophy, ie, they know they have to put in maximum effort all the time without the size to back them up – the rest of the NBA must officially be on notice. Yes, even in LA