After the game against the Heat, the Rockets not only failed to win a victory, but were caught off guard by the remnants of the Heat. The performances of Porter Jr. and Wood are still sluggish in this game, although Jaylen Green once again played a good performance, and also contributed a stable stat of 16 points, 3 rebounds and 2 assists in a single game, but the Rockets suffered heavy losses in this game. The team's backup center Shin Kyung was injured after only 7 minutes of playing.
After the game, Rockets coach Silas said that Shen Jing's injury could not be determined at present, but the Rockets' next game against the Nuggets, Shen Jing was 100% unable to play. In the game against the Heat, after Shin Kyung retired from injury, we also found a very noteworthy phenomenon, that is, the Rockets once again used the "5 small lineup" mode in some time periods.
The Rockets have had three centers in attendance this season, with Wood, Theis and Shin Kyung taking turns. At the beginning of the season, the Rockets have always had Wood as the big forward and Daniel Theis as the main center, and the combination of the two looks good. At that time, the rocket team management's idea was simple, the reason why they dared to sign Theiss with a 4-year, 36 million contract was to find a good partner for Wood, who was not defending well.
As a result, the combination of Wood and Theisse failed to help the Rockets win more games, but instead used Wood's single center lineup to perform better. When the Rockets won 7 consecutive games, it was the model of Wood as the center and the small Tate as the big forward, which gave the Rockets excellent internal flexibility and improved the Rockets' outside firepower, which allowed the Rockets to win 7 consecutive games. Therefore, Theis has been often hidden by the Rockets, and his previous appearance was in the Rockets' away game against the Hornets on December 28 last year.
After that, against the Lakers and Heat, Theiss did not play at all. Even against the Heat, when Shin Kyung retired injured in 7 minutes and Wood was alone, Silas did not give Theis even 1 second to play! Wood played 34 minutes in the game, and for the rest of the time, Silas often put Tate or Martin Jr., two small forward-tall players, in the No. 5 position, opening up the Rockets' rare 5-squad mode this season.
The Rockets would rather sacrifice interior defense and highly use a 5-small lineup than try to use Theis to top the center for a few minutes. This fully shows that the current Theis has become a "dispensable" role in the Rockets. At the beginning of the season, Wood's interior line was a "perfect match" and fell into such a field, which many fans did not expect.
In the end, although Theis has a strong ability to protect the basket, his projection ability and passing ability cannot meet the tactical requirements of the Rockets. The Rockets' current system focuses on inside players creating shooting space and open shots for the outside shooter group, which Wood and Shin Kyung have, but Theis can't do it yet. This is also the reason why he was "deeply hidden" by Silas.