In the next two regular season games, the Rockets' opponents were the "loser" San Antonio Spurs, and the Portland Trail Blazers, who had just won two straight games. Now the Blazers have led the Rockets by 6.5 wins, which also means that in the next 30 or so games, the Rockets are almost impossible to chase the top 10 in the West, and the door to the playoffs is slowly closing against the space city.
However, the Rockets have performed well in the last 5 games. The Rockets' last five games have been against Western Conference teams, who have beaten the Jazz, Kings and Spurs, respectively, and lost to the Kings and Warriors. But in the game against the Warriors, if it were not for Jaylen Green's poor hand, the Rockets would not have been killed by Curry. That said, while the Rockets are still at the bottom of the Western Conference, the Rockets seem to have used recent games to find some secrets to winning.
For example, in the game with the Jazz, when the Rockets faced the jazz, the best offensive team in the league, the outside shooters were not weak, and they shot 22 three-pointers in the whole game, with a three-point shooting rate of 49%; while the Jazz were dumb, only hitting 10 three-pointers in the whole game, with a shooting rate of only more than 20%. First, the Rockets' full firepower is too efficient, and the Rockets' defense is the hero who won the Jazz!
The Rockets' 33-year-old core guard, Gordon, has the same view. Commenting on the Rockets' recent performances, Gordon said the team must play a better defense. "We know what we're doing and we have to play with energy. This guy's road trip has been very helpful in the past, and the defense has really helped us stabilize the situation. That's the only way to win, it's to play both ends of the floor, but we have to play a steady defense. Gordon said.
It seems that the veteran Gordon's vision is very unique, he can see at a glance where the reason for the Rockets' recent excellent results, in addition to the full firepower of the outside line, the Rockets can defeat the Spurs, Jazz, Kings, and can fight the Warriors to the end The secret is actually the increase in defensive intensity. We know that the Rockets are one of the 3 worst teams in the league this season, and many of the Rockets' defensive stats are at the bottom of the league or even at the bottom.
But after the Rockets slightly increased their focus on the defensive end, the team's improvement was visible to the naked eye. The old gordon knows the importance of defense for a team, when the Rockets became the first in the league's regular season by relying on strict infinite changes of defense, in addition to continuing to maintain the stability of the offensive end, improving defense has also become a must for the Rockets in the future. Of course, Gordon, who is deeply involved in the rumors of trading, is still thinking about how to make his teammates and the Rockets better, and he is really worthy of the "invisible core" of the Rockets.