From No. 29 to No. 1! Udoka brings magic to Houston What is the strength of the Rockets' defense

The Rockets suppressed defending champion Nuggets to 86 points, the lowest number of points conceded in the season. After this battle, the Rockets dropped points to 106.8 points per 100 rounds, and their defensive efficiency surpassed the Celtics and the Timberwolves and temporarily rose to the first place in the league, tied with the Magic.

You know, last season, the Rockets conceded 118.6 points per 100 rounds, ranking 29th in the league, only slightly better than the Spurs. The Rockets have only conceded under 100 points in six of their 82 games that season, and have conceded under 100 points in five of their 14 games this season.

After the first month of the season, the "Rockets' defensive metamorphosis" was one of the biggest surprises in the league. Others progress is showing step-by-step progress, and the rocket has performed a soaring performance. With the arrival of veterans such as Van Vleet and Dillon Brooks, Udoka's coaching has turned the Rockets upside down.

In April 2023, Rockets general manager Stone shouted a declaration of "win and win the championship in the next stage", and soon the Rockets hired Udoka as the coach. Udoka had been on a sidewalk for a year due to off-court incidents, but Udoka's track record of leading the Celtics to the league's best defense in the 2021-22 season fascinated Rockets management.

Udoka impressed Stone during the interview, and he made a military order that could change the Rockets' poor defense, provided that management brought in a defensive aggressive guard, a tall wing, and an all-around interior lineman.

According to later excavations by media such as Sports Illustrated, Udoka had a candidate in mind during the interview.

VanVleet, an aggressive defender who ranks in the top three in the league in the league in the number of balls per game for four consecutive seasons and has been the No. 1 player in two seasons, is Udoka's first choice. VanVleet's attraction to Udoka also includes his ability to play off the ball and his ability to control turnovers.

Udoka's first choice was Dillon, who had been swept away by the Grizzlies, and he spent a lot of time studying Dillon. Although Dillon's height of 1.98 meters is not particularly tall, Dillon's willpower, defensive willingness, defensive resilience and defensive ability satisfy Udoka, and he believes that Dillon's defensive attitude can infect the whole team.

Udoka's original first choice was Brook Lopez, but it was a pity that Big Lopez chose to stay with the Bucks. The Rockets used the remaining space to bring in Jeff Green, Landale.

After the configuration was in place, Udoka began the project of renovating a new version of the rocket. On the first day of training camp for the new season, Udoka elaborated on the concept of "improving defense", and he used statistics to spur his disciples: "In the past few years, your defense has been terrible, and many defensive statistics are ranked 25th to 28th. ”

Udoka's system is to switch defenses, which was his signature during his time with the Celtics, who had a league-high 42% pick-and-roll rate in 2021-22, and they limited opponents to 53.4% shooting percentage that ranked first in the league.

During the training camp, Udoka asked for a change of guard at every position, and the slow-moving Shin Kyung was no exception, and he set a goal for his disciples not to concede more than 30 points in a single quarter. In the preseason stage, the Rockets did take the route of infinite defense changes, and when the opponent blocked and dismantled against Shen Jing, Shen Jing's defense change ratio was extremely high.

However, after the start of the regular season, the Rockets were less aggressive. Shen Jing still has a certain proportion of changing defenses, but the proportion is not high, he adopts more retreat defense, but instead of retreating directly to the basket, he presses in the middle distance to buy time for the guard to squeeze past the cover and chase the defense. Regardless of whether the opponent is targeting Shen Jing to block and dismantle or face a strong attack by switching defenses, the Rockets' bottom corner and wing defenders have a lot of help defense, forcing opponents to pass the ball or make strong shots in the middle distance.

Udoka's defensive system has paid off: the Rockets are more likely to block opponents in mid-range shots, making it difficult to get close to the basket, reducing the percentage of three-point shots and increasing the proportion of opponents in singles. In data analysis, singles and mid-range shots are synonymous with inefficiency.

This season, opponents have only 28.3% of their shots against the Rockets, which ranks fourth in the league in terms of statistics. The Rockets limited opponents to 42.3 points in the restricted area to rank second in the league, 6.7 fewer than last season. The opponent shot 35.4% against the Rockets, which is also the fourth in the league. The Rockets defended 33.8 ball-handling offenses per 100 rounds, ranking third in the league.

Udoka is satisfied: "Normally, a lot of changes can cause problems for the opponent, and we try to force the opponent to beat us one-on-one and tear down their established tactics. Because we use a lot of defensive turnovers, the opponent has a lot of rush shots with little time left to attack, and maintaining that pattern is good for us to improve our defensive stats. ”

In Udoka's eyes, there are no bad defenders, only defenders who don't work hard, and as long as the players work hard, he is sure to bring out the defensive potential of his disciples. Although Jalen Green, Shin Jing and others are not known for their defense, in a mature system, Udoka puts these players in a better defensive position and becomes a more reliable defender.

The Rockets' redistribution of the offensive ball also had a direct impact on the defense. Last season, a lot of the ball was concentrated in the hands of Kevin Porter Jr. and others, and the Rockets averaged 16.2 turnovers per game, the second-most in the league, and the average of 20.5 points per game due to turnovers and 17.5 points per game for opponents on fast break were both at the bottom of the league.

With the introduction of VanVleet, who is known for his composure, and the offense revolves more around Shin Kyung, the Rockets have limited their turnovers to 12.3, the third-fewest in the league, conceding only 6.8 points per game on fast breaks, and the fourth-fewest in the league with 14.7 points per game, and are no longer so easy to concede.

"Offense is the first step to a good transition offense," Udoka explained, "and good shot selection and ball protection are good for transition offense." Last season, our offensive efficiency, assists, and turnovers were ranked 27th or worse in the league. So, if we play efficiently, we can do a good job of transitioning and defending, and we emphasise quick returns and drag the game into a half-court positional battle. ”

In the 2020-21 season, under Stevens, the Celtics ranked 13th in defensive efficiency and finished 7th in the East with 36 wins and 36 losses. The following season, Udoka took over and led the team to the league's No. 1 defensive efficiency, finishing in second place in the East with a 51-31 record.

Udoka's ability to adjust the defense proved to be genuine. Udoka has brought magic to the Rockets this season, and the Rockets' defensive efficiency rankings have improved dramatically, how much will their record improve?

During the training camp, Udoka wrote down the numbers "17", "20" and "22", which are the number of wins won by the Rockets in the past three seasons, and Udoka hopes that these three numbers will inspire his disciples.

Last season, the Thunder entered the play-in tournament with 40 wins and ranked 10th in the West, and the Rockets might as well start with a small goal of "winning 18 more games and winning 40 games than last season".