dza12345-blog

[dza12345-blog]

Rockets beat Grizzlies, 140-112.

Wow. 

Take Home Points

1. Russell Westbrook is as efficient as he has ever been. 

Since February 1st, Russell Westbrook is shooting 54.2% on true field goal attempts including 65.6% from the Restricted Area. In total he is averaging 1.12 point per shot attempt. 

2. James Harden can shoot again!

One of Harden’s favorite shots to take are above the break threes. In the month of January he converted on 26.7% of these attempts, a disastrous slump that continued to nag. 

In fact, during the month of January, he only converted on 27% of shots taken from 24 feet and out. 

Since February, he has been a new shooter as he has converted on 39.3% of three point attempts, averaging 1.18 points per shot attempt.

3. Jeff Green has a hilarious shot chart in the month of February. 

He is averaging 1.85 points per three point attempt thus far. 

[dza12345-blog]

Rockets beat Knicks, 123-112

This is a lot closer than it looked. 

Take Home Points:

1. There is gonna be a time when Ben McLemore’s offensive prowess far outpaces his remarkable defensive liabilities. 

https://twitter.com/JTGatlin/status/1232121504835481601?s=20

He is becoming a more agile version of 2018 Gerald Green that we all adored. Last night he was second on the team in Winning Percentage Added (WPA) and he is 40th in the entire league in WPA.

In terms of player impact, he is second on the team in offensive impact rating at 2.43 O-PIPM however he is second to last when it comes to defensive impact. 

His Shot Chart is below. 

Throughout the year he is averaging 1.22 points per shot attempt and is shooting incredibly effectively from the right corner at 49.2%. This number shoots up to 57.8% since December 1st. 

2. Jeff Green and DeMarre Carroll are finding their place in the rotation, however minor it could end up being. 

Jeff Green clocked in 16 minutes last night, tallied 9 points on 3/3 shooting and had a +22 rating during his minutes. Since February 16, he has taken 16 true shot attempts, converted on ten of them. 

This is as unsustainable as it gets, but hopefully it’s a sign that Jeff Green is here to stay and a worthwhile minute-eater at the Center position. While on the court, the offense seems to run smoothly through him. He is able to hold his position in the paint well and if needed can provide perimeter shooting on his own. 

DeMarre Carroll is still an experiment. While he shot effectively last night, he still needs more time to adequately fit into the Rockets schemes. 

3. When Eric Gordon can come completely back into form, the Rockets offense will be more devastating than it already is. 

Eric Gordon has....struggled at points this year, and at other points he has flourished. Case in point, since February 1st, Eric Gordon has been shooting 20.5% on above the break threes. Last year he shot 35.6% on above the break threes. 

Shot chart since February 1st. 

He is also dead-last on the team in defensive impact. 

[dza12345-blog]

Rockets beat Warriors by a lot

Good start to the post-all star break. 

Take Home Points:

1. Jeff Green had a positive first game with the Rockets going 4/5 from deep and added some driving ability too. His shot chart is below. 

There is no way he can go 80% from deep all year, but with the space and pace that the Rockets offer, he should be able to be more than effective from deep. Importantly, he is a career 38.8% from corner three. 

2. Robert Covington is showing less hesitation to take threes off the dribble or off of passes. Since his acquisition, he continues to have one of the cleanest shot diets out there, averaging 1.19 points per shot attempt. He is absolutely flourishing offensively in Mike D’Antoni’s system. 

3. James Harden is still dramatically impacting the game, even as his three point efficiency has been sluggish. He is third in the NBA in Player impact (PIPM), just 0.01 points behind Lebron. He is also third in box plus minus (BPM) and second in winning percentage added (WPA).  Yet, the ceiling of this team could be dramatically raised if he is able to get back to his mean three point shooting percentage, as he is at his fourth year low of .356 from deep. 

Next Up: Utah

[dza12345-blog]

Rockets beat Celtics, 116-105

Take Home Points

James Harden was great last night as he finally looks to start getting over whatever deep-shooting slump he was in. Converting on 9 of 19 true field goal attempts, including averaging 1.32 points per shot not including free throws. 

The defense provided by the Houston Rockets was remarkable, as they held Jayson Tatum and Kemba Walker to 10-32 from the field. 

Tatum, in particular, was unable to make anything outside the restricted area and was held to 0.67 points per shot attempt not including free throws. 

The Rockets bench needs to figure out more ways to contribute as throughout the whole game only two players (Rivers and McLemore) were only able to muster 5 points. 

A healthy Eric Gordon will change that. 

All Star Break Time. 

[dza12345-blog]

Rockets lose to the Jazz, 114-113

Well. That was predictable. 

Take Home Points

James Harden struggled from three point land last night, making only 2 of his 13 true field goal attempts. Yet went 9/10 on all other shot attempts (see chart below). 

The entire Rockets team played quite well overall in the loss. Seven out of nine rotation players last night had a positive WPA. Note: WPA is heavily skewed towards clutch shooting. 

Russell Westbrook made 13 of his 18 true shot attempts in the restricted area for a points per shot attempt of 1.44. This is astoundingly good. 

Robert Covington had a nice game as he continues to find his groove with this team. He had a team-high net rating of 11.3. Since we acquired him, He has been shooting the ball decently. 

While he needs to work on his above the break three point attempts, he is still scoring well over league average during this span on points per shot. 

The better news is that his shot diet is perfect for the Rockets, as he has made sure that all his shots either come at the rim or from deep. 

[dza12345-blog]

Rockets Lose by a lot to a little to the Phoenix Suns

Ahh this was not good. 

Take Home Points

Kelly Oubre Jr was a machine. Converted on 14/19 true field goal attempts. Could. Not. Miss.

Given that we were already thin on main rotation pieces with Russell Westbrook out, it didn’t help that Eric Gordon got a leg injury after only eight minutes of play and didn’t return to the game. 

Only two players had a positive WPA in this game, Harden and Big Mac (from inpredictable).

The three ball did not fall last night as the Rockets went a dreadful 11-48.

From NBA.com:

The only positive of this game was James Harden, who converted 9 of 19 true field goal attempts for 1.21 points per shot without counting free throws. 

Is there any good news?

Yes, no more back to backs!

[dza12345-blog]

Rockets Win 121-111

Wow, we beat the best team in the West on their home court on an off night for Harden. 

Take Home Points

Without big men, the paint is wide open. Look at Austin Rivers take advantage.

https://gifs.com/gif/rockets-at-lakers-full-game-highlights-february-6-2020-9172wx

Robert Covington played dividends immediately, posting a net rating of +26.0 in nearly thirty minutes of play. He went 5/9 on true field goal attempts and played crucial team defense when it mattered most. While his team and off-ball defense was downright sensational, there are some small concerns about his one-on-one defense, Lebron takes advantage of his sloppy play right here, for instance.

https://gifs.com/gif/rockets-at-lakers-full-game-highlights-february-6-2020-WLz8Jg

Russell Westbrook was sensational. He has been sensational for weeks now and it turns out that he does raise the ceiling of this team. Last night he averaged 1.25 points per shot without free throws, compared to a league average of 1.05. 

He even made defensive player of the year candidate Anthony Davis look foolish in the paint. 

https://gifs.com/gif/

rockets-at-lakers-full-game-highlights-february-6-2020-AN7mZz

Eric Gordon had a nice bounce back game after going 0-12 from deep in the last game. He posted a net rating of +17.5 on 75% True Shooting. He also was the MVP of the game in terms of Winning Percentage Added (WPA). 

From Inpredictable:

His Shot Chart from Last Night:

The biggest take home point for this game?

- We finally have a nine man rotation. Only Russell Westbrook logged more than 36 minutes of play time. 

On to Phoenix. 

[dza12345-blog]

Welcome!

First post, cool! #Rockets 

A couple of thoughts on Robert Covington

- In 2018, Robert Covington had a 3.90 D-PIPM, good for 16th best ever indexed on https://www.bball-index.com/historical-pipm/

- In that same year, RoCo had 4.5 defensive win shares (4th in NBA) and 137 steals (6th in NBA)

Should be fun.