On Thursday, the Houston Rockets will take the court against the Charlotte Hornets. The game will be Houston’s 54th of the season and will give the Rockets their first opportunity to avenge a double-digit loss to Charlotte, who had become the hottest team in the league prior to the contest.
Houston ranks fourth in the Western Conference and has the seventh-ranked offense, along with the league’s fifth-ranked defense.
They also rank sixth in net rating.
However, the Rockets have been far from flawless. Alperen Sengun’s defense has been an issue, which Rockets coach Ime Udoka even pointed out. Offensively, he’s also been quite inefficient, although he started the season out on a scorching tear.
He’s also been rather inconsistent.
Houston is still in need of a table-setting point guard, which has been a void through the entirety of the season. There’s been no replacement for Fred VanVleet.
Yet and still, the Rockets landed as the NBA’s ninth-best team in Yahoo Sports’ latest power rankings following the All-Star break.
The writer, Ben Rohrbach, referenced the aforementioned VanVleet’s own words.
“We’re in good shape. Everybody needs to chill out,” Fred VanVleet said of Houston’s up-and-down season. “I’ve been on Twitter a lot more this year than ever before since I’m not playing. I just think everybody needs to chill out and take the growth and the development of this team. We’re in good shape going into the break and the real basketball starts after the All-Star break.”
The Rockets could certainly benefit from utilizing Reed Sheppard in a bit of a different way. He seems to get a rather short leash from Udoka.
Houston’s last game against the LA Clippers serves as a good example.
Sheppard was yanked late in the game and never returned, even though he was having a good game. He’s also been used in purely an off-ball capacity.
The Rockets could also find easier ways to get the ball to Kevin Durant, who has had to work tirelessly to get the ball on many possessions.
On other possessions, he gets iced out entirely and doesn’t even touch the ball.
Other times, Houston has had to use Durant as the pick-and-roll guard, which he struggles to do.
Yet and still, the Rockets find themselves ninth in the power rankings and fourth in their respective conference.