This NBA team’s winning strategy: Play like 'junk'

LAS VEGAS — If you ask the famously blunt Ime Udoka, head coach of the Houston Rockets, to describe the identity of his team, he won’t sugarcoat it.

“I’d say we’re a deep, athletic, physical team. That’s what we’re trying to build. Been good on the defensive end, defensive-minded, like to junk it up, be aggressive on that end,” Udoka said in the lead-up to the Rockets’ NBA Cup semifinal game against the Oklahoma City Thunder.

When it comes to scoring, though?

“Offensively, we’re a work in progress,” Udoka admitted.

Veteran point guard Fred VanVleet echoed his coach’s assessment.

“It takes a lot of energy and focus, especially for a young group,” VanVleet said about the Rockets’ commitment to defense. “So I know any time we’re locked in on defense usually bodes well for us, and then it becomes a possession game toward the end of the game. You want to close it out.”

But VanVleet then added, with a smile, “Most of the time we’re not scoring, either.”

Houston’s style of play — rugged, defensive-minded, physical — was perhaps never more evident than during the team’s run through the NBA Cup, which ended Saturday in a 111-96 loss to the Thunder.

In their quarterfinal matchup with the Golden State Warriors, the Rockets won a 91-90 rock fight. Houston held Golden State to only four points in the final four minutes and change — but the Rockets scored only nine points in the final five minutes, barely enough to win.

Saturday’s game between Houston and Oklahoma City was a tilt between the league’s top two defenses, and it played out as such for the opening 24 minutes. The teams combined for only 83 points in the first half, but the Thunder’s individual brilliance on offense eventually made the difference in the second.

“We started off a little off rhythm, out of rhythm, a couple turnovers. They did, too. It was kind of ugly to start,” VanVleet said. “But we just never found the rhythm and never found a flow. If you’re not going to make shots against a team like that, it just gradually gets tougher to score. That lack of scoring puts pressure on your defense, and it just kind of compounds things.”

The pressure the Rockets put on their defense is making them such a confounding team this season.

Through the Cup semis, Houston has the fifth-best record and the seventh-best net rating in the NBA. A year after they won 41 games, the Rockets are on pace to win 53.

However, Houston’s offense is an anomaly among its fellow winners. Of the top five teams in the league, the Rockets are the only one with an offense outside the top 10. After the loss to Oklahoma City, the Rockets’ offensive rating fell to 18th.

Houston’s leading scorer, Jalen Green, averages 19 points per game, 40th among all players. Only two players on the team are shooting over 32% from three, and neither are doing so on particularly high volume. Overall, the Rockets have the second-worst field-goal percentage, the third-worst 3-point percentage and the fifth-worst free-throw percentage in the NBA.

Though the old adage is defense wins championships, particularly in today’s NBA, offense really helps, too. Since 2010, only one team with an offense worse than 11th in offensive rating has won a title, the 2022 Warriors, who at least had a generational offensive talent in Stephen Curry. (The teams that finished 11th, the 2020 and 2010 Los Angeles Lakers, had LeBron James and Kobe Bryant, respectively.)

Houston certainly doesn’t have that level of offensive player. The Rockets, despite being a top team, may not even have an All-Star. (Center Alperen Sengun has the best case, though.)

For now, Houston seems well aware its current style of play will be a hurdle if it wants to reach its ultimate goal.

“What I will say publicly is we have to figure it out. We have to be better offensively,” VanVleet said when he was asked about the team’s process Saturday. “Other than that, I’m not really going to talk about what we want to do here. Coach can probably give you a better answer than that. It’s my job as a point guard to figure out how to get this team to perform better.”