Motor City meltdown
3-point shooting fizzles to match defensive effort
Rockets can’t rally from double-digit deficit in Detroit.
DETROIT — The Rockets seemed to let their poor shooting get to them, letting it sap energy and deflate intensity.
But as badly as they shot as the Detroit Pistons pulled away, there was a problem with that assumption. The Rockets never did not have much energy or intensity, at least on the defensive end.
They spent Saturday night as if deciding whether it would be worth the effort to defend the Pistons as would be needed when their 3-point touch betrayed them. That determination did not come until it was too late to prevent a 108-101 loss, the Rockets’ seventh loss in nine games with many of the familiar problems.
“It’s obvious to us more than anything, we have to get better on the defensive end,” guard Chris Paul said. “We’re scoring enough points. We have to get more confidence we can stop teams.
“Some of it is effort. We just have to communicate more and better. We have to be better defensively because right now teams, everybody feels like they’re going to have their career high against us or something like that, and I don’t like that.” Done in by subs
The latest on the greatest-games parade were Dwight Buycks and Eric Moreland. Buycks, filling in for Reggie Jackson with Ish Smith pushed to the starting lineup, had 16 points, going 4-of-5 on 3-pointers. Moreland, starting with Pistons star center Andre Drummond out, had eight points. But the lethargy in the Rockets’ defense was apparent from more than the production of a pair of players who in other circumstances would not play at all.
The Pistons, ranked 23rd in the NBA in fieldgoal percentage, made 50.7 percent of their shots with the Rockets doing little to interfere until the final four minutes when the margin had reached 16 points. By then, the Rockets’ shooting had gone through an atrocious stretch. They were 3-of-20 on 3-pointers after a strong first quarter.
“Our defense should have been good enough to have a cushion that when you go on spells like that, you can withstand it,” coach Mike D’Antoni said. “Our intensity defense is almost like, we’ll just see if they miss and then we’ll start playing. Toward the end we had energy, but we need it all game.
“I don’t know if we’re a tired team or what, but even starting the game, our offense flowed and we were only up six. I don’t think the intensity on defense was there.”
Eric Gordon ended the dry spell with a 3-pointer to close the third quarter and Gerald Green began the fourth with a 3. Green added a jumper, pulling the Rockets to within six points with 11 minutes left to undo the damage.
But the Rockets were 1-of-12 from the field with six turnovers in the next seven minutes. Yet, as much as the Rockets trudged through their offense, moving up the floor and moving the ball as smoothly as the boats stuck in the ice in the Detroit River, they blamed their intensity on the defensive end for bleeding into the offense.
“Our communication stinks,” forward P.J. Tucker said, as he has after several recent losses. “It kills our defense. We give up a lot of easy shots, easy plays. Get stops. When our defense doesn’t roll, our offense suffers. Once we figure that out, essentially help our offense, I think we’ll get that going. It’s tough, man.” Rockets’ pace flags
With the Pistons using small lineups, the Rockets relied on switching, making the communication issues they have so often cited more of a problem. With the Rockets so often taking the ball out of the net, they played with little pace, taking five fastbreak shots, missing all.
D’Antoni did not know if the Rockets let their poor shooting impact their effort defensively, but said: “Championship teams, it doesn’t affect. We have to get to that.”
“They are two totally different parts of the game,” forward Trevor Ariza said. “One should never have an effect on the other.”
Instead, as the Rockets missed their shots, their defense broke down. And with defense shoddy to begin win, the Pistons’ lead and Rockets’ frustration swelled.
“You can’t ever let that happen, but at some point in the game, we probably showed frustration,” Paul said. “We have to have better body language.”
They can add that to the list.