Misfiring on 3s becoming concern
MIAMI — Given the choice of feeling concerned that they are shooting their 3-pointers so poorly or encouraged that they are likely to correct that conspicuous issue, the Rockets chose a third option.
They blamed their defensive problems.
Better defense, they said, would create better rhythm and better shooting. It would take the pressure off the 3-point shooting so that the Rockets would not have to score nearly 130 points to win games.
That all could be true. The Rockets have had the top-rated offense in the NBA through their first five games, making it difficult to point to anything on that end as the cause of their inconsistent start to the season.
Yet, if the defense is going to take time to get right, having their most important players shoot well might help.
Instead, after James Harden, Eric Gordon and Russell Westbrook made a combined 3 of 27 3-pointers in Friday’s 123-116 road loss to the Brooklyn Nets, the Rockets are hitting 31 percent of their 3s this season. That’s with their role players around the high-volume shooters — P.J. Tucker, Danuel House Jr. and Ben McLemore — being on target.
As the Rockets head into Sunday’s road game against Miami, owner of the NBA’s best 3-point defense, they rank 26th in 3-point shooting percentage. They have missed an average of 33 3-pointers per game, more than 14 NBA teams even attempt.
The Rockets, however, believe that because their three most high-volume shooters are misfiring, that the problem, as opposed to defensive issues, will correct itself.
“Same shots we got the other night (when) we knocked them down,” coach Mike D’Antoni said of the Rockets’ 159-point burst in Washington when they made 42.6 percent of their 3s. “We can get better shots, but I think the shots are pretty good. They’re wideopen. I’m not going crazy about the shots. I think they’re OK. We’ll get better.”
The Rockets are getting good looks, putting up an average of 22.4 wide-open (with the nearest defender more than six feet away) 3-pointers per game and another 17 open 3-pointers. Of those 39.4 open or wide-open looks, they are making an average of 12.8.
If they are able to get that many good looks, shooting seems certain to improve. But through five games with Harden making 20 percent of his 3s, Westbrook 27.3 percent and Gordon 23.9 percent, the Rockets’ offense is bound to be inconsistent.
Gordon, however, said that can turn around when the defense improves.
“That’s how we play,” said Gordon, who through five games is averaging just 10.4 points per game, the fewest of his career. “When we play better defense, every time down the court, we’re going to get a better opportunity to knock down shots. We’ve got to create more opportunities for ourselves, hunker down and play better defensively. Offensively, (it) will be much easier.
“It has to be a better flow of the game. We’re just not in flow. We are scoring, but we’re not doing the hard part. The hard part is playing really good defense and making it easy for us on offense. When you do that, there’s going to be more shots, whether it’s layups, whether it’s 3s. It’s creating more opportunities.”
Harden, however, does not get many of his attempts off the defense, often relying on step-back 3s in the halfcourt offense. The NBA’s leading scorer the past two seasons and again this season, Harden is missing an average of 11.2 3-pointers per game, more than any other player is attempting.
“The 3-ball hasn’t been going for me, but I will still continue to shoot,” said Harden, who is averaging 36.6 points per game. “I’m not worried about it. Those are great shots. Those are shots I’ve been taking the last couple of years. So, even if teams are trying to take the 3-ball away, I’m going to still shoot it.
“It’s going to be tough for us to win when I’m not knocking down the 3-ball at a high clip and Eric, our guys that we rely on to give us those points, create offense for us aren’t playing (well.) We aren’t going to beat anybody.”
Harden can get his looks against any defense. He can score without making 3s. He is averaging a league-best 19 points on drives, making 61.7 percent of his shots going to the rim. But the Heat can take away the sort of good looks the Rockets have been getting, with a league-best 45.8 percent of the 3-pointers taken against the Heat contested.
That could make it even more imperative that the Rockets make the open looks they do get — while working to shore up the defense.
“Wide open. We got to make them,” Westbrook said. “We can’t come in and talk after the game about how it’s a good game when we make them and when we miss them, can’t go back on what we do. It’s what we do.”