‘MIDDIES’ FIND A PLACE
While Silas’ plan relies on 3s and getting to rim, he’s OK with shots from 15 to 19 feet
As much as has changed with the Rockets — and with only one player and no coaches still around from March just two years ago — the math remains the same.
The Rockets believe in two things offensively above all else: Shots at the rim and shots from beyond the 3-point line. If they would make a few more, they would believe in free throws, too.
No team takes as great a percentage of its shots from those two math-approved areas on the floor combined. But in recent weeks, and especially in the closing minutes of the Rockets’ occasional wins, mid-range jumpers — or “middies” as guard Josh Christopher labeled them — have crashed the party.
In last week’s wins against the Lakers and Grizzlies, Jalen Green knocked down mid-range jumpers in the closing minutes that either sealed wins or made them possible. He was not ordered to run laps for not backing up six feet.
Rockets coach Stephen Silas even endorsed the idea of shooting in the mid-range, with a list of caveats.
“As long as they’re later in the shot clock, uncontested to lightly contested, I’m OK with them,” Silas said. “But if they’re early in the shot clock or contested, it’s like any other shot. It’s not good for our group. Our bedrock is layups and 3s and for us to get to driveand-kick. Late in the shot clock or late in games, or completely uncontested, we’ll shoot them, like we have them.”
Only the Jazz, who have the toprated offense in the NBA and attempt the greatest percentage of their shots from the 3-point line, take fewer shots from 15 to 19 feet than the 2.3 the Rockets attempt per game.
The Rockets take 44.9 percent of their shots from the 3-point line, shooting from deep more regularly than all but three teams. They take more shots within five feet of the rim than any team in the league.
The Rockets take few shots in between close range and the 3point line, attempting the fewest or second fewest shots from each distance the NBA tracks; five to 9 feet, 10 to 14 feet, 15 to 19 feet and 20 to 24 feet.
Still, some of Green’s scoring surge in the past six weeks has come by knocking down shots that opponents prefer he take, and the Rockets only want in special circumstances.
“A lot of it is reading the defense and half it is the shots I want,” Green said of adding mid-range jumpers. “A lot of teams cover me 3 and to the rim. They want me to shoot the in-between game. So, it opens a lot. I just take that shot. It’s just the open shots so I’m taking them.”
Since the All-Star break, Green has made 61.5 percent of his shots from 15 to 19 feet. 55.6 percent since the start of February.
Before then, he had rarely taken those shots, putting up 24 in his first 35 games, making just 20.8 percent.
“He’s reading the defense more,” Silas said. “Before he wasn’t necessarily reading the defense and just going. Now, he is coming off and reading. ‘Are they dropping back? Are they up? Are they switching? Are they going under?’ All of those different reads that you learn through experience, you learn from watching film, you learn through drill work. Early in the season, he was just kind of going. Now, he is scanning and reading and evaluating how he is being played.”
In New Orleans on Sunday, he is likely to find another opponent in drop coverages, with Jonas Valanciunas and Jaxson Hayes protecting the rim, but leaving shots open in the mid-range. The Pelicans allow the eighth-fewest points in the paint.
“Same equation,” Silas said. We still want to shoot our 3s. We still want to shoot our layups. We still want to get to the free throw line. We still want to score in the paint. But there will be some occasions they’ll be in drop, and you’ll get a wide-open shot. If you’re capable of doing it like Jalen is and Scoot (Kevin Porter Jr.) is, shoot it.”
These are the shots that come naturally. While the NBA has become more focused on 3s than ever, players with the talent to play in the NBA as teenagers had been giving the green light to shoot from 20 feet.
“Me and J.G. have been shooting mid-rangers since we were teenagers, really young teenagers,” Christopher said. “It was open, so we took it, had confidence with it. I know we do the 3s and layups, but shots were falling. If you make them, it’s a good shot.”
Even NBA math would agree. And considering the Rockets’ past few wins, they would be happy to have Green fire away from 18 feet in the closing minutes of a close game, as he did to beat the Lakers and Grizzlies. At that point, any shot likely to go in would be welcome.
“That’s like ‘Hey, get the best shot you can,’ ” Silas said. “If they’re going to be in drop and you can get to an area you can shoot a lightly contested or uncontested shot, and he can jump over people and shoot shots that are less contested, late-game offense is score.”