The ol’ reliables are certain to be factors
Offense won’t deviate from firing 3s even against foe’s contrasting style
This is no referendum on playing styles or the notion 3-pointers are worth more than 2s.
Even if it were, that would not concern the Rockets, who take the 3s, or the Minnesota Timberwolves, who rely on 2s, as much as being the first to four wins.
Yet, for those inclined to look at the Rockets’ first-round playoff series against the T-Wolves as a competition between styles — with the Rockets shooting more 3-pointers than any team in NBA history and the T-Wolves shooting the fewest in the 3-happy NBA this season — that would be at least a good starting point.
The Rockets, the first team in NBA history to take the majority
of their shots from beyond the 3point line, made an NBA record 15.3 3-pointers per game. They get them in a variety of ways, from Chris Paul and James Harden running pick-and-roll to draw a defender off a shooter (the method they most often used against the Timberwolves) to going one-on-one. They had no plans of changing things for the postseason, even before they knew their opponent.
“I don’t see why not,” coach Mike D’Antoni said last week of making the style work in the playoffs. “There’s not a concrete reason why, ‘Yeah, but in the postseason they …’ It’s all the same.”
If anything, in a matchup with the Timberwolves, the Rockets’ 3-point shooting could be more important than ever.
The Rockets averaged 17.3 3pointers on 43.4 percent shooting against the Timberwolves in the four regular-season meetings. They have made two more 3-pointers per game against the Timberwolves than against any other Western Conference playoff team, at least four 3-pointers per game more than they made against the Blazers and Spurs.
Butler buoys T-Wolves
The Timberwolves ranked 23rd defensively in the regular season, but that is misleading given how much better they are with Jimmy Butler playing and with Butler returning from his knee injury in time for the regular season’s final three games. But they tend to protect the paint first, leaving some 3-point shooters open.
“It’s such a small sample. It’s four games,” D’Antoni said. “Who knows why things happen? We were sharp those games. They do converge a lot on the inside so it leaves our shooters open. We play our game, but we hit a lot of 3s against a lot of people, I don’t know if it’s just them.”
The Rockets shoot and make more 3s against Minnesota at least in part because the Timberwolves prefer not to switch defensively on screens set for Harden and Paul. They have shifted into a switching defense late in games, but generally avoid letting All-Star center Karl-Anthony Towns get caught alone on Harden.
The Rockets live to isolate their guards on big men, with their offense most effective when they go one-on-one. But they said they are built to shoot those 3s, playing with the greenest light D’Antoni can give them.
“We’ve seen everything you can see,” Paul said. “Nothing is going to bother us. It may slow us down. We don’t know. We’re going to see. We’re just going to try to figure it out. We’ve seen a triangle-and-two this year (against the Spurs). I haven’t seen that since college. We can’t be surprised by anything we see.
“We’ve been saying it for the longest, we’re going to be us. We’re going to shoot 3s. We’ll see what happens.”
The Rockets’ best stretch against the Timberwolves came in the fourth quarter Feb. 13 in Minneapolis, when they tied the NBA record with 10 3s in a quarter. Ryan Anderson, who made six of 10 3s in that game, is questionable to play in Game 1 with a sprained ankle. Gerald Green went 5-of-5 (2-of-2 on 3s) in the return to Minneapolis before he was ejected.
“They have a defensive strategy to try to protect the paint,” Green said. “With guys like James and CP, who are really good creators, it leaves guys like me, Ryan, E.G. (Eric Gordon), Trevor (Ariza) open for open shots.”
Anderson, Ariza, Gordon, Green, Luc Mbah a Moute and P.J. Tucker each made at least 42 percent of their 3-pointers against the Timberwolves this season.
“We know who we are,” Gordon said. “Everybody knows their role and everybody knows how to play.”
Different kind of offense
The Timberwolves have one of the league’s top-scoring teams, ranking fourth offensively, while making the fewest 3pointers (eight per game). But there was a sense that it was difficult to keep pace while the Rockets made 3s. Opponents made 36.6 percent of their 3pointers against the Timberwolves this season, ranking the T-Wolves’ 3-point defense 18th in the NBA in opposing 3-point percentage defense and the number in 3s opponents take (29.6), 19th in the number they make (10.9) per game.
The Rockets, having made far more than that, can expect to see changes to limit them at what they do more often than anyone.
“Teams going forward have to make a choice,” D’Antoni said. “They have to figure out how they want to defend us. We’re OK with anything. If we play well, we don’t care how they defend us.”