Deficiencies exposed during 3-point flurry
SAN FRANCISCO — Those seated on the Rockets’ bench in Chase Center had a perfect view as Klay Thompson drilled a corner 3-pointer right in front of them. Adding insult to injury was Daishen Nix’s foul that caught Thompson’s arm, sending him to the free-throw line to extend the Warriors’ lead to 15 points.
It was one of three 3pointers Thompson would make in the first 3:20 of the fourth quarter, and one of more than two dozen Warriors 3-pointers that buried the Rockets on Friday in a 116-101 loss.
“It was just the threes,” Rockets coach Stephen Silas said. “They made 26. We made 11. That was the game.”
Houston shot 31.4 percent from 3-point range, while Golden State shot 48.1 percent. The imbalance was evident from the opening tip. Golden State started the game 4-of-8 from deep while Houston went 1-for-6 and Jabari Smith Jr. missed his first four 3-point attempts.
The Warriors take and make the most 3-pointers of any team in the NBA. Hell, they built their dynasty on it with two of the best shooters in the league. So it’s not surprising that Golden State would launch 54 3-pointers on Friday and make 26, one shy of tying a franchise record. Or that Thompson would pour in a dozen of them on his
way to a game-high 42 points.
But the Warriors aren’t that much of an outlier when it comes to the Rockets’ skewed 3-point shooting trends this season.
The Rockets rank 22nd in the NBA in 3-pointers made per game (10.8) and 14th in attempts per game (33.3). Their opponents average 14.4 makes and 39 attempts per game, both of which lead the NBA.
In wins this season, Houston is shooting 37.2 percent from deep and holding opponents to 33.5 percent. In losses, Houston is shooting 31.3 percent while opponents shoot 38.1 percent.
Silas said the Rockets attempting 12 3-pointers in the opening quarter and
23 for the remainder of the game was an unintended consequence of taking what the defense gave them. But he reiterated that his goal is for the Rockets to increase 3point attempts, with a caveat.
“We want to take the right shots,” he said. “Obviously, the shots that you take oftentimes are dictated by your roster composition. So we will continue to look at taking threes, but we want to make sure we’re taking good threes.”
Two of the Rockets’ best 3-point shooters, Kevin Porter Jr. and Jalen Green, are injured. Two of the others, Eric Gordon and Garrison Mathews, are no longer on the roster after they were traded earlier this month. Smith’s shooting struggles have been well-documented throughout his rookie season.
So the Rockets may not have a team built for 3point shooting, but they got a mini boost Friday from guards TyTy Washington Jr. and Nix, who combined to go 6-of-13 beyond the arc.
And in the absence of Green and Porter, they are attempting to have center Alperen Sengun kick the ball out to shooters rather than be tied up in pickand-roll after pick-androll. Three of Sengun’s team-high eight assists against the Warriors came on 3-pointers.
On the defensive end, the Rockets can also improve on the perimeter. On Friday, they sometimes lost track of relocating to shooters and other times were simply playing small and didn’t have the length to contest deep 3pointers. Other times, the Warriors just did what they do.
“I feel like at first we were defending them well, but Klay got going,” Rockets forward K.J. Martin said. “He had a lot of catch-and-shoots. We didn’t make him put the ball on the floor. So that was the difference with us starting the game well and it kind of getting out of control.”
Another culprit is one the Rockets are probably tired of blaming: youth. Houston’s starting lineup at Chase Center included two rookies, one secondyear player and two thirdyear players.
“I told the team this after the game: When you play this team, you have to be on it when it comes to your game plan, and oftentimes it takes playing this team year after year, game after game, where you’re familiar with it,” Silas said. “But our guys are so young they’re not familiar with the little nuances and actions that they run for Klay to get those shots. So it was a combination of a couple things.”