Offense set for launch
Mike D’Antoni’s team puts up lots of 3s, and he’d like more.
Mike D’Antoni will not put a number on 3-pointers he wants the Rockets to launch or on how many is too many.
The Rockets coach will judge, he said, by the quality, rather than quantity of 3s attempted. Still, there is a guideline that could work to determine how often the Rockets will fire away from the far side of the 3-point line.
Go to the NBA record book under 3s made and attempted in a season or a game and add one or two while making space for an addition at the top of the list.
The Rockets put up 47 3-pointers Saturday, matching their franchise record. Though that did not quite catch the NBA record of 49 launched by the Mavericks against the Nets in 1996, or even this season’s high of 48 put up by Dallas in the season opener, the Rockets’ green light is bright enough to figure that in the franchise’s 50th season the Rockets will be the first team to put up 50 3s in a game.
“It’s never been done before?” said frequent gunner Ryan Anderson of taking 50 3-pointers. “We’ll probably do it this year. Hopefully, we make them that night.”
There was reason to think they would take down the more meaningful — and revealing — records. The Rockets are on pace to take and make more 3s than any team has tried or made, averaging 13.2 per game on 36.2 attempts.
‘Take what they give us’
Unlike last season, when they were 19th in 3-point shooting percentage, they have made their 3s regularly enough for defenses to prefer the Rockets not take target practice.
Even with Saturday’s 15-of-47 shooting from 3-point range, the Rockets are sixth in 3-point shooting at 36.5 percent.
“I’d like to make more of them,” D’Antoni said Sunday, considering the Rockets’ incredibly streaky shooting the night before. “A lot of it depends on the other team. If they let us shoot 3s, we won’t have as many in the lane. It’s one or the other. We just take what they give us.
“That’s what they were giving us (Saturday) night. I’m OK with it. We wouldn’t shoot for that number, but … I don’t have a number. Every play, is that the right play to make? Then, I’m OK with it.”
No team has made 3-point shooting so vital to its offense. The Rockets — who are ninth in scoring and seventh in points scored per possession — are taking a league-high 43 percent of their shots from beyond the arc, scoring 37.1 percent of their points on 3s.
“We’re going to get open looks,” Anderson said. “We understand that, especially around James (Harden), we want to have shooters. That’s the benefit of having Trevor (Ariza) and Eric (Gordon) and myself on the court. We’re going to find the open guy, make the right pass, take the open shot, rather than a tough, off-the-dribble shot.
“We’re going to get open looks. We’re going to get 3s if we penetrate and really get into the paint. It could be a new normal, obviously depending on the defense. Not every team guards the paint like (the Spurs). But when they do, we need to take advantage of that.”
Gordon goes off
No one took advantage as dramatically as Gordon. While Anderson struggled, making 1 of 13 shots, Gordon matched his career high with seven 3s. Anderson got the shots he had been making, coming into the game hitting 48 percent of his 3s, and even had a pair of open looks from the corner. Gordon pushed his 3-point shooting to 40.3 percent and is averaging 3.3 3-pointers on 44.4 percent shooting in his past six games.
Gordon had started as slowly as Anderson before he turned things around. But that could be why the Rockets took so many 3s.
They did not attempt 47 3-pointers despite misfiring through much of the night; they took them because they were misfiring, leading the Spurs to pack the lane even more than they had been.
“We had a lot of good, open shots,” Gordon said. “We just couldn’t knock them down. It won’t happen all the time. They were for sure packing the paint.
“That’s why you saw a lot of open 3s. If we knock them down, the results will be different. But that’s the style we want to play, getting layups and open 3s. There will be times we put up 47 for sure.”
Actually, it’s a safe bet there will be times they launch a few more.