Offense leads to victory, while defense leads to championships. This phrase has always been a well-known saying in the NBA league, but the Rockets players may not understand this sentence very well, look at the current performance of the Rockets, after losing to the Magic, the Rockets have swallowed an 8-game losing streak. The next two Rockets will play at home against the Clippers, and although the Clippers' two core players, Paul George and Leonard, continue to be absent due to injury, the team of role players is still in the previous game to beat the Lakers.
The Rockets are the worst defensive team this season, which is directly reflected in the Rockets' average loss of points per game. At present, from the statistics table, the Rockets have to lose 118.2 points per game! Even the Thunder, who are no.2 in the West, are averaging 10 points per game, and it's really hard for such a team to win. The Rockets, which were first-rate in offense and defensively superior in Harden and Paul, have long since disappeared.
What do the Rockets players think about their team's defensive performance? The Rockets' bench shooter, Garrison Matthews, specifically talked about the Rockets' defensive ability in the interview. Matthews said: "It's too bad. Because defense is about effort and communication, on the offensive end, it takes some skill, because you have to put the ball in the basket, and the defensive end is to know where you need to go and try to play, so it really hurts my self-esteem. ”
In fact, people who know Matthews know that last season in the Wizards, Matthews was only a substitute, and not too much value, this season from the Wizards to the Rockets, and he also with his excellent performance in the development league, NBA regular season, got a standard contract for 4 years and 8.2 million US dollars, but the Rockets' record, especially the level of the defensive end, is even worse than last season's Wizards, which makes Matthews very disappointed.
It's good to have a contract, but playing on a team that doesn't defend and often loses doesn't make people feel too good, matthews is that way. As Matthews said, the offensive end requires technique and shooting, but the defensive end does not need these, in addition to the importance of individual defensive ability, it is more important to try to fight defense. Not to mention the defensive skills of a player, just look at the current level of effort by the Rockets players for defense, it is enough to disappoint.
To put it bluntly, Matthews was questioning the efforts of his Rockets teammates on the defensive end. Yes, the defensive skills are not good and can be slowly learned and improved, but if some teammates are too lazy to defend, only with the efforts of a few so-called "defensive gates" individuals, it is impossible to improve the quality of the Rockets' defense.
The Rockets' players have a problem with their attitude on the defensive end, and it can be seen from this season's game that the Rockets are competing for the offensive end, but on the defensive end, all kinds of leaks and lack of concentration abound every game. The Rockets want to complete the rebuild, in addition to cultivating new people, urging players to practice defense, especially to pay attention to defense in terms of mentality, which is the most critical issue.