The Rockets have their shortcomings. Sitting with the second-worst record in the Western Conference and carrying a 10-game losing streak into Sunday’s game against the Memphis Grizzlies, the last team they had beaten, will indicate there are some weaknesses. Defense was not supposed to be among them.
The Rockets built a roster filled with “two-way players,” veterans that had proven themselves on the defensive end. They were, before the losing streak, ranked second in the NBA defensively. They might not shoot well and have not all season but they considered themselves to be elite defensively.
In the losing streak, however, the Rockets are allowing 118.5 points per game with a defensive rating that ranks 25th in the NBA. And that is supposed to be their strength.
“We’re still strong defensively,” guard Sterling Brown said. “We’re still a top defensive team regardless of the streak. We just have to keep being consistent. We’re on a losing streak right now. Nobody in the locker room is happy about it. We’re going to bounce back.”
The defense, however, has been hurt by having to play nearly constantly changing lineups, the absence of Christian Wood that has led to an adjustment to an extensive smallball switching style and the terrible shooting on the other end.
Friday’s game was the first in February the Rockets had the same starters in a second-consecutive game with chemistry and cohesion still clearly lacking.
“Defense is a lot of things, obviously,” Rockets guard Victor Oladipo said. “It’s X’s and O’s. It’s trying to take things away. It’s trying to slow guys down. But a lot has to do with just chemistry and knowing guys will be there, knowing where to go, how you’re going to do things. All of that plays a part, not just offensively, but defensively as well.”
The defense has also been hurt by keeping company with the Rockets’ offense. Friday’s 34 percent 3-point shooting, virtually matching their 3-point shooting percentage for the season, was the Rockets’ best in the losing streak. That ranks last in the NBA.
“As much as you say, you want to have a consistent defense every game, you want to have the same level of defense and play hard and all of those things, sometimes your defense has been very much connected to your offense,” Rockets coach Stephen Silas said. “And if you’re continually missing shots, it’s a deflating thing.”
It has not just been demoralizing to miss open and wide open 3s — the Rockets have made just 30.1 percent of those shots while taking an average of 40.5 per game in the losing streak — all those missed shots helps opponents get in the open court heading the other way.
“I think it’s a little bit of both,” Oladipo said. “I think sometimes, unfortunately missing shots gets teams out and running and gets them into their transition offense. It can be tough when you’re not making shots to have the energy to defend on the highest level, even though it shouldn’t. When things aren’t going our way offensively, there are times we tend to not be as good defensively. If we want to be a great team, obviously we have to fix that. I think that takes time as well.”
On Friday, when the Rockets made 18 of 54 shots in the second and third quarters, the Raptors scored 65 points on 69 percent shooting. The Raptors put up 37 points in the second quarter, the fourth game in the past five the Rockets had allowed that much in a quarter. They have allowed at least 34 points in a quarter in six-consecutive games, including games against the Knicks and Hornets, teams ranked last and second-to-last in scoring.
There does not, however, always a direct correlation between shooting and defending badly. Of the teams in the bottom third of the league in 3-point percentage, four also rank among those last 10 in defensive rating.
The Rockets have, however, have been inconsistent with their extensive use of a switching style since the move to roughly 38 minutes of smallball.
“We just haven’t had enough reps,” Rockets forward P.J. Tucker said. “We haven’t had a consistent lineup all year. It’s a tough task, it is, when your team changes so much.
“Switching is a really hard defense. We switch everything. People seem to think it’s easy. It’s actually harder. You have to communicate. You have to be physical. You have to get up in people and play one-on-one defense. And you have to trust the guy behind you is going to be ready to help and the guy behind him is going to be ready to go. It takes time to build that.”
The Rockets did it well in less frequent use of the small, switching style before their three-week slide. They believe they can again, but as with everything else, it has been a struggle.
“It’s new,” Oladipo said. “I’ve never had to do it as much as I’ve done it here. Just got to keep grinding, keep getting better, keep watching film, keep learning and then eventually things will be better.”
That could begin with the part of the game the Rockets expect to be their best.
jonathan.feigen@chron.com
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