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On the Rockets’ pace

A reader writes:

One of things that made a big difference for the Rockets is slowing down the pace.  According to Basketball Reference, we are 22nd in pace.   That means we are staying home for defensive rebounds and focusing more energy on the defensive end.  This might be one of the impacts of having Ariza instead of Parsons.  Parsons generated a lot of his offense in the open-court, while Ariza is comfortable sharp-shooting from the half court offense. The fact that we are slowing down also means we are better able to incorporate Howard into the offense.

This was something I hadn’t considered.  The Rockets, of course, are still running, but this time around, it’s more purposeful running.  Last year, and the season before, running was seemingly Houston’s raison d’etre.  It was almost as if they’d inbound the ball and say, “you scored?  Okay, well, so what?  We’ll just rush it up and get those two points back.”  Now, they are running when there are steals or outlet opportunities, not just simply off of made baskets.

It’s been absolutely fascinating to see how much of a transformation one lineup substitution has made upon the entire dynamics of this team.

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About the author: Rahat Huq is a lawyer in real life and the founder and editor-in-chief of www.Red94.net.

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