The Golden State Warriors have pushed the Houston Rockets Off-Course

May 23, 2015; Houston, TX, USA; Houston Rockets forward Josh Smith (5) reacts during the game against the Golden State Warriors in game three of the Western Conference Finals of the NBA Playoffs at Toyota Center. Mandatory Credit: Troy Taormina-USA TODAY Sports

In my last article, addressing the Houston Rockets and their no-midrange approach to basketball, I wrote: “Of course, neither the Mavericks or Clippers are elite defenses and two rounds of playoffs are far away from anything where I would draw a final conclusion”

This is what happened during the Rockets’ playoffs series with the Golden State Warriors:

So, while the Rockets are still not taking real mid-range shots, their shot distribution got moved away from the basket by about two feet. To put it numerically:

During the regular season, 22.9% of Houston’s shot attempts came from 0 to 4 feet and only 16.7% of their shots were two pointers from beyond 9 feet. Against the Warriors during the playoffs this changed to 20.1% of shots from point blank range and 22.5% of shots from the non-Moreyball part of the field. The other drastic change in their shot distribution is that only 26.9% of Houston’s shot attempts are three pointers. Which is much closer to league average (25.7% of shot attempts) than to their season-long three point killing spree (38.3%).

So, to summarize: While league-average defenses where not able to disturb the Rockets computed trajectory, the Warriors league-leading defense seems to have the right anti-missile defense. (Note: I hope this weren’t to many Rocket puns in such a short article…)