Five Takeaways From The Houston Rockets’ Hot Start

Oct 28, 2014; Los Angeles, CA, USA; Los Angeles Lakers guard

(24) drives against Houston Rockets guard

(1) during the second half at Staples Center. Mandatory Credit: Richard Mackson-USA TODAY Sports

1 – Increased effort on the defensive end

I’ve wrote about this on the site before, the Houston Rockets were poised to make an upgrade on the defensive end just heading into the season. We’ve heard the talk during training camp and we even took note of the type of free agents the Rockets signed and yet it was hard for some to buy that this offensively-minded team would give any effort to anything other than putting the ball in the basket. Yet, here we are a week into the season, and they are doing just that.

The Houston Rockets are locked in right now on the defensive end of the floor allowing an average of a mere 91.4 points per game (3rd in the league) which is refreshing as they allowed an outrageous 103.1 points per game last season (23rd in the league). Trevor Ariza has been every bit of the defensive stopper we’ve expected him to be and more. He held both Kobe Bryant and Dwyane Wade to both 19 points when matched up against them and he’s averaged 1.8 steals a game since the season started.

The Rockets already knew what they were getting from Dwight Howard and Patrick Beverley on the defensive end, with Beverley being a former member of the All Defensive Second Team and Howard being a 3-time Defensive Player of the Year winner, and they haven’t disappointed thus far. James Harden surprisingly has also stepped up on the defensive end and we will talk a little more about him later.