What subtle factors played a role into the Rockets latest run?
March has been a majestic display of basketball for the Houston Rockets and their fans. Currently entrenched in a 11-game winning streak, the Rockets can finish the month at either 14-1 or 13-2 with one game left to play. Regardless, it’s been impressive to say the least.
The breathtaking play from Jalen Green has been the main story — for good reason — but much more than Green alone has gone right for the Rockets as they’ve trimmed the margin between them and the tenth seed down to a single game. Making up six games over the course of March when the season looked like it was on life support is outstanding.
Also consider that the team lost Alperen Sengun and Cam Whitmore along the way, and it’s a wonder that they have been able to sustain this level of success.
A huge contributing factor to this run has been that the defense has stepped up. Jumping back into the top four of defensive rating has allowed the Rockets to mirror the early season success that got the team off to an 18-16 start. This has also created more opportunities for an uptempo attack, suiting the aforementioned Green.
Not only has Green benefitted from the quicker pace, he’s also received a timely boost from his backcourt partner, Fred VanVleet. March has been a bounce back month for VanVleet following a February hampered by an abductor injury.
Fred looks much more like the $40-plus million per year type of guy the Rockets inked to a contract last summer as his numbers went up across the board in March. He has been approximately five percent better from the field and eight percent better from behind the line between the two months, and it shows in how much better the Rockets have been spacing the floor in general.
Houston leads the league in pull up three-pointers made during March, and that’s been an important factor in allowing not only Green to get off, but also VanVleet. Considering that both of them have the greenest of lights to pull from deep, it now helps that they both are cashing those shots in.
Also playing a critical role into the Rockets holding steady is the triumphant trio of Jabari Smith Jr., Jock Landale, and Jeff Green. The three J’s have held it together in the absence of Sengun, stepping up in his place to limit the loss.
Most deserving of adulation has been Smith as he’s been able to hold his own as the man in the middle. Moving Amen Thompson into Smith’s spot, and shifting Smith to center has netted the Rockets a plus five plus-minus over 14 minutes per game during March. It’s gone a long way into getting the Rockets off to good starts at the beginning of the game and after halftime.
However, in the instances that Jabari has found himself in foul trouble, or ejected from the game, there hasn’t been too significant of a drop off. That’s in thanks in large part to the emergence of Landale as a viable option. Jock has gone over double-digits in points five times throughout March. Do you want to guess how many times he did that before this season? Goose egg.
And last but not least, how about our beautiful baby boy, Amen? Without the same demand for shot attempts as his rookie contemporaries, he’s still managed to rank among the most impactful froshes out there. For the month, he has the highest plus-minus among all rookies at plus eight.
It would also be difficult to argue that any other rookies besides Victor Wembanyama and Chet Holmgren — two seven footers — make as big of a difference in the paint as Amen does. He ranks third among rebounds between them, but FIRST in offensive rebounds as he’s pulling down (or putting back) 3.4 per game in March.
Amen has proven to be a Swiss army knife in every sense and his utilization across the floor has paid major dividends as the Rockets have dealt with injuries this month. It was only a matter of time.
March has been one of the more special times in recent Rockets’ history and it will be bittersweet to see it end. However, more meaningful games are upon the horizon and as April begins, I doubt that we’ve been fed fool’s gold. The Rockets are really building something here.