The Rockets’ position as the second seed in the Western Conference looks strong. They’re two games up in the loss column ahead of nearby competitors. The rotation is tightening, and the team is gearing up for the young core’s postseason debut. There are a few gears still looking pretty loose though. One is the team’s free-throw shooting. It could wind up costing them.
How The Rockets’ Free-Throw Shooting Could Cost Them
Houston Rockets center Alperen Sengun had his season-high in free throws made on Thursday night. He went 11-13 from the stripe in a win over the Utah Jazz. Overall, though, the Rockets’ performance at the free-throw line this season has been far from a highlight. Sengun himself has had a season-high in free-throw attempts of 17. In that game, a loss to the Sacramento Kings, the talented Turk went 10-17 from the charity stripe.
While fifth in attempts, the Rockets are dead last in the NBA in free-throw percentage. They’re currently sitting at 74.1% with only eight games left in the season to improve on that number. Sengun being the team’s foremost representative at the line is certainly part of the problem. He averages 5.6 free-throw attempts per game and shoots just 69.3% on them. That isn’t a terrible percentage for a big man, but it’s not one you’d expect from a finesse post-scorer.
Houston’s problem is bigger than Sengun though. Certainly, improved free-throw shooting ought to be high on his offseason wishlist. While the Rockets run so much of their offense through number 28, his struggles are always going to have an outsized impact on the team’s overall percentages. But Houston’s problem is exacerbated by just about everyone else as well. In a way, that’s even including the teams’ best free-throw shooters.
The Rockets’ Top Free-Throw Shooters
The Rockets’ highest percentage player this season has technically been NBA champion Jeff Green. At 85%, he leads the team. However, he’s shot a total of 20 attempts this season. Everyone knows the team’s real best free-throw shooter is NBA champion Fred VanVleet. He’s shot 82.9% on 129 attempts this season. The problem for the team, though, is that that’s only 2.3 attempts per game. The number is even lower when it comes to normal play.
Many of VanVleet’s attempts have been in intentional fouling situations after his teammates have fearfully crammed the ball into his hands. There’s no need to wonder why they do so either. VanVleet is shooting 94.1% from the line in “clutch” situations this season. Because of the Rockets’ various other offensive vulnerabilities, they find themselves in clutch situations quite often. Jalen Green, Houston’s iron man this season, has played in 41 “clutch” games in 2024-25. VanVleet has appeared in 31.
A Green Light At the Line
Like VanVleet, Green has also shot well from the free-throw line, both overall and in the clutch. Overall, he’s at 81.5%, and in the clutch, that has risen to 88.9%. But Green has a similar problem to VanVleet in that he simply doesn’t draw enough fouls to offset Houston’s inferior free-throw shooters. Green is second on the team in attempts at 4.1 per game. That’s certainly nothing to scoff at. It’s a very slight drop from last season but can easily be attributed to him taking more threes than ever before. He’s taking 8.4 three-pointers a game compared with 7.4 in 2023-24.
Considering that Green’s also shooting the best three-point percentage of his career, it’s fair to say that he’s on the right track. But it’s still the case that Green is 31st in free-throw attempts per game among all guards. Guards renowned for their athletic prowess, like Green, might be expected to average more. Anthony Edwards averages 6.3 and Ja Morant averages 6.6 per game.
In Green’s defense, however, his usage places him similarly at 27th among guards. Meanwhile, Morant is seventh and Edwards is sixth. Perhaps Green could do more to elicit foul calls through some chicanery, such as Houston guards have been known for in the past. But Green’s judgment about when to challenge a big at the rim has always been haphazard as it is. His biggest issue right now is his tendency for late-game turnovers. That forces coach Ime Udoka to put the ball in the hands of VanVleet (who struggles to generate offense) or Sengun (who can be dicey at the line).
“The Others” as Free-Throw Expert Shaquille O’Neal Would Say
Finally, there are the players really dragging Houston’s free-throw percentage down, key pieces in the tightening rotation. Possible future superstar Amen Thompson is shooting 68.1% on 3.7 attempts per game. Then there’s Steven Adams, averaging 43.8% on 1.7 attempts. Adams will virtually never close games, so his free-throw shooting won’t be much of an issue. Thompson is trickier, but also thankfully nowhere near as bad. Houston will want his defense, rebounding, and rim pressure to close games and will live with the possibility of an awkward showing at the line.
The rest of Houston’s core have all been thoroughly respectable from the line this year. Tari Eason, Jabari Smith Jr, and Dillon Brooks have shot 78.8%, 82.1%, and 82.6%, respectively. They just don’t get there very often despite their aggression. Eason and Smith have also seen their percentages drop somewhat on limited attempts in the clutch.
The Last Word
The core of Houston’s problem this season has been an offense that fails to maintain leads. That creates close games out of one-time aspiring blowouts and makes Houston vulnerable to every single one of their many, many missed free throws. On top of that, their primary offensive engine is an occasional liability at the line. The situation conspires to make it likely that Houston’s free-throw shooting will attract attention this postseason. Still, it’s attention the team will live with. It might cost them games, but at the start of the season, Rockets fans would’ve paid dearly for playoff games at all.
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