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Houston Rockets’ Defense And The NBA’s Rising Foul Rate

Originally posted on Last Word On Sports | By Jimmy Vik | Last updated Nov 29, 2025 7:00 AM ET

Houston Rockets fans have much to be thankful for so far this season. Even with the addition of immaculate scoring talent Kevin Durant, few had them pegged as the number-two offensive rating in the league. Yet it’s on defense where the Rockets truly hang their hats. It’s no surprise, then, that with a defensive revolution happening in the NBA, the Rockets are fast in the scrum at the heart of it.

Houston Rockets’ Defense And The NBA’s Rising Foul Rate

The NBA is seeing the highest volume of free throws per field goal attempts since the 2010-11 season. Defences across the league are becoming smarter, more aggressive, and let’s face it, more exploitative of a practically unenforceable rule set. The leaders in this defensive gameification are the reigning champion Oklahoma City Thunder. Their hyper-aggressive perimeter defense took them to 68 wins last season, and has them maybe on their way to 70 in 2025-26. Fouls are up because of other teams trying to follow their lead. Meanwhile, the Houston Rockets are busy getting up to their own brand of defensive mischief.

The Rockets are sixth in defensive rating so far in 2025-26. Mostly, they’ve carried over the same tricks from their fifth-ranked defensive rating last season. One of the more wholesome of those is the particular attention they pay to corner threes.

Nothing More Dangerous than a Cornered Animal

Houston’s defense allows the lowest corner three percentage in the NBA. So far, it’s all the way down at a likely unsustainable 28.4%. The team forces that corner percentage while also holding opponents to the seventh fewest attempts at 8.4 per game. It’s a repeat of 2024-25, when the Rockets allowed the third-fewest corner three attempts at 8.5 and the ninth-lowest percentage at 37.8%. In a fascinating contrast between two elite defenses, the team that allowed the most attempts was OKC.

When the ball does make it to the corners against the Rockets, they close out hard, either contesting the shot with length or discouraging it entirely. It’s particularly noticeable when you see the likes of big men Alperen Sengun and Steven Adams go flying up in the air out there. They’re the kinds of players you would expect to close out somewhat gingerly, afraid to get blown by or tricked into a foul. However, Houston doesn’t tolerate corner close-outs like that.

The three-point line is closest to the basket in the corners (22 feet), and open looks from there are among the highest value shots in basketball. The James Harden Rockets famously sought to exploit that on offense. The current Rockets are seeking to exploit it on defense. As with anything, though, to take something away, you have to give something up.

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Three of One, Quarter-Dozen of the Other

Houston allows the fifth-most above-the-break threes in the NBA. Clearly, Houston’s gamble is that they can live with more of those longer-distance, more commonly self-created shots. The priority is to preserve the integrity of the defense below that point.

In the modern NBA, however, it’s not as if above-the-break threes are necessarily bad shots. Most NBA players in 2025 can make that shot in their sleep. Indeed, they shoot 37.2% on the shot against the Rockets. That’s the fifth-highest above the break three-point percentage in the league. Fifth most attempts on the fifth-highest percentage sounds like a recipe for disaster, and yet the team’s defense is ticking along just fine. That’s even without a conventional defensive anchor manning the middle.

The Dark Arts of Physicality

The Rockets’ other trick on defense is the far more eye-jabbing one. Physicality. In other words, the team that gets away with the most uncalled fouls probably wins the basketball game. The stats to showcase Houston’s willingness to skirt on the edges of the rulebook are few and far between. For instance, the Rockets have the tenth-lowest opponent free-throw rate in the NBA. It’s the fouls and near-fouls that aren’t called that make an defense elite. Not breaking the rules as much as you can get away with puts you at a strategic disadvantage.

It’s fitting that the Rockets were able to make full use of the philosophy against the Golden State Warriors in Wednesday night‘s Cup game. Warriors’ physicality guru Draymond Green has been hands-on teaching the Rockets his craft for years. In this game, Rockets defenders chucked Warriors superstar Stephen Curry between them like workers at a timber yard. The result was a 4 of 13 night for Curry and a 104-100 win for the Rockets.

The Last Word

Of course, victory was short-lived for the Rockets, who were quickly eliminated from the NBA Cup regardless. Also, in evidence of a disconcerting trend, Curry was injured in the game. The ultra physical brand of basketball encouraged by the NBA’s haphazardly enforced rulebook seems to pair poorly with the relentlessness of an 82-game schedule. Ownership will never agree to the revenue loss of a shortened season. It seems likely then that physicality is fast approaching a bubble. How quickly or effectively it will be popped will be a problem for future seasons. For now, don’t cry foul as the Rockets and teams like them take full advantage.

This article first appeared on Last Word On Sports and was syndicated with permission.

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