The Rockets Still Have No Firm Identity

The Houston Rockets are no longer 'punking' teams, with Head Coach Ime Udoka saying on several occasions this season that his team had been on the receiving end after a loss. The Rockets have established themselves as a team that could 'out-tough' their opponents on the court, smothering opposing offenses with elite defense and rebounding.

That no longer seems like the case for the current version of the Rockets. They may be missing key players in Fred VanVleet and Steven Adams, but the culture felt different even before Adams went out for the season.

The Rockets focus much more of their performance on the offensive end this season. They still have an elite perimeter defender in Amen Thompson, but there always seems to be a leak on defense outside of his play. Thompson is also usually matched up against the opposing team's top player, meaning that player may score despite Thompson's best efforts.

In the past, former-Rocket Dillon Brooks took that role of locking down opposing stars. Thompson and Tari Eason would assist Brooks with swarming and suffocating defense.

Now, Thompson is the only true defensive specialist after a significant regression by Eason on both sides.

Leaks spring up from basically every starter; whether its Eason or Reed Sheppard starting, Durant, Jabari Smith Jr., or Alperen Şengün. The swarming defense that was made an integral factor of the Rockets in the Udoka era has now fallen much short of their prior performance.

The biggest problem is that there is less of an emphasis on the team's defense when the offense hasn't performed consistently well either.

It would be different if the Rockets were outscoring teams by significant margins or leaning on their scoring in the clutch. Instead, they are one of the worst scoring teams in the waning moments of games, and their offense isn't good enough to be consistent against any opponent, let alone the elite teams they'll face in the playoffs.

If the offense can't do enough to support the team, the Rockets would do well to lean back on their defense. However, inattentive off-ball defense and rebounding at less than a historic level have made the Rockets seem human on defense, and they can't support their offense with offensive rebounding at the same rate they began the season.

A team with so much focus on rebounding likely doesn't have much elite shotmaking. Unfortunately for the Rockets, their identity was found in rebounding and defense, two factors that have majorly regressed this season. Now, there is no clear identity for the Rockets that could help them win consistently against the league's best.