Rockets continue early-season dominance with win over Cavaliers

The Houston Rockets beat one of the NBA's top teams Wednesday night in the same way they beat most teams: On the offensive glass.

Steven Adams grabbed six of Houston's 16 offensive rebounds in a 114-104 win over the Cleveland Cavaliers. The Cavs shot nearly as well as the Rockets from the field and got to the foul line more often, but the Rockets' ability to get second chances off their misses gave them a crucial edge that the Cavs couldn't overcome.

Steven Adams and the Rockets are rebounding at a historic rate

The Rockets are leading the NBA in offensive rebound rate by a huge margin. Going into Wednesday's game, they were grabbing 38.6 percent of available offensive boards. That's far ahead of the second-place Portland Trail Blazers, who are securing 31.4 percent. It's the best team offensive rebounding rate in the last 30 seasons.

Adams is a big part of this. He's grabbing 5.5 offensive rebounds per game with an offensive rebounding rate of 27.2 percent. That would be the best offensive rebounding rate in NBA history, except that his teammate Clint Capela is corralling 29 percent of his team's missed shots. Third-best in NBA history? That would be Adams' last season, where he got 21.8 percent of offensive rebounds.

That's how the Rockets are No. 1 in offensive rating while giving big minutes to defense-first players like Adams, Amen Thompson and Josh Okogie. Sure, the Rockets would prefer Thompson to shoot better than 20 percent from three-point range, but misses don't matter as much when your teammates end up nearly 40 percent of them.

Kevin Durant is leading an efficient Rockets shooting attack

One of the biggest signs of the Rockets' unconventional approach to killer offense is that they're first in offense while being last in the league in attempted three-pointers. But by percentage, they're the most accurate outside shooting team in the league, making 42.6 percent of their threes as a team.

Kevin Durant has usually led the way, shooting 37.7 percent from distance and 49.6 percent overall, but even when he has an off night like Wednesday's 6-for-18 performance, his team can pick him up. Plus, it's not just Durant's excellent efficiency that helps the Rockets. It's that Durant can get up a good shot from so many places on the court that teams often have to choose between contesting KD's shot and going for a rebound.

After Durant entered the game in the fourth quarter, the Rockets scored on six straight possessions, stretching a three-point lead to 12 points. The biggest play came when Durant missed, Jabari Smith, Jr. (14 points, nine rebounds) grabbed the offensive rebound, and Aaron Holiday eventually sank a three off a Durant pass. One play later, Holiday, who had 14 fourth-quarter points, got a three-point play off another Durant dime.