The Oklahoma City Thunder have not gotten many offensive rebounds through two games against the Houston Rockets.
In Game One, the Thunder had seven, four of which were from center Steven Adams. In Game Two they had eight while the Rockets had 11.
Thunder head coach Billy Donovan said that offensive rebounding is difficult because of the way Houston switches its matchups on defense and then gts out in transition.
“The challenge is because of all the switching that Houston does, you’re going to have a variety of cross-matches,” he said.
“Houston is terrific in transition and they shoot the 3 in transition. So for us, I think the biggest thing is, we’ve gotta get back first and foremost.”
Sending extra players to crash the glass hard could have positive results, but it could also prove dire for the way the Rockets get out in transition.
Slightly over 20 percent of Houston’s possessions this season were in transition, the third-most in the league. They averaged about 26 points per game, the second-most.
The Rockets took 17.8% of their shots with 18 to 22 seconds remaining on the clock, the third-most in the league, and 22.1% with 15-18 seconds on the clock, the most in the league.
It’s not just that the Rockets get out quickly. The opposing team is mixed up by the way the Houston plays defense.
The Rockets switch on almost every pick-and-roll, which skews up the matchups. Houston works with that — their lineup is just wings and guards, relatively interchangeable — but that can get Oklahoma City stuck with matchups they don’t want.
“You’re going to have situations where James Harden could be on Steven Adams, and you could have (P.J.) Tucker on Chris Paul, you could be totally cross-matched,” Donovan said.
“We’re just not gonna send a lot of people to backboard and really kind of hurt the integrity of our defense at the point of attack, which starts in transition.”
The Thunder already had the fewest offensive rebounds in the league during the regular season, averaging 8.2 a game. The Rockets, even without centers for a substantial part of the year, were right in the middle of the pack of defensive boards with 34.5 per game.
Against the Rockets, that likely won’t get better as Oklahoma City presses for better defense.
“The more we can get the floor back, balanced and get back, and load up, try to protect the paint, I think the better off we are,” Donovan said.
[lawrence-related id=436879,436875]