The ideal match to get going again. A very serious team at home at the start of the season, the Rockets, who have three defeats in a row, all in their home arena, welcome the Pistons next night. “ A team that plays very well, despite its record “, describes Jeff Green speaking of the worst team in the league, which has only just ended a series of 28 defeats in a row.
The Rockets veteran believes many of his team's recent mistakes are ” mental “. His coach Ime Udoka thinks so too. On Sunday, during a rare practice accompanied by a video session, the former Celtics mastermind was able to press what was wrong with the three lost games in question.
Defensive concerns in particular, since in this sequence, his Rockets displayed the worst defense in the league: 123 points conceded against the Pacers, 129 against the Suns and finally 131 against the Sixers, despite being deprived of Joel Embiid.
Not a “good thing” to be at 50%
The message delivered during this video session? “ A lot of mental preparation for us and pointing out what we want to be in the future. It's not a good thing to be at 50% wins. This means that we are on our way to reaching 41 wins and 41 losses. That would be an accomplishment in most people's eyes. But we don't like this feeling », blurts Ime Udoka.
Despite the current dynamic, his team displays a perfectly balanced record with 15 victories and as many defeats. Last season, at the same stage, the Texans had a much less rosy record (9v-21d). However, the coach who arrived last summer says he does not want to look back.
“ We want to…set a new standard for ourselves. We could very well be at 20v-10d. It's not very pleasant to be at 15v-15d. We want to show the lost matches and the points on which we were not up to par, and what we could do. We must prepare mentally and reach another level of preparation », he demands.
Attention to detail
Rather than the physical dimension, he insists on this “ mental aspect, attention to detail, knowledge of the game plan… The effort, the fighting spirit have been there since day one, so it's not a physical question. It's about focusing on the details. »
The strategist takes the example of the 42 points scored by Tyrese Maxey and how the other Sixers contributed to their big offensive output. “ We scored 127 points, that's obviously enough to win, but our defense in the last three games is the last in the league. We are 6th in the ranking for the year (editor’s note: 111 points conceded on 100 possessions), we want to see how we can get back to second place. »
His speech lives up to his demands set earlier in the season. They must not make us forget that, if the season ended today, his team, 10th in the West and just ahead of the Warriors in the standings, would compete for the “play-in”.
Jae'Sean Tate also recalls that the current team is “ completely different » from that of last year. New players, new roles…
“ Like the coach said, we don't worry about last year or the last game. We're just trying to prepare for a team coming off a win and start the new year on a good note. »
| Shots | Rebounds | |||||||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Players | MJ | Min | Shots | 3pts | L.F. | Off | Def | Early | Pd | Bp | Int | Ct | Party | Pts |
| Alperen Sengun | 30 | 32.1 | 54.0 | 31.8 | 71.9 | 2.7 | 6.6 | 9.2 | 5.1 | 2.5 | 1.0 | 0.8 | 3.3 | 21.1 |
| Fred Vanvleet | 29 | 37.8 | 39.9 | 38.7 | 87.4 | 0.3 | 3.7 | 4.0 | 8.6 | 1.7 | 1.1 | 0.6 | 2.0 | 17.4 |
| Jalen Green | 30 | 30.2 | 40.5 | 34.2 | 80.3 | 0.4 | 4.1 | 4.4 | 3.1 | 2.3 | 0.6 | 0.4 | 1.3 | 17.4 |
| Jabari Smith, Jr. | 29 | 30.5 | 49.2 | 37.0 | 82.1 | 2.0 | 6.6 | 8.6 | 1.6 | 1.2 | 0.6 | 0.8 | 3.1 | 13.7 |
| Dillon Brooks | 28 | 30.9 | 47.6 | 40.8 | 83.3 | 0.7 | 2.8 | 3.5 | 1.7 | 1.7 | 0.9 | 0.0 | 3.8 | 13.6 |
| Tari Eason | 21 | 21.7 | 46.0 | 37.0 | 63.6 | 2.1 | 5.0 | 7.1 | 1.2 | 1.0 | 1.3 | 0.9 | 2.3 | 9.4 |
| Aaron Holiday | 28 | 18.4 | 44.6 | 41.8 | 89.5 | 0.3 | 1.6 | 1.9 | 1.7 | 0.8 | 0.5 | 0.1 | 1.8 | 7.3 |
| Cam Whitmore | 7 | 9.1 | 50.0 | 33.3 | 50.0 | 0.4 | 1.4 | 1.9 | 0.3 | 0.4 | 0.4 | 0.1 | 0.9 | 6.6 |
| Jeff Green | 29 | 15.8 | 54.9 | 29.0 | 82.6 | 0.8 | 1.4 | 2.1 | 0.7 | 0.7 | 0.2 | 0.5 | 1.4 | 6.6 |
| Jae'sean Tate | 28 | 18.2 | 48.2 | 33.3 | 68.8 | 1.0 | 2.5 | 3.5 | 1.1 | 0.5 | 0.8 | 0.2 | 2.4 | 4.9 |
| Amen Thompson | 11 | 14.2 | 39.6 | 12.5 | 58.8 | 0.7 | 2.5 | 3.2 | 1.4 | 0.9 | 0.5 | 0.2 | 1.7 | 4.5 |
| Boban Marjanovic | 3 | 6.7 | 55.6 | 0.0 | 0.0 | 0.7 | 2.0 | 2.7 | 1.0 | 0.0 | 0.0 | 0.3 | 0.7 | 3.3 |
| Nate Williams, Jr. | 4 | 5.4 | 54.5 | 0.0 | 50.0 | 0.0 | 0.0 | 0.0 | 0.5 | 0.0 | 0.3 | 0.0 | 0.5 | 3.3 |
| Nathaniel Hinton | 5 | 5.3 | 44.4 | 80.0 | 0.0 | 0.4 | 0.6 | 1.0 | 0.2 | 0.2 | 0.0 | 0.0 | 1.0 | 2.4 |
| Jock Landale | 19 | 9.0 | 35.7 | 15.4 | 80.0 | 1.0 | 1.0 | 2.0 | 0.5 | 0.4 | 0.3 | 0.3 | 1.1 | 2.1 |
| Jermaine Samuels | 6 | 6.3 | 71.4 | 0.0 | 100.0 | 0.2 | 1.2 | 1.3 | 0.3 | 0.0 | 0.2 | 0.2 | 0.5 | 2.0 |
| Reggie Bullock | 12 | 8.3 | 35.0 | 35.3 | 100.0 | 0.2 | 0.9 | 1.1 | 0.3 | 0.2 | 0.1 | 0.1 | 0.6 | 1.8 |
