To say the Houston Rockets played horrible defense in Atlanta this past weekend would be under scoring how brutal they were. The Rockets coughed up the ball 25 times and repeatedly allowed the Hawks to move anywhere they wanted on the court.
Observing the game was frustrating because much of their demise was effort based. Red Nation knew Ryan Anderson wasn’t a defensive specialist, but they didn’t pay him $80 million dollars to be a spectator either. Granted, other than K.J. McDaniels there wasn’t too many players one could point to who brought much defensive intensity. Capela attempted to stand his ground, but former Rockets center Dwight Howard threw him around like a rag doll.