The Rockets’ best defense against the Warriors is a great offense

The Houston Rockets gave up 126 points, and yet their defense wasn’t the real problem in Sunday’s Game 4 beatdown, a decisive 41-point blowout that puts them down 2-1 in these Western Conference Finals.

Not everything in the 126-85 defeat was defensible — like Stephen Curry’s third quarter explosion — but Houston proved frustrating for long stretches, especially in the first half. The Rockets’ real problem was how few chances they got to set up that otherwise effective defense, and how often they were chasing after a Warriors’ transition opportunity after a turnover or blown layup.

Think of Houston, and you think of offense. They’re coached by Mike D’Antoni, an offensive savant who has set in motion several league trends. They have James Harden and constantly shoot threes. Well, that’s what let them down on Sunday, not the defense that finished sixth in the league during the regular season. It was never a fair fight.

Houston turned the ball over 19 times, ceding 28 points off those instances. They shot 9-of-21 at the rim in the first half, and many of those blown layups acted like turnovers, too. Think about what happens off a missed layup: the shooter is often behind the backboard or on the floor, the defense can catch the ball and immediately start a fast break, and in Houston’s offense, two shooters spacing the floor in the corners have huge distances to recover. The Rockets have tried to mitigate those fast breaks by sending a corner shooter back early, but Golden State still generated 23 points in transition, and more in secondary transition action that just isn’t officially counted as such.

Last Wednesday, we saw exactly what the Rockets need to do, even if their role players don’t all break out at once. A quicker tempo offensive attack led to a 64 percent True Shooting Percentage, which meant less chances for Golden State to run.

Houston played a little too slow on Sunday, and they turned it over way too often. Some of them were inexcusable — Eric Gordon bobbling the ball, or James Harden driving directly into a defender and being stripped of the ball. D’Antoni had another word for it.

The Rockets are capable of tilting the floor against Golden State, getting the momentum moving towards the Warriors and forcing them to run against a set defense while going the other direction. They can’t defend every Curry explosion, and they’ve basically given up on stopping Kevin Durant in isolation. But if the Houston offense scores enough, those things aren’t quite as lethal as they were in Game 3.

Golden State has won 16 straight times at home in the playoffs, a new NBA record. They might be the greatest team of all time, and they have been the favorites in this series ever since it started. But Houston can win Game 4, and they have to if they want to take this series. They can’t go down 3-1.

It’ll take more than 33 points on 12-of-32 shooting from Harden and Chris Paul. It’ll take more than 11 three-pointers on 34 attempts. Houston probably needs more from Eric Gordon (11 points), or a bigger game from P.J. Tucker (six points), or something else, especially with Luc Mbah a Moute’s shoulder injury rendering him virtually unplayable. That hit to their defense — Mbah a Moute is another guy who can guard one through five — has to be made up for on the other end.

Play better offense, stop missing layups, and the Rockets won’t give up 126 points again. It still might not be enough, but look, that’s the best that Houston can do.