Houston Rockets: Second unit shows potential in preseason finale
San Antonio Spurs rookie Stephon Castle made his move toward the middle of the floor, but Houston Rockets forward Tari Eason stuck with him, close enough to share his shirt.
Eason showed few signs of what he had in mind. He rarely does. But he reached in toward Castle's dribble, got a hand on the ball, and that was all he needed for Eason's Rockets teammate Amen Thompson to swoop in to grab the ball and take off the other way like a sprinter out of the starting blocks.
It took Thompson four seconds to go from the turnover to dunk. He was credited for the steal, though it likely should have gone to Eason. But well before the Rockets finished off a 129-107 preseason rout of some of the Spurs on Thursday, it had become clear that stat crews around the NBA were in for a challenge to determine how to assign steals when Thompson and Eason share the floor as a two-man defensive swarm.
That has not happened much in the preseason. Coming back from last season's surgery to his left leg, Eason played in just two of the Rockets' four preseason games, and then only in three five-minute stretches each game. Thompson started the other one of those games, at Oklahoma City, limiting the time he and Eason could share.
But the defensive potential of a Rockets second unit with Eason and Thompson playing together was clear.
"If we're locked in on defense, I think it's going to be very tough for guys to score on us," said Eason, who looked much more like himself than against the Thunder when he saw his first playing time since last Jan. 1. "So, we just have to be locked in to our defensive principles and the (scouting report) and everything will take care of itself."
The Rockets' defense was inconsistent on Thursday, allowing 43.2% shooting to a Spurs team that held out Victor Wembanyama, Chris Paul, Jeremy Sochan and Keldon Johnson. But the potential of the second unit to be unusually disruptive, particularly when playing with starter Fred VanVleet or backup Reed Sheppard, guards who play with similar ball-hawking determination.
"I liked it," Rockets coach Ime Udoka said . "I think we specifically looked at (Eason) and Amen together, especially when we had Fred and Reed out there with those two a lot, and then (with) Steven (Adams, the Rockets' second-team center.) We tried to match some size, athleticism and all that with the smaller backcourt and obviously, Steven adds to that as well. I like what I saw with them.
"You add Amen to that group and then some really good defenders with size behind the smaller guards and wanted to get a look at it. Like what we saw."
In the second half, he also looked at playing that second-team frontcourt with his starting guards, VanVleet and Jalen Green. That worked well, also, with Green heating up to score 30 points in his 27 minutes on 8 of 16 shooting.
Udoka said he played that group to "take a look, to see if we felt comfortable with that."
Other than that experiment, the Rockets' final game of a 3-1 preseason offered a relatively clear look at the rotation Udoka has in mind for the start of the regular season Wednesday against the Charlotte Hornets.
He said that he does not expect Adams and Eason to play with a minutes restriction as they have in the preseason. Eason played 14 1⁄2 minutes on Thursday, scoring six points with five rebounds and three assists as the Rockets outscored the Spurs by 17 while he was on the floor. Adams played 15 1⁄2 minutes, scoring four points with seven rebounds and two assists as the Rockets outscored the Spurs by 19 when he played.
Though the Rockets' second and third regular-season games are in a back-to-back, Udoka said it has not been determined if Eason and Adams will be cleared to play on consecutive nights after missing most (Eason) or all (Adams) of last season with injuries.
Eason brought a reminder of what the Rockets had been missing. A possession after he triggered Thompson's fast-break dunk, Eason drove to an easy finger roll. The next possession, he drove and drew the defense, setting up Steven Adams for a dunk.
He especially seemed to fit with the second unit and another switch-everything defender in Thompson.
"It definitely suits me well," Eason said. "I feel like I can play in any system but definitely just running and going and just playing at a fast pace plays to a lot of guys' strengths. I think we have a lot of athletes, guys who can get up and down the floor.
"We have other guys who can defend. Jalen got a block. Dillon (Brooks.) Fred is handsy. Reed is handsy. It's not just us (Eason and Thompson.) If we're all connected, I think we're going to be a really great defensive group."
Thompson is in the middle of all of that. Though he seems certain to come off the bench, as opposed to his starting role late last season when Alperen Şengün was out, his ability to play every position, or to just play without concern of fitting into any specific position, makes him especially impactful. He scored 18 points in 20 minutes on Thursday, impacting the game so greatly on both ends, the Rockets outscored the Spurs by 25 points when he played.
"I felt good," Thompson said. "I was trying to push the tempo, get out on the break and run, really just play my game. That's a scrappy trio with (three from among) me, Fred, Tari, Reed. You can see it on the court. Fast breaks pick up. Defensive intensity picks up. I love that group."
On Thursday, in a final tuneup before the season will begin, they showed why.
