KD, rising guards and bully ball: Inside the Rockets' Texas-sized offense

IT'S 9:20 PM ON Jan. 15, and a hooded Kevin Durant presses his right palm to his forehead, staring at a stat sheet and searching for what went wrong in a 20-point loss to the defending champion Oklahoma City Thunder.

"I feel like I'm missing good shots to be honest," he said. "We got up 104 looks. We didn't turn it over too crazy. My shotmaking is supposed to inspire the whole group."

It didn't on this night.

Durant made 7 of 23 from the field and missed all five of his 3-point attempts. For the Houston Rockets, this second matchup against OKC after a season-opening double-overtime loss, represented a shot at testing their mettle against the league's best. Instead, the Rockets would close out the worst seven-game stretch of 3-point shooting (58 of 236; minimum 200 attempts) in NBA history, according to ESPN Research, losing their fifth game in seven outings.

Not even 24 hours later, Houston coach Ime Udoka expressed resolve in his team's unconventional offensive approach and its potential for sustainability.

"The formula can work," he told ESPN.

By utilizing a by-committee approach at point guard due to a season-ending knee injury Fred VanVleet suffered before the start of training camp, the Rockets surprisingly rank No. 3 in the NBA in offensive rating (118.9). They've bullied their way here with a crushing, but methodical style (Houston ranks 28th in pace) featuring facilitation from a variety of sources within their enormous lineups, but mainly Durant and center Alperen Sengun.

Still, with unconventionality comes inconsistency, at least for the Rockets.

Udoka expects that to even out as the season progresses.

"What we do is hunt quality shots," Udoka said about 90 minutes before a late tipoff against the Minnesota Timberwolves at the Toyota Center on Jan. 16. "Non-conventionally [is] the way we're doing it this year as far as not having a true point guard out there, like a setup guy like Fred [VanVleet].

"Kevin and Alpi [Alperen Sengun] are drawing all that attention and getting open looks. And then a lot of teams are doubling, scrambling, and we're dominating on the glass. So, the formula is those guys are going to draw attention, draw a crowd, get the numbers behind it or we get the advantage."

Durant and Sengun proved Udoka's words prescient later that night against a Timberwolves team playing without star guard Anthony Edwards (right foot injury maintenance). The duo combined to score or assist on 77 points in a 110-105 victory, with Durant racking up a season-high 39 points on 11 of 18 from the field and 6 of 8 from 3-point range. The 37-year-old dropped buckets on seven different Minnesota defenders, as he tallied the second-highest scoring output by any Rockets player age 35 or older (Clyde Drexler scored 43 points against the LA Clippers in 1997), according to ESPN Research.

Sengun, meanwhile, contributed 25 points and 14 rebounds before fouling out near the end of his ninth performance this season with 25 points or more and at least 10 rebounds.

Bully ball in Houston was working again.

"We've got the talent," forward Jabari Smith Jr. told ESPN. "It's like we've just got to figure out how to make it work. It's untraditional, but you see flashes. And sometimes when the ball is moving and popping, that's when we build those leads and it really turns into something."

UDOKA AND THE Rockets coaching staff experimented all of last season playing big lineups and finished the 2024-25 campaign leading the NBA in offensive rebounds per game (14.6). Houston's size also allowed it to crash the offensive glass off misses with ferocity. That naturally yielded more second-chance points, another statistical category the Rockets led last season (18.1) on the way to a 52-30 record.

The approach nearly paid dividends in the playoffs against the aging and undersized Golden State Warriors. Houston took the Warriors to seven games. But even before that series, the Rockets knew they needed to add a go-to offensive player. Jalen Green was the club's top scorer (21.0 points per game) that season. But in just his fourth year in the NBA, the then-22-year-old wasn't consistent enough to carry Houston where it ultimately wanted to go.

Meanwhile, a disgruntled Durant sat languishing in Phoenix, a team that had engaged in talks with clubs around the league to move the former MVP months earlier around the February trade deadline without his knowledge.

Houston patiently watched and waited for Phoenix's asking price to drop, and it eventually did over the summer.

Green, meanwhile, had struggled in his role as Houston's offensive go-to player in the postseason. Outside of scoring 38 points in a Game 2 victory, Green averaged 9.2 points on 31.1% shooting in the other six contests, as the Rockets fell 4-3 to the Warriors.

"Even if you're really happy with your team, which we were, it's still my job to be looking at potential opportunities," Rockets general manager Rafael Stone said. "Because unless you're a champ, unless you literally just won the championship, you need to be better."

To get there, Houston consummated in July the largest trade in NBA history involving seven teams and a slew of picks and players -- including former Rockets Green and Dillon Brooks -- to acquire Durant, one of the league's most prolific scorers.

"When we need a bucket, there's not a lot of thinking," Rockets guard Amen Thompson said. "We just try to get KD the ball. You want to double Alpi and leave KD open? Want to double KD and leave me, Jabari and Reed on the backside roaming? He's an extra threat for sure."

The height of the 6-foot-11 Durant, a 15-time All-Star, only added to Houston's size.

"We saw something that worked last year and kind of tripled down, quadrupled down on it," Udoka said. "We became a bigger team. ... We're taking advantage of our size and the offensive rebounding that some of our guys naturally do. Amen's great at it, Tari's great at it, Steven's great at it. Jabari and some of those guys have grown into it, Alpi as well. So, it became a thing last year. But we've doubled down on it this year."

REED SHEPPARD SQUEEZED into a pair of tan suede cowboy boots and pulled on a mauve hoodie while sharing a laugh with veteran Jeff Green in the locker room after Houston defeated the Western Conference's second-place team, the San Antonio Spurs, on Tuesday behind the second-year man's team-high 21 points.

With Houston down eight points early in the fourth quarter of a contest it had trailed by as many as 16, Sheppard fired a 33-footer from the Toyota Center logo as Victor Wembanyama approached. The shot hit nothing but the floor. A large contingent of Spurs fans among the 18,055 in attendance howled with laughter.

Sheppard expected the worst when the no-nonsense Udoka approached during the next timeout.

"He was like, 'Dude, I love that shot. Don't worry,'" Sheppard said. "He could've easily [gone] the other way. It wasn't even close. But it was [about] having the confidence to shoot that and just play and not think."

Sheppard would go on to score eight points in a row in a span of 1:19, giving Houston its first lead of the second half by burying a 26-foot pull-up jumper with 4:45 left to play. Sheppard scored a team-high 12 points in the final frame, connecting on 3 of 5 from 3-point range.

"I love the five-point line pullup, even though he airballed it," Udoka said. "That shows his confidence. We're gonna need that for some guys in our lineup."

The average height this season across the NBA is 6-foot-7. But Houston's most utilized lineup -- Durant, Sengun, Smith, Josh Okogie and Thompson -- averages out to nearly 6-9. When the Rockets trot out their Texas-sized double-big lineup, four of the five players (Steven Adams, Durant, Sengun and Smith) stand at 6-11, with the 6-7 Thompson running point.

"When you get Alpi [Sengun], Steven and Jabari crashing like that, we're getting so many chances to get more offensive possessions with KD out there shooting along with me, Reed [Sheppard] and Jabari," Thompson said.

In Udoka's mind, Sheppard and rising star Thompson are crucial figures in Houston leveling out the ups and downs of navigating its nontraditional, bullying offense. Sheppard can help by aggressively attacking opposing defenses from the 3-point line. Thompson performs at his best when he's inflicting damage with penetration and attacking the rim for dunks and kickouts to teammates for open shots.

"When he can get off the glass and push and make those spectacular plays above the rim, especially at home, the crowd feeds off of it," Durant said of Thompson. "We feed off it."

Udoka agreed, but he's hungry for more growth from Houston's young guards.

"The formula can work as we're getting Reed and Amen up to speed with the point guard position," Udoka said. "That's what we have to do this year, and they've taken steps and grown in that area. ... They've got to find the balance of being aggressive, and in Amen's case, specifically, getting to the basket or finding guys to score. We know it's not going to happen overnight. But by the right time, later in the season, we want to see limited mistakes about certain things we're talking to them about and have them hitting their stride by the time real basketball starts."

HELP AT POINT guard doesn't appear to be incoming, according to Udoka, who told ESPN the organization hasn't discussed adding at the position as the trade deadline approaches.

Houston is hard capped, sitting at $1.25 million below the first apron.

"We've always been confident and talked about our depth and relying on all these guys with Aaron [Holiday] and Jae'Sean [Tate] and guys that aren't playing as much. We felt we had a team three-deep at every position with Clint [Capela] at the backup 5. So, [adding help at the trade deadline is] nothing we were looking at.

"We want to see what [Thompson and Sheppard] look like with a year of point guard play under their belt and getting Fred back eventually. For now, we want those guys to grow into that role."

Houston ranks 29th in the NBA in 3-point attempts (30.7 per game) and 25th in made 3-pointers (11.3), but the Rockets are sixth in 3-point percentage (37.0). So, it's clear that players such as Sheppard (40.9% from 3-point range), Durant (39.5%), Okogie (38.1%) and Eason (46.1%) are making the few 3-pointers that Houston does take count. Smith and newcomer Dorian Finney-Smith are also capable long-range threats, but the latter is still working his way back into the rotation after missing the first 27 games rehabbing from an offseason left ankle surgery.

Still, just 29.1% of the Rockets' scoring comes from the 3-point line.

Udoka expects Houston's shooters to perform when the ball finds them, but the club's potential second-chance scoring opportunities took a hit with Adams' latest injury setback presenting yet another challenge to Houston successfully sustaining its unconventional offensive approach. No. 6 all time in offensive rebounding percentage (15.33) behind Houston's No. 3 center Capela (15.38), Adams suffered what Udoka called "a severely sprained ankle" on Sunday against New Orleans and is out indefinitely.

Capela takes over as the primary backup center behind Sengun and will play alongside the latter in double-big lineups. Smith will also likely see time at center in some of Houston's lineups until Adams returns.

It's important to note the Rockets score 45.6% of their points in the paint, good for seventh in the NBA. That production could take a dip if Adams misses an extended period and Sengun and Capela struggle to fill in the gaps.

Still, the Rockets sit at No. 4 in the West and seem primed to advance past last year's first-round exit with Durant leading the way.

Utah Jazz coach Will Hardy worked alongside Udoka on Gregg Popovich's staff in San Antonio for three seasons (2016-17 to 2018-19), before rejoining Udoka in 2021 as an assistant in Boston, as the Celtics advanced to the 2022 NBA Finals.

Hardy sees a Rockets team and offense built in the image of his tough, no-nonsense friend.

During their days as assistants under Popovich, Hardy recalled the Hall of Fame coach encouraging disagreement and discourse in coaches' meetings. Popovich hated the idea of "yes men," but Udoka never fell into that category. Back then, Udoka stood his ground. And his resolve to do it now has only grown stronger, knowing that his unconventional scheme can reap benefits down the road that Houston hasn't experienced since the 1990s, when it last reached the NBA Finals.

"That's how they've played since he got there," Hardy said. "That's an identity that Ime and their roster has created. I don't see why it wouldn't be sustainable. It needs to be coupled with other things. But I don't think you could bail on your team's identity at a certain point. There are tactical elements in any playoff series that have to be navigated, but I think the overall personality of your team is something you want to establish and try to maintain as much as possible."