Carmelo Anthony Explains Key to Rockets' Dominance on Offensive Glass

The Houston Rockets attack the glass. Even if you’ve been under a rock, you know that.

The Rockets boast a litany of size up and down their roster, They can trot out the jumbo lineup or the double-big lineup, whenever they want.

They have a 6-foot-7 point guard in Amen Thompson, who ranks 19th in offensive rebounds with 2.7 per contest. Some centers don’t even average that.

Granted, Thompson isn’t exactly a point guard, but that’s a conversation for a later day. And he’s an alite athlete, so it’s not like he’s just a run in the mill player.

But still.

The Rockets are going to outhustle you on the boards, especially offensively. Steven Adams ranks first in offensive rebounds with 4.5 per contest, and he’s grabbing one in every four offensive boards.

It’s quite difficult to box him out or out work him on the glass. And when teams use additional bodies to specifically negate his offensive rebounding (or attempt to), it clears the lane for other players to grab offensive rebounds.

Like the aforementioned Thompson. Or Alperen Sengun, who ranks 14th with three offensive rebounds per contest.

All told, the Rockets lead the league in total rebounds, offensive rebounds and offensive rebound percentage.

So what’s the key?

Former Rockets wing and recent Hall of Fame inductee Carmelo Anthony explained the key to Houston’s success on the boards on NBA on NBC and Peacock’s pregame coverage prior to the Rockets-Nuggets tip-off on Monday.

“I just think it’s not an accident, when it comes to their elite rebounding. You’re talking about positioning, you’re talking about guys who attack the glass at all positions. You’re talking about Sengun having IQ and positioning on the glass. You’re talking about Steven Adams, one of the greatest offensive rebounders that this game has ever seen.

And he’s doing it on a night to night basis.”

Anthony continued.

“Those kick out threes are deadly threes, when Steven Adams and those guys kick it out for a three. And we also get a chance to see KD. We’re talking about efficiency. The whole Houston team is more efficient understanding and knowing that we have offensive rebounding. We have Steven Adams, we have Sengun. We have Okogie out of the corner, we have Jabari attacking the offensive rebounds. So they’re attacking the offensive glass by committee and KD is just gonna do what he do.”

Houston also leads the league in second-chance points and their overall dominance on the offensive glass is a big contributing factor for their third-ranked offense.