The Rockets' Best Play Needs To Become A Weapon Again

The Houston Rockets need to find more success from pick-and-roll sets to help create more efficient offense.

Apr 18, 2026; Los Angeles, California, USA; Houston Rockets center Alperen Sengun (28) dribbles the ball against Los Angeles Lakers guard Luke Kennard (10) in the second half during game one of the first round of the 2026 NBA Playoffs at Crypto.com Arena. Mandatory Credit: Kirby Lee-Imagn Images | Kirby Lee-Imagn Images

Even when the offense struggled most for the Houston Rockets, there was one play set that they could still count on to create reasonably efficient shots: the pick-and-roll.

The Rockets have several big men they use in this set, like Alperen Şengün, Clint Capela, and Steven Adams when he returns from injury. The injured Fred VanVleet was a huge key behind their performance in the pick-and-roll as well.

Without a legitimate ball handler to snake around screens or shoot over the top if defenders go under, the Rockets haven't been able to maximize a set that they use to initiate a lot of their offense.

The starkest difference is in the production of the pick-and-roll ball handler, as the Rockets lost their lead creator on that play. Kevin Durant just invited double-teams when he used screens, and Amen Thompson and Reed Sheppard aren't polished enough ball handlers to truly do damage with the support of a screen.

According to NBA.com advanced stats, the ball handler during pick-and-roll sets created 17.6 points per game in the 2024-25 season. That would have been the seventh highest rate this season if the Rockets were able to replicate that production. That rate dropped to just 13.1 points per game for pick-and-roll ball handlers this season.

Another issue that implicates how much the Rockets miss VanVleet is their ball security on these sets. The Rockets had the third lowest turnover rate from pick-and-roll ball handlers in 2024-25, turning the ball over on just under 13 percent of their attempts with that set. This season, they turned it over 17 percent in pick-and-roll sets, which was the ninth highest rate in the league.

The turnover rate speaks to Houston's difficulty in passing out of double teams and hitting the rollers on the way to the basket. The Rockets almost had to move away from that play out of necessity, failing to find consistency with their scoring.

The performance from the bigs on pick-and-roll sets also must improve. Similar stats show that Rocket rollers score at one of the league's lowest frequencies on that play. The same was true last year.

This can partially be explained by Şengün's ability to pass on a roll to the rim, as well as his ability to take a pass after screen and slow the game down into an isolation set.

These elements may skew the numbers somewhat in terms of big man success on screens, but the set could still create more opportunities for the Rockets if utilized in the way Houston hopes it can.

The Rockets don't have many more avenues to create consistent scoring, other than taking care of the ball and getting good movement on a play initiated by a screen.