Played the best game of the season! The Rockets changed their personnel strategy and released Amen Thompson!

The Rockets still defeated the Suns in the absence of Durant. Amen Thompson supplemented the firepower of Durant's absence and scored a team-high 28 points and 8 assists. In this battle, he was truly liberated due to the changes in the team. This column will help you understand through in-depth data analysis.

Amen's 28 points and 8 assists in this game are both the highest in the Rockets team. Even his 62.5% field goal percentage is the first among the Rockets. During the game, he performed several wonderful folding layups to show his physical talent. He can be said to be the number one contributor to the Rockets' defeat of the Suns. However, in fact, from this season, Amen Thompson is not as smooth sailing in this battle.

Amen's average points per game increased from 14.1 points last season to 17.9 points, but his two shooting percentages have dropped to a certain extent compared to last season. This is largely due to the new changes in the Rockets' use of him. Due to VanVleet's injury, the Rockets hope that he will take on more tasks with the ball and organizing offense, although it also makes up for some of the Rockets' overall The physical offense is normal, but Amen's two deficiencies have led to changes in his style of play that have limited his personal performance:

This season, Amen's shots after receiving the ball without dribbling accounted for 43.6%, while the shots with 3-6 dribbles and more than 7 dribbles accounted for 17.3% and 25.7% respectively, which means that Amen this season has a large number of shots after dribbling with the ball.

At the same time, Amen Thompson’s field goal percentage reached the highest of 56.8% when he catches the ball and shoots without dribbling. Dribbling with the ball will bring about a sharp decline in his shooting percentage. This can show that Amen is actually best at catching the ball and finishing directly instead of completing the shot and scoring by holding the ball and dribbling. This is exactly the opposite of the ball-holding organization task that the Rockets need him to undertake.

Another shortcoming is that Amen has distinct high-efficiency zones and inefficient zones in the offensive area: Amen Thompson's shooting percentage under the basket is as high as 70.2%, but once he leaves the basket area, his shooting percentage will drop off a cliff. This is also extremely contradictory to the task of organizing with the ball, because Amen will only attract defenses to send assists when he breaks through to the basket with the ball. The prerequisites for such assists are too stringent, so the fundamental reason for the decline in his shooting percentage this season is that the Rockets did not use him correctly.

The change made by the Rockets in this game is that Shepard mentioned the starting lineup. The Rockets have decent organizers in the starting lineup and no longer need Amen to control the ball for a long time. Therefore, Amen also has many secondary shots after receiving the pass. Distribution is converted into assists. The change of lineup has returned Amen to a familiar position, and Amen is the most professional counterpart in finishing at the basket: Amen's 70.2% shooting rate at the basket ranks first among players in the league who average more than 5 shots at the basket per game. 1, and almost all players with a higher shooting percentage than him are inside players. In the area under the basket, Amen Thompson can be said to have both production and efficiency;

Amen has averaged 3.1 shots after air cuts per game this season. And his air-cutting score of 5.5, which ranks third in the league in both the number of shots and the number of points scored, and his shooting percentage on air-cutting shots is also in the middle and upper reaches of the 10 people with the most air-cutting scores. These can show that he is a perfect end point for catching the ball.

At the same time, when Amen was defending the opponent's defender, the defender's opponent's shooting percentage was only 37.8%. This means that the current Thompson has a strong finishing ability at the basket and the ability to block the opponent's outside players. He is an alternative 3D player: stronger at the basket but weaker in three-pointers. He can handle the ball twice and has super perimeter defense. The changes to the Rockets' lineup in this game also allowed him to be his true self.