Do the math: Houston Rockets let it rip from 3-point range, bury Oklahoma City Thunder

The Rockets' Jabari Smith Jr. celebrates after one of his six 3-pointers during Saturday's over Oklahoma City, in which Houston shot a season-high 41 times from distance. (Jason Fochtman/Houston Chronicle) Last season's Houston Rockets often played two opponents - the team on the other bench and math.

>The Rockets put themselves at a statistical disadvantage on too many nights last season by attempting 3-pointers at the fifth-lowest rate among NBA teams, per Cleaning the Glass. Coach Ime Udoka said in training camp that he wanted Houston to attempt more triples, and the Rockets did so in the preseason - averaging 45.3 long-range attempts per game.

>But even as Houston jumped out to a 5-1 record, it didn't eclipse 40 3-point attempts in any game. After Friday's loss to Dallas and before Saturday's matchup back at Toyota Center against the Oklahoma City Thunder, Udoka said the Rockets were passing up 3-pointers; on Saturday he estimated they turned down five to 10 in every game. They entered Saturday's game attempting 3-pointers at the fourth-lowest rate in the league, per Cleaning the Glass.

>"We like the semi-contested ones by our great shooters, and so sometimes you pass those up (and) you don't get a better shot on that possession," Udoka said - asked which players he wanted to take more, the coach identified Jabari Smith Jr. as one player turning triples down.

>The Rockets and the fifth-year forward showed no hesitancy firing away from deep later that night. Houston took a season-high 41 3-pointers, making 18 (43.9) in a 119-98 win over the hobbled Thunder. Smith led all scorers with 30 points and attempted a season-high 12 triples, making six.

>"It's just a thing that everybody preaches to me … not turning down no threes. Shoot them, (as) one of the best shooters, I got to make teams pay," Smith said. "So I've been trying to embrace it and find a balance between not settling so much and not turning something down.

>The Thunder, who are without two starting wings and power forward Chet Holmgren, often guarded Smith with guard Jared McCain. Smith's listed height is 8 inches taller than McCain's. That, combined with the forward's wingspan, make just about every shot an uncontested one.

>With that being the case and knowing his caliber as a shooter, how does Smith determine what's a good shot?

>It's less about a potential contest and more about his readiness to shoot. If he knows when his shot is coming, he's better equipped to fire away than in a random look where the defense could throw him off.

>"That's what it comes to, me knowing when my shot is gonna come," Smith said. " … That just comes with the flow of the offense and us playing a better brand of basketball. I know when my shot is gonna come.

>"I can see how the play is going to the point (where), ‘Okay cool, I'm (gonna) get a shot. Okay cool, I'm (gonna) fly off this handoff and shoot it.' "

Houston Rockets guard Marcus Smart (36) reacts after making a 3-pointer during an NBA basketball game at Toyota Center in Houston, Saturday, Oct. 31, 2026. (Jason Fochtman/Houston Chronicle) Smith now leads the Rockets with 47 long-range attempts and is shooting a scorching 44.7 on those looks.

>He wasn't the only Houston player to let loose from deep against the Thunder. Marcus Smart started in place of Fred VanVleet (right knee injury management) on the second half of the back-to-back and took 10 shots - all of them threes.

>He made seven and finished with 24 points, the extra three points coming on free throws that came when Smart was fouled on, you guessed it, a 3-point attempt.

>"He took all good shots outside of maybe one contested airball in the third in the corner," Udoka said.

>Said Smart: "They were leaving me open and essentially daring me to shoot, right? And that's what I did."

>Smart is now shooting 47.4% from deep, which would by far be his career-best mark on triples. Across his 13-year career, he only shot better than 35% from deep in one season - and yet, consistently fires away from deep, at times making defenses guard him like a more dangerous long-range shooter than those percentages would suggest.

>"It keeps them honest," Smart said of his consistent confidence on triples. "It allows them to have to think a little bit. … It helps the team, helps us keep our spacing and it just opens up a little bit more of everything on the court."

>A major reason why the Rockets got so many open looks from deep - including 19 high-value ones from the corner - was the Thunder's aggressive defense on stars Kevin Durant and Alperen Şengün, who returned after missing two games with back soreness. The duo saw additional bodies on what seemed like every touch and made the right read consistently.

>Sengun finished with nine assists. Durant, who got to rest for the entire fourth quarter, added four. The star forward scored 14 points on just nine field-goal attempts, the second time in seven games he took fewer than 10 shots after doing so just once in 78 games last season - a staggering reflection of how much less reliant the Rockets' offense is on the 38-year-old.

>Smith praised Durant for making the right reads when he faced double-teams. At the same time, Smith wants one of the best scorers in NBA history trying to put the ball in the hoop.

>"It's kind of a weird thing because we don't want him to shoot under 10 shots," Smith said. " … He was very efficient playing out of double-teams and just making a simple pass and I think we (were) just making hockey assists off of it.

>" … Yeah, he gotta shoot the ball more."

>ROCKETS 119, THUNDER 98

FGFTRebOKLAHOMA CITYMinM-AM-AO-TAPFPTSMitchell26:223-90-01-3546K.Williams21:293-72-22-73211Hartenstein24:463-84-41-70310Gilgeous-Alexander30:3410-203-41-43126McCain27:515-140-02-42310Mara27:433-71-13-9317Stirtz26:264-80-00-13211Jay.Williams26:191-61-10-4113Peavy13:411-20-00-1012Dix8:393-30-00-0027Barnhizer6:101-13-30-2005Totals240:0037-8514-1510-42202098Percentages: FG .435, FT .933.

class="text-ind">3-Point Goals: 10-32, .313 (Gilgeous-Alexander 3-6, K.Williams 3-6, Stirtz 3-6, Dix 1-1, Hartenstein 0-2, Jay.Williams 0-3, Mitchell 0-3, McCain 0-5).

class="text-ind">Team Rebounds: 5. Team Turnovers: 1.

class="text-ind">Blocked Shots: 4 (Mara 4).

class="text-ind">Turnovers: 13 (Gilgeous-Alexander 2, Hartenstein 2, K.Williams 2, Mara 2, McCain 2, Jay.Williams, Mitchell, Stirtz).

class="text-ind">Steals: 8 (Hartenstein 3, Barnhizer, Gilgeous-Alexander, Jay.Williams, McCain, Mitchell).

class="text-ind">Technical Fouls: None.

FGFTRebHOUSTONMinM-AM-AO-TAPFPTSDurant27:234-96-60-34114Smith Jr.33:1410-184-51-95030Sengun32:346-174-64-99416Smart35:427-103-31-53024Thompson28:093-82-22-3118Bogdanovic19:152-70-00-2124Eason19:093-70-00-3228Crawford18:413-60-01-1028Capela10:180-00-00-4210Tate5:350-40-02-3100Thornton5:352-30-01-1005Tshiebwe4:251-10-11-1102Totals240:0041-9019-2313-442913119Percentages: FG .456, FT .826.

class="text-ind">3-Point Goals: 18-41, .439 (Smart 7-10, Smith Jr. 6-12, Crawford 2-5, Eason 2-6, Thornton 1-1, Durant 0-1, Sengun 0-2, Bogdanovic 0-4).

class="text-ind">Team Rebounds: 11. Team Turnovers: None.

class="text-ind">Blocked Shots: 7 (Durant 3, Eason 2, Sengun, Smith Jr.).

class="text-ind">Turnovers: 10 (Bogdanovic 2, Eason 2, Sengun 2, Capela, Durant, Smart, Smith Jr.).

class="text-ind">Steals: 5 (Durant, Eason, Smart, Tate, Thompson).

class="text-ind">Technical Fouls: Smart, 9:31 first; Smith Jr., 8:42 first.

Oklahoma City26252423-98Houston35273027-119A_18,055 (18,500). T_2:04.

SubscribeThere’s more to Houston with the Chronicle. Subscribe today for just 25¢.This article originally published at Do the math: Houston Rockets let it rip from 3-point range, bury Oklahoma City Thunder.