Houston Rockets assistant coach Chris Finch has said that the team needs to work on maintaining its offense late in the game.

The Rockets reached the playoffs last season, but lost to the Oklahoma City Thunder in the first round.

Finch told the team's website: "We actually abandoned our offense too much to go to late-game isolation situations and you see what happens when you have players in isolation or in simple NBA sets where the defenses, which are at heightened intensity at that point in time, are locked-in on game plan and taking away what you do best.

"They're forcing your best players into hard shots and then when you have other players who aren't able to create their own offense the way a James Harden can, it becomes even tougher.

"So the key for us this season is staying with that fluidity later, keeping that unpredictability as well as mixing in sets that emphasise Dwight's touches, James's touches, and whoever else has it going that we feel has a mismatch or is playing well in that game."

The Rockets face the New Orleans Pelicans in their first pre-season game on Saturday.