Kelvin Sampson has said that the Houston Rockets must work on defending their three-point line.

The Southwest side reached the playoffs for the first time in four seasons last year, but lost to the Oklahoma City Thunder in the first round.

The assistant coach told the team's official website: "I think the area for improvement this year is defending the three-point line, we gave up way too many corner threes last year. A lot of that was because of what we were trying to take away.

"In the NBA, defensively, no matter what coverage you're in or what schemes you're trying to run, you've got to decide what you're willing to give up. Last year we were willing to give up slot 3s as long as they were contested.

"Where we got hurt last year was the extra pass to the corner, a lot of times our corner guy got caught in a stunt."

Sampson has been an assistant at Houston since 2011.