CHICAGO - With his 3-pointer missing and Utah's towering center Rudy Gobert at the rim, James Harden made a sharp move toward the lane and stopped.

He did not go to the basket. He did not fire a pass to the 3-point line. He did not retreat to the arc for a 3-pointer.

Harden stopped and took a midrange jump shot. There were no immediate reports of gasps of shock and horror from the bench.

Actually, the Rockets do make a midrange jump shot in most games. Some nights, they make more than one. But the most basic shot of most of their lives has become far rarer than any drive, dunk or other assorted highlights the Rockets manufacture.

"It's really different," forward Trevor Ariza said. "When I first got into the NBA, it was more so (take) the best available shot whether it be a 2 or 3. When I was a rookie and a couple years in, there were more guys that worked on their in-between game. But that has changed, and we have to be able to adapt to that.

Follow the NBA trend

"The game has changed. All you can really do is do your game plan. You can't worry about what was done in the past or what anybody else is doing. You can only worry about what you're trying to do and execute your game plan."

The NBA as a whole, and especially the Rockets, have been trending in this direction for years, especially this season. But in recent weeks, the Rockets have taken their determination to remove midrange jump shots from their repertoire to new levels, setting up a matchup Friday of the new-wave Rockets and old-school Bulls.

The Rockets get 38.2 percent of their scoring from 3-pointers, with the reigning champion Cavaliers, Sunday's opponent in Toyota Center, next at 35.6 percent.

The Bulls get the NBA's smallest portion of their scoring from 3-point range, just 19.9 percent.

The Rockets get just 4.6 percent of their scoring in midrange. The Rockets' devotion to 3s, layups and free throws is nothing new, but they have intentionally taken that to new levels.

In the seven games since the All-Star break, just 2.6 percent of their scoring has come from outside the paint and inside the 3-point line.

"We did talk about it," coach Mike D'Antoni said of the emphasis since the break. "When you add Lou Williams, you're going to get even more layups and 3-point shots. We have guys now that can create. We made them aware of that.

"We'd like to win it all, understanding there's some great teams out there. To be able to do that, we have to be who we are and we have to put it in overdrive. We can't muddle this up. We can't be somebody we're not. We can't go halfway down the road. We have to go at it full boat. They're trying to do that."

The Rockets are so all-in on their style that in addition to taking the most 3s in the NBA and increasing that average to 45.6 3-pointers in games since the All-Star break, they are also third in scoring from the free-throw line and inside the restricted area.

"If we play the right way and do what we need to do in our system, we get the shots we want, layups and dunks, free throws and 3s," guard Pat Beverley said. "It forces you to be aggressive. We have a team, the IQ is pretty high. Once we get in the paint, we can make the right plays from there.

"If you come in the paint and they collapse, you just read the defense. Get Clint (Capela) the oop or hit the guy that's out there on the 3."

Use your strength

This is not just about an organizational philosophy. The Rockets don't score in the midrange in large part because of what they believe, but also because they are not good at it.

Their 37 percent shooting on midrange shots ranks 28th in the NBA and barely better than their 36.2 percent 3-point shooting.

Even on a night like Wednesday, when the Rockets made just 25 percent of their 3s, the goal is not to stop taking 3-pointers but to get better looks from the arc and rim.

Whatever works

Still, D'Antoni said players have the green light to take midrange shots if they are open. Ryan Anderson will take the occasional fadeaway jumper. Nene shoots from the free-throw line or elbow. But those shots are rarely as open as a 3-pointer would be with another pass.

"There's not many times we pass things up," D'Antoni said. "We're usually shooting. Most of the time, it's maybe we were covered a little bit. We need to move it.

"The offense is set up that way and we have players that naturally do that anyway. It's not a big step on telling guys what we need and how we do it. I don't get mad at somebody that takes a 2. It happens, and it might happen frequently because they're trying to run us off the 3. But we do try to set that up. So far, we've been pretty successful with it."

jonathan.feigen@chron.com twitter.com/jonathan_feigen