Rockets' Ryan Anderson hopes to see defensive improvement

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Rockets forward Ryan Anderson will likely spend much of his night Tuesday matched up with Oklahoma City's Carmelo Anthony, giving him a chance to see how he is progressing on one of his primary goals.

"I want to be better defensively," Anderson said. "I want to be better about communicating on the floor. These are the things I'm going to focus on. Shots are going to come and go. Shooting a 3-pointer isn't necessarily something I have to work on much more. It's more so the little things, getting comfortable back end of the offense, playing with Chris (Paul) on the court.

"It's a different beast when you're playing in a game versus in training camp. We're just going to keep getting better each game as they go. Defensively, I want to get it down. I want to be really better for this team."

Anderson is about 10 pounds lighter than last season, but said he believed much of his improvement on the defensive end could come with his familiarity with the Rockets defense in his second season.

"I'm not the quickest guy in the gym," he said. "Being in the right position is something I can control. Communicating is something I can control. Last year was our first year in this system, first year with coach (Jeff) Bzdelik. For me, I know this year is going to be that much better because I know this system so much more. It's instinctive coming into this year."