No, we just have to prove to teams that we can win games in different ways when our shots aren't falling. The problem is that MDA is so scared to tell his players to find a different way of scoring bc he feels, and I quote, it will "make them think twice and start second guessing their shot" which can lead a drop off in confidence. Telling a team "GUYS LETS FIGUERE OUT A WAY TO SCORE BC ITS NOT OUR NIGHT TONIGHT" shouldn't be that hard but apparently it is.
Hakeem said similar things about those prime Phoenix teams of the 90's. From memory, he called them, "small." Implying he was not scared of them and backed it up with some fine, fine performances.
Considering were an elite offensive team using MDA's strategy, the logic would be that we find another way to defend rather than another way to score. We do not have the talent to have a second way to score that is effective against top teams. And that's no one's fault. There's no reason we should have an elite offense or a great 2nd way to score given the resources that were at our disposal this past offseason. But the owner/management did something genius, they said we can put all our chips in one basket: an offense that assaults team so hard, it succeeds 99% of the time. And it worked. And we are amazing at it. And all our opponents tried to stop it, we took 82 bullets, and our offense came through 75+ times. Here's what it takes to guard our offense (and these things have to be done simultaneously): 1) Run us off the 3pt line 2) Protect the inside with athletic forwards and a defensive C 3) Don't let a bench featuring Gordon, Lou Williams and Nene outscore you significantly. There are basically 2 teams that have succeeded in doing this to us, and those are the Jazz and Warriors. The Spurs, Cavs and 25 other teams couldn't do this. But just as with players we should target in the offseason, the room for improvement is on defense. We should not tamper with the offense. We should tamper with the defense. It would be awesome if it were the case that we are underperforming defensively, but we are not. We are performing exactly at the level of our team defense. All teams turn it up in the playoffs, including the Rockets. There are 2 factors that I think make some teams turn it up more than others: 1) Coaching and management. This works in our favor. I will take a trio of Morey, MDA and Bzdelik over anyone. And we have had more practice time (and rest time) after the All Star break than almost all teams. And we have known our playoff opponent for a while now so that's more time to plan. MDA is truly a tactical master. Morey is one of the, if not the best, at studying what happened and suggesting things to stop and things to do. Bzdelik as you know has a history of being a defensive mastermind and while he has had no chance of succeeding with this level of defensive talent, he can definitely contribute more in a format where we play the same team over and over. This is a big plus for us. This factors into how much a team turns it up in the playoffs. 2) Heart, hustle, determination. At the beginning of the season, I thought this team lead the league in this category. More recently I'm not so sure. Their post All Star break performances have been average. And this is a theme in the Harden era. We do extremely well when we are underdogs, and as soon as we get recognized for it we drop. This is a team full of players with chips on their shoulder. We are not loaded with top draft picks and marquee free agents. Harden, Gordon, Anderson, Lou, Ariza, Bev, Capela... these are guys that were undervalued tremendously most of their careers, and even this season they were told by the media they'd collectively win 41. They need to rediscover that chip on their shoulder. Unfortunately this team needs to be kicked down by the media to get fired up and I wonder if losing MVP, COTY, EOTY and 6th MOTY would bring back that incredible fire and concentration we saw early in the season against TOP opponents. This team keeps surprising me so I don't know what to expect, but for me, this is the key factor. This specific thing will decide how our playoffs go. The offense is humming, it's perfect, it's beautiful and no one can stop it long enough. But this factor right here is what will decide how much we can turn the defense up, where we have room for improvement in effort.
not gonna say i agree with you 100%, but pretty close...what worries me is your second point, the hustle and determination. I am not convinced by harden over the last few playoffs that he has that in him. Everything on this team starts and ends with him, if you shows up every game with determination and hustle, the rest of the guys will follow. we know guys like bev, ariza and co will give it their all if harden takes the lead. maybe not winning the MVP will be the spark that harden needs.
you didn't think harden had it in him after seeing game 1 and 2 of the warriors series 2 years ago? He also had a great game 5 and 7 against the clips. He also schooled the mavs. he has it in him. question is whether or not our shots will fall. its a make or miss league. if we lose it won't be for lack of hardens effort
Are we going to play defense and rebound at a higher level than we did in the regular season? If yes, let's get ready for a great post season.
Is that what you would consider success? Not me, they should beat OKC, they are the number 3 seed, and they will matchup well with the Spurs....if they get to the WC finals - that is probably the end for this team. In actuality, the Spurs should beat us too, but we matchup very well with them and are more individually talented as a roster than they are...so I think we beat them... DD
There's only way the rockets can lose in the first two rounds, and thats if the rockets beat themselves. You're absolutely right, no one can stop us from scoring, we're going to get the shots and looks we want regardless. If we lose 99% will be because we weren't making those shots. We're our worst enemy at this point. Gotta show up ready to play
And for the first time in almost 20 years the Spurs will go into the playoffs without the modern day Bill Russell in Tim Duncan. I don't know if they could beat the Spurs and Greg Popovich but if they can limit the Spurs from knocking down the 3 ball on the defensive end I think they would have a very good chance at upsetting them.
Good job back tracking there, just in case you are wrong (again) and we actually do make it to the WCF (again).
Im gunning for 3rd round too. 1st round W is expected. 2nd round is a 50/50 so it wouldnt be embarrasing to lose but making it to the 3rd round would be huge success in my eyes
Barkley is entitled to his opinion, he is a commentator. The game is decided on the court not the studio. There are some concerns. The Thunder will probably focus on making the Rockets take contested threes because they know we are very dependent on the 3 ball. The Thunder will focus on rim protection because they also know we like to drive to the basket. Mike D'Antoni should be planning on counter measures for when this inevitably occurs. The Thunder are a good rebounding team so the Rockets will also have to focus on the boards. With good coaching and some luck the more talented team will prevail.
Well they are this level of scary according to The Ringer: https://theringer.com/2017-nba-playoffs-fear-index-cavaliers-warriors-celtics-421ed7e7215e Group IV: “Hello? 911! There’s Someone in My House!” You’re at home. Alone. It’s the middle of the night. You’re asleep. There’s a noise. You’re awoken. You hear another noise. Then several noises. You do that thing where you scrunch up your face because you’re trying to be super good at hearing. You hear steps. There’s definitely someone out there who shouldn’t be out there. That’s these teams.
Thunder are a bad defensive team - unless they magically figure it out at that end, I don't see the Rockets losing to the Thunder, especially with Harden losing the MVP and having a chip on his shoulder. The Spurs - we could beat them - we seem to give them problems at times. Warriors? We don't have a chance and that's where the road will end. for sure. I say our odds are like this: Thunder: 4:1 Spurs: 2:3 G.S.: 1:4 Overall that's a 8 in 125 chance to make the finals or about 1:12
Why wouldn't it be a success for this team that was projected to be an 8th seed at best? We have a good foundation and can build further on the offseason, no matter the outcome of the playoffs (good or bad). I have a problem with all these people writing the obituary for our team when the playoffs haven't even started. They've proven to be a formidable team and I'm excited to see what they can do. Some people just like to hear themselves talk/write (not referring to you, DD)
It's logical, no one should be scared by Rockets, the number 3 seed in the West. If the very same team was 7 or 8 seed, then it would be a different conversation, but now, teams that are higher than Rockets don't fear teams below, and teams that are lower than Rockets are happy they're not playing Warriors or Spurs in round 1. In that sense no one is scared to play Rockets. But Barkley didn't mean it that way, did he?
