IMO the defense was not up to par considering we had 3 strong defenders on the floor. It wouldn't have held up against a full strength Warriors team.
No one's more optimistic about the team than I am, but you have to keep it real. Draymond Green had 13 assists before being forced to sit. Iguodala is a big part of their rotation. Casspi was down too. When we have Moute, Tucker, Ariza and Gordon/Paul out there it should be our best defensive line up, and it did a good job against a weakened Warriors team. What I saw in the 4th q is what we should see often. What we will need against a full strength Warriors playoff team is a tier above that. But maybe replacing Gordon with Paul can do that for us.
I mean it's crazy if you think about it. Clearly our defense looked good and we had some great stops and a lot of good rotations. But, we just couldn't stop their efficiency which makes them so great offensively. I mean our defensive rating was 120 which is I'll absolutely reflect poorly on us and hurt our "defensive ranking" as the season goes. But that is why, there really is no great defensive statistic. Because rebounding, boxing out, switching, the steals and the great contesting of shots that still went in don't show up. Really really proud of our effort tonight, especially ryno
I was definitely impressed with the difference in defensive intensity in that 4th quarter squad. They showed aggression and high levels of effort. But I'm with Mathloom, Green going out was the difference maker. Until we can demonstrate a way to contain or neutralize his impact, I don't think we can hang with them in a series. Which is asking for a lot I know. They have a better chance than anyone else, but I'd like to see some type of improvement to address Green's impact a little more. Not saying that's easily done....just that's probably the biggest hole right now to compete with the warriors.
No doubt Green and Iggy would have helped and changed the dynamic of the game. But whatever the case, it's all a part of the game. Let's stop making excuses or justifying cases for a Rockets win or Warriors loss. I've seen countless games where key players were missing against a full strength formidable team and the "weakened" team still prevailed. It's a frivolous argument to bring up every absence or cite any "edge" a team has over the other. It's terrible for the NBA in general that KD in his prime is on the Warrior's (already championship team). How about back in 08/09.....we didnt' have Tmac healthy in the playoffs along with Artest and Yao. Oh and Yao got hurt....."otherwise we would have won the ring"....Sounds plausible right? Maybe...but bottom line, we will never know had the Rockets had been at full strength against the Lakers. You can't just extrapolate a championship out of that series based off of how well the Rockets were playing the Lakers before Yao went down. Heck, I'll even go as far to say the Lakers deserved to win the Ring in that infamous year the Kings "were robbed". In the history books, the Lakers have the rings and the Kings have the "moral championship"...no one cares.
If the objective is to look at this one game on it's own, then yes there's no sense in asking "what if" or debating about what would have happened if so and so were in the game. But if the objective is to project how this team stacks against the warriors in post-season then unless everyone here knows that Green and Iggy are going to be out in the playoffs, then you have to ask how the rockets would fair with them in the game. It's not to take anything away from the win. I feel great about the win. The sun shines brighter and air smells fresher today. But that doesn't mean I feel good about our solution for Green in a 7 series post season.
No, it certainly matters that the primary playmaker was not on the floor for them, as well as their best bench player. Cavs, Thunder and Wolves are better than the line up the Warriors had in the 4th. It's not a useful barometer. I'm sure there are games we won and lost because of similar things, and a win is a win, but even last season's squad would have won this game and so this game is not a useful barometer. I'd rather celebrate the win and not extrapolate conclusions about how our defense performed. The Warriors in the playoffs will be one of the best offenses in history and that defense was not the one that could get it done. Not yet at least. I think they will improve.
I agree with your points in general. But I have to disagree with the part in Bold. That is just not true. The line-up the Warriors had in the 4th included/consisted of KD, Curry and Klay. They were all available. That is still an elite team out there and I would take those 3 over OKCs stars or Wolves or Cavs for that matter.
There's a reason you left the other 2 players out of the conversation. KAT/Gibson/Butler/Wiggins/Teague would trash that line up they had out there. Draymond Green is the leader of that team, and his passing had them dominating us after 3 quarters. If that's the kind of defense we're going to be playing in the playoffs, might as well call it now imo. We played better defense than that in several games against the Spurs when we had lesser defensive personnel. It just wasn't good enough to me, and the Warriors are better than that. This thread is a recipe for the next bbs meltdown imo. Anyway, we'll see.
Mathloom, I never said the defense last night was the best nor good enough to beat the best en route to winning a ring. In fact I don't recall saying anything about defense in the exchanges you and I have had. I merely pointed out that the Rockets won a great game on the road against a super team. I just don't take away from the one regular season win the Rockets achieved last night. I don't care about the refs, injuries etc. Those are all parts of the game and the Rockets toughed it out and won it and deserve all the credit. I don't think we are "debating" quite the same thing here but so be it. And the fact that the Rockets have room for improvement on the defensive end and chemistry bodes very well for the future and is very encouraging. I'm just happy the Rockets opened the season with a tough win on the road coming from behind against a great team.
Green and Iggy are very important to the Warriors (I would even say Green is arguably their MVP), but it's not like the Rockets are completely topped out. Chris Paul is nursing an injury, they're working on their chemistry with all their new guys, Nene was a DNP, etc. Yeah, the Warriors might have a better lineup in the playoffs (although with all their mileage the last few years, key injuries will become an increasing probability), but the Rockets will likely have a better team, also. Bottom line is that the Rockets went up against a team on the road that's been kryptonite to them and took a win.
Then again I seem to remember the Rockets winning at Oakland in their first reg season meeting last season in 2OT. I hope the Rockets can win their season series against GSW this year as opposed to last year.
You have to look at both sides of the same coin. Iggy was out, but so was Nene. Nene is equally important to our team IMO. See Spurs series for proof. Green went out, yes, but CP3 was hobbled the ENTIRE game and even sat out the last few minutes. Injuries happen to everyone and last time I checked, they still had 3 All-Stars and 2 SUPERSTARS that were completely healthy.
Yeah, that was a good win, too, although in that case I think they had everyone having a great game all at once and they ended up regressing later on in the season. Hopefully that won't happen to this year's team but I'm inclined to think they've got more room to grow. If they'd had everyone on hand and we saw stuff like Paul scoring and assisting all over the place, Harden going off for 40, Capela having a career game, everyone high-fiving each other and they still only eeked out a win, I might agree that last night was fool's gold but it's not how it happened
