We adjusted a couple of times last year's playoffs where we took a bunch of midrange shots against the Jazz when they played a similar defense. Hope they don't hesitate to do that again. Harden stopped going to the floater as much in the 2nd half which he shouldn't have done. We were doing fine through 1.5 quarters, should have kept that strategy going.
I'm really not seeing how the Bucks style of defense on Harden could ever lead to an open midrange shot. Harden was being guarded on his left side, behind the 3 point line, giving him a free lane to the basket. As he drove in, the defender chased him, again, on his left side. How is he supposed to get this wide open mid range shot? If he stops to regain his balance and shoot, the defender is going to be right there on his left side, probably to block the shot. The other option would be to shoot the ball without stopping, so then you're shooting a running, off balance, mid range jump shot? At that point I think the far better option in this situation is the floater, which is what Harden chose to do.
He opted to change it up to pass to wide open three point shooters . Those shooters just didn't make them
We had plenty of open shots and I won't fault those possessions, but there were plenty of possessions where he tried to force a pass which resulted in a turnover, or tried to drive it in for a layup when he had been getting stopped frequently.
I would say that the possessions I described far outnumbered those bad ones . Harden didn't have a perfect game .... but he did enough to put us in a position to win . It was the others that couldn't execute
I wouldn't lol. We got like maybe 10-15 open 3s in the second half right? We also had plenty of late shot clock 3s and such. He did alright, but he stopped doing what was working for him some in the first half.
We lose one and suddenly have to change the strategy. Come on guys, Rockets have been doing great with this philosophy. We have inconsistent shooters, so that's why we live and die. Harden and Paul generated so many open looks last night. In the first half, they were going in, in the second half they weren't going in. The real tragedy is the Rockets getting fouled and calls not being called.
exactly...it makes no sense...Harden had to blow by his defender in order to take advantage of the lane they were giving him...if he tries to take the midrange, the defender is still right there so instead of a contested three, it’s a contested midrange jumper...
We need to try to pass it around more instead of settling for the one pass 3 way too early in the shot clock.
I keep saying put Harden in the post and let him draw the double team to mix it up a bit. He can stepback out of the post or pass to a cutter or open three. But I rarely see MDA make adjustments. I'm sure James gets tired after being full court pressed on his left side. By the time he gets to half court it's about 14 secs left.
Rank the Players that should be taking these mythical magical midrange shots? 1. Harden 2. CP3 . who next? Rocket River
Eric Gordon please. I'd rather him take a cpl mid range jumpers a game than repeatedly brick 35ft 3's.
I really don't understand why he stopped with the floater. It was working really well. Honestly, it's always mystified me why that shot doesn't dominate the league in the paint. It's nigh impossible to defend. It's a very natural and intuitive motion that even a poor jump or free throw shooter can pick up. It even has enough fluidity that it can be changed to a lob mid shot. I understand that it's not always appropriate, but if I'm driving from the arc to the rim or I'm at midrange with some space in front of me, I'm floating that ball in. Lot easier than a piercing drive to the basket or a midrange jump shot. I think it's psychological. It almost feels cheap or like a cheat, and guys don't want to constantly do it even if it works.
We were down like 13 points in the 4th, we weren't going to get back in this game without hitting 3s so... I, for one, wanted Harden to take more 3s. Forcing Harden to take more shots in the paint when the refs are against us was what the Bucks really wanted. Especially when Eric Bledsoe, Brook Lopez, Connaughton are all out there draining 3s like crazy. What MDA should've done was design a few plays to get Harden to take catch-and-shoot 3s so he can get rolling on that. Unfortunately, MDA is stupid and thought it would be better to get PJ, Shump, EG, Clark rolling.
LOL. This was said after the last time Milwaukee won. I think ONE team tried it the next game... Our record since that game: 23-11. If the league has "The Playbook", they are not doing a good job of using it. The bottom line is you need the personnel to be successful in how Milwaukee plays and need shots not to fall. And there is no other team sporting an athletic seven footer than can play one through four and a big that was knocking down threes from 28 feet while clogging the lane. Teams cannot adopt that type of play overnight. Now come playoff time, that is a different story, but then we also can make adjustments. Typical CF-ness knee jerk reaction. Moving on.