Also, how many teams in the NBA have a backup center like Asik in their rotation? How many teams have a guy who is as tough as Pat Beverley? How many contending teams have 3 legit starters on rookie minimum contracts?(has nothing to do with basketball, but shows you how much this team will improve in the future). Every team has weaknesses. Phil Jackson had a great statement about his 09 Lakers when he talked about how they were a flawed team, but they did a great job of covering their weaknesses and highlighting their strengths. The Rockets have strengths and weaknesses like anyone. Match-ups, coaching, and highlighting your strengths(Harden and Howard to name a few) while hiding your weaknesses(youth at PF, bench depth, coaching) is what gets you where you need to go in the playoffs. We are just going to have to see what the coach and team are able to get with what they have this year, and deal with the results.
The irony is in thinking you are going to adjust Harden's game. Harden is Harden. He's gonna dominate the ball and dominate shots taken and usage. Nothing is going to change there. What needs to change is what goes on around Harden. That's why the focus is on the power forward position and justifiably so.
As I stated earlier: The bottom line in this series is if Harden/Howard > Aldridge/Lillard we win. If not, we lose. It's that simple. It's ON THEM!
Harden and Howard need to destroy Portland like they did in the regular season. I like our duo better. Hopefully that is justified.
With no mention of the other 7 guys in the rotation. Its ALL on Jones I see. We KNOW that having a 2nd year PF on a contending team is a weakness come the playoffs. There is a damn good reason why Morey tried to trade for Paul Millsap, and Carmelo Anthony. That's a fact, but that's not the only thing that is holding back this team from breezing through the playoffs to the finals. Its BS to blame Jones for everything. Blame- -Howards free throws -Lin's turnovers -McHales coaching -lack of bench play -disintegrated defense from Parsons -lack of a PG -sporadic 3 point shooting etc. etc. before you blame Jones. This is the team the Rockets have now, and Jones is the player that is going to be relied on to help them win or he's going to be part of the group that doesn't get past the first round because they get beat due to match ups and whatever else. If you can't handle the fact that NOBODY else is going to supplant your nemesis Terrence Jones in the rotation right at this very second than maybe you should get the F off of a Rockets fan site, and tune in next year.
The Rockets strategy was to single LMA and stop the 3pt shot - what they didn't count on was Harden stinking up the joint. I said it was a 7 game series before it began - they have the same record as the Rockets, all of the games are going to be nail biters. DD
I agree. They are the leaders. Even if a supporting player isn't doing their job its their job to be the coach on the floor and correct them. Even so, Parsons helped them in the 1st half last night, Beverley is playing his heart out on D, Jones actually did crash the boards, etc. etc. They are doing their part. At the end of the day, Harden and Howard have to be the ones to produce & be the coach on the floor. Blaming the 2nd year forward because he doesn't shoot 40% from 3 and guard the best offensive 4 in the league like Dennis Rodman or Ben Wallace at the same time is a pure crap.
I agree you can't place it all on Jones, but dude was a sieve. Usually when you're in the crowd chanting "DEFENSE" you feel like you're giving the team energy. It was the most helpless feeling chanting while Jones helplessly guarded Aldridge. If that remains the matchup, we lose.
Yes, Jones looked like a midget on the 7 foot LMA. That was to be expected. However Asik spent time on him (and got 3 early fouls on him in the 1st quarter), Howard spent time on him, Parsons spent time on him, and late in the game even Harden spent time on him. LMA destroyed ALL OF THEM with a career performance. Howard and Asik are about as good of low post defenders as you get in the league. They will continue to see the bulk of the minutes on LMA moving forward if they choose not to double teams him. In that case what Jones should be judged more on is how well his team defense is in the cross switch, and most importantly.... how well does he box out and rebound against either Lopez, Freeland, or small ball wings. That's going to be his primary functions on defense with the center guarding LMA. McHale shouldn't be dumb enough to put a regular sized PF or smaller on LMA one-on-one ever again as no team in the NBA should ever attempt. He makes a living on killing regular sized PF's for lunch. However McHale has the advantage of having two elite defensive Centers to use either in a team concept or to switch with in a cross match. Most teams in the NBA don't have one of those guys much less two.
You are looking at it wrong. It doesn't matter what Aldridge does. Harden and Howard must outplay him in impact on the game. It's that simple. The best offensive player in this series is James Harden and it really is not even close. He needs to play like it and I believe he will.
Harden has torched Matthews worse than Aldridge torched the Rockets this year until last night and Dwight has torched Lopez all year as well. Time to resume that standard no matter what Aldridge does.
This. I don't know why ppl are exhausting themselves rationalizing against the plainly obvious - Jones shouldn't defend Aldridge. It was embarrassing out there - anybody could see it.
Couldn't agree more. You can give lma 30,can't give him 46. Even so,1 rebound and the game over. Btw, it was howard and no other rebounder in the game. Why jones wasn't in is beyond me.
They weren't given a chance. Howard and Asik played 3 minutes together and they were never on the floor together playing against Aldridge and Lopez. The TTH's on here need to realize that there was nothing here to see. Mchale put both guys in there when Stotts went to his bench and brought in TRob for Lopez. At that point with TRob in the game McHale should have stayed with Jones or went small with Garcia....not go big with TT. TT should be played against the Aldridge/Lopez combo specifically...because of their size. And no other combination should it be played against. Portland is essentially running TT at us with those 2 guys being 7-footers. We have no answer for Aldridge defensively besides the TTs. If we don't go with Asik on Aldridge, Aldridge is going to average 40 for the series. This is on McHale. If he doesn't figure out the matchups that are most advantageous to us then we will lose this series. Those matchups are obvious. Asik needs to be on LaMarcus whenever Lamarcus is in the game until Asik has to go to the bench with foul trouble. And then if Asik is in foul trouble we need to go small and drop Harden down on LaMarcus and try to outscore Portland. Jones is best served burning minutes against TRob and/or Freeland whenever they are in the game.
I'm pretty sure whatever stat u want to pull out your ass, but the team played better with jones on the floor than when your imaginary tt did. You can't play 2 limited offensive and center centric guys at thesame time. Asik was on aldridge and what hapened? Howard was on lma and what happened? If coach wants to do something,play howard on lma and make lma a jumpshooter all the time,but if he's hitting,which he's capabl of,it doesn't matter. Dude was the best pf in the league this year. Why is that so hard to understand?
That's a true statement. Know why? Because the Twin Towers never played against Aldridge and Lopez. Do you see the point?
Jones actually did quite well, Aldridge was just unstoppable for anybody who guarded him because of our strategy to guard him. Jones had 13 rebounds, 2 blocks and some good offensive dunks and moves. Everybody knows he has flaws, mainly his 1-on-1 defense because of lack of strength, using his hands too much, biting on fakes and also tries to go for the block too quickly. He's a 2nd year player with a lot of upside, so he just needs to gain some muscle and study the game better. He will get better and you cannot blame him he is not Millsap or whoever. He's not going to make the difference between winning and losing if he keeps playing like this. He was solid. Also remember we had Greg Smith last year, who gave us next to nothing.
