How come he didnt do it before, it was his major flaw imho. This is a huge improvement for our offense.
It damn sure has become a weapon. He’s not that athletic so he can not really turn in the air, twist his body and make shots at tough angles so it makes sense he’s not the best, but he was horrendous at finishing when it wasn’t a straight drive. Now he’s finishing tough shots at different angles and contested as well. If he continues this with his 3pt shot then we are seriously unbeatable!
He was here way before Harden (2009) and tried to be No. 1 and he drove nearly every time.....just failed, now he is better at it.
One of the saddest and most deflating off-season in recent memory. Yao was injured, artest and Von left, mutumbo retired. Such a letdown after such a great season.
Yep as a rocket fan living in dc, I remember his contract year in 2014. He was a beast. He was shooting three’s like The splash brothers, defending as best as I ever seen and just always providing a spark.
Ariza no longer dribbles like he has 2 left hands when driving to the rim...there’s been a noticeable improvement in his finishing ability
I think he's better when he has a straight line to the rim. If he has to change directions and is forced to dribble or make a second move, it's probably not working. I'm glad he's finally figured this out
The brilliance of Harden and the addition of CP3 and the Prince and to an extent Tucker too, have made things easier for Ariza to experiment outside the box.
only took him 9 years, my god Ariza 2.0 in 2010 still haunts my dreams. but I still don't want him to dribble more than twice on any occasion
I agree. It's been striking to me how much he has improved as a finisher this season compared to previous seasons. Even in his first stint with the team, that was his big weakness. Finishing in traffic. He's not dunking over guys, but now he's able to draw fouls or convert on the layups.
Also a good point. LMaM also is having a career year as a driver/finisher. Must be something about the Rockets offense that's opening up these driving lanes?
i think the real reason behind ariza's success is working with Prince Luc, Luc has been aggressively driving all season, seeing that has helped Ariza realize that this is a good to attack defense when we shoot a lot of 3s, he just got better company
Dude i know!!! its like an anomaly! I seriously cant believe what I'm seeing, hopefully it lasts. Because at one point i was happier with him shooting a three rather than a layup in traffic.
I’ve noticed this as well. Drives and handles have been much cleaner. I think in the past that he just didn’t have the handles to make this a regular part of his game. Not sure what changed. I’m guessing he’s worked on it.
perhaps its less minutes workload now? If I recall well this started to happen when he come back from the rest/injury
