Apologies if I have missed it, but there seems to be a lot of complaints on the offense after game 1, but what about the defense? I'm sure the offense could be better, but that's not where the biggest change has occurred. 1st Round Rockets Off Rtg 113.3 - Def Rtg 105.1 Warriors Off Rtg 111.2 - Def Rtg 100.3 2nd Round Rockets Off Rtg 109.0 - Def Rtg 99.1 Warriors Off Rtg 106.8 - Def Rtg 98.5 3rd Round Game 1 Rockets Off Rtg 102.7 - Def Rtg 122.7 Warriors Off Rtg 122.7 - Def Rtg 102.7 I love Harden's offense, and his gains on post defense over the season, but his defense in space is God awful and the Warriors made the most concerted effort so far of any team to relentlessly attack the weakest link (Harden, Gerald Green, Nene). Regardless of the off-ball action, everything was predicated on KD or Curry or anyone that Harden was guarding to beat him in space (off the dribble or via a cut). I also can't believe that at the end of the 3rd when Kerr brain farted by removing KD when Nene was subbed in, and could have run the lead to 20 but instead got cut to 8, and quickly subbed him back, that MDA didn't immediately take out Nene. I know this is extreme, but hell, that was the worst defensive performance I can remember from Harden, and Nene and Green were just as bad in limited minutes. He's just too much of a liability, and I have yet to listen to updates to the Lowe Post or Dunc'd On, but I won't be surprised if those analysts harp on this. It's almost as severe as when Billie Donavan made the "Can't Play Kanter" comment. I'm curious to see the efficiency numbers with CP3, EG, Ariza, Tucker, Capela lineup, the only combo (other than Luc) that has no obvious mismatch. Again, I'm sure the offense can improve, but the defense...damn, how do you hide the weak links? Perhaps traditional PnR defensive needs to be employed with the shows and traps instead of pure switches.
I posted this thread almost right after the game... http://bbs.clutchfans.net/index.php?threads/preparing-defense-for-kd.290627/
Thanks! This isn't purely KD though (who was insanely efficient), but it was anyone guarded by Harden. Curry ate Harden up, and so did Klay and others on back cuts. The same went for Gerald Green and Nene. The Warriors didn't run their normal action; the ran "let's target the awful defenders 90% of the time and then just go to KD because he's hot when plan A takes too long."
Op ... Using defensive rating for one game is dumb . You might as well have used points . Our overall defense was pretty good ... GS is a historically good offensive team ... we are just supposed to shut them down ?? They are gonna get theirs . Where we got KILLED was in transition . This was mainly due to the offenses inability to convert
I think it's mainly Harden. He's just defensive dead weight in space. They need his offense, but 90% of the GS offense outs simply attack Harden and he failed his first test miserably.
ITA! Harden was great offensively, hitting contested shots after shots, whether they be step back three, hesi jumpers or drives. Unfortunately Harden was also a matador when guarding the ball. From the very start of the game, when he let Curry drive right by him for the layup then again a minute later causing the defense to rotate and help, leaving Thompson wide open for the three. Two blow by in the first 4 minutes of the game. Just in this 4 minute highlight video of Curry's subpar night, there are 7 occurrences where Curry (6x) & Durant (1x) simply waltz by Harden into the paint. Durant I can sympathize, but this is the same Curry that couldn't drive by Nene in the 3rd quarter.
It was a mediocre night for Curry, make no mistake, he ain't a pure scorer so he is just 23-26 ppg guy. He was involved in the ball movement, just not closing every time. He left that for KD.
You're not going to beat the warriors'by letting them shoot over 50 percent from the field and 40 percent from beyond the arc.
We can't stop the warriors from hitting open shots. So we need to force turnovers. If you can't lower their percentage and they are getting the shots they want, start trapping them and making them make bad passes. Disrupt their freaking offense and make them uncomfortable. It's not that hard of a concept!
They need to do something about Harden getting iso'ed. They need to do something about Durant. But there were a handful of possessions, I think in the 2nd quarter, where GSW just threw the ball down the court and hit a wide open 3 or turned it into a layup. THOSE were my biggest concern and need to stop.
Agreed, but the problem is Harden (and also Green) is losing his man in space (iso'd and off-ball), so the Rockets are constantly playing 4 on 5 defense. With the switching strategy, one of its main benefits is to always avoid 4 on 5 play that is brought on with traditional PnR defense at the expense of giving up mismatches sometimes. Harden (and Green and Nene) has been so bad that it's nullified switching's biggest benefit. Game one was defensively gross, and Kerr finally decided to not pussyfoot around and instead attacked the Rocket's weakest link the entire game.
Ariza's face after the blow by scoop layup by Curry pretty much sums it up. It simply can't happen. It's the WCF against an all-time great team.
Lol at "it's not that hard of a concept" "just play defense" I'm all for being a Houston homer and an emotional fan .... but you've got to be grounded in reality . There hasn't been a team in the last 2 years that can even slow down the warriors . We are doing a pretty good job . The game was broken open when we didn't convert shots at the rim / turned it over in the paint ..... that's mostly on GS defense and some on our role players not being confident enough to attack strongly. On defense ... what do you think we should do ?? Double KD ??? Now you're giving up an open 3 to 2 of the greatest shooters in NBA history lol . Tip the cap to KD who was fantastic and kept the scoreboard moving for GS all night long . This was a close game
I followed Harden on the defensive end the entire game. When I thought he was genuinely hurt after the collision with Looney, I was pissed, not because Looney kinda blindsided him but because Harden fell asleep on the block and didn't realize the ball was being swung to Klay until it was in his hands. On ball, Harden has improved his D this year (didn't show it at all game 1 though) but off ball he's as bad as the critics say.
