I mean, he isn't wrong. All you have to do is clog the paint and Westbrook has no other way to score. Yeah, he can pass it out if there's a wide open 3pt shot.... but we're not a good 3pt shooting team. Our best spot up shooter is McLemore. Tucker and Gordon have had way too many inconsistent shooting games this season. House and Covington are decent at times, but they're not really that consistent from the 3pt. Then you have Rivers and Green, who I don't think are good shooters. It wouldn't surprise me if teams take notice of what the Knicks did tonight and try it in future games. We're badly missing Harden carrying us. When he's on, he's literally unstoppable and we blow teams out. Hopefully he gets his game back.
Harden is magic when it comes to selling contact. Westbrook only cares about scoring the bucket when he drives in and that hurts his ability to get foul calls because he's usually jumping around dudes instead of doing Harden's crafty tricks to sell contact.
You're right. It's why I think Westbrook should try it. He'd get a crap ton of free throws. He's much quicker on the ball than Harden, so it should be easier enough to get them. With the amount of time he has the ball and the amount times he drives to the paint, he should be getting more free throws. Giannis and Harden are good at getting contact in those situations. Those extra free throws all add up.
What the Knicks did isn’t anything special. Every single team in the league knows they can go big against the Rockets... teams have tried doing it a number of times and the statistics show it has been a worse strategic decision than matching the Rockets small line up. The Rockets didn’t lose because of the Knicks strategy. The Rockets lost because their effort was terribly poor for 3 quarters.
Game was lost at the end of 1st, begining of 2nd when Harden was on the bench. And I see Fchow still being a clown.
Lol I mean it is the main reason why Westbrook doesn't get to the line while relentlessly driving and Harden can somehow easily rack up 10-15 fta night in and night out. Westbrook tries to avoid contact and tries to finish at the rim at all times by using sheer athleticism. The speed at which he moves and not using tricks makes refs not call many fouls on his drive in attempts. With Harden, he makes very deliberate slower moves where the refs can send the contact clearly. His strength allows him to not get the ball stripped easily at least most of the time.
teams are going to try everything. they basically played like the bucks. the bucks dont mind giving up threes but deny you layups. they don't believe teams can make enough from outside. i hope more teams try it. the more reps against it now the better in the playoffs.....
We just need to play better we lacked energy tonight and for small ball to work, everyone needs to chip in on the boards no way of winning being out rebounded by 30 hope the team learns from this. Onwards and upwards
Not really. All the Knicks showed was if the Rockets 3 pt shots aren't falling, you can stop Westbrook by clogging the paint. But statistically for that to happen every game is astronomical. To have a complete breakdown in your offense as we had tonight is a rare possibility.
Nah.... we lost because of a number of things. But one of the biggest reasons is because the Knicks took away our lane. We scored 60 points from the 3pt line and then another 25 points from the free throw line. We didn't score that many in the paint. The Knicks clogging up the paint hurt Westbrook's game. I just wish Westbrook had it in him to win more free throws. Those extra free throws can be crucial. Like Harden doesn't drive to the paint half as much as Westbrook, but he knows how to get those free throws.
He really shouldn't keep taking more 3's than everyone else. He's not our best 3 pt shooter. Tucker, Covington, McLemore and House need to take more of Harden's shots. Tucker simply can't keep putting up zero points. I think the crappy Knicks made us look ordinary by clogging the paint and making it harder for Westbrook to drive in for an easy score. That's the smartest way to limit our offense. They got 28 more pts in the paint and 29 more rebounds. That's just unacceptable. This game was so typical. Just when I am sooooo stoked about our win against the Celtics it's back to the same old crap. I mean, come on man, that was embarrassing. It was hard to watch the whole game, but I did. All I could think about was how we were letting a team with 18 wins beat us, and that if we played a couple streaky sloppy games like this in round 1 of the playoffs it could be 1 round and out. Ugh. I need to feel better by us taking care of business Thursday against the Clippers. OMG, if we play like this Thursday it could really get ugly. Kudos to House and Covington for playing a heck of a game. I absolutely love Covington!!! James's 4 steals was also great. Time to shake it off, man up, make adjustments, and prepare for the Thursday night fight. Go Rockets!
