Cool idea for article, but very untrue. Actually advanced analytics is what allows you to pretty accurately measure heart, or at least the effects of heart on wins and losses. Over time advance team plus/minus and percentage monitoring can tell how much you impact a player has on his team beyond his box score. Not only can things like box outs, deflections, diving for a loose ball attempts be tracked, but also how often you are successful. Check what this Champion Hall of Famer and former Rocket has to say about the benefits of analytics in measuring heart and effort: Spoiler College Baskeball HOF for shorter attention spans:
Yes, we're playing with massive heart and iron will. But, the Rockets haven't kicked it in top gear yet...can certainly play better. I believe we took GS's best shot during game 3 when Durant and Thompson were blitzing us. We should be up 3-1...WHILE DEFENDING OUR NBA TITLE. The only thing that can save the Worriers now are the refs.
Down by 2-0, many of us here have already quit, because it’s the Warriors. There was one poster here asking me do you believe we could win 4 out of next 5 against the Warriors. My answer was ... one game at a time. As Tuck put it and showed it best, the only way we could do this is to BELIEVE we can, which will translate to games. BELIEVE!!!!
And now we’re looking at a best 2 out of 3, one game in Houston, with bookends at Oakland. We have to hold serve in Houston, and we will be playing in Houston for game 6, regardless of what happens in game 5. Win tomorrow night and get at least a split in Oakland, and we have the Worriers on the ropes. In my humble opinion, that’s very doable. I believe Oakland thinks it’s doable, as well. We’ve been calling them the Worriers, and they have to be very worried now. Oakland will put everything they have on the court Wednesday night. I don’t doubt that we will, as well. We win? We’re at 3-2, with 2 chances to close them out, exactly where we want to be. As you quote from the beating heart of this team, a guy I sometimes call Friar Tuck (thinking of the fellow in The Adventures of Robin Hood, the Errol Flynn classic), I believe. Our team certainly does.
They are more talented on paper, but we have shown we are bunch of tough mFers. If we don’t let the refs get into our head, stay poised and play our game, we will be fine G5.
It’s just not Harden’s style. Like it or not, he seems to let his game do all the talking. Personally I like it and I think it’s smart of him. Shut up the media with historic play and let them feel stupid. Antagonizing media will lead a lot of them to believe they are justified in their hate.
I’ve complained about the officials as much as anyone, but you’re right. Win despite the bad calls and what is often obvious bias, in my opinion. As you said, we need to not let the officials get into our heads and distract us from what is of paramount importance. Win the damn game.
I certainly don't advocate it. Just saying I can't help but think it. Do any of Rusillo, Multiple Sauces, or STEPHEN A. SMITH!!! attend games at Toyota Center? If so, can the Rox play video of them hatin' on the monitors above midcourt, while a spotlight picks them out in the dark for the crowd to get fired up? Just kidding. I kid.
I was at Oracle G1. I don't know if it was caught on camera ... Harden was talking to the officials about a previous non-calls during the shot clock, although it was early in the shot clock. That kind of distraction is really detrimental. Since, we have cleaned it up a lot, especially in G4. CP also said it last night, we need to get into actions quicker.
False. We are getting every ounce of energy/effort, every brain cell of basketball iq, and the maximum skill efficiency we can possibly muster against the Warriors. If we win this series it will be because we are better than them. They will have no excuses. And conversely, if we lose this series it will be because they are better than us. No excuses.
This series is a tractor pull bro. We're in high gear. We are dragging against the sled of the greatest team ever and it's moving up to our back axle. I'm rooting for a full pull. But I'm not optimistic. I'll be shocked if it happens. I will not be surprised or disappointed when it doesn't. I'm simply hoping that if a full pull doesn't happen that we don't blow the engine to smithereens by staying in high gear to the point of failure. There is next year and the year after.
I thought Game 4 was damn near the highest gear. First time I have seen that in these playoffs. A lot of that was Harden being aggressive. That got us up 17 against a Warriors team that had Curry and Durant playing extremely focused, aggressive. Curry had a large chip on his shoulder for the first time and was playing very hard. The only reason we didn't extend that lead much further was bc the refs sent us to the penalty with 8-minutes left on 3 consecutive dead ball fouls. Despite that, we played really careful ball and made shots. Then we strategically slowed things down to a halt, which is smart as the Warriors can make up 20 points in a 3-minutes of fast pace. It's near impossible to do that on limited possessions, even if we are ruining our own momentum. Maybe we should have played a couple more minutes at full speed as it got close, but that could have cost us just as much. Those 3 quarters were us at our highest gear. We need to stay right at this level and we can win this.
