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Rockets are 26th in transition. Ranked #3 last year.

Discussion in 'Houston Rockets: Game Action & Roster Moves' started by LorneMalvo, Nov 25, 2019.

  1. LorneMalvo

    LorneMalvo Member

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    Last year the Rockets were 13th in transition frequency, and 3rd in efficiency.


    Only the two teams in the finals(Raptors/Warriors) were better.

    https://stats.nba.com/teams/transition/?sort=PPP&dir=1&SeasonType=Regular Season

    This year they've PLUMMETED down to 26th, but skyrocketed to 3rd in frequency.

    Westbrook’s transition and pumping the pace has actually HURT the Rockets, lmao. Guy can’t do a thing right. :mad:

    We would be better off if Westbrook could attack 4 on 3s in halfcourt instead of blazing down the court and bricking layups which hurt us in transition DEFENSE, where we are also worse.

    Turnovers KILL us in transition and Harden and Westbrook are both bad with this, though Westbrook is worse considering his usage isn’t that high and he’s still giving away around 4 or 5 a game.

    My opinion: less transition, more halfcourt execution.
     
  2. durvasa

    durvasa Contributing Member

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    Eh ... if this team has any chance of being successful, Westbrook needs to thrive in transition. Play to your strengths. He's not going to be an effective half-court player in our system.
     
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  3. J Sizzle

    J Sizzle Member

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    Yet another damning Westbrook statistic
     
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  4. napalm06

    napalm06 Huge Flopping Fan

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    Westbrook definitely seems to botch a lot of fast breaks. He's always trying to do everything too fast.

    He either wildly flings it off the glass at high speed - so it comes back across the rim instead of dropping in -
    or he rolls it up onto the side of the rim but not over it.

    He just seems to be so focused on getting to the rim that when he gets there, he hasn't considered the shot he's going to take. This is something Harden has mastered.

    Then, on a lot of our breaks we're playing for the three, and our issues with 3 point shooting this season are well documented.

    It's good that he's pushing the tempo, but we need to be more deliberate in finishing shots, not just heaving it up as fast as possible.
     
  5. Rocket River

    Rocket River Member

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    I am still having nightmares on that fastbreak
    where Harden hits Russell in stride and he misses the layup and Harden gets his 4th foul in Dallas

    It was a back breaking momentum stopping crapfest

    Rocket River
     
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  6. HP3

    HP3 Member

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    Im not sure why his scoring declined so badly after his MVP season. it doesnt make sense that his TS% became this bad.
     
  7. JW86

    JW86 Member

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    We have gotten the Westbrook in decline as he used to throw down ferocious dunks and instead he now is not sure what to do it seems.
     
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  8. asmith8266

    asmith8266 Member

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    Meh, it's still early. I like Westbrook just because of how different he plays than Harden. They need to run more off ball stuff for Harden. It drives me INSANE they never run him off of picks at least a couple times per quarter?

    And Westbook (and a lot of the Rockets) - if their man is doubling Harden they need to head right to the free throw line/high post and then play 4 on 3 from there.
     
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  9. bj3175

    bj3175 Member

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    It was definitely the play of the game in reverse for us. Russ needs to focus on change of pace opposed to sprinting at Light speed. He is gear 13 on a 5 gear transmission. Nothing is wrong with gear 8 sometimes
     
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  10. Rocket River

    Rocket River Member

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    We would have been down three with 8 minutes to go . . .

    Rocket River
     
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  11. Deckard

    Deckard Blade Runner
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    I was wondering about the same thing, that last night Russ in transition was in hyper drive, and needed to slow down a little. That by itself wouldn't have cost us the game, in my opinion, if true. I've been planning on watching the game again when I was up to a little self-flagellation. Haven't gotten the nerve yet.

    So I did a little looking around and came across this column by Sam Quinn of CBS. It's from back in late October after we'd lost to the Bucks in a close game, the first game of the season. It had me scratching my head. Maybe the Dallas defense is what killed us, and/or our own defensive failures, or maybe we've been figured out. Of course, it could also be a lack of depth, or lack of depth used, with MDA not making adjustments during the game. It was also a bad night of epic proportions shooting from behind the arc by James. Maybe all of the above?

    Here's the read:

    Even in a loss, Russell Westbrook's transition brilliance was exactly what the Houston Rockets needed
    Russell Westbrook has added an entirely new element to Houston's offense

    Last season, James Harden scored fewer than 20 points on three occasions. His Houston Rockets lost those three games by a combined 66 points, with each one carrying a margin of at least 18. Harden scored only 19 points on opening night against the Milwaukee Bucks, and his Rockets did indeed lose. But against arguably one of the best teams in the league, that modest six-point margin is progress. The Rockets lost the game, but they won the war.

    Houston had no alternative to Harden-ball last season. He either isolated opponents into oblivion, or his Rockets lost. Wondering what a 2-of-13 night from the field for Harden would have done to last season's Rockets would be a worthless thought exercise. It would be impossible because it literally never happened.

    Harden attempted 14 or more field goals in every game the Rockets played last season, and he never made fewer than five. He reached 40 percent of his worst total from last season, and the Rockets very nearly took down a 60-win juggernaut. Russell Westbrook made up that lost offense.

    He obviously did so in a literal sense. Westbrook's 24 points led the Rockets, and by his standards, 7-of-17 from the field and 3-of-7 on 3-pointers is fairly efficient. The real value Westbrook brought, though, came in diversity. Houston has relied so heavily on Harden over the past few years that it lost the transition game that Mike D'Antoni's rosters always thrive on. Westbrook brought it back.

    The Rockets scored 27 fast-break points against the Bucks on Thursday. They averaged only 12 per game last season, per NBA.com. The Sacramento Kings led the NBA with an average of 20.9, while the Bucks allowed the fewest at 11.


    Westbrook's presence enabled the Rockets to destroy the NBA's best transition defense, but that shouldn't come as a surprise. The Oklahoma City Thunder never finished lower than eighth in the NBA in fast-break points per game at any point in Westbrook's career. They had been entrenched in the top five for each of the past five seasons. Chris Paul rarely made plays like this.



    It isn't just Westbrook's nuclear athleticism that makes this possible, though. It's how he uses it. His rebounding was perhaps as important an addition as his scoring. The Rockets finished 28th in the NBA in rebounding rate last season, putting an artificial cap on how many fast-break opportunities they could generate in the first place. The Bucks finished fifth in rebounding rate last season, but Houston won the battle of the boards in this game. Westbrook's 16 rebounds were the biggest reason why, and many of which led to plays like this.



    That is the value of adding perhaps the greatest rebounding guard of all-time. The middle-man is cut out. The fastest player on the court just starts out with the ball, and his elite passing ability creates open shot after open shot. The sort of role players who usually benefit from these kinds of catch-and-shoot looks feasted on them tonight. Rockets players not named Harden, Westbrook or Eric Gordon converted on nine of their 21 attempts from beyond the arc, many of which were assisted by Westbrook.

    That isn't going to be the case every game, but the entire point is that it doesn't have to be. Harden isn't going to shoot 2-of-13 every game either. The Rockets went from a team with only one weapon to a team with two. As long as they have one working at full capacity on a given night, they are going to win most of the time. As tonight proved, they are going to have at least one on most nights.


    Stopping the league's best isolation scorer requires an enormous commitment on defense. Asking the majority of NBA teams to do so without sacrificing the resources necessary to contain Westbrook is the real-life equivalent of asking a normal person to fight the Hulk and the Flash at the same time.

    Daryl Morey didn't envision many 2-of-13 nights from Harden, but he traded for Westbrook as an answer for the possibility that one might happen. An 0-1 record is hardly ideal, but a six-point loss to the Bucks is adequate proof of concept. The Rockets acquired Westbrook to diversify their offensive portfolio, and one game in, they've succeeded.

    https://www.cbssports.com/nba/news/...-was-exactly-what-the-houston-rockets-needed/
     
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  12. LorneMalvo

    LorneMalvo Member

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    He can’t attack 4 on 3’s? I refuse to believe that. They have to practice that and he will become adept at making the right reads.

    Westbrook is not a naturally gifted basketball player in terms of skill and feel, but he has a high learning ceiling which is why he got so much better as his career went on.

    I haven’t mentioned Mike once because he sickens me but he should coach much better halfcourt offense against freaking hard doubles.
     
  13. RocketsFido

    RocketsFido Member

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    that's how we do it bois

    also, how come Westbrook barely dunks anymore in transition? probably his knees right?

    I watched him during his MVP year and he it seemed he would pull off at least 3 dunks a game.. now he has 1 dunk every couple games..
     
  14. javal_lon

    javal_lon Member

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    OP clearly lost his damn mind thinking WB attacking in half court sets is more effective than him attacking in transition.. Y'all taking this analytics **** too damn far!..
     
  15. Reeko

    Reeko Member

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    I don’t understand how a career 80% free throw shooter can barely shoot above 70% from there anymore

    he’s definitely lost some explosiveness...the multiple surgeries will do that to u



    he was doing something like this every night back then...now that ferocious dunk has turned into a wild layup at the rim
     
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  16. Will

    Will Clutch Crew
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    Westbrook tries to evade defenders as he goes to the rim. He thinks if there's contact, it's his problem.

    Harden thinks if there's contact, it's the defender's problem.
     
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  17. Dr of Dunk

    Dr of Dunk Clutch Crew

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    According to those stats we have one of the lowest turnover frequencies in transition in the league, so that ain't it. Our shooting sucks, though, if you believe in the stats.
     
  18. rockets1995

    rockets1995 Member

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    Coming off of knee surgery for Russell plus dislocating his fingers in his shooting hand.

    Russell should not be playing at all, his toughness is unbelievable.

    Once his knees and fingers are healed, he will be dunking more, make more lay ups, shooting better.

    Russell is staying positive, Eric Gordon is coming back, the Rockets team are going to play better.
     
  19. heypartner

    heypartner Contributing Member

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    imo: nothing to see here.

    Rockets are 3rd in Transition frequency and 3rd in Pts/gm. We are definitely running more and better.

    [​IMG]

    PPP versus last year, that's probably due to running less last year, like from easy turnover buckets, etc. We are pushing the ball now.

    fwiw: Paul's OKC is worse PPP, on much less FREQ and pts.
     
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  20. LorneMalvo

    LorneMalvo Member

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    This is really simple. As far as offense, efficiency really is all that matters. The Rockets are a worse transition team on both ends with Westbrook playing like this.

    Simply look at transition as a play, because that’s what it is. If they threw out more Harden ISOs or PNRs for more transition, they’d be worse as an offense.

    It’s just not good offense.
     

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