Rockets Are The Most Dangerous Team In The West--Antoine Walker

CF has grown to LOVE Antoine Walker!

 

Antoine Walker in his prime would have been THE starting center for this team.

No defense? No teamwork? No problem!

MDA (in the timeout): "'Toine, you've only shot ten threes tonight. It's halfway through the third. Why did you stop?"
Walker: "Coach, I ain't made one!"
MDA: "Keep shooting. The next ten'll go in!"

 

Also Antoine Walker from two days ago

 

What the hell? Lol

 

Hahaha

 

These guys are all a joke from hell. They keep talking about the 2-2 record...wtf are they talking about. Clint was out for a while before the trade and we were winning with small ball. We have lost one game going small at the last second. The other loss Westbrook was out. This only works with Darden and Westbrook both playing. All of these hot takes without proper research is so unbearable to watch. Not even sure why anyone watches what any of these tv personalties have to say. They are all awful. We should all get paid millions to have our own show and give an OPINION.

 

Amen brother.

 

I guess relevant here, but less about what Walker and the media think, and more about my observations 4 games into RoCo and fully committed to small ball.

* DM did the one thing he LOVES to do... increase variability. This team has a HIGHER ceiling. It also has a LOWER floor, imo.

* Mental is half the battle. What I mean is that at least for now, without a legit big, they are all SUPER committed and all-in on the style, and frankly, the EYE TEST on the defense and hustle scale just looks WAY WAY better.

* RoCo, RoCo, RoCo, RoCo, RoCo. He's WAY better than I thought defensively. Not necessarily mano-a-mano, one on one defense, where he is more hit than miss, but also has some tendencies to get to aggressive and let his guy get by him. But in terms of overall team defense, immediately understanding this switching scheme, and being able to guard multiple positions and multiple areas of the court simultaneously... from what I've seen so far, he maybe the best defender the Rockets have had in that regard in the Harden era.

* the style absolutely makes opponents switch up strategy, or rotations. Dwight became unplayable. Kanter played his lowest minutes since early December. Gobert was -6. In a playoff series, not sure who much this will factor in.

* Eric Gordon. ERIC GORDON. This dude needs to get healthy. Then he needs to COME OFF THE BENCH! Even if everyone is healthy. Style doesn't matter... the Rockets still have a very hit or miss, and MOSTLY miss bench. Healthy EG coming off the bench to give you 20 makes the bench legit dangerous. Moreover, it makes the starting lineup which includes House, better at defense/rebounding/hustle.

* talent over system. all anyone wants to talk about is the system. It's increasingly clear to me that the system doesn't matter, except to the extent you'd like to maximize your talent with the right system FOR THEM. For Russ in particular, this system is better. For Harden, with Russ, this system is better. For Harden, it's mostly about defense. There's no being horrible at defense then pointing fingers at Clint (who would take it) anymore. That said, this team PROBABLY has the same problem its had EVERY year. Not enough talent. They need to replicate RoCo and get another one of him. Or they need a legit 6'10+ big that can stretch the floor and play defense/board. While the likes of Bolden/Kieff/Harkless or whomever might be available on the buyout market, or Bruno getting healthy, sounds "nice", I'm not sure it moves the needle that much. 100% healthy, in the playoffs, I think they're still short on talent, one player

* too little, too late?? There are 28 games left in the season. They're a legit 1.5 game behind Utah... that loss HURT. Utah now has the tie-breaker as well. Had they made another RoCo like impact trade, I might say, 4th or 5th seed, they can still do it, because they're a super better team talent-wise post trade. But as is, can they really make the Finals or win a ring as a 4+ seed? I say no. As a 5+ seed, I say IMPOSSIBLE. They're not going on the road every series and winning. Is there a HUGE difference between 4th and 3rd seed? Maybe not... both slots only get one round of HCA. Of course 3rd seed avoids the #1 till a WCF. Whatever the case, there's been too many last second losses (Kings, Jazz), or blown leads (11 of their losses they had double digit leads) that there is NO ROOM for error anymore. For the last 28 games, they need to win MINIMUM of 20 games, but in reality 22+. Going 22-6 would put them at 56-26, a 68% winning percentage, that might get them 3rd seed. According to tankathon, Rockets have a relatively easier schedule: http://www.tankathon.com/remaining_schedule_strength Denver, Utah have a relatively harder schedule. Still, if yo look at the Rockets schedule game by game https://www.basketball-reference.com/teams/HOU/2020_games.html it's not like you can easily point to a super long potential win streak stretch.

It's hard to see this season ending in any way that isn't a playoff loss, at some point in the first three rounds. I could legitimately see them finishing 4th/5th and losing in the first round, or finishing anywhere 2-6 and nonetheless making the WCF. I would be VERY HAPPY to be proven wrong. Thinking ahead, though, the question becomes, what of the offseason? I think the change in style theoretically gives them more leash... it gives me more leash, I'm more willing to say "they finally decided to go all-in, DM did his best but couldn't fully outfit a roster to reflect that" and get somewhat excited about the potential to maybe move EG, or find an MLE type legit 6'10 RoCo-esque guy. Of course it all kind of gets screwed if MDA walks away or isn't re-signed.

 

You did not need to tell Walker to shoot more 3s.

he would be shooting 40+ a game in this offense.

 

Oh no. Those teams must be devastated.

 

Won’t be convinced until Perkins says so....

 

Well... it's more about disrupting the other teams rhythm, imo. Like in the Lakers game, you could kind of tell they were a bit confused. Should they pounds it inside, should they do their normal offense, etc.

 

The loss to the Jazz on Sunday definitely hurt, but they have not clinched the tiebreaker over the Rockets, yet. The season series is tied 1-1, with one more meeting next Saturday in Salt Lake City.

If the Rockets had won on Sunday, they would have won the season series over the Jazz.

 

I was laughing internally of how bad these Centers are today. All Centers are horrific in the NBA. No Post Game whatsoever. The Coaches are so outdated, even Brad Stevens is outdated, and he is the youngest Coach in the League.
Trying to shove Enes Kanter, Theis in post ups. It was hilarious to watch.

 

Ah, my bad... must have misremembered what I heard the announcers saying. Well that's good... I expect them to beat the Jazz then next Saturday...

 

I thought about that.
You could switch Antoine's reaction with Harden: "Coach, he ain't made one!"
D'Antoni: "Don't listen to him, 'Toine. Keep jacking shots. That's why you're here! Russell, when he misses, get the rebound and toss it back out to him!"

 

And Gordon was missing from the Utah game.

 

Speaking of which have we even had our core lineup together for 5 games straight. I think our teams consistency will pick up when we get some consistency in rotations and people playing together for stretches

 

Last night 31 free throws for harden an Brick?

key to win is free throw.