Even with all the hate on harden, im a glad we aren't that blinded with hatred to be fking scared of the nuggets. A team we been owning for ages via matchups
Honestly I think we beat Denver in 6 without homecourt. Then we beat the Clippers in 7. I don't want to play Dallas. Rockets vs Lakers is a toss up.
I don't have much faith in this team anymore...they can lose to anybody on any night and win against anyone as well. That kind of inconsistency will never come close to even sniffing a championship. You got to beat the bad teams pretty much every night and win most of the games vs the good teams. The Rockets are lucky to beat the Knicks or the Magic these days and they haven't been lucky lately.
if the season resumes it wont go straight to playoffs. Utah is obviously the matchup you want they would be without gobert and Mitchell. we dont have an advantage over denver without capela. jokic will be dominant enough on offense to offset any shortcomings on defense. not saying we couldnt win but if we did it probably be squeeking one out in 7...unless EGO actually plays well but we havent seen anything this year to believe that will happen
Rockets.....................................Nuggets WB 6’3”..................................6’2” Monte Morris EGo 6’3”.................................6’4” Troy Daniels Rivers 6’3”..............................6’4” Gary Harris McLemore 6’3”.......................6’4” Jamal Murray Harden 6’5”............................6’5” Will Barton House 6’6”..............................6’7” T Craig Tucker 6’5”.............................6’7” Millsap DMC 6’6”................................6’8” Jeramy Grant Covington 6’7” Jeff Green 6’8” ................................................[Playable but don’t Space floor well or inexperienced] ................................................Bates-Diop (6’8” 33% 3P%) ................................................Vonleh (6’10” 20% 3P%) ................................................Michael Porter (42% 3P% but very raw and lateral movement suspect due to past injury) ................................................[May not be playable vs Rockets small ball] ................................................Mason Plumlee (6’11” 0% 3P%) ................................................Jokic (7’0”) *measurements by basketball-reference.com So where the Rockets are Micro ball.....the Nuggets without Jokic/Plumlee may be Nano ball. Because we have Linebackers to their Cornerbacks.....should lead to more blocks/deflection/rebounds. Just have to contain Jeramy Grant/Bates-Diop I like our facilitators of Westbrook/Harden vs their Will Barton/Gary Harris/Jamal Murray. They may be better shooters collectively (as a team) at home but on the road not so well.
This is the one matchup you don’t want. We can beat or lose to anyone but if they give us Coronavirus we have no shot. Let them pass that to one of the LA teams.
i know we are not that kinda of team intentionally set up to show down a certain opponent (plus 15 games left, there's a great deal of variability). If Pop were our coach, he would love to manipulate matchups in that way, i suppose. without op's post, i nearly neglected this interesting matchup (Hou vs. Den), cuz i am still all in we moving up a little bit. Even so, considering 2nd seed and 3rd seed seems fixed already, an early face-off Clippers are not a good news for us.
I’m pretty shocked that we wouldn’t all agree that Utah would be the most ideal matchup. I would probably say I’d rather face Denver over OKC though. It’s kind of stupid to fear one player, but I just can’t imagine there was ever more motivation for a player to beat a team in a playoff series as there would be with Chris Paul.
Me neither, Clint was an asset against Jokic. They win the bench play so if Russ or Harden aren’t in superstar mode this series is a toss up that I fear leans more towards Nugs favor esp with home court.
I think a great deal of the quote During a possible 1-2 month span of 'season suspended', elite teams won't waste their time, especially LAL and LAC who have a great resolution to grab 2019-2020 title for sure (seizing the chance warrior done for all season). Something Good Always Seems To Come From Something Bad. It is the best chance for us to review, retool and regroup before move on for a run. think about it, ever since Jan 29th (first time play small), we hit a 11-W out of 14 run, and then a 4-L slump. during all 4 losses we literally collapsed on both ends of the floor. it most possibly speaks volumes that: 1) opps get to know our weaknesses in both rotations and 'micro ball' system 2) our players get lost and fail to play headwind games in 'micro ball' system 3) our players experiencing a fatigue due to a much needed physical requirement unexpectedly one thing for sure as to 'micro ball': while 3ball falling in, everything looks cool on court; while not, be sure tighten up team D and await players finding back their touch. I really really really hope our team can make good use of 1+month hiatus to fine-tune our 'micro ball'： - do film session (review recent Ws n Ls), give players a in-depth understanding of the XOXO 'micro ball' (how to run efficiently on both ends) - rework our offensive and defensive schemes, make sure we can deal with those teams 1) play small 2) good at ORB and second chance points - knit all playable for plan B over a scenario when our 3p% dropping sharply in a certain period of time in playoff games
This season is canceled, we need to find a new coach and find a new center. Next year, we have to beat warriors and nets. Leborn is old and Clippers is a loser.
I’m not sure the effort and energy was there in that 4-game stretch from everyone. Was that due to fatigue or by design to get a favorable 1st round matchup? 1st rd knockout is playoff failure....a 1st rd advance is somewhat of a playoff success, no matter how minuscule. But will it save D’Antoni and convince the Rockets management re-up his contract? If the slump was not by design and Rockets management might feel Micro ball has been figured out; then management may feel like going another route next season. Possibly same gig different coach? Can they find another innovative coach to run small ball? I know they can find one that increases the player rotation. One issue I feel has been quote unquote figured out is the TO’s in fastbreak. Teams know we want to outrun their big men down the court. So we are getting more safeties watching the quarterbacks eyes (football term). Thus the sloppy turnovers at mid court by Westbrook and Harden. Harden and Westbrook need to recognize that opponents are trying to bait them into making the pass. Harden/Westbrook need to often “look the safeties off” (another football term) to free guys up on the other side of the court. Going back to Denver and “slump by design” for favorable matchup....Denver would have the same dilemma we had last year in our series with Warriors. Do you play Capela or not? Do you play Jokic? Capela +/- was terrible when on the court vs the Warriors and Hampton-5 last season. Rockets had plus numbers when Capela sat vs the Hampton-5, I believe. Catch-22 situation, Denver is built around Jokic, if they play him we got them in a dilemma of who does he guard when we play the whole game 5-out? If they sit Jokic, why did you sit him? Jokic is your number one option on offense. Jokic constitutes a huge portion of your team payroll. Like Capela and the Rockets last season; Denver will probably try to force that square peg into that round hole more minutes than they should have done during a playoff series. Edited: P.S. Rockets and Pacers were 2 teams that recommended suspending play for a few months instead of playing without fans in the stands. ?Convenient after getting that matchup pairing vs Denver set up?
that's why i think our biggest rival is ourselves. if that indeed happen, Sam Cassell and Mark Jackson might be best candidates, imho. Great thoughts! After all, those 11-win didn't lie. Now that we got no secret to opps, other than making a fuss or retreat half-way, our one and only choice is to push the envelope based on the blueprint of 'micro ball' system, giving MDA credit to further breakdown his tactics to players through film sessions and practices for better execution. (Add up to playoff games in 1st and 2nd rounds, MDA and this team still have 20+ games to prove themselves and the system) Totally agreed.
I didnt think about Sam I Am I'm not much of a Mark Jackson fan, but Sam would be interesting. Right now society is railing against old(er) white men...sorry D'Antoni. It's a Wienstein/Epstein/Trump thing. But D'Antoni fits that mold....of older & white
lol, uh-huh…a taboo It suddenly occurs to me no only we got the oldest team (players' avg age) but the oldest white coach in this league.
