I agree with you...Harden needs to realize he hasn't been getting the calls for a while now , for whatever reason. J lin, goes hard, but has to control himself, a lot of times he takes punishment, or gets lost in mid air and turns it over. I think , setting screens to players without the ball, like the princeton offense, a lot of movement will work, and we need to hit the 3. Stop ISO###
Let Lin handle the more to initiate offense more, and have guys move around more and to give Lin more screens. The ball needs to move not be stuck on one person all the time. No triple teaming...saw some of that and that is just not needed. Left an open man to score every time.
the majority of the mins should go to bev lin harden parsons asik this is easily our best offensive unit. 4 perimeter players that can all shoot, handle and pass. it will give lin and harden the space they need. this will force okc to take out either perkins or ibaka. its also our best defensive unit except for harden. parsons needs to check durant every minute. sub delfino, garcia for 2-4 spots. sub jones, smith for asik.
If you fall behind early again I think we should just go Don Nelson on them and try to create a mismatch somewhere. Have Parsons guard Westbrook (I realize he has the speed advantage but lag off of him and force him to shoot). Throw TRob at Ibaka for six fouls (I actually don't think Ibaka is going to be as hot as he was on Sunday but again take somethingaway). Make them make decisiosns instead of just freewheeling and getting whatever shot they want. Overall they need to focus and calm down and play under control, especially Lin. This team is better than us but not 30 points a game better than us.
This is correct again. Smith's style was not effective against Ibaka, who is basically a slightly better and more experienced version of him in every way. Parsons absolutely needs to be on Durant every minute because on this team he is the only one who can remotely make Durant the least bit uncomfortable.
this is similar to what i posted except i would have parsons on durant every min. hes the only one quick enough to check him as well as being long enough to bother his shot. harden should be on ibaka until proven otherwise.
Tell the team to not play so passive. It maybe the playoffs, but that doesn't mean you play scared. The Rockets have nothing to lose in this series, the Thunder are playing for a lot. Rockets only gain positives going forward win or lose this series. Guarantee it'll make things a lot easier for our squad.
I was taught that the first principle of basketball is ball movement; every time the ball moves the defense must reset. If the ball doesn't move, the defense doesn't have to move or change. Whip the ball around like it is on fire; find the open shot. Next question.
Might need to go radical and slow the game way down. I literally googled "how to beat a superior basketball team" and there were several references to turning the game into a crawl. Half-court offense isn't our strength but a superior team is more likely to win the battle of possessions the more possessions you have - the idea being that a score of 60-46 is easier to overcome than 120-91. Why the hell not? Seems like it could give us a better chance, assuming we can hit our threes, than running and giving OKC tons of easy transition baskets.
It'd be interesting to see us play well in the small line-up. Our guards are actually decent rebounders and both Harden and Lin are good post defenders. We just need to move the ball a bit better and hit some freaking shots.
can we try playing zone??? it's obvious we can't defend westbrook OR durant so play zone and if they beat us with jump shots, then so be it preferably play an (inverted?) zone where you can have 3 guys closer to the westbrook and durant, let them take jump shots or pass the ball to ibake or tabo... and if they beat us that way... so be it on offense, make durant and westbrook actually have to work on defense... i would pick and them to death... whoever durant or westbrook is guarding has to pick and roll and the dude setting the screen has to roll real hard and challenge ibaka... who cares if he blocks you!
