No more Delfino at PF. If you must go small ball use T.Rob, Garcia, T.Jones, or Parsons at the PF. Less ISO plays, if they do, at least set up some off ball picks to get guys into the paint.
We have 4 PFs. Start a different one every game until we get someone that works. I like the ball and body movement that Garcia and Anderson give us. Brooks must be in too and ask him to shoot. Just rotate the guys and ask them to go hard for a full 5-6 minutes. That means tough defense and running hard on offense, cutting, ball movement, helping on the boards. Above all, tell the guys, we have no chance at winning. But smile, have fun and play with reckless abandon.
1 James Harden 2 Carlos Delfino 3 Chandler Parsons 4 Terrence Jones 5 Omer Asik Lin, Beverly, James Anderso, Cisco Garcia can be used to sub for the 1-3 positions. GSmith, Dmo, & Trob can sub for the 4-5 positions. We have talent. Mcfail just refuses to use them. Listens too much this old school gut instincts instead of his brain.
Your analysis is on point. I agree with many of your points. Spacing is key, we need shooters to spread the floor, that means starting d-mo and bench smith. I like smith, he's got great hands and finish strong rolling towards rim. Also, I agree that we should use lin more on offense when Harden is resting. Lin is at his best when he has shooters spreading the floor with Greg Smith and Lin working the pick n rolls. Afterall, Smith has much better hands than Asik and can dunk the ball.
I would stagger minutes of Harden and Lin this game. Lin's shot seems to be coming back down to earth so he is useless as a spot up shooter when Harden's handling the ball. Let Lin run the second unit and have Beverley in with Harden for his defense on Westbrook. Start Delfino at the 4 and use Greg Smith as backup C with Terrence Jones at the 4 for the second unit. Bev Harden Parsons Delfino Asik Lin Beverley/Anderson Garcia Jones Smith
I'd start DMo and pray he starts hitting his shots. If possible, I'd also run post plays for him like those for Greg's to start the game hoping to get Serge in foul trouble. Serge may be a very good help defender but he stinks at one-on-one defense.
I like the way you think. I like Beverley, harden, Parsons, and delfino in and just let the 3s fly. The only problem will be rebounding and we'll get owned in the paint.
What needs to happen is the staggering of Lin and Harden's minutes, or even possibly to the extent of using Lin with the second unit as their leader and allow Harden and Beverley to be the main combination. Another key thing I've noticed during the first game was that the Lin-Beverley-Harden combo actually worked pretty well, Harden can play the small forward while Lin-Bev backcourt provide good hustle and defense. Lin just needs to be decisive with his upcoming games and not make rookie-like mistakes and turnovers.
Agreed. Letting Lin facilitate the team without Harden on the floor for 8 minutes could be enough to make critical momentum change. Harden likes to handle the ball and he has 40 minutes. I remember McHale did it once and the team blew out the opponent in one quarter. Why doesn't McHale do it more often ? I can't figure out an explanation other than politics.
what about the D? majority of the posts talk about the offense, it's really hard to play fast paced high octane basketball when the opponent plays faster, jumps higher and is more experienced than you. i say make defense the priority, if the starters get tired from playing D, take them out and put in the bench, garcia has lost a step or two but he still plays smart position D, beverley "gives them energy" truthfully though he gambles a lot, let jones or Trob bang with Ibaka. the Rockets are an offensive team, meaning they have players who can shoot and know how to score, let the offense take care of itself with plain ball movement. focus on the D.
Execute better on offense, attempt to play defense, and RELAX! Our nerves really showed in game one. I think we'll be much more comfortable in game 2 and it'll show. Should be a much better game I think!
