Leadership issues. Teams conform to its best player and whether Russ or James is the best player, Harden has been here longer and Westbrook misses games. Poor shooting can lead to poor effort also, but you gotta push through it.
Just way too much reliance on predictable offense to win games. Back to drawing board, if MDA even understands what that is anymore.
I'm freaking glad there are games left because if this was in the playoffs. There would be unnecessary bonfires. The team has lost focus and lost the will to play hard.
It clearly is. Have you seen how many rebounds, paint points and 2nd points we're giving up? When we play small ball, it's pretty easy to defend against. All you have to do is clog the paint and let our inconsistent supporting cast miss their wide open shots. They're basically saying, "you take that wide open 3pt shot.... you're not going to hit enough to win you the game. We'll stop Harden and Westbrook's lane so they don't get free throws or paint points." Our bench literally sucks. Rivers, House and Tucker yet again offer nothing on the offensive end, especially when they're playing close to 30 minutes or over 30 minutes most nights. We have never been blown out to teams with such horrible records in a such short space of time ever since I've been watching the Rockets.... and never since Harden's been here. It isn't a coincidence. Something has to change. We either have to let MDA go, fire Morey, Tilman leaves, Harden or Westbrook goes in the summer..... or we'll have another season like this. And I don't want another season of us playing this small ball and getting blown out to teams like we have been this season.
At this moment, I'm not concerned either about our seeding. The Rockets won the 95-96 Championship from a 6 seeding...NY Knicks went to the finals as an 8 seed with Jeff Van Gundy as coach.
Excuses for MDA, Harden, role players? The most deserving for criticism has to be the coach. When you see players with low energy, chemistry not right with a group, you have to switch things up..you should be able to get your guys ready for a game, especially since the previous 3 have all been lost in the 1st quarter...Harden is a close 2nd, so happy I sold his jersey recently, just couldn't bear it and rightfully so. Never seen a superstar quit like this since T-Mac...absolute zero when he's not hitting shots and or not focused. Must have been partying again...
I went on twitter. That was a mistake, lol. I'm seeing more pity and confusion than ridicule and that might be worse.
Starting Jeff Green at the 5 will give Harden a safety valve when he drives towards the lane again. it will also give Harden that 5 that can sprint past the other teams 5 on fast break opportunities like Capela used to. Green is also a much better inside finisher than PJ.
If you think Robert Covington playing in place of Clint Capela is causing these problems, we will simply never agree. We were getting blitzed plenty with Clint out there. Short memories...
Westbrook is the most logical choice. Nobody in the Rockets’ locker room can question his effort and production. He’s earned the right to speak up.
Both James switch on the Playoff model button: LeBron James, towards the upper side (After all star); James Harden, towards the down side (a month ago);
They had a 30 point lead though .. the D may improve but the woeful shitty offense will probably get worse if that’s even possible
If James Harden can’t find serenity with his best friend on the basketball court, it’s on him. At some point, it’s not everyone else’s fault for these random stretches where he lacks effort and looks disinterested in playing.
