D'Antoni: Our defense is so good now that we're slacking on offense

A lot of that is because of what Kidd ran. The Bucks have some very good natural defenders and athletes.

Still, I think most of it was that it was a B2B after dealing with OKC 24 hours earlier.

 

exactly we are beating teams that are fighting for their playoff lives on the road where most those teams have a 70-75% win record (at their home court)... We are beating them by double digits, so it appears to look effortless, but these teams are bringing their best defense as well.. firstly every team is incentivised to end the streak, secondly they are fighting for their playoff lives..

 

wow... top 4 NBA teams are all streaking.. thats pretty ridiculous. I must say the way the playoffs standings are, I would love the season to end right now...we get clips and Warriors get thunder..

 

I don't like the trend of the last 2 games where Harden and CP3 turn into Cutinoe Mobley and Steve Francis and try to hold on for the win by dribbling out the clock starting with 5-6 minutes left in the game instead of continuing to attack and move the ball around to get quality shots.

 

The more games the Rockets add to the win streak, the more opposing teams want to beat them. Toronto will be a challenge. This is an enjoyable ride.

P.S. Harden, what's with the sudden turnover deluge? Cut'em down to 3 a game. No more of these 5 and 10 turnover games, please. I know I'm being picky.

 

Exactly. Plus you can tell they're still working on finding themselves thru each and every game.

Just last night Paul and Harden were not on the same page offensively and defensively at times. NOW is when you work thru those growing pains, not in the playoffs.

In other words, we should be just fine. And just wait... till we get back to full strength.

 

Joe Johnson is not the remedy, Mike.

 

I think its about a happy medium... I'm all for us slowing the tempo to protect a lead late in games... It's when we're up late in in games and rush down and take a long 3 with 10+ seconds on the shot clock that frustrates me....
It's about a happy medium... run an aggressive play - but dont be too quick about it... don't overplay it and only leave yourself 1 or 2 seconds to get a shot up but make sure you use a good portion of the 24...

 

Please, mda already has his reputation....

This is a coach keeping his team’s feet on the ground. “17 wins in a row and you still have something to work on before you get 18”. This is akin to Kerr letting the warriors coach themselves.

 

Yer entitled to your opinion, bro...
Personally, I'm not a fan of MDA... I think he is a regular season stat padder... seeing as he has never had real success in the postseason, I think he hammers his reg season stats to ensure his future employment ability...
That's why he keeps his starters in long after games are pretty much decided and pushes short rotations... and typically leaves guys with nothing in the tank for the postseason... he's just hammering those offensive stats with his best players (even in garbage time) so he will be revered as some offensive guru...

We'll see how this season progresses... hopefully he has learned - but based on his quotes (wanting 8 man rotation for post season) - i'm not optimistic - but i believe our players can overcome!

 

Rockets' NETRTG since January 1st is #1 in the league. In that stretch, we rank 7th in Def RTG (GSW is 12th) and 2nd in Off RTG (GSW is 1st).

The answer is yes, the Rockets do care a lot about defense, and I'm sure they want to be top-5 in defense before the playoffs start. Rockets aren't even taking nights off on defense while GSW clearly have.

It's going to be hard to stop the Rockets if they keep that up.

 

You’re entitled to your opinion as well, even if it is superficial, stupid, wrong and blatantly contrarian.

His reputation is in place, cemented by this endeavor. You act as if his post season record is some stain, as if it were something other than not being able to topple of the NBA’s storied franchises with a team that played above it’s head for years because of him, his style of coaching. Rotations have been deep depending on health and health alone. 8 man rotations in the playoffs are commonplace.

What else you got?

 

Obviously you feel MDA has a much greater legacy than I do... and if a regular season record "cements" that rep - how impressive can it be?

Nuggets, Suns, Knicks, Lakers, co-coach in Phillie - before landing here... how many of those tenures would you deem 'successful"?

Had some success overseas...
but Nuggets?
Suns... sure he had some good seasons...
Knicks?
Lakers?
Phillie?

what rep do you believe he has 'cemented'?

 

Yes, they don't run and they don't follow their shots.

DD

 

As a good offensive coach, keep up jack. You’re the one questioning that or don’t you remember? Record has nothing to do with it.

 

LOl...

We even cant stop Raptors scrubs.

 

The whole point was that he's focused on being revered as a great offensive coach - rather than being a solid head coach and balancing the different responsibilities of the position: offense, defense, minute management, player development, team building, etc...

He focuses too much on offense and not enough on the other areas... but our guys will compensate and overcome - maybe they can even help MDA shake his rep as a one dimensional coach.

 

Well in all fairness... MDA warned of our lack of offensive focus in the first qtr...

“We used to have those really big first quarters. And we’re kind of falling into the trap of—‘cause our defense is getting better—that we need to pick up our pace a little bit.”

and we did only score 16 in the first qtr to the Craptors...
...of course, we also gave up 32 in the first... so there's that... lol

 

Those 'scrubs' have been beating a lot of teams.

 

Pretty sure we have a top ten defense...