Game 3 adjustments/ predictions

I didn't see anything about more Westbrook threads on your list.

 

lmao my theory about how the thunder are such a great rebounding team is because Russell Westbrook Chuck's up so many shots that if you play next to him the only thing you can do is sit there and play defense and rebound. And if you don't learn how to rebound nothing will show up on the box score. So you get really good at standing around and watching Russell Westbrook go 1 on 1 and you're like oh he is about to chuck it up and you just get good at timing the crash.

if the only way you can get the ball is by rebounding then that's what you got to do.

in all seriousness, it would've been nice to have Dekker to help with these bigger wings.

 

Thought this was a good read regarding game 3.

 

Ryan Anderson will remind us why he makes 18.74 million.

 

Starters: Roberson, Grant, Westbrook, Christon, and Adams - Let and trust Christon to run the offense (very unlikely, let WB play off the ball)
Bench: Abrines, Gibson, Oladipo, McDermott, and Sabonis (let Oladipo, run the offense and post up with Gibson or Sabonis...)

That being said..the Rockets are just a better team than the Thunder. It was very evident last night. They've had better cohesiveness offensively, while the Thunder dont know what to do when Russ is off. The goal of the bench shouldnt be to stop anyone...rather..their goal is to keep up with scoring. The goals of the starters are to trap and disrupt the offense, and allow WB to play off the ball.

 

It's pretty sad that Simmons can build a website, filled with insightful pieces, from the scraps of his dignity and broken dreams that rivals ESPN. Grantland 2.0. This time, hopefully Simmons doesn't sell out.

I've been reading the ringer a lot lately.

 

More about our adjustments we need to make to prevent us from being molested in the paint like they did last night. and just make our 3's. OKC probably wont change much outside of westbrook not ballhogging. OKC did good overall until the end of the 4th.

 

Thought this was an interesting tidbit from that Ringer article.

Lou Williams is one of the rare elite shooters who becomes less efficient when he’s spotting up: Synergy has him shooting much better with a hand in his face (1.147 points per possession) than when he’s wide open (0.875).

 

Adjustment for the Rockets? Box everybody the **** out. Let Lou do more PnR off the bench.

 

I agree with the rebounding problem. Way too many 2nd chances for OKC. The Spurs would feast. Unfortunately I think it's simply a limitation of the personnel. I don't see how it can be fixed. Heart & hustle will get you far, like it did in game 1, but in a typical playoff game everyone almost always gives 100%.

 

Pay the refs?
A lot of man handling in the paint.....
Was because the refs swallowed their whistles

Rocket River

 

silver will definitely need to make some adjustments. the obvious change would be to bring brothers in. but the unconventional out-of-the-box move would be to activate holtcamp for the playoffs and start her friday night. desperate times call for desperate measures

 

McDermott might play more minutes in Game 3 and I think we need to cover him a bit. He is their best shooting option. If he can get around 13 to 15 pts (3-4 threes?), it will be a tough game for us. Also, I think Oladipo will likely to shoot much better at their home court. For us, I think the most important thing is not getting killed on the board. Anyway, Game 3 will definitely be the toughest game in this series.

 

It will be great if the Rockets can get everyone playing well simultaneously... but I don't see that happening a lot with the Rockets, and they might as well save those games for later rounds!

That said, you don't want any one player to be in a legit slump. So whatever the Rockets can do to get both Ryno and Ariza going offensively would be nice. I think Capela and Nene have been managed fine, almost perfectly. They obviously need to focus on rebounding again, but Game 1 was likely more of an outlier, OKC is a great rebounding team generally. Just want to keep that battle close.

As far as the Thunder, they do need to get weird with lineups. I'm also constantly surprised by how little / bad they are at making it easier for Westbrook with PnRs. They don't seem to do it a lot, and half or more of the time they do, it's another guard setting the pick. And sure, Harden guarding Westbrook is a better matchup for Russ than Bev or Ariza on him, but you'd think they'd want Russ attacking Ryno or Capela or Nene much more frequently.

 

It's hard to imagine Donovan won't trot out some version of this:

Adams and Kanter are mostly useless, and Gibson is only nice in brief spurts.
And the Rockets don't really have "bigs" in the classic sense.

That said, if they do, do that... Rockets do need to take advantage of their bigs as much as they can. Cause they still have the Capela roll alley-oop, and Nene charging down the lane with that clawlike grip on the ball. And whose gonna stop that in a super smallball lineup for the Thunder?

 

I think we could get blown out, but if we prevent OKC from getting a lead of more than 20 points, which is highly likely due to how amped the team/fans will be for this game, then we will win. If OKC balls out and takes game 3, they come back down to earth and we take game 4.

 

Box everyone out, and for the love of god Ryan get your **** together