Spurs seem like they have figured it out. Just defend paint and 3pt line and dare you to shoot mid-range. And when the team refuses to adjust and keep chucking contested 3s or driving into a well defended paint, you know that you have them right where you want them.
Is it MoreyBall or D'antoni ball? Whatever it is, it's not enough against elite teams and I think most people paying attention in the regular season already knew that. That doesn't make it a failing strategy. We did exceed expectations, after all.
See here is the thing about Moreyball. It depends on 3 > 2. Sounds good right? But what Morey is not realizing is that 2+2 > 3 Look at the box score of this game. See that: Spurs shot 46/74!!! 2ptrs which is outstanding but only 5/22 3ptrs which is terrible. Rockets shot 9/37!!!! (WTF???) on 2pts but a respectable 13/40 on 3 ptrs which is actually okay (anything 33% or above is "okay" as it equates to 50% shooting on 2 ptrs.) But Spurs simply outshot Rockets with a ton of midrange 2s. Moreyball can be defeated because 2+2 > 3 and that is exactly what the Spurs did to discredit Moreyball forever. And in the case of game 6, its more like 2+2+2+2 > 3.
Moreyball for a team comprised of Harden and inconsistent role players will have its limit in the playoffs Moreyball did get us 55 wins and to a game 6 against SA, but we need more talent...we need more stars
I would discredit D'Antoni more than Morey. D'Antoni is more anti post up then Morey Morey is more about being smart with salary cap and picks to get star players
I don't think Moreyball is the problem. I think the problem is shrugging off the midrange game completely. Like, if they are just giving you mid range shots then take it.
Warriors shoot a lot of threes but don't go out of their way to avoid midrange shots like the plague.
I love Morey and i don't want him fired. That said, i am realistic and see his faults and shortcomings. I wouldn't be upset if we let him go and tried something else. At this point with Harden and a couple of nice role players, you'd be better off with a Pat Riley/Recruiter role for GM because all we lack is more star power in a super team league and Morey just can't get it done in bringing in another star.
Their transition defense and focus on players who actually play on that end of the court completely disagree with this statement.
You can play any way you want to when you have Durant, Curry, Thompson and Green, BUT even so, the Warriors are always top ranked D. Were always bottom ranked D with Moreyball.
You can't win a championship relying on the three point shot and free throws unless your team is very well connected defensively. When your two highest paid players are Ryan Anderson and James Harden, you can forget about your team playing the type of defense that is required to win a title.
D'Antoni ball would have won Game 5 if they actually would have done it at the end of the game. Instead, Harden stood around dribbling 20 seconds off the shot clock and throwing up terrible shots. Why D'Antoni didn't call a timeout and tell Harden to pull his head out of his ass, I have no idea, but all of their amazing effort went to complete waste. And if you ask me, it looked like the team spent the entire 48 hours since then arguing about it, because they sure as hell didn't look like a team tonight.
For playoff basketball, it appears so. For regular season basketball, absolutely not. This team of misfits won 55 games. I blame the NBA and the officials for having two brands of basketball. What kind of shitty league is that? Honestly it's like studying for an Algebra final for your Algebra class but your professor replaces it with a Calculus final. Both are "math" classes but in the regular season it's Algebra and playoffs it's Calculus. wtf?!?!
Not really. I think it is the blue print. We need 3 and D folx That IS NOT ANDERSON .. . I think also they need CONSISTENCY Anderson, Gordon and Lou have proved to be STREAKY Which is ok when they rotate nights off. . but they have been off pretty much all series Rocket River
Hmmm and that's Moreyballl Morey ball is against mid range Harden used to have a sweet mid range game but Maury has discouraged that. Now Harden becomes more predictable on offense. How many times did he do the step back mid range J this season?
Morey won't be fired, He'll have a world class batch of spin cooked up by tomorrow afternoon. He will focus on the regular season record, and how Harden is an all star player. just like the nuthuggers will do. Le$ will buy it, hook, line and sinker.
TBF, Harden did that because he was gassed. He dribbled for 20sec to get rest without having to go to the bench. IOW it was a technique to get rest while still being on the court.