Last night's game provided an example of what i'm talking about: Gordon has the ball at the end of the 1st quarter. He beats his man - no Jazz player rotates pick up his drive - he dribbles through open mid range territory - the center meets him at the rim - he doesn't get the call - turnover. The idea is to run shooters off the line and bring a big to meet the driver in the paint. Not saying Gordon necessarily needs to pull up from 15 ft, just pointing out this is a defense often employed against us and, if done well and with the refs cooperation, can take away the 3 and the paint. The only solution is an extra pass to the now open Capela. Paul and Harden can make it - not so sure about anyone else.
Let's let Zach Lowe field this one: http://www.espn.com/nba/story/_/id/21705006/zach-lowe-10-things-like-including-milwaukee-bucks-nba
"This one" what? I was describing a defensive adjustment, not complaining about Gordon. Good stats though.
I admit that I didn’t think CP3 would be that much of an upgrade over what Bev brought as far as being the perfect complement to Harden. But after last night’s win against a red hot Jazz team, I see where his most significant contribution resides. It’s the mid-range! The Rockets have been a well-oiled machine since last year. Threes, frees, and ease. Nothing in between. The Rockets offense thrives on this last year. That is until teams gave up the midrange. The Rockets seemed lost when the offense was forced in between the three-point line and the basket. It almost felt like a broken play. Actually, it probably was. Possessions like these forced Bev to take midrange shots, which probably felt foreign to him as they likely didn’t practice them enough. With Chris Paul, there’s a sense of stability when the Rockets are only given midrange shots. He rocks one of the best midrange games in the league today. A combination of an excellent midrange shooting percentage and the savvy to keep the dribble alive in high-stress areas allow Chris Paul to have options in the midrange. He reads the defense so well. Take the shot he’s made a living off of, or pass the rock when the help defense makes its move. If everyone stays home, he’s got a nifty post game, too. I’m very excited. There’s a lot to love about this team. We already knew about the potential of different combinations with the versatile players picked up in the offseason. It’s not only CP3 contributing in major ways to our early success. The Cerberus Rotation (Hounds of Houston?) of Ariza/Tucker/Mbah Moute is just as relentless on defense as the Harden/Paul/Gordon rotation is on offense. They can all make threes. And the two superstars also provide elite playmaking and emergency midrange stability. The Rockets are playing so well right now early I’m the experiment. Just wait until they figure it out. Scary.
So we couldn't have won last night without CP3s 8 points off of mid-range shots, despite the fact that we won by 11? Assuming the Rockets score ZERO points on all 4 of the possessions where Paul hit a mid-range shot (which is unlikely) we still win. It's nice to have the flexibility to score from anywhere on the floor, but to say last nights game proved anything definitively is just inaccurate. The Rox had little to no trouble with the Jazz defense based on their 25 point lead in the 3rd, which was largely generated by 3s and points in the paint, just like the Rox have done all year.
Exactly. CP3 adds another dimension which is great. But the Rox are 19 - 4 and crushing opponents without a significant mid-range game. We are #1 in Offensive Rating and #1 in Defensive Rating since Paul returned. What more do people want from this team?
Mid-range wasn't the reason we won. The big reason we won was because CP3 is somehow the key to unlocking Ryan Anderson's real potential and making his contract look great. Also, we played fantastic defense (as usual), so even when we had trouble scoring our opponent's couldn't take advantage. The biggest difference between this year and last year is the Rockets are a ticking timebomb. If the Rockets are struggling to score, opposing teams need to take advantage and hope they can build up a big enough lead, because at some point the Rockets will blow up and go on an unstoppable run where both the offense and defense come together. It also helps that James Harden himself is also a ticking timebomb. He has had numerous games already where he started out slow but blew up very quickly.
It's not about just doing math, it's that during a scoring drought CP3 went inside. It's how he forced Gobert to come out further and open things up. I will come back to this once we've played more elite teams who defend us like the Jazz, so the Spurs and OKC who we will meet in the next 2 weeks. If we can manage without the mid-range game, then I will shut up until the play-offs about this. That's why I'm harping on this, because I think it will be the difference in beating teams. By the way, CP3 wasn't the only one who shot from mid-range, there was a guy named Harden who took a couple too
Top 10 Teams in 2pt rate are - 16 games below .500 Bottom 10 Teams in 2pt rate are +34 games below .500 There is an irrefutable correlation between taking less 2pt shots and winning. In that regard, defense is irrelevant.
