Media "Hating" watching the Rockets

I hate when people say "The Rockets shoot too many free throws, and get too many calls". Well I mean I'm sure James and Dwight wouldn't mind you getting out of the way so you can get dunked on...Tell your team to quit fouling and everybody will be happy :grin:

 

I know Bill Simmons has said this, but others? Simmons thinks Howard's offensive game is boring, and many people do.

btw: he is only talking about comparing the good teams and comparing the stars. He doesn't compare us to bad teams. The basic point they are making is the Rockets shoot tons of threes and tons of FTs, which can be boring to many viewers.

Who else is saying this? I'm curious.

 

Zach Lowe has also expressed a similar opinion about watching James Harden.

 

You have to be personally attached (Homer FAN) watching all the players growing up to appreciate the growing up of players to their potential. But he (Bill Simmons) does not. I think Bill Simmons just does not like to give MOREY the respect he deserves .

 

Harden isn't an "elegant" player on offense, but he's powerful and effective. I won't lie; I sort of "hated" his play last year, even though he was often dominating, because it was all offense and an off-night for him was devastating to the team, because he got so many touches. I think even amongst more objective writers, that's still the Harden they're used to covering.

HOWEVER...

This year he looks incredible. Any writer that has actually watched a couple Rockets games this year will notice his unbelievably-improved defense, his higher assist rate, his lower turnover rate, and his much higher level of energy on the court. Most importantly, now, if he's having a bad night scoring, he's still grinding it on defense and creating scoring opportunities that way. That's a FANTASTIC thing to watch, but it'll take a while for everyone to actually observe the new James Harden and have it sink in.

 

People say Harden gets favoritism, but what all star doesn't. However, Harden initiates contact, and if you are a defender it is your job to move and try to block the shot unless you are set and he rolls over you. Howard gets hacked without question, and half the time he doesn't get fouls called. So those complaining in the media, need to watch the games and think of something else to write/say about getting calls.

 

Anyone who doesn't like to watch Harden does not have complete love of basketball.

 

Yeah, I know. There are actually logical answers to why we shoot so many free throws.

1) Our shooting guard drives to the basket with his arms outstretched. It's a risky move that would backfire if he didn't have such a strong grip. Instead, though, people slap his arms EVERY SINGLE TIME, which is a clear foul. As long as defenders keep doing that, it's an effective strategy.

2) The defensive plan of pretty much every NBA team involves PURPOSELY fouling our center, so he can't get an easy dunk. Sometimes it works, and sometimes it backfires, but it certainly isn't favoritism towards us that fouls are called on people that intentionally maul Dwight when he gets the ball.

It's as simple as that. I chuckle out loud at the idea that ANY Houston sports team would EVER be the officiating darling of whatever league it's in.

 

I personally love it. They are more or less correct; our offense is predictable. We are going to shoot a ton of threes, layups, and free throws. EVERYONE knows this. There is a HUGE difference between knowing what's coming and stopping what's coming however.

Here is a great quote from Bucks guard Jerryd Bayless "It is very hard. It is a lot of tagging and a lot of help defense. If you are not playing the right (way) and if they are hot, it can make it really tough."

Basically, the other team has to play tag when we kick the ball out or swing it around for the open man. If it is our transition offense, they have to keep up with our fast pace as soon as we make that outlet pass. If they help too much, our wings are left with room to slash. When the offense is clicking IE shots are falling, our offense is damn near impossible to stop.

I can see why people dislike Harden though as he practically mainlines FT's every game. People don't like to see that. They want to see fadeaway shots IE Kobe, Dirk or fancy post games or vicious dunks. Spectators prefer flash over efficiency. That's all there is to it.

 

Kevin Durant averages more Free Throws than Harden and no one ever complains about his games watch-ability. It's all rhetoric and media agenda. They have meetings and they label players, they continue with the label without watching games until someone calls them on it or a bunch of other people report something different, then they jump on that boat. Sports reporting these days is mostly lazy guys who never played sports giving personal opinions on players in order to get website hits or more notoriety.

 

I don't get this either, and I've questioned whether I'm just a homer. I think this team was a little more fun to watch consistently before Dwight came and we ran more -- but I still love watching them and don't see how/why people think it's boring. Like the game against the Pacers last year when Harden just went full Harden in the 2nd half, or the Spurs game earlier this season when we looked like Lob City South, or even just the Kings game the other night when you knew everything Canaan threw up was swishing in. Reading a lot of these articles, you'd think Harden and Dwight just shot FTs for 48 minutes.

 

Some nights we can look unwatchable (okc, Philly, Memphis) and some nights we look like poetry in motion (bucks, Dallas, spurs).

All I can say is, last year we had many more games fall in the former rather than the later category. I am optimistic that the growth of Hardens game and the young guys will continue this positive trend.

 

these guys must not play nba 2k15
where it is all threes and driving to the hoop or dunking
which is how basketball is supposed to be played anyway

 

The sad thing is the media is really missing quite the story in Houston.

Where else in the NBA does a team have a 13-4 record with 3 rookies (Black, Papanikolao, Johnson), 3 guys who last year spent time in the d-league (Cannan, Daniels, DMo), a dude who played in Europe (Dorsey) and a supposedly washed up player (Jason Terry) all receiving heavy minutes?

Despite injuries and the above patchwork lineup, we sport one of the league's top defenses (a complete turnaround from last year), a player having an MVP caliber season in James Harden, and a coach who despite being labeled a hack has quietly kept this team together through all this.

Nope. We're just "unwatchable". Kinda like their columns are for the most part "unreadable".

 

One thing about the media: media gonna media.

It seems like we live in an age where everything is either "the worst ever" or "the best ever."

Players get ripped apart then shortly thereafter raised up as Gods then back again.

 

It is slightly less than exciting to give the ball to Dwight in the post repeatedly and watch him stumble around down there with either a miss, a TO, a foul drawn, or an awkward looking shot that unexpectedly goes in.

Other than that, I don't get the criticism.

 

A LOT of it has to do with the media hating Dwight Howard.

Before we had Dwight Bill Simmons himself said the 2012 Rockets was one of his favorite NBA League pass teams to watch. In 2013 all of a sudden his attitude soured towards Houston. And I'm pretty sure it wasn't because we traded Thomas Robinson.