Especially in the playoffs, you see refs swallow their whistles and let teams clobber each other on every possession. While I don't have the statistics to back up this claim, my hypothesis is that teams that run sets for mid-range jumpers benefit the most from this kind of refereeing. I believe this is what we saw the **@&#^% Sloan jazz do every year to the rockets in the playoffs. We have traditionally been a post-up/drive and kick oriented offense, and I don't believe this year is any different. Watching the first half against the Suns, **@&#^% Hornacek has brought the same annoying overly physical play to this team. On offense, the Suns team seems to once again look for mid-range shots on sets. Our traditionally efficient three-point/layup/postup offense grinds to halt when the refs allow the **@&#^% bush league hacking on both ends. The Suns are not as negatively affected as their sets simply set up open mid-range looks which can be pretty much had at any point in the game. Our team struggles against teams where this kind of officiating is allowed, as the Memphis Grizzlies have proven twice. Instead of beating our heads against the wall, I feel our team should have a plan for games like today (and games we are likely to see in the playoffs) to focus on getting open mid-range looks to keep pace when referees swallow their whistles. I feel we should also learn how to get as physical as possible without making obvious fouls when referees begin to do this.
This is the general consensus, but I reckon you re-watch the OKC-HOU 1st round series. After Beverley injured Muscle Chestbrook the refs whistled us for Tim Donaghy-esque foul calls.
This is not only wrong, but it doesn't even make sense that people think this way. I have to believe this line of thought is based on some weird ESPN talking head sticking nonsense in the minds of fans that turn fiction into fact. Being on the wrong side of many playoff defeats, I can't imagine Rockets fans actually believe this drivel. Especially since many of our playoff teams were "tough, physical" types that continuously got beat in the playoffs by "soft" teams like Dallas and Utah. Anyway, here are the facts. 2013 Regular season: 19.8 fouls called per game 2013 Playoffs: 21.5 fouls called per game. If you want eyeball test? Google Wade 2006 finals
The Suns are more run/gun/3-point happy than the Rockets are. Hornaceck does preach to get back on transition defense... so if that's what you call "grind it out, be physical" than so be it. Also, I appreciate teams that play hard/don't flop.
Dallas I can understand, but Utah? Utah was not "soft" by any stretch of the imagination. They have almost always played as dirty as possible while flopping when we initiate contact. I guess flopping could be considered "soft" but I just call it dirty. Called fouls don't mean much in terms of physicality.
So you're saying in the playoffs, the refs both call more ticky tack fouls while at the same time let teams play more physical? And you do not see the inherent contradiction here?
Well I would say that refs still call flops, we just never flopped as much as the Jazz did. There's no contradiction if you watched the jazz hack the rockets during both the Olajuwon and Yao/Tmac years. I would say you are in the minority in claiming that the playoffs being more physical is a misconception, and at the very least if you don't admit that the Jazz were a physical/dirty team I really don't know what else to say.
Jazz were definitely a physical team. Their entire defense was built around fouling on every play and daring the refs to call them. Of course, they didn't. It just raised the level of physicality required to draw a foul. If you look at their home/away splits, they got called for way more fouls on the road than at home which explains the large disparity in their home/away record. The crowd there jeers the refs into swallowing their whistles. I don't disagree with this tactic either. I feel that it doesn't mesh well with a run and gun 3s and layups strategy, but it is a good strategy.
I would say that if you look at the Phoenix Suns model, they are far outperforming their talent based on their record. Watching this game now I know why. It's Utah jazz basketball reincarnate. They just are missing the big bodies to keep loose ball fouling us and winning on the boards. Believe me in Phoenix twice as many of these flops would be called against us. It's dangerously effective especially in there era of the ridiculous home court advantage.
The thing is, if Asik ever plays for the rockets again they'll be able to out physical most other teams out there
God I think I hate thinking about that Jazz team and how the basketball gods cruely made us play them over and over in the playoffs. The flopping still gives me nightmares.
This is why an Asik would help but if he aint around then we getting blown out unless our guys stop looking at the refs for help
If you differentiate between flops and physical play, then wouldn't your topic be saying, "When the refs reward flops..." instead of the current one? We all know soft teams win plenty of championships. Lakers were not physical. Neither were the Mavs nor the Miami teams. But they flop well. Shouldn't you advocate more flopping by the Rockets than physical play?
I might would agree with the OP but the Suns took 30 3pt shots last night (almost twice as many as the Rockets), scored 44 points in the paint and 18 fast break points. The Suns didn't utilize a lot of mid range game last night.
Are you ever positive about this this team? I swear, even after DM basically pulled Harden and Dwight out of a hat, you were still b****ing about the "ass-backward" approach he took to roster construction. Just a reminder, pessimism =/= objectivism. It's just pessimism. And while it's something you're entitled to, when you continually beat that drum it gets awfully tiresome.
I've watched all 82 games for over a decade and kept hope. When the team has two players that are the best at their position they can't let that goto waste because a GM thinks that he can also coach the game and its ok because his groupies cheer him on. I love the rockets and it hurts when they are playing upto only a fraction of their potential when this team has historically overachieved. Also, I am plenty positive about the team, the negative posts just have a tendency to stand out.
Yes. And in the spirit of Masochism, someone please post the gif of Matt Harpring running into Yao and crashing to the ground as if he were hit head on by a semi.
Quite a few assumptions in your post that aren't backed up by the facts. 1) As pointed out already, not only don't the referee's swallow their whistles in the playoffs, they actually call more fouls. I know that it's a popular idea that the playoffs are much slower and more physical but that simply isn't true. Many people have claimed that Harden won't get all these fouls called in the playoffs yet Harden's FT attempts in the playoffs have been increased from his regular season totals for every season of his career. Ditto for Durant. It's really easy to confirm, simply look at the number of FT attempts in the regular season vs playoffs. The attempts in the playoffs go up, not down. 2) The Suns aren't looking for mid range shots. Phoenix's offense is similar to ours, run, drive and dish for 3 pointers. Phoenix attempts the 2nd most three pointers per game in the entire league. They are just behind the Rockets in 3's attempted. 3) I'm not sure why you think that the refs swallowed their whistles last night. Houston attempted 42 free throws for the game. Even removing the 6 "Hack-a-Howard" attempts, that's still 36 free throws which is more than our league leading average of 31.6 FT attempts per game. Sure there were some instances where we were fouled and nothing was called but it's not like the refs weren't calling anything. We shot a lot of free throws.
