Coach Nick is a certified Rocket hater. From the analysis of last night's game on his twitter feed to his coverage of the Western conference finals last year, it's obvious. He should be ignored at all cost.
Sorry that’s my fault. In the thread: “[Feigen] Answers Elusive As Search Continues For Rockets” - Deuce. Saturday 10:35 a.m. In post #69: I stated, “Think last years WC finals where Harden/CP3 held on to the ball too long and the Warriors we’re able to set their defense easily...then from game 2 on...Harden & CP3 put their heads down and just took charge and took control. Same offense....but different.” Monday 7:01 a.m.——— (offense sped up) I wrote that Harden and CP3 were spending too much time holding the hands of the new guys (Hartenstein/Gary Clark/House/James Ennis/Chriss/MCW. After 20 games in our system (House w/Vipers) that’s enough time playing wet nurse. It’s time to take off the training wheels and turn those guys loose. Harden and CP3 can kick it up a notch and the new guys ride their coattails....find their nitch where they can. House/Ennis reported, in post game interviews after Portland game, that Monday practice was very good. CP3 & Harden challenged them to man-up. That practice was after my posts. I didn’t know it would get back to them. Boo yah ; )
Here is the D House and GGreen post game interviews from 12-11-18 https://www.nba.com/rockets/video/channel/interviews Both mention the practice on Monday.
You left one (and I think the most important one) off: - Hangover from feeling the WCF was taken from them (ie, lack of 'want to') The other things help, but I think that factor is the real issue. The Rockets seem to be back to wanting to play hard. If you don't play hard in the NBA...you're not going to be very good, no matter who is on your team. You also need to have confidence that playing hard will lead to wins. I think the WCF diluted that as well, and they need(ed) to get that back, as well.
I mostly agree with this. But I also think it's important to give each player purpose. When Gordon was first off the bench the rest of the bench sort of deferred to him and whichever starters were out there. When Gordon started starting, the remaining bench knew it was on them to produce and for each of the last three games they have. I still think we need more/better players but the bench behind Gordon stepped up when they were called on to do so. Green, House, and Nene have all excelled since Gordon joined the starting lineup. Ennis looked much better in the few minutes he played off the bench too before he got hurt. A lot of our problems were coming from not playing hard enough. Even though Paul and Gordon aren't hitting their shots lately, I feel like our whole team is playing much harder now. I attribute that to the changes in our game plan which have been radical and also to the fact that everyone in our rotation is playing so much harder.
this. unfortunately i don't think there are many 3&D combo forwards with the wingspan of ariza or luc floating around the trading block. guys like james johnson, carroll, aminu, harkless, marvin, and thad, all have complications to completing a trade. if we compromise and just get a SF rather than one who can play small ball 4 we may have better luck with guys like bazemore, holiday, jr, pope, shumpert. ideally gordon just finds his 6th man of the year groove back, we trade bk for one of those forwards, and we package chriss/nene for another useful player. that would create a solid 7 man rotation. green, ennis, clark, hart, mcw, etc... have no business being in the rotation other than as a 9th-10th man.
As someone that's spent significant time with Morey, in a non-basketball context, I can tell you that he never stops working on upgrading our team. Even when we were developing a new musical together, a thing in which he was very invested, he constantly excused himself to make or take calls about the Rockets. I doubt there's any GM in the league that works harder at finding ways to upgrade their roster. I think that's part of why he's so dang good at it. Nobody's perfect and he signed several guys that just didn't work out this year, but you can bet on the fact that he's more aware of that than any other person and is working night and day to improve our team. My observation is that that's just how he's wired. Good is never good enough. He is always trying to improve our team and the vast majority of the time that's exactly what he does.
You have to admit, this season has been the most confusing one I've been invested in. I still trust Morey.
Defense and rebounding has gotten better, which directly correlated to our wins. It's not like we're jacking up a bunch of midrange shots. Also, it helps that Harden has been in complete HARGOD mode
I've got no problem shooting a lot of 3 pointers - when its the right play... It's all about what the defense gives you. If you can spot up on the 3 pt arc and get open looks - fine, take 'em... If the d is coming out to the line and contesting those 3's - then you make 'em pay by going around them and finishing at the rim or getting a little bunny shot in the open area... This is what always drives me crazy about MDA... 'we're just gonna play our game' and 'I want to see x number of 3 pt attempts...' without even seeing what the defense is throwing at you... you gotta taper your attack to exploit the weaknesses in the defense...
