This. Harden is still learning how to be a leader. This was basically his first year with the franchise on his shoulders. This is him and MDA's first year together. They can and should grow from this.
The MDA offense has no problem generating wide open looks though, how come Ryan Anderson had a good game in game 5 and in game 3 if he always had a defender sticking to him? I mean the whole point of 3s and paint is you clear the mid range area so SOMEBODY will always be wide open, you can't guard the paint and 3 pt line at the same time when nobody is in the mid range area. One of Anderson's biggest selling points was supposed to be his super fast release, if the team never counted on him hitting any contested 3 pter how come he needed a super fast release then? To be honest I don't even think Anderson took a contested 3 pt shot the entire game, all of those were wide open because with how unathletic Anderson was, there is no way he is going to be able to shoot with a guy right in his face it was gonna get blocked. Anderson is too slow to do stuff like hesitation moves or break his defender's ankles, the only ISO move he has is a fade away jumper and that's only possible in the paint. If Anderson took a shot that means he was free, period. He just used his fast release to get the ball off before the defender arrived. Just watch the tape of the game and tell me Anderson was taking shots with defenders in his face, that's why he only had 6 attempts those were open shots he took which he missed. BTW, I know the "in" thing to do right now is scapegoat Harden, but just like how I defended Tmac, Yao and Dwight, I don't really hold Harden all that accountable because if you look at his overall body of work as a Rocket, Harden has been excellent this entire year. Maybe he indeed quit in the last game, big whoop. It doesn't matter, Harden played out of his mind for a series and a half, it was the roster and MDA's insane game plan that failed him. Basketball is a 7 game series for a reason, people just over emphasize one game like it's the ****ing Superbowl. This is also why I want Anderson out, I think we have enough sample size of him being a mental midget in the playoffs. Anderson has a career 13.2 pts on 56% TS In the playoffs, he has a career 7 pts on 49% TS The dude is playoff choker. All his shooting only works in the regular season when there is no pressure then he caves when the spotlight goes on him. Rox got to unload that guy to have a chance to be good next year.
Ryan Anderson needs to be traded ASAP but due to that contract he aint going anywhere. Lou Williams is gone. Has a great contract which is also expiring so you can include him with another expiring deal like Ariza's to net a very good player. a Difference maker.Millsap should be our number one priority this offseason. Forget George or Hayward those guys are unrealistic scenarios.
Ariza, Capela, Beverly, Gordon and Williams were mostly solid/ good. Nobody was really consistently great or horrible except maybe Anderson and even he had a decent away game. The main problem is the different breed of basketball played in the playoffs vs the regular season. Factors for the series loss: The Rockets couldn't deal with the spurs defense + over reliance on Harden + high intensity and little rest between games and short rotation + questionable offense at times (Harden pull up threes). Also the Rockets need a second star. Spurs have Leonard + lma.
An inconsistent mis-mash of players and we don't know which ones will show up each game. They definitely share the blame.
Too bad our bench can't grow any taller, or stronger. It is what it is, small ball got crushed by big bodies. Our bench looked silly compared to the Spurs in this series, I think they were playing with a chip in the shoulder. TParker gone, maybe Leonard, it is a way for them to say we are the future. Sadly, we maybe under Spurs cloud for a while.
I don't blame Ryan Anderson at all. All he got during the playoffs (and season) was garbage balls at the last second. He's always forced to hit ugly shots
it's usually follow the "leader". Too bad in an elimination game at home, missing their best player and starting pg, our team didn't have one last night and started a rookie basically at pg
If Harden is going to act like the leader, and put on the superstar persona, most of the blame should fall on him. Remember when he was talking about 'being greedy' after Game 1. Wtf happened to that?
Certainly there's blame that needs to go around. Ryan Anderson was awful for most of the postseason. He was a no show outside of Game 3 in the OKC series. And he played horribly at home vs San Antonio save for Game 4. Gordon and Bev were inconsistent against the Spurs, and Williams disappeared. But ultimately a team follows its leader. If we're talking about OT in Game 5 and the entirety of Game 6, that's almost entirely on Harden. When your superstar comes out and gives no effort, what do you expect the rest of the players to do? The young guys like Capela and Dekker hustled and did what they could. But the veterans are gonna know something's up with their star player and it'll crush their spirit. I'm not surprised at all most of the team was dogging it out there once they saw that Harden had essentially quit on them.
I blame Poppabitch. You give him enough games in a series and he'll figure you out. He'll know more about you than you know about yourself. Look at the teams that ever beat him in the playoffs. They are very talented, loaded with multiple stars. A 1 star team will eventually get crushed by him.
Look at the 3pt shooting. Apart from Harden, we have five shooters, Beverley, Gordon, Ariza, Anderson, Williams. Let's call them the Five. Last night, Harden shot 2-9 (.222), the Five shot 8-23 (.348). The Five wasn't sizzling hot, but .348 was okay. This playoffs, Harden shot 32-115 (.278), the Five shot 100-282 (.355). Again, The Five wasn't sizzling hot but was actually not too bad. Here are the individual playoffs 3p% Beverley .404 Gordon .386 Ariza .377 Williams .308 Anderson .283 Harden .278 Anderson and Harden were the only ones shooting sub-30%
Credit to Pop's system, though. These weren't some Suns scrubs that ran us out of the building. This was the SA system at its finest.
Bringing in a defensive guru assistant coach isn't going to make your team magically play defense. You have to have several players (at least) who value the importance of that, especially during the playoffs. Our off-season acquisitions need to be TRUE 3-and-D guys. Luckily, those guys are easier to acquire than superstars.
For last nights game , I would say almost none . But for the series as a whole quite a lot of blame goes on them . Lou was awful the entire series as was Anderson . If either one of those guys could have found a way to contribute significantly then we would have been up at least 3-2 going into last night . Also the majority of the blame is on the coaching staff . We could never counter the Spurs' adjustments. Maybe we didn't have the personell but we never really tried either
