We shot the three Trevor Ariza WCF Finals bad, and still almost snagged a victory against Coach Pop. The defense is coming alive. Gary Clark is a stud role player that just JACKED Melo’s spot. Showing Robert Horry/Shane Battier flashes of IQ brilliance and shooting. The threes will begin to fall. The math is going to be a factor, and soon. Beard and CP3 will dominate. They will find their way. Jeffy B is coming home. All in all, SO much negativity. I think we are getting there. Anyone else think so?
Their defense has been much much better. It's been significantly improving these past few games. Its definitely coming around and I was very proud of the effort and intensity I saw tonight. Our struggles now are all offensive. We just have not been efficient. I have faith the offense will come around and the shots will start to fall. The next 3 games are rough tho and we are already really far behind.
Well, I’d rather struggle at the start of the season than at the end. There’s still hope. The defense has been better.
Good effort and fighting spirit. Gordon back to himself after getting back to his role from last year. Gary Clark will be a good player. He has the tools we need. His age and experience will be working against him but we might as well play him because we have no one noteworthy after Gordon on the bench. This team needs to get back to its identity and work on its chemistry.
I'm an optimist, but even I have accepted the Rockets aren't good. I support this thread though and agree with everything. Keep up the fight. Gary is a baller and should start.
It's true. We're improving on a lot of things. Better defensive focus, better coordination, taking better care of the ball. Perversely, I like when we shoot badly to start the game, because it makes us focus more and work harder to stay even. And then, when our shots start falling, we pull away. Except when they don't. If you had bet me we would stay this cold the whole game, not just from 3 but at the foul line and our stars missing so many layups, you would now own my house.
Thank you for the post. Exactly what I have observed, I really just want to make sure I’m not taking crazy pills. I’m seeing more consistent effort, and the folks on here that REALLY think a CP3/Harden led offense isn’t going to be elite come June are the crazy ones, IMO.
I liked what I saw defensively in the 2nd half tonight. They look a million times better than they did earlier this season. Offensively, they got plenty of open looks and just couldn’t hit them. The one thing I would criticize D’Antoni for is taking Harden out to start the 4th quarter. He had found his groove driving to the basket at the end of the third.
It really sucks seeing great posters go the route you've been taking reeko. I've seen it times before with other great posters who just get so caught up and riled up they lose what made them special as a poster. Sucks to see this happening to you as well None the less. The season isnt lost. If you legit cant see how the defense has turned around then you've successfully blinded yourself. We are also starting to get better looks offensively but still not making anything. It's got a ways to go.
I can agree with what you're highlighting as positive points. There's still just a major roster hole in the frontcourt that has to be addressed. That's like a big dark cloud for me, hanging over everything. Our depth is broken. Other than that, people have to learn how to shoot again. I'm worrying that Gordon, Paul, and Harden might just be too streaky to be relied on for the dribble-dribble-stepback strategy, or the pass-open-layups-for-threes strategy. A lot of things went right for a long time last year. Now a lot of things are going bad at the same time.
I would consider starting Clark over Ennis. Ennis is really slow and often gets blown by on the perimeter.
The defense has become alright (not great by any stretch) after a terrible start, but the offense seems to be getting worse every game. It's entirely self inflicted, just missing the same shots we made last year. Layups, open 3s, free throws at times. The problem is that since it's self inflicted, that means it's in their heads and could affect them the entire season.