Pre playoffs prediction: I was going for Rockets in 6 because they can switch and be effective in defending. Just plain switching. Lakers are not good in threes. They can contain Lebron and somehow limit his drives or just settle for his outside shots Actual Playoffs : The way they played the Lakers on the 3 regular season games and one on the bubble is different. Yes regular season is different from playoffs and the personnel. The Game 1 win was also not how they played but they won fortunately. Their points are basically from good passes,fastbreak or cuts. We did not see this on the OKC series 1.) They are zoning or double teaming AD or Lebron. They won't do that on the regular season or at least not that much. The only one good in isolation is Lebron. He is strong but not that fast compared to 3 OKC guards. You would rarely see Rockets double team OKC and consequently, the defense was better. I mean their points were from isolations. With the lakers, the points are usually coming from open passes. AD points were mostly put backs,fastbreaks or mid range shots. They can somehow limit AD drives. They don't need to double team him or even Lebron. In OKC series, we allowed being blown by the 3 guards. I don't know why we can't use the same principle with only Lebron as the main driver and to think Lebron is not quicker than Shia or Shroeder. CP3 maybe even craftier than Lebron in drives. If the strategy is switching, they need to continue even in this series. they still continued to try to make as many threes and they did not change that but Lakers figured it out. They changed the defense but did not adjust their offense 2.) Yes the Lakers figured out how to rotate when they double James but I don't see Westbrook going in the middle. I don't see why he needs to be in the corners. 3.) they should switch basically to complete switching and go from there and not settle for gaps. They can double team only if Lebron or AD are really deep or they are doing the backdown and not when they have not dribbled the ball Positives: Austin, Ben Mac played well on the 4th because they are quicker and can drive better than if you put Roco or Tucker. Harden should be given a pass because it is really hard to play on double teams. Don't care what critics would say. The critics can try and play against double teams Question : Can Houston duplicate Clutch City and do what they did against the Suns? I have not watched every game of that series but were they competitive during their loss or blowouts too? Sorry if this is not a good comparison but we can still comeback hopefully like Denver and Toronto? I don't know if we consider ourselves competitive in this series. Game 4 was definitely not competitive. We had a chance to win Game 2 though.
being able to completely ignore Dort, and him being absolutely atrocious until game 7 while we did that, really helped the defense be great against OKC Lakers have no Dort...u leave 1 of their role players open in order to load up on Lebron or AD, and they are hitting the shot or driving into the lane and converting also, when we do manage to force a missed shot, LA is more dangerous on the offensive boards...Steven Adams got over half of OKC’s offensive rebounds in our series against them, and he could not punish us...the offensive rebounding is more spread out with this LA team, and if Bron or AD get the offensive board, it is basically an automatic bucket unlike with OKC this series is over...they looked dead and defeated right from the start in game 4...they showed some life in the 4th, but by then, it was too little too late all I ask is that they show some fight in game 5, and whatever happens, happens...after winning against OKC and avoiding that embarrassment, this series is just gravy...I’m not even trippin...it sucks they couldn’t pull out game 2 or game 3, but that’s what championship teams do, and the Rockets are not, and were never, a championship team this year...this is not a championship roster, and I love MDA, but he is not the one who would take a roster like this and guide them to the championship I had this team as a 2nd round exit all season, so I can’t sit here and be mad when they fulfill my prophecy...I’d like to see some changes in the offseason...a different coach that pays more attention to detail and isn’t so stubborn, roster reconstruction so that Harden can get back to running PnR and having a lob threat, and changing this offensive philosophy of extreme Moreyball that gets shut down and underperforms every postseason...this team was below average offensively since the Capela trade, so at least this season, it’s not even a case of great-historic offensive efficiency that is cratering in the playoffs like usual...it’s just them continuing their mediocre offense that they displayed in the regular season
You'd think someone would have thought about this before Roco had to leave the game and we were already 20 points down. Someone like... maybe... our offensive genius head coach.
well said. It does not have the same vibe as the 2018 team. What I really don't agree is the double teaming or "zone" they do.they did not do that on okc,they should still continue to do that on the Lakers.and not gamble on gaps and leave someone open
Stopping LeBron drives is easier said than done. You cannot touch him at all and he can run over you Rocket River
LeBron can't always blow by anyone.you don't see him blow by harden,roco,tucker always.let him shoot contested outside shots.another point is he is not aggressive all the time!!!!!!that's better than letting anyone shoot wide open shots like rondo,caruso or freaking rookie TUCKER
The way I see it is they adjusted their defense by double teaming and zoning instead of sticking to their switch all defense and man to man.but they did not adjust how they play offense.it should have been the other way around. Westbrook went back to how he started the season by shooting more than 2 threes.he just looks hesitant to drive because of being probably blocked several times and he is afraid to do a fastbreak.something I did not see when he played them on the regular season.I think these are all purely mental and Russ is probably too proud to admit it
Lebron looks to aggressively score everytime he touches ball. This forces help defense which in turn he uses to make passes. He's nothing like CP3 or Shai who attack in spurts.
LeBron usually bullies his way to the basket so possibly a slower way to drive compared to okc 3 guard which relies more on speed.we see how okc 3 guards blows by rox "bigger" players like roco and tuck. Roco,tuck,harden usually can't handle okc speed. They can somehow handle LeBron speed and almost the same strength to handle LeBron power. I don't understand why you need to double team LeBron or ad. If you let okc blow past you.why won't allow a few LeBron or ad drives but keep mostly in check.why gamble on letting the role players to have open shots by doubling LeBron or ad when your original defensive strategy is to switch everything and try to defend it.I thought we can switch everything so we can guard anybody.why zone and double? I understand the double on the post from time to time but don't double on the top of the key
Clean foul Lebron, but foul him hard. He's getting to the line anyways, so you foul him hard. He's old but not reckless, Lebron wants a Tom Brady career, he's going to stop driving if you keep putting him on his butt.
