The transition D was bad in this game and way to many mental errors. It was tough watching this team go ISO in the 3rd and miss their shots. This team's youth shows up in the good & bad.
Probably the only person madder about this game than Rockets fans is Danny Ainge. But seriously, this team needs Fernando and Sengun back and quick. Or else Markkanen won't be the last big man to destroy Houston's interior D.
I didn't know Jesus could play pg. We all know KPJ can't though. I don't get it with you guys. Reasonable fans get he's a 6th man. There's nothing wrong with that. Wood was terrible here. He didn't try. He's trying now because he wants money
Despite the errors, I liked the effort to bring the game close and and competitive for a bit. I’ll take the split on the home & away set.
Unfortunately seems like the only real feedback cycle we have on this team is Lucas attacking Sengun in the media.
Start Sengun and run an motion offensive system with him setting up Jalen and Jabari. KPJ spearheads the bench Jamal Crawford-style. Hero Ball is not cutting it as an offensive system.
I haven't been awfully quiet about Banchero at all. We watched the game last night and I provided live commentary LOL
KPJ almost managed the comeback, he just didn't get any help from his teammates but with a young team games like this are to be expected. Hopefully they bounce back in the next game.
Folks be spinning stories to prop or bring down kpj. Man fourth quarter heroics wasn't done to induce a fake comeback and get people to think he had a good game. He had an awful game but he redeem himself in the fourth quarter by playing iso heroball. He didn't fail the comeback bc he didn't get any help from his teammates, he failed bc he went isoball hero mode and couldn't carry us to the finish line. U can't just praise the man for playing isohero ball and then proceed to blame his teammates for the L when he couldn't even get them involved with his sht playmaking abilities. Man scored only 24 pts with isohero ball, that ain't enough to win.
Hero Ball doesn't really work unless a team plays through Curry, Doncic etc... Why does it take so long for many fans to understand that???
Transition D sucks because we have 3 guys crashing the offensive glass, we get a lot of OFF rebounds but we give up far too many points because we are out numbered in transition. It is dead easy to clear up if the coach doesn't have his head up his own ass. DD
KPJ was great in the 4th. But it was mainly because of his scoring ability. He’s a very talented scorer. Nobody can deny that. When he’s on, he can give you bunch of points in no time. But my main concern with him still stands, ie he can’t run the offense and make his teammates better. Him going ISO and bringing us back into the game doesn’t change my concern in any way.
A couple thoughts on last night’s game. KPJ does have the “it” factor and has the ability to put the team on his back. Stepping up in the clutch comes natural to him, and right now he’s the defacto leader of our team. I have increasing doubts that he’ll ever evolve into a more traditional PG who can run the floor and facilitate for teammates at a high level, but he’s turning into a very good combo guard. Green’s shot looks even smother than last year. I think he’s gonna be more of a quiet leader. There is no limit to his offensive abilities; one of the best young offensive talents in the league. He’s also gotten stronger. I still see a lot of work needed on defense. jabari Smith is going to be a Rockets star. He’s better than Green was last year at the same age and with his length and advanced defensive development, he’s one of the best prospects in the NBA. Just keep giving him minutes at the 4 and 5. It’s incredible how well he’s playing already for a rookie. I don’t like the lineups we were throwing out there last night. Part of it is that we are still fundamentally unbalanced as a team with our roster, but somehow we made Markkanen look like Michael Jordan. Tate remains a better player coming off the bench in my opinion. Even though Tari is raw i still would rather have his length as opposed to Tate, especially when defending tall 4s. I don’t want to be overly critical of Nix on this one game (which was very bad), but it has been a pattern even going back to last season. I don’t see the upside worth giving him those valuable nba minutes. EG looks slow to me and I have serious doubts about his effectiveness relative to Father Time finally catching up with him. I think he’s trade value is much less than last year and won’t likely rebound. He’s better coming off the bench at this point in his career. I am in the minority, but I’m glad we have found a way to get Gary Bird minutes in the rotation. Even when his shot isn’t falling he’s doing other valuable things and he’s a warrior, which is infectious.
We should win the game against the Blazers: Lillard did say he is unlikely to play Friday night when the Blazers host the Houston Rockets. After that, Portland has a break before hosting the Memphis Grizzlies next Wednesday. "Now I've just got to be smart, and make sure I'm getting a couple of treatment sessions in each day, and just try to stretch it," he said. "So probably not going to be playing that game on Friday. That will give me six days of maybe two sessions some days, three sessions other days, and try to be ready for that one. We'll see." So much disrespect to the Rockets, we are going to win Friday......Lillard should have played.
This post has a grasp of what they see on TV and their confirmation bias, but not what the real problem truly is, which is this is what Silas wants to run, this is his system, it is not KPJ's fault that the team is failing it is the headcoach who is not helping his players by putting in structure to help them be successful. Oh, sure it is easy to blame the players, but when the head coach in the press conference says we can run a little less ISO - and tries to blame the players - that is a problem because. A. Either the players aren't listening to Silas and are doing what they want - which means he has no respect by the players and no accountability. Or. B. Silas doesn't have any real system and he has benefitted in his career from having all time greats and took credit for their success Either one is bad and shows he is the problem and not worthy of coaching this team. It is a coaching problem that is rotting this team. DD
Sure in the broad scheme of things the coach inability to coach will get expose sooner later or not. (McHale comes to mind) Silas shoulder some blame for our offense being bad as it seems. I just dont like to blame it solely on the coach. Harden had that type of coach/system but he still made McHale look "elite". This is the exact game plan, we just have to acknowledge that kpj isn't ready for it. We are now at the crossroads. Does silas pivot into a different offense system that will benefit all the players or does he keep putting kpj in the McHale system and by some mircale kpj is able to impersonate harden to a greater degree. Also we don't know if tilman is sending down order to tank bc some of these rotations is just g2d awful.
