I told my wife early in the second half that even if the Rockets win, it'll still feel like a loss. Actually it felt more like a five game losing streak somehow squished into a single game. I hate to crap on the team that won, but the only thing that saved the Rockets from a historically bad loss was that the Lakers were just as bad in a lot of ways. I don't have any suggestions on lineup changes or whatever, but the team looks all wrong mentally. Nevermind Dwight, guys who are normally reliable at FT's or 3's are bricking them, backcourt players look like they've never covered a defensive assignment in their lives (y'think maybe this is why every team gets red hot from 3 against the Rockets???), and generally no one looks like they trust one another on either end of the court, which is weird considering a lot of these guys did play together before this season. They're playing with no urgency or pride - throwing away the game late sucks, but if they quit spotting teams 19 point leads in the first half those situations can be minimized.
It is obvious, Howard's post up move is limited and not reliable. he is unlike Yao, who would automatically demand double-team when getting the ball down low, hence the possibility of freeing up one of his team mate. I dont have stats but going by eye test, the success rate of howard's post move isn't always good, and considering his awful free throw percentage if getting foul, why the high frequency of such play is beyond me. Why not try more pick and roll during game??? of course, his defensive impact can always be felt. That is his bread and butter. that is where he excel, but on offense, he should never be the go to guy in most of the trip, not even, i would say, should he be the second option.
Thank you Andy. That's my biggest problem. I have been saying if we would've won by 1 point I'd still be pissed. It's like these so called basketball fans are only concerned about the last 5 minutes of the damn game. They aren't smart enough to look at the whole thing I'm guessing. Blame Harden for running Iso. Blame Lin and Bev for not getting on Blake. Blame Dwight for missing freethrows. None of those players single handedly lost us the game. The team lost the game because as you said it were down by 19 points to this bum ass Lakers teams because of the lack of defense.
wtf, since when the hell did you need to motivate superstars to win and play hard? WOW, seriously, what the **** is happening here?
Don't forget the barrage of 3's and taking turns turning over the ball in the 3rd qtr, parsons outlet can't catch, lins outlet pass & drive and kick it to the other team, hardens lack of D, bev ice cold, and howard stepping out of bounds and can't make ft. Leading the league in ft attempts should be an advantage. COME ON MAN
This loss will hopefully show them that right now, they're NOT good enough to beat mediocre teams like the Lakers -- even at home -- without giving a steady effort from the beginning. Will that actually happen? Will they learn from this mistake?
Honestly all of the stuff you just named will fix itself over time. We just need time to gel. Turnovers will happen. The lack of perimeter defense is what we need. Not just calling out Harden. He's not the only one leaving shooters wide open and not even attempting to close out. It's damn near everybody. Not just this game either. It's been like 4 of the games out of the 6 we've played. Not even lazy, it's just 0 effort.
JVG didn't have a single problem putting players in defined roles. we dumped the ball down to yao, ALOT. that created the whole identity. we need to do that with dwight and mchale.. you would think its exactly what he would do, since he was dominant down-low and all... but hes being a pansy and needs to follow the JVG school of thought. FEED THE BIGMAN!!!
Ton of 3s at the start, because Asik and Dwight wouldn't come out of the paint area. Can't ask 3 Rockets to guard 4-5 Lakers.
We DO throw it to Dwight. If you go back and watch all the possessions that Dwight received the ball, he either got stopped on his drive further in, or he kicked it out for a Harden iso. Dwight and Blake Griffin are in the same boat, offensively. Both are extremely athletic, and can catch lobs that are inhumanly possible to catch, but both have crap for a post game.
I do not want any more Asik + Howard lineup, except in very specific defensive cases. I want to see less mins for Harden. I don't think he took a rest at all in the 2nd half last night. Everyone need a bit of rest for the end stretch. Have some trust in your non-Harden lineup or at least this is now the time to let the Harden-less lineup built up some experience for later run and playoff. Limit the ISO. From time to time it's fine, but we need to get away from ISO. Use your timeouts, coach, to set up your team on both the D and O side. We are still a very young team and need constant reminder. The current Miami and the Boston team of a few years ago didn't take much chances - they constantly call timeout to set up their O and D at critical end game time. More PnR plays with Howard? More screen for Howard to free him up in the POST? Less of Howard 1-1 POST play starting from outside the paint when going against strong defender - he's not that effective.
Looking back on the game, to be honest, I'm glad the Rox loss. This team and the coaching staff needed this embarrassment on national TV to a far inferior team. Maybe this will jump start them into taking the game more seriously in the first quarter and also force the coaching staff to shape this team into more than a glorified street ball team both on offense and defense.
