Just wondering: would Popovich have played Dorsey and Pap over DMo and Smith on crunch time defensive possessions?
Don't have an issue with the lineup really, but seems the Rockets, like teams often do, decided to worry about killing the clock rather than just playing their normal offense. Way too early and too small a lead to start doing this. If playing fast got you the lead, why start playing slow now?
i absolutely hate when coaches do this. it's like this in every sport almost. only the truly elite coaches keep their foots on the pedal.
We've always done this and it has been effective. Even generally with smaller leads over longer period of time. I see no reason why this is bad when we have one of the top defenses in the NBA. Just because we got the lead playing fast doesn't mean that playing fast isn't a high variance style. There were games where we had double digit leads and bombing open transition 3s that were rimming out, leading the other team to come back. There is no guarantee to hold a lead regardless of style. They all have their strengths and weakneses. The best you can do is go for the most optimal solution, and having Harden deflate the ball in half court has for the most part worked out well for us.
The game was over, we made a run against their 3rd unit, even if we put Harden in, if Kerr puts Curry/Thompson in there's no way we win, lol.
THIS and it's not close. You have to put in Harden for obvious reasons, one of them being that he's arguably the best player in the NBA.
