Maybe start Josh? If Pop or whoever wants to hack him 4 times in a row and put us in the penalty early, take him out and replace him with Jones. I honestly think Smith plays better alongside Howard anyway.
Houston tie 64-64 before Hack a Smith 73-72 wining After Hack a Smith. Houston losing 86-89 before Hack a Smith 98-98 After Hack a Smith. Houston + 4 during Hack a Smith.
True but you're slowing the game down and taking the ball out of Harden's hands. That doesn't work in our favor.
Smith works as a starter cause of his ability to pass Jones should be the offensive force on the bench
I was thinking that too. Since Beverley went down and Jet has been the starter, it seems like our second unit has really fallen off. Jones can give you a post up option off the bench. We dont have to rely solely on Brewer and Josh playing wild the whole time.
The Spurs cut the big early lead without hacking they actually hurt them-self, they probably took away the chance of building a lead with their bench who was killing and have killed Houston this last 2 games.
Shot blocker dosen't equal rim protector. He is a great weak side shoot blocker to small to protect the rim as a center.
Actually that is a really good idea. To put him in there JUST to get into the bonus and exploit that. Won't ever happen though, not with this coach.
The way the Bigs' been shooting FTs, McHale needs to start Howard, Smith, Dorsey, Jones and Harden to make this work. LOL.
I think smith is most effective when he is surrounded by 3 point shooters to dish to(terry,harden,ariza) Jones I think has become a more offensive force and can rebound better than smith
Would moving Josh Smith back into the starting lineup help combat the hacking strategy from opposing teams? I've noticed teams will employ this strategy towards the end of qtrs, once they're in the penalty. If Smith starts, teams would be less likely to do it because it would put the Rockets in the bonus much sooner. Once in the bonus, THEN they would have time to sub in a better FT shooter, Jones or KPap. I don't know, just I thought I had watching all the nonsense last night.
You're on point. Smith starting would do 3 things: 1. We could take him out for Jones if we got into the bonus. 2. He's a better defender than Terrence so our defense gets nastier. 3. We can bring Terrence in with the bench brigade where he has a better chance of winning his matchup. But....the overriding issue is still that we are a big short now that DMo is gone. You start Smith. Then at some point you bring in Terrence for either Smith or Dwight. I'm assuming if we aren't in the bonus that you bring in Terrence for Dwight. Then you let Smith and Terrence play together until we get to the bonus then you bring back Dwight for Smith. However, if we get in the bonus early with Dwight and Smith out there then you've got to bring in Terrence for Smith and leave Dwight out there too many minutes. Better hope Dwight can play the whole quarter and better hope that he gets on a roll with his free throws too. Because really Dwight and Smith are the same free throw shooter. They both blow from warm to freezing cold. So the hacking strategy can still work well with Dwight. We need a 4th big that can play situational minutes for us when we're in the bonus and can knock down free throws and defend his position effectively. Dorsey can't do that.
