2013-2014: Spoiler @ Bulls 3/13/2014: http://bbs.clutchfans.net/showthread.php?p=8776680#post8776680 @ Heat 3/16/2014: http://bbs.clutchfans.net/showthread.php?t=251988 vs Jazz 3/17/2014: http://bbs.clutchfans.net/showthread.php?p=8785678#post8785678 2014-2015: Spoiler vs Hornets 12/31/2014: http://bbs.clutchfans.net/showthread.php?t=261304 @ NYK 1/8/2015: http://bbs.clutchfans.net/showthread.php?t=261542 vs. Utah Jazz http://bbs.clutchfans.net/showthread.php?t=261603 HOW IT WORKS: For every possession, I recorded who missed an assignment, or did a good job. Because I will be able to pause, go back, and re-watch every possession, it'll be more comprehensive. There are seven categories: good and bad on-ball (OB) defense, good and bad rotation (R), "meh" (falls in between), rebound opportunities (RO), and missed rebound opportunities (MRO). Some good plays will go unnoticed. Examples of these things could be full court pressure by a point guard or denying the ball off a double screen, forcing the opposing team to initiate another option. They are good defensive plays, but keeping track of those would be greatly inconsistent and difficult to measure. However, I try to include some of those plays in the observations. I felt like this would strike a balance between an in-depth play-by-play analysis, that will also be understandable by the average CF viewer. The finals results are compiled as an agreed number between myself and two other basketball players. They both hate the Rockets (kidding). We all like the CF, have the been there, done that experience, and like to share the results. <table border="1" style="width:1000"><tr><td>Player</td><td>Good OB</td> <td>Good R</td><td>Meh</td><td>Bad OB</td><td>Bad R</td><td>RO</td><td>MRO</td></tr><tr><td>Terry</td><td>8</td><td>3</td><td>5</td><td>6</td><td>7</td><td>1</td><td>0</td></tr><tr><td>Harden</td><td>2</td> <td>4</td><td>7</td><td>4</td><td>16</td><td>16</td><td>3</td></tr><tr><td>Ariza</td><td>4</td><td>9</td><td>7</td><td>4</td><td>6</td><td>7</td><td>1</td></tr><tr><td>Smith</td><td>1</td><td>4</td><td>4</td><td>5</td><td>9</td><td>6</td><td>1</td></tr><tr><td>Howard</td><td>5</td> <td>21</td><td>15</td><td>4</td><td>7</td><td>24</td><td>3</td></tr><tr><td>Jones</td><td>6</td><td>4</td><td>4</td><td>5</td><td>5</td><td>7</td><td>1</td></tr><tr><td>Brewer</td><td>3</td><td>3</td><td>3</td><td>4</td><td>7</td><td>0</td><td>0</td></tr><tr><td>Pablo</td><td>1</td><td>3</td><td>2</td><td>3</td><td>5</td><td>0</td><td>0</td></tr><tr><td>Capela</td><td>2</td><td>2</td><td>2</td><td>1</td><td>4</td><td>4</td><td>0</td></tr><tr><td>Johnson</td><td>0</td><td>0</td><td>0</td><td>1</td><td>2</td><td>0</td><td>0</td></tr></table> OBSERVATIONS: 1) I really like Ariza. The job he did on Klay was incredible. The ball-denial: it is like watching a corner back. 2) The Rockets do not look like they have brains out there. There was a game plan, but they just could not execute it, or stop the simple defensive miscues found in high school basketball. 3) The bench crew with Harden was a comedy of errors. I laughed. 4) The screens were tough. Were they illegal? Maybe. Yea, there were some. 5) The center PnR was a mess. The players on ball had no idea what they were doing. Really putting Howard in some awkward situations. 6) Speaking of Howard, he looked slowed. It was clear. 7) Ah... Smith. Such wasted potential. 8) Would Bev/Dmo had helped? Absolutely. But man, it is hard to fix the stupid across the roster. And hate to say it, Bev and Dmo are prone to some unnecessary errors as well. We definitely could have used them though. 9) Probably the biggest issue was Harden, if you can see. This was a point of criticism throughout the playoffs. Haralabos Voulgaris is right when he said that Harden cannot illustrate the ability to be a two-way player consistently. I can't buy into what he said though, as a Rockets fan. This is why I believe we need a 3rd star, so that Harden can put more effort into defense. Yet, when we get a 3rd star, the issue of Harden's poor off-ball movement will also be magnified. I can almost guarantee this will lead to the so-called "chemistry issues" and "problems", which will attract an unnecessary media circus. The play in the screenshot below kind of summarizes the Rockets defense that night: Spoiler What are they doing? The original breakdown of this play was Brewer switching too easily on Ezeli right before this sequence (same possession). Then Jones allowed middle penetration, of which Harden completely lost Iguodala, a terrible mistake. Pablo has his back turned on both the shooters. Dwight was just helplessly looking, as he cannot rotate hard off the corner shooter. All he could do was yell at the others to rotate to the shooters because Green was not really looking for his shot. Spoiler Spoiler Just... wow. If you have any questions on how to judge who did what wrong on a play, just ask below. I would be happy to analyze any play, or if you can remember a specific set at a specific time. tl;dr Disgusting. Harden awful. Smith right behind.
Watch harden in OKC...: he was one of the best off ball players in the entire league. If James wants to be the best, which we should not doubt seeing as he's improved in every off season in the league. Hardens defense is not great but many players will go through lapses like him especially if your asked to do so much on offense like we ask him. James was actually very good on defense the first 40 games to the season, Avg almost a blk and 2 steals a game. But the idea that harden will cause team issues because of playing more off ball is all in your head. If we're winning harden won't care, the guys been a professional and all about winning since high school. The narrative that he's a ME first teammate is ridiculous theirs nothing the supports this. If he's playing off ball the ball needs to find its way back to him for open set shots which he was actually really good at in OKC and his first season in Houston. The last two years we have placed a lot of pressure on him to man the offense by himslef. We've avg 55 wins last two season with a trip to the WCF, it's not like we're struggling with harden running the show, we were only 3 wins away from the finals.... Lebron has to score 40 points to keep his team in the game against GSW. As soon as he had a bad game cavs got blown out by 19. Harden had 45 we win he had 38 lose by 1 had 28 and 12/9 we lose by 4. We were right their to beat a great team his two bad games we got blown out. We're very close and adding a playmaker/3rd star would not Cause chemistry issues within the team. Winning cures all and we are very close. That GSW was a good thing it shows harden what he needs to improve on and also the rest of the team and coaches. We will be a much better team because of it.
Not sure if this is an exaggeration. I have no doubt that he could play off ball well. But "one of the best"? If he was that good, the Rockets would be setting multiple screens to get him open like what the Warriors do for Curry. The fact is, he is much more valuable as play maker than off ball scorer. When he's on the floor, you want him to be the play maker rather than ask somebody else to make plays for him. He wasn't played like that in OKC because they had Durant and Westbrook and Harden was clearly third in the pecking order.
James was never "very good" on defense. Blocks and steals are the worst way to judge defense, which is the whole point of why I quantified this game. Harden had 3 steals and a block in game 2. Great defensive game right? I personally do not like to congratulate somebody for playing good defense at the beginning of the year, but loses the ability when it counts. Putting chemistry issues and problems in quotations implies sarcasm. I do not think there will be team issues. I believe there will be an adjustment period, as can be expected from what we have seen when other big 3's have formed. It will make us a better team, yes. I guess I shouldn't have put in any opinion, without it being heavily contested. Sorry: Harden's off ball ability is not the point of this thread.
I also forgot to mention about rebounding. If you look at the RO, it is pretty despicable how reliant the team is on Howard. Some of the players are not even trying to rebound; they are just ball-watching. Those are disgraceful numbers for PFs. One of Harden's pros is that he boxes out well. It showed here.
Maybe Harden should just essentially play as a PF on defense all the time. He always seems effective guarding post players. I know there are some times where he would get dominated but you have to wonder if it would be more efficient?
With all the top-notch PFs, I wouldn't think so. The Warriors take advantage of Harden with their elite ball movement, which is a bad match-up. While the Warriors can hide Curry on Terry, for example, the Warriors would just go through so many screen sets that Harden would either get lost or would switch away from a lesser player like Iggy or Barbosa.
