With the failure to get a secondary playmaker/scorer it's safe to assume our offense isn't going to look anything close to pretty or effective (downright JVG-esque in fact) seems the only way we will have a shot is on the other end of the court. Our defense has to get that much better. And that means three things. 1. Beverly has to get healthy or whatever it is that has made him less effective since coming back from that hamstring injury. 2. The interior defense needs to get much much better. Teams like G.S. and LAC have been ripping us up inside of late. Even Dallas is finding an easy time scoring. McHale must make this a point of emphasis for the rest of the season - with or without Dwight. 3. We have to cut our turnovers down in the half court sets. It's one thing on breaks - we will have a high turnover rate given that it's our best chance of scoring is to push the ball (looking at how abysmal our non-Harden offense is). But in the half court - we still have way too many careless turnovers and to me that seems inexcusable for a team under the 3rd year of tutelage by the same coach. Moves like getting KJ McDaniels completely make sense. Seems that Morey understands this team isn't going to win with its offense. We have Josh Smith, Howard, Bev, Ariza, Brewer, Dmo, Dorsey, and now KJ. There's no reason we can't be the top defensive team in the league. Question is - why aren't we. That should be McHales mission for the last 20-some games.
McHales mission should be integrating D12 back into the lineup, getting the rotations set for the playoffs, and finding out what the two new guys bring to the table. Once D12 returns healthy, our defense will be elite.
I was actually going to make a thread on this saying something similar. We are going to have to out hustle whoever we play every game if we plan on making it out of the first round. So my question is, do you think it's possible to scrap our way to a 1st round win>? Because thats the only way I see us beating anyone we play not named Dallas
Need sick defense and someone (Trevor Ariza) to absolutely catch fire from deep in the playoffs. He did it for the Lakers way back when and got himself a contract from Morey for his troubles so maybe he can do it again.
well he is and he's not beasting in laker land so...buyout? welcome back tarik? nah, lets keep playing JOEY DORSEY!!!! at starting center. srs tho all we need to stay in the top 4 and possibly top 3 seed is a center who can do what tarik black did for 15-20mpg. thats it, nothign else. foul out every game it doesnt matter, the combo of dmo, jones and smith is enough to compensate. dont forget about the small ball lineup swith kostas, oh right someone game mchale the order to stop playing him cuz he sucks at threes? like ariza and bev and brewer??? even though he can play the small ball pf position and defend and pass and run the floor? ok, makes sense to me
I don't think getting D12 back makes us elite. We struggled to get stops in the 4th Qtr when he was playing. D12 doesn't hedge well on PnR leaving him to defend the ball handler and big man rolling to the rim. This is the reason LAC and Dallas gives us fits. DMo and Joey actually do a very good job of this giving Harden, Pbev, or Trevor time to recover.
I think that's really just the long and short of it. If they go out on the court with the intention of smothering the other team and not letting up until the 48th minute is over, they'll win. They played really good defense at the beginning of the season. Our guys were everywhere closing off open shots, fighting for steals, and their defensive energy was through the roof. It worked. Everybody looked like Beverley did a couple years ago. I know it's late in the season, and they've got to be exhausted, but they're elite physical specimens, and they should be able to keep it up on the D side, especially knowing it will help the O side by extension. They need to watch film from the beginning of the season, and then go and do likewise. I don't Dwight's the linchpin of whether we have a good defense or not; I think if the whole team commits to playing balls-to-the-wall, they can win against any team even without Dwight.
actually looks like it happened last month and I didn't even notice. http://probasketballtalk.nbcsports....rs-waivers-is-now-an-unrestricted-free-agent/ Warmly welcome?
I would warmly welcome him back, ANYBODY that can rebound, block shots, and is not considered "undersized" to play Center is an upgrade over Dorsey!
Yes, precisely... only I don't expect the Rockets to improve on turnovers over the remaining games' average. Old habits die hard, if ever. In the off-season, Morey lamented the Rockets defense. Now, it appears it might be the savior of the offense -- or it's turnovers. Good defense might keep them in good position for the playoffs, but if turnovers happen at the same clip in the playoffs, I doubt they make it past the second round -- if that. If they are going to emphasize "energy" and "effort," they need to realize that the energy they think they need to play with is due to the fact that their turnovers lead to the "hole" they get in. Cut back on turnovers and reduce the need to expend so much energy on the defensive end. It is possible that just due to Harden, the Rockets can sustain more mistakes than some other teams, but it shouldn't be that way. That's way too "iffy," and too much to ask of Harden. IF Howard returns healthy for the remainder of the season, he will help decrease the defensive energy everyone else needs in his absence.
We have Josh Smith, Howard, Bev, Ariza, Brewer, Dmo, Dorsey, and now KJ. There's no reason we can't be the top defensive team in the league. ------------------------------------------------- Putting Dmo and Dorsey in above sentence is a failure. They are the masters of dumb, cheap fouls.
What's our offense actually ranked? I think the eye test is misleading a lot of yall or the prior seasons of being a top offensive team is swaying opinions.
