[Reddit] Doc's halftime adjustment that helped steal home court from the Rockets [OC - Gifs & Breakd

great find. i'm happy to read anything that helps explain the loss in more detail than "they didn't care about the game."

 

Seems this happens a lot. We're up, maybe big, maybe not. Opponent makes adjustments during halftime; we come out generally the same. Opponent starts to chip at our lead through the 3rd quarter; nothing is done by us. Opponent pulls right up next to us in the 4th, then uses their momentum to blow by us, and any changes made at that point are too late. There was a discernible difference in the Clippers play in the second half, and we just kept puttering along until we were behind.

 

Coaching matters.

 

I had a thread yesterday about pick and roll defense.
This is the key this series.

The Gif where TJones and Prigioni are run through the pick is interesting because its an example of the play that killed us in the second half being defended well in the first.

I still think there's a way to defend by going under picks, too.

That said, what is really interesting watching the GIFs is how Smith is playing the PnR in the second half, which is idiotic.

He's playing it VERY softly. Meaning, he is showing, but hanging back. This either is letting JJ get a shot, or letting him make the appropriate pass.

Here is how TJ plays it in the first successfully
http://www.gfycat.com/BrownSeveralHake

Here is how Smith plays it in the second
http://www.gfycat.com/ThoughtfulRequiredCatbird
http://www.gfycat.com/EvergreenMixedElk
http://www.gfycat.com/BreakableTepidBasil

In every scenario he is doing this half-guard thing on JJ. He'll pick him up but back away after the guard kind of recovers. Or he'll hedge hedge hedge softly.

In the TJones play, he picks him up hard, stays on him, waits for the guard and then CONTINUES TO STAY on him. JJ picks up the dribble and has a much harder pass.

This seems so obvious and night and day. MAKE JJ REDICK a playmaker. With two guys on him? Can he do it? Can he make a tight pocket pass? When he's being loosely guarded by 2 guys... absolutely. This is the NBA, he's smart and knows how to play. But when being guarded hard and effectively doubled by virtue of the play? Where he's either dribbling backwards or in place, or picking up the dribble. Can he make the skip pass then? Can he make the pocket pass to Blake then?

First half evidence would say no.

This will be interesting to watch. This is 100% coaching and rotations.

TJ has played horrible thus far, but based on how Josh bungled PnR after Pnr seemingly, it is curious to see what his burn will be like. Terrence played the first 5 minutes 20 seconds of the third quarter and the team was only down 2. I get Kevin taking him out. He was trying to build a lead. Unfortunately the opposite happened. The only change made was TJ for Smith and the team was down -4 in the next 3 minutes.

Will be interesting to see how they play the PnR and what they do with lineups tonight.

 

<blockquote class="twitter-tweet" lang="en"><p lang="en" dir="ltr">Kevin McHale said Rockets' defense on Blake Griffin was &quot;unknown&quot; to him. &quot;I asked (his players) &amp; really didn't get a very good answer.&quot;</p>&mdash; Mark Berman (@MarkBermanFox26) <a href="https://twitter.com/MarkBermanFox26/status/595794131219283968">May 6, 2015</a></blockquote>
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<blockquote class="twitter-tweet" lang="en"><p lang="en" dir="ltr">Kevin McHale on defense on Blake Griffin:&quot;Try2possibly do 1of the things we asked them2do.We did not play Blake the way we practiced at all&quot;</p>&mdash; Mark Berman (@MarkBermanFox26) <a href="https://twitter.com/MarkBermanFox26/status/595794232079679488">May 6, 2015</a></blockquote>
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A whole damn playoff game and you can't get your players to follow your instructions? Perhaps that has to do with the lack of accountability McHale has had for his players for years.

 

The aggressive show-n-rotate or trap-n-rotate that JVG did could be effective here. It takes a lot of commitment from every player though...this team should be athletic enough to do it.

 

Of course it matters. However, there's this ignorance on CF that our coaching staff doesn't make adjustments or run any plays.

 

Amazing breakdown. Glen Davis set some mean picks to get JJ open.

 

This breakdown is hot garbage. They ran the same play in the first half multiple times. In the success clips posted the Rockets defenders have no justification for being out of position.

"In Example 1, Josh Smith is unaware that a simple ball reversal is not taking place, and instead a killer three point threat is about to spot up from deep. It is necessary for him to step up from the screen and contest the shoot, but because he is caught off guard he fails to do so and JJ gets the split second he needs to convert from deep."

Really? Josh Smith screwed up on that play. He's not guarding anyone. His analysis has no substance and is clearly prejudiced to reinforce his concussion.

Example 3 just shows that the Clippers were really not doing anything special on offense. Look at how miserable our rotation was.

 

Our halftime adjustment:

I don't know what to do.

Clap Clap!

Play harder!

 

Why does this thread only has 3 stars?

Great find, OP.

 

The problem is not just McHale. It's the assistants. It's their job to recognize what the hell is going on court, inform McHale, and make the proper adjustments.

 

I always think the assistant coaches of the Rockets are a bunch of crap.