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The major concern with the Harden/Westbrook combo in the coming season

Discussion in 'Houston Rockets: Game Action & Roster Moves' started by Texanasiafan, Oct 17, 2019.

  1. Texanasiafan

    Texanasiafan Member

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    The late game situation.

    With CP3 the last 2 seasons in the Rockets, some of the major contributions he bought to this team were his experience, decision making, basketball intelligence, ball handling skills, especially in late game situation.

    Even when he was obviously in a declining year last season, he still showed all of above value in many games and why he is important for this team.

    He was known for his smart plays during the last 2 minutes of the games hunting for cheap fouls for creating contacts with his defenders when the opponents were over the limit and since he was still an excellent FT shooter, lots of those FT are vital points for many Rockets wins.

    There are more situations (especially in a tight game or the Rockets had a small lead) that the Rockets will prefer him taking the ball even he will be dribbling for 22 seconds and then take a fade away mid range shot, rather than Harden dancing on top of the line for 22 seconds and then forcing a guarded long 3. I am pretty sure that many fans will agree on this, for CP3 taking that mid range shot, it still has much lower chance of getting a TOV than Harden dancing on top of the 3 point line. If CP3 will miss, the Rockets could still have a much better chance to go back and set up the defense on time.

    Furthermore, even when the Rockets will be leading by 1-3 points late, with less than 24 seconds left and we need to throw the ball in front court. It is always easier to get the ball to CP3 than to Harden. Yes Westbrook should move better than Harden to get the ball, but he is not as good as a FT shooter than CP3, nor Harden.

    So no matter how this new combo will work out, the Rockets will face some issues in late game.

    You would hate to see this happening again, but the chance is higher this season.

     
  2. Texanasiafan

    Texanasiafan Member

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    Game 1.

    Second half epic collapse.

    That’s the value of CP3.
     
  3. DaDakota

    DaDakota If you want to know, just ask!

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    Leave Westbrook open double Harden, and you win.

    DD
     
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  4. Mr. Space City

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    The same happened with CP3 tho?
     
  5. apollo33

    apollo33 Member

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    That's not really an issue compared to our defense and lack of rebounding.

    The offense worked this game even with Harden getting rattled. We couldn't stop them from scoring
     
  6. Texanasiafan

    Texanasiafan Member

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    The bucks didn’t play well at all, neither did the Rockets.

    The main reason for us to have a 16 points lead is because we hit some 3s in the first half.

    In the second half, when the 3s are not falling, all those bad shoots after bad shoots leading to easy buckets by the bucks.

    I am not saying how many points CP3 can score, but clearly he can control the pace and made much better decisions when a night Harden is playing like crap.
     
  7. ElPigto

    ElPigto Member
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    I just hate small ball line ups. It worked with Ariza and LMAM because they were lengthy defenders, but the players we have now, we just can't go small. Brook ****ing Lopez was tearing us a new ******* because the switching was worthless against him.

    Typical Mike D being stubborn. This won't change throughout the season so I expect to lose against the longer teams more often than not.
     
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  8. Texanasiafan

    Texanasiafan Member

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    We play small lineup mainly for offense and not because we are so good on defense.

    Plus we switch a lots on defense, even we will get Capela on the floor, we will still easily been switched him off and get destroyed on the board and inside.
     
  9. J.R.

    J.R. Member

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  10. DaDakota

    DaDakota If you want to know, just ask!

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    Crap I hate being right some times.

    DD
     
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  11. Caprah

    Caprah Member

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    Harden has been magnificent this season under pressure. He and Kwai are the best fourth quarter clutch performers this season so the OP nonsense that harden can’t perform u dear pressure is not true.
     
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  12. DaDakota

    DaDakota If you want to know, just ask!

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    Harden can, but he is going to need help and we have 40m wasted reasons in Russ.

    DD
     
  13. D-rock

    D-rock Member

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    Dude, you are never right.
     
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  14. rockets1995

    rockets1995 Member

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    Eric Gordon and Danuel House are needed in the last minute of the game.
     
  15. Loneyroy7

    Loneyroy7 Member

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    How was CP's late game value in game 5 against the Warriors last year?

    He had the ball in his hands the entire 4th quarter and was terrible. Blew the game. We win that game, we win the series.
     
  16. Texanasiafan

    Texanasiafan Member

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    A review on this topic after 22 games of the Rockets season so far.

    The Rox had one of the most easiest 10 games schedule to start the season and went 7-3.

    In the last 12 games, the schedule had been much tougher and they actually did very well (much better than I expected) and went 8-4.

    Overall I think the team is improving in terms of knowing each other better and the role of Russ is clear than the start of the season.

    The end game situation mattered in these games (loss) :

    Oct 24 season opener against Mil, we blew that game and lost to a very good opponent.

    Nov 22, against LAC, we had many chances to win that game but instead we got a L.

    Dec 03, at SAS, this one really hurt, there is NO reason that we should lose this game, you can keep blaming the ref but bottom line, we blew this game late.


    3 out of the 7 losses could easily be win if we can handle this late game situation better, however, the sample size is still small and I did see some improvements on this issue of late.

    I like how Russ was getting the ball more down the stretch than Harden, the drive he took for a tough layup against the Raptor is a good example, and clearly in the last 2 games, he made some excellent passes late in the game to seal the win also.

    Strange to say this, but I like the idea of trusting Russ more than Harden late in the game, even thought Russ still not a good FT shooter but I will take a hard drive to the basket /dish out than a guarded 30 feet jumper with 2 seconds left on the clock anytime.
     
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  17. RudyTBag

    RudyTBag Contributing Member
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    Revisionist 2019 history.

    CP3 didn't close out dookie...
     
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  18. BackNthDay

    BackNthDay Member

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    That was true earlier in the season. The Raptors game showed me they are making adjustments to overcome doubling of Harden. Put Harden out top and put Westbrook in the middle, his drive and kick opens us for 3s...
     
  19. SamFisher

    SamFisher Contributing Member

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    This is what the Rockets have to do, force teams to switch between applying the Harden Rules to the Westbrook Rules in quick succession. They need to use the dribble hand-off screen between the two up high a lot. The more you force the teams to swithc the rules the more likely they'll make a mistake.
     
  20. Rocket River

    Rocket River Member

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    There is many different options available to the Rockets Now.
    It is very different team
    and
    defenses have to be more prepared

    Rocket River
     

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