Yeah, I didn't realize till Nook wrote it upthread, but losing Paul probably really hurt this team defensively. I also realize that they sucked last year around this time, but there's no 'Melo to blame it on now. I really don't care where blame can be allocated; I want them to care that they're this bad on defense and rebounding. And then go fix that *hit.
It’s true though. A lot of teams tend to shoot well in the beginning of the season, especially players with young legs. They regress to the mean as the season progresses..
TF was pissed that Jeff left right before you he season and then extorted TF for more money to comeback. Morey was not happy that Jeff made limited adjustments against the Warriors so the hope was to bring in someone else GOOD to run a defense that could give more looks. Problem was that a lame coach and limited pay scared away the top choices so we were left with Turner. Would Morey have been fine moving on from Jeff had he known garbage ownship wouldn’t let him hire the best coach for the job? I don’t know.
Check with me in December, Harden is absolutely fine playing this way. Dude has been dominating the regular season every year, now wont be any different.
https://www.espn.com/nba/team/roster/_/name/hou/sort/salary/dir/desc/houston-rockets look at that roster. Harden, WB, Capela, Tucker, Gordon...and then a bunch of scrubs.
I think it is horrible that a shooter, who mostly gets open shots, goes what was it...0-7? His slump is the difference right now, if he hits 40% of his open shots we are probably 5-0 right now.
He lost his passion. Its time for he and Maury to move on I think. I dont hate them but the whole 3 pointer thing with no defense is getting old.
I agree that Clint has been bad but Ego has been just as bad since it is his primary job to hit these shots. Hopefully, he'll break out of it soon but if not the Rockets will have a huge problem since so much salary is tied into these guys and neither guy is fulfilling their role or playing up their value.
I mean, show of hands, for all those who didn't watch the Bullets, whoops Wizards, game: who saw the score and thought, "Triple OT? Wow."? This is embarrassing for them. Though, like the early 80s Nuggets, I guess it's entertaining.
Tonight was not very fun to watch. The bricks were so jarring, even via TV, that I feel like I need braces all over again to re-align my teeth.
Danuel House is busting his ass on defense. He had at least two or three chase-down block attempts tonight and, typically, kept his man in front of him. Austin Rivers also did a good job of staying in front of his man. The Rockets’ defensive problems aren’t entirely personnel related, though I agree they lack many great defenders. A large part of the issue is that their bad defenders don’t play with intensity for long stretches on that end of the floor. Also, the fact they can play great defense in one quarter every game proves there is an effort problem. The Rockets only lock in on that end of the floor when the situation is dire. Championship teams don’t pick and choose when they want to lock up their opponent. They come ready to do that for 48 minutes from the start of the game. I wasn’t wrong when I said the second and third quarters had the defensive intensity of a scrimmage or an all-star game.
100% It’s not harden shooting which isn’t helping but he does other things and shifts entire defenses just by being on the court. If Gordon was playing good ball getting 16-18ppg and hitting his wide open shots? Theirs no doubt in my mind we would be 5-0 Defense needs to get better. This switch BS has to go we need Clint in the paint and guys up top need to fight threw screens and play hard.
