Someone give the Rockets some legs & some heart! https://www.houstonchronicle.com/sp...ling-defense-arrives-too-late-to-14803833.php “Our defense has been … it hasn’t been what we need it to be,” Rockets guard Austin Rivers said. “We just have to band together and put a better effort out there defensively. We’re hurting ourselves right now.” “We got stops,” Russell Westbrook, who had 27 points, seven rebounds and eight assists, said of the comeback. “We had a lead ourselves. Then we relaxed and didn’t lock in defensively for 48 minutes. “It’s a process because we know we can do it. We’ve seen it. We did it tonight. We just didn’t do it for the whole game.” “I think the two games that we lost we were up 15 and I think we just relaxed,” Harden said. “We get comfortable. But again, it’s still early. We’ve got to learn how to, when we go up double-digits and (build) 15-point leads, sustain it and try to take it to another level.” “We’ve got a lot of things to tighten up,” Rockets coach Mike D’Antoni said. “We’ve got to get better production out of certain people defensively. Like last year, it’s a concern. We just have to do better. I think we will as soon as we get our legs. Shooting and defense is legs and heart. We’re not getting into people. It’s just not there yet.”
Harden shoots 8–15 which is 60 percent from within the 3 point line and shoots 2-16 from the 3 pt line. Commonsense dictates you need to keep shooting from the areas you are doing well. Defense is just putrid right now. Giving up a whopping 135 points in the last two games Gordon and Clint should be shopped immediately
Another annoying fact,how many times are the rockets going to give up a wide open layup by kicking it out to the corner 3 point shooters for a contested bricks? Tam the damn layup . 2 points is still 2 points.
damn.... wtf does every scrub a** team & scrub a** players have great games against us??? Our defense is pathetic... Elson Turner seems to be trash or our players are too dumb to learn the defensive scheme or they're just plane 1 way offensive player??
Bro, that's every game for James so far though. Even in his 59 point game, he was 12-18 from 2. He's been a monster slashing to the rim this season...keep doing what's working, not forcing what's not.
Honestly, Daryl Morey needs to make a trade for a big man to come off the bench. The way we're built right now, we will struggle against teams with a deep front court, especially in the playoffs. Offensively - seriously... we're still doing hte same exact thing as the last 2-3 years? We gotta mix it up and be able to get easy buckets off of cuts/transition.
Dantoni’s answer is so embarrassing. “We just have to do better” Well...what are we gonna do about it?
My least favorite quote from D’Antoni is he said yet again that the team’s energy level wasn’t where it needed to be. That’s now four straight games where the Rockets’ energy and effort has been severely lacking. That is a really bad sign.
To be fair: Nos. 1 & 2 can be attributed to Morey but the other 2 are most definitely on MDA. Morey did not hire MDA - that was all Les Alexander. Morey has been caught trying to craft a championship caliber team that conforms to MDA's specifications. The problem is that those "specs" won't produce a championship as teams following the MDA formula all falter in the playoffs. That's why I was extremely skeptical of the MDA hire from the git-go. There is no doubt Harden has flourished under MDA but the Rockets as a team have not taken that next step to championship contender. All of which leaves them with a lame duck coach and a roster that will be facing a substantial rebuild once said coach is sent packing.
Rebounding is also an issue, for sure. But, the lack of defensive intensity is also partly to blame for rebounding problems. If the Rockets are committed to playing undersized lineups, then the Rockets absolutely have to be elite at boxing out their man and winning 50/50 balls. Unless their energy level changes, neither will be the case.
He’s right. It would take coaching genius to somehow extract high effort out of an entire team who is apparently tired. They’ll be close to average defensively on the year imo.
I don't know what this has to do with what I said... But I will say, on the only topic this is connected to, a good chunk of the 3s the Rockets are missing are makeable shots within the offense, especially Gordon and House. Harden is forcing up a few more ugly 3s than usual, but even many of his are perfectly makeable for him. No one in NBA history is capable of making more difficult, contested 3s than James. It's what he's always done. And doing it at a 20% rate is just stupid low, and obviously a result of the small sample size.
EGordon isn't having fun on the court, but having fun watching his Bank account. Clint and EG needs to be traded for help on Defense. These 2 dude got paid and now don't care
Why care when your star player doesn’t give a **** or even put in 50% effort? This is Hardens team and my god is doing a terrible example of being a leader.
The finding our legs comment is interesting to me. Rockets is #1 in league right now in points scored. Other teams also score lot of points against us; and in some cases more efficiently. Nets 59% 3pt FG. I don't think other teams always plays their opponents this fast, but against us, they seem to. Sadly, sometimes... they do it better than us. Is the 6 seconds or less offense exerting too much energy from our guys? It's a lot of running and jumping. In one of the earlier games in the season, when Harden missed some of his threes, one of the commentators said, a shot falling short is usually a sign of not enough lift in the legs. When the 3% don't fall and you're working harder by driving to the basket to compensate, and thus more energy spent. It's one thing if a team plays a fast pace high possession game; once every three games, it's another when it's your team's identity and tries to do it all 82 games. These are world class athletes with great conditioning, even then there's a limit on their turbo meter. Mabye that's why we jar at the refs, a free throw, means everyone can catch their breath. Not entirely sure what the coaches can do. If keeping people's minutes, but frequency substitution so can get a 2nd wind, but not too frequent where they don't have rhythm. The 6s or less is good if their defense is not set, but if opponent is focused on the get back, then maybe choose your spot on when to speed burst.
Well you would have though the strength and conditioning guys on the team would have prepared the team for a faster paced system with a more strict cardio regiment in the offseason. When I used to compete as a bodybuilder depending o the weight division I would train accordingly. So you would assume the strength and conditioning guys on this team would have doe the same.
