Dwight: "A lot of things were probably swept under the rug because we were winning"

That is.... strange.

 

Yup. Everyone was really quick to declare the death of "Moreyball" after those first 2 games, but games 3-6 and the Spurs series saw him fall rapidly back to Earth.

 

He got tired of making open jumpers.

 

That was mchale's defensive plan all along.

 

And it worked. Praise be to McHale.

 

He was sitting in his hotel room before Game 3 and watched the old Simpsons episode where Homer became a world-class boxer and thought it was genius.

 

<blockquote class="twitter-tweet" lang="en"><p>Pat Beverley on Rockets preseason win over Mavs:&quot;The effort for the1st unit wasn't what we wanted.We're not going 2use the 1st-game excuse&quot;</p>&mdash; Mark Berman (@MarkBermanFox26) <a href="https://twitter.com/MarkBermanFox26/status/519979545391534081">October 8, 2014</a></blockquote>
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<blockquote class="twitter-tweet" lang="en"><p>Pat Beverley unhappy w/effort of 1st unit last night:&quot;Effort is the biggest thing.Effort is1 of the reasons we lostN the playoffs last year&quot;</p>&mdash; Mark Berman (@MarkBermanFox26) <a href="https://twitter.com/MarkBermanFox26/status/519979625360154624">October 8, 2014</a></blockquote>
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<blockquote class="twitter-tweet" lang="en"><p>Pat Beverley not happy w/ 1st unit effort last night: &quot;It's all mindset. That's the difference between the good players &amp; the great players&quot;</p>&mdash; Mark Berman (@MarkBermanFox26) <a href="https://twitter.com/MarkBermanFox26/status/519979714711392256">October 8, 2014</a></blockquote>
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<blockquote class="twitter-tweet" lang="en"><p>. <a href="https://twitter.com/patbev21">@patbev21</a> says stronger effort from1st unit needed:&quot;Its a will2keep fighting thru screens,get a hand up on Damian Lillard while he shoots&quot;</p>&mdash; Mark Berman (@MarkBermanFox26) <a href="https://twitter.com/MarkBermanFox26/status/519979832198062081">October 8, 2014</a></blockquote>
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Parsons is offended

 

Did you see how badly he shot against San Antonio? lol

 

Beverley needs to stay quiet or Harden will sweep Pat under his rug.

 

Damian Lillard reference was a dig on parsons

 

Pat Beverley: Rockets lacking effort again

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Point guard Pat Beverley said the Rockets’ first unit lacked “effort” on Tuesday. After the team fell in the first round of the playoffs to Portland last season, effort on the defensive end especially, was something Beverley wanted to see more of from his team.

“Effort is always a mindset,” Beverley said. “That is the difference between good players and great players. It’s a will. It’s a will to keep fighting through screens. It’s a will to box out the big man or to lay out a big man. It’s a will to get through screens and it’s a will to put a hand up on Damian Lillard when he shoots. We have to be better at that this coming year.”

And the effort was seemingly getting better in camp over the past week. Beverley said the Rockets were ready to play against other teams, that they had been beating up on each other all week. There were several small ailments from busted lips to bloody noses in the first week of camp because of how hard the Rockets were going against each other, he said.

On paper, the Rockets looked more physical since the racked up 45 personal fouls in the game against Dallas.

That’s a stat that doesn’t matter said coach Kevin McHale, who was not impressed with the toughness or physicality of the Rockets in their first exhibition game. The whistles didn’t prove anything. And when the Grizzlies take the floor against the Rockets on Thursday, it will really be physical, said McHale.

“I assume that if they come here and their main guys are playing, I have yet to see that main group not be physical,” he said. “We are going to have to try to handle them on the boards. They are going to play tough and we are going to have to match it.”

It starts with the front court of Memphis, featuring Zach Randolph and Marc Gasol. The battle for rebounds will be tough, and it’s a battle the Rockets have fallen short on before. On Tuesday, starting forward Terrence Jones and his backup Donatas Motiejunas combined for just two defensive rebounds in 48 combined minutes.

“They are going to have to do much better than that,” McHale said.

The Rockets lost twice last season the Grizzlies and the core group in Memphis is the same. The Grizzlies made very few changes in the offseason and will still be the bruising, physical, defensive-minded team they were last season behind the tough play of Gasol, Randolph and Tony Allen.

The effort that was missing on Tuesday, according to Beverley, will be essential for the Rockets to defeat Memphis and grow toward the goal of becoming a more physical team.

“It’s going to be tough, but we just have to take these exhibition games as challenges and go out there and try to get better,” Beverley said.​