Be mentally tougher, move your feet, be smart. If the goal is to be the warriors then what we lack is the mental toughness as a whole (not just harden). The Warriors don't lose games like the Rockets did last night or against the Clippers.
You guys are telling me HOW, which I already know. My question is WHY. Why do the refs hate us so much?
You haven't been paying much attention lately. The Rockets embarrassed them by publicly protesting their egregious mistake vs the clippers. Two days later the refs introduced a brand new harden rule to go along the with the rule they had before the season. Refs should officiate all players equal. I hated seeing shaq& Yao blatantly hacked but it wasnt called because they were bigger. Players will hack James every play now because the refs can't call every single one. The Rockets need to protest the Harden rule and put the refs on full blast for their officiating bias. They officiate LeBron differently as well. The refs can't just do what they want. They have to call the game by rule that's been in place for the last 60+ years. This season has been a joke, every game I've watched around the league has had some influence by the refs. The officiating is regressing. Too many gamblers on pay roll. The NBA needs to find a another referee agency to take over for these guys. You would think things would change after Donaghy situations but it's getting worse.
Because Harden is high profile and the league office doesnt like the perception of free throws deciding games. This became the new mantra when Silver took over and he changed the hacking rules. Even though FT’s are a huge part of every scorers game...
That's funny because if I recall correctly, last night's game was decided by free throws after the Celtics went to the line 4 straight times in the last 10 seconds.
I'm re-watching the fourth and I'm surprised Shane Larkin isn't called for a foul on everything. He's like that guy who weighs a buck-twenty and throws his hands and body on everything.
These teams with good defensive reputations (Spurs, Celtics, Grizzlies, etc) get extreme leeway with how physical they’re allowed to be every game.
this has been a recurring theme against us the past couple weeks, particularly in the clips game with the tiny rookie hounding harden. teams are figuring out that it's okay to hack and handcheck harden 94 feet to try and wear him out and that they won't get called for it. on the contrary, they are benefitting from multiple offensive fouls in their favor.
And that means the team has to actually learn to play with that level of defense with hand checking instead if complain about refs because one of those teams the Rockets will most likely face in the playoffs.
If you are physical early you can see the calls. But the refs wont call it "all the time." So if you set that baseline EARLY in the game, then you can get away with murder later as the refs are loath to fouling out a bunch of players.
Admission is the first step Denial blocks acceptance of the reality I can’t answer WHY? Just guessing the L2M reports over the years has the Rockets leading everyone in apologies from the NBA by a wide margin.
Ref bias bla bla bla .... Don't let them become a factor - Make the right play. The problem is they aren't making the right play and are relying upon Harden too heavily , he's trying to do too much. Harden's the best one on one player in the game - By Far. When he is in a one on one situation , he needs to press his advantage. When he's in a two on two situation in the pick and roll , he needs do the same , finish or facilitate. What we have seen since the Utah game (and the Rockets haven't adjusted to) is teams doubling Harden (or CP3) early in possessions and Harden tries to force the action when he needs to find the open guy immediately rather than forcing the action with a drive / hack / turnover going two on three. Teams leaving Ryan Anderson open from 26-30 feet ..... yeah , they will give up those shots rather than letting Harden attack the paint. I don't want to pile on Anderson but he's just so one dimensional , catch / Shoot with the occasional half hearted drive leading to a Dirk step back. Those shots or Harden going 2/3 1/2 is what defenses what to force. They have to find a way to get into their offensive sets without allowing teams to double early in the process - Harden playing off the ball coming off picks & pin downs or out of the post .... rather than teams being able to freely double him from the get go and give up shots they find acceptable (Long wing 3's). Ball movement is the key to this whole thing ....
The chief problem I see is this: ALL our offensive action is based on one person to create the action to free up shots for the rest of the team. The reason bully ball works is because a team only needs to bully one guy at a time. The solution to that is more movement and flow outside of what Harden/Paul initiate because most teams won't be able to bully 5 guys at once. When everyone not named Harden or Paul just hang out at the 3 pt line - it makes it easier to other teams because then Harden or Paul HAVE to create some sort of separation to get the help to rotate so our shooters get good clean looks. If no separation is created, there is no other way for the other 3 or 4 guys on the court to get free - they are just lame ducks. ....just my two cents.
"more movement" sounds good but teams are starting to switch at the end of the game. It means your guys run around, their guys stay relatively put, and with 10 seconds to go on the shot clock the ball is still in Harden or Paul's hands with a center guarding him at the 3 pt line. The only thing to do is go one on one with the mismatch, which is what they've been doing.
Get Tarik Black to literally punch the opponent in the face. He is strong and expendable-- it doesn't matter too much if he gets ejected.
