As far as the Rockets go... I've never been a big fan of teams pushing the pace too much, because defending it is largely a matter of effort, and everybody's effort level increases in the playoffs. It's one of the only areas where the playoffs are actually different from the regular season. That said, they are an extremely young team, so I think a high energy level should be expected and I would think the coaching staff would want to take advantage of that youth by pushing the pace. As they get older, and eventually become true title contenders, I would hope the pace slows down somewhat.
our starting unit ranks high among all units in many categories, like top 5. Only problem is our bench is ranked with the ugliest of the ugliest
I attribute most of that to godawful backup PG play, and some of it to Delfino going down with injury. The bench should improve a bit when Delfino returns, but we need a better backup point guard ASAP. I wish Morey would not wait until the trade deadline, but it's always tough to make trades before then.
Yea both NY teams can barely walk across midcourt! "I guess Pace really doesn't come from NY City"... ................... ................... ...................
I like how Lowry is top 5 pg and my beloved Gogi is #9. Way to go Les...greedy b*stard only seeing that green from asian fans.
No, that's not good at all. It's sad and horrible that people think this, and I realize it's fighting a losing battle, but Lin's help defense was a large part of the reason the Rockets defensive efficiency was #5 in the NBA earlier this season. The Rockets coaching staff punished him for getting "burned" by his man, so now Lin is not playing help defense. That makes him look good individually, but it's costing the team defense and it's costing the Rockets wins. There's a reason why Lin had the #1 DRtg in d-league (as a point guard, no less). Lin is a major reason the Knicks rose from bottom third to #5 in the NBA in defensive efficiency last year when Lin started starting. There's a reason Tyson Chandler/Lin had the #1 two man lineup DRtg among Knicks combos that played more than 500 minutes together and #17 ranked among all two man line-ups in the NBA last year. Lin's help defense wins games. D'Antoni's lack of defensive emphasis was the best thing to happen to the Knicks defense last year. It allowed Lin to play his normal help defense and the Knicks defensive efficiency reflected that. Unfortunately, the "defensive minded" Kelvin Sampson isn't particularly intellectually sophisticated, so he only sees Lin's on man defense. When Lin is allowed to play his game, he thwarts 2 opposing team baskets for every time he gets burned by helping too much. Unfortunately, it's a lot harder to notice when he cuts off another guy's man from getting to his favorite spot, or helps on another guy's turnaround jumper and distracts him into a poor shot. But those things WERE happening earlier this season and they're happening a lot less now. And that's why, in the past few games, ever since Lin was benched at the end of that Portland game, Houston's defense has been a sieve. It was NOT a sieve earlier this year. It is now. Think about that.
Notice how everyone praised Lin's defense on Westbrook and at the same time OKC blew Houston out? Ass backwards. Lin's defense in that game was poor, if good defense means defense which maximizes the team's chance at winning. That's the sad effect of this bias for man defense over help defense. Some day I'm hoping that good defensive stats become available and popular so players that are actually having a winning effect on games will be correctly highlighted.
Why can't you just appreciate the fact that the Rocket is actually the 7th seed with our young core while the Raptors and the Suns are at the bottom with Lowry and Dragic as their top players.
Very interesting. Unfortunately people only see the end of what happen in a game, and it's that Lin got burned by his man for helping and don't realize how his help defense helped during the game. Sampson does seem to emphasize man on man defense more than help defense, probably why he bench Lin in favor of TD who does mostly man on man defense. Which could be why Lin was so focused on man on man defense of Westbrook, probably told by Sampson to stay on him.
