[theScore] Why not Houston? The Rockets are built to hang with the Warriors and win

No big deal using PPS. I just wouldn't makes tweets saying Harden's PPP is 3 times his FG% on step-back threes.

It's not semantics,,,,it's not a possession, because you are only counting FGAs. But you know all that.

I really love the PPP and ORtg stats. So, I'm somewhat protective of them being misused. Forgive me.

My point, which takes it out of the realm of a semantics argument and into how and when analytics gurus use PPP, is that PPP is mostly used to measure an offensive system, (it is ORtg). To break that system down to its parts and analyze one type of possession versus another, people are analyzing plays ... like PnR, Low Post Play, ISO, Transition. We don't say Capela's PPP on Alley-oops during a PnR are Two Times his FG% on those dunks, because it would leave out times he fumbles the pass, etc, so we talk about his eFG%, TS% or PPS on shots at the rim. Then we talk about the Rockets PPP on PnRs when Capela is playing....or maybe PPP on all times Harden passes to Capela, whether it's a FGA or not.

fwiw: I'm not a big fan of Individual ORtg (PPP).

 

This is my English,

The team name:

The Warriors (with The)

Rockets (without The)

Why?

Warriors are the only team which wins 73 games in a single regular season.

 

Make sense.

 

THE Warriors.

 

Copy cats.

Resting your best player leading up to the playoffs. It’s alright. “The” Rockets have a 6 game
lead of resting Ryan over Curry.

The ‘SHIP is ours!!

 

Warriors have the championship pedigree.

Warriors have the 4 all stars.

Rockets have a pocket full of hopes and dreams. Only way that changes is to meet them and beat them in the playoffs. Until them we are contenders at best, pretenders at worst.

 

Draymond isnt an allstar.

He is overrated.

The Rockets match up well with the Warriors as they can switch.

Klay isn't the guy who can consistently take advantage of a mismatch.

It is going to become an iso contest between Paul/Harden and Curry/Durant.

Houston has the better defense and rebounding. People overlook this.

 

We don't know what this Warriors 6th gear is like........ and we certainly do not know what the Rockets 6th gear is.

I also err on the side of the champion, they have "done it" and they get the benefit of the whistle.

Having said that, this Warriors team hasn't been as good as the last few.

Draymond Green has not been nearly as good this season. His game started to regress some last year and has continued this season. He is no longer an even adequate 3 point shooter and he is not moving as well defensively as he has in the past. If he isn't the player he was in the past, the Warriors could very well lose to the Rockets. It isn't just my observation, the Warriors have slipped from being a top 1-2 defense to being one in the top 8-10. That is a big fall for a dominant team.

Further, the Warriors weighted W/L is 49-18; which isn't on par with previous seasons. The Warriors in the past thrived by passing the ball. Defenses have adjusted/changed somewhat and now all the passing is causing the Warriors to turn the ball over too much.

The Warriors are taking less threes and going to the line less. Their jump in turnovers has resulted in them giving up more possessions than gaining. This is the reverse of previous seasons.

Their bench isn't as good as it was last year either. Iguodala, Livingstone and Young haven't given the Warriors much at all.

It isn't all doom and gloom, the Warriors are blocking more shots and are shooting very well close to the basket. Still, is that enough when you consider their other issues? Don't forget possibly losing home court as well. Honestly, I don't know.

What I do know is that the Warriors have not been as good as previous seasons and it has been a consistent issue for the Warriors. The statistics show that they are a very, very good team (maybe the best in the league) but not an all time great team like the previous seasons.

Kerr deserves some blame. He hasn't show the ability (this season) to counter the adjustments made by the rest of the league against him. It hasn't made an enormous difference but it is the difference between a 62-64 win team this season and a 67,73,67 win team the previous three seasons.

One thing to consider, going into this season a lot of very bright basketball people said the Warriors would be the favorites without Durant. Right now, do you think the Warriors without KD would beat the Rockets? I don't.

 

I respectfully disagree about Draymond. He's one of those players (like Bev was) that you HATE facing. Relentless passion and effort combined with a pit bull mentality. He does everything. All the small things, the loose balls, keeping his teammates accountable, being ferocious on defense, taking a charge, diving on the floor, etc. If you were going into a 7 game series against the Warriors and you had the option to sit out one of their players for the series, who would you choose? I'd choose Draymond Green.

 

That is weird, because I would pick Stephen Curry. You picking Draymond kind of proves my point on how he is overrated.

He is shooting in the 20's from three and his defense is not good enough to slow down CP3 or Harden.

He has been a big reason along with Iggy that the Warriors have dropped off a bit this year.

Teams are effectively letting them shoot.

 

if I got the chance to sit three warriors Draymond would still be playing.

 

Deserves its own sticky thread.

This post embodies something that should be our collective attitude. Stay humble. Watch attentively hoping for greatness.

 

Harden and Paul's numbers being nearly identical except in points is pretty mind blowing. Best back court in the league?

 

Curry doesnt look like he's staying humble or hungry.

 

Maybe those don't include the SAS game, but NBA.com stats disagree

NBA.com rankings for Jan 1st to present has​

HOU -- 2nd and 6th
TOR -- 3rd and 4th
PHI -- 10th and 3rd​

With a fairly big 1.2 ppp gap between HOU and TOR for ORtg, but a mere .4 gap for DRtg

And if you do Jan 18th to present (when Harden returned), PHI drops out, and it is:

HOU -- 1st and 3rd
TOR -- 4th and 2nd
GSW -- 3rd and 10th​

 

Going along with tmac35 ... If you really would choose draymond sitting out over KD or steph, then you're REALLY overrating draymond. I think draymond is a borderline allstar (i see him more as a great role player), and he's good for all the reasons you mentioned, but take away steph or KD and you'll see that the role players with all the hustle wont win you championships without a superstar or two to support. I don't buy the whole "steph/KD are the best players on the warriors but draymond is the most important" because it's simply not true. Draymond is going to be a consistently high level role player for his whole career but that doesn't mean he somehow makes the superstars better as much as they do for him. It's the other way around. Seriously watch their game highlights and you'll see him 5-6 times a game deliberately pass open 3s that most average big men can hit to pass to a semi-CONTESTED if not full contested steph and KD that they swish (hence his insane high assist averages). His defense definitely helps them, as does his occasional playmaking (once again passing to the three stellar shooters while contested i don't count as true playmaking) and without him we'd beat them, but without steph or KD we'd also beat them.

 

2015-2016 Draymond was the most important player on the Warriors. In my opinion he was the most important in the league because there was no one in the league that you could replace him with. You could replace scoring production with other elite players, but Draymond was very unique in his defensive abilities, toughness as an enforcer, and he was shooting 49% overall and 39% from 3. The only reason the Cavs won a championship is because Draymond missed game 5 due to suspension and it literally turned the entire series around. I think a lot of fans are still seeing Draymond as the same player, but he simply has not been.

 

2015-16 Draymond was as good as anybody in the entire NBA. I'll go to my grave saying that. Most impressive player I've ever seen.

 

I can agree with you that it seems like draymond has taken a step back since that one year. He's shooting considerably worse, and his defense even seems to have taken a hit. Of course it's regular season ... so who knows. But I'm not sure you can replace KD and Steph with just about any other superstar. Adding in klay, you're adding a very specific set of stars whose main elite skill is shooting. Most of draymond's "playmaking" is built off this very specific team's stars requiring their man to stick super close to them at 27 feet, while draymond is left to abuse slower bigs. You rarely see him make something out of nothing type plays very often, especially not against the other team's good defenders.

And I guess it's because I evalutate superstars as the types that put in any situation (whether a 73 win team or a 25 win team), can make plays for others/making them better. I simply don't see draymond being able to do this with another team, much less bad teams. He can prove me wrong if he ever stops playing for the warriors but I don't know if we'll ever see it or if it's even a smart move. He knows that playing with those 3 is making him utilize all his strengths and minimize his weaknesses. I don't blame him for it though. It's brought them 2 championships. So yes, put in this warriors situation he's doing great. But to call him the best player in the league for any year he's played is pretty ridiculous.