Clippers are a tough match up for us. They have always been the last few years. Fantastic team. No shame in losing to them. Glad we blew them out and had some pride. But they are the better team at this point.
Dwight knows the opportunities lost, hence why he cries when other teams hoist the trophy. Thing is, it seems like Harden & rest do not, even with Harden going to the finals before. He needs to be saying "THIS IS MY TEAM, THESE ARE MY SHOULDERS, I SHALL CARRY YOU GUYS", but it doesn't feel like it. There is no sense of urgency, no desire. We need to find that fire & hopefully after tonight, they get it even MORE SO for game 6 & hopefully game 7.
You're right. He might be even dumber than you thought if we can pull out game 6 and bring it back home FTW!
its true that we still probably need atleast one more year to get to that mental toughness of being a real contender. But of all the teams in the play-offs that's still on the running its only the Memphis who went to that deep play-off run in the last 3 years while maintaining the same core. So I honestly felt that the Rockets is not really lagging behind on experience especially because of the veterans we have on our team. This is the year where there is really no clear favorite who will win the finals. The Rockets is still very much in it. They just need to gut it out and realized this is the best year to win that ring.
I like this analysis. Very good comparison. Both are up-tempo, relatively young teams with some key players around 30y/o (Howard, Paul) who are desperate for a chip. Both experience/d coaching difficulties and have to make/have made adjustments in that regard. We have only had Brewer, Smith, Terry and Prigioni (who are all now key players) for a few months and this is still only Ariza's first season, who had fit into our system perfectly. Also, you cannot forget the difference that Beverley and Motiejunas would have made to this postseason. Sill got faith in H-Town!
It might. Consider that... with Pat and DMo out... 6 of our rotation guys in this series were not with the team last year: Terry, Prigioni, Brewer, Ariza, Smith and Capela. And 2 others were out half the year: Howard and Jones. That leaves... Harden. The only guy that's played with this team all year and last year. The lack of intensity was inexplicable, but the lack of cohesion isn't too surprising. And when a team that's had time to grow together and is clicking on all cylinders tears through you, it is dispiriting and that's what we've seen (not excusing it - just making the observation). Game 5 was a major building block for these guys going forward.
So, what did he tweet now? No more words of wisdom? Or y'all are just disappointed and quit following him? Pfft, Hope he got his rest so we can hear more words of wisdom just before game 6, no reason we can't keep our hand on their forehead again and take the W and the series back home. Then I wonder what the wisdom will be? One game at a time.
Morey was actually on Bill Simmon's show last week and pretty much said that the approach this off season is going to be different. They are going to operate over the cap and look to keep more of the roster intact. I'm pretty sure you were making a joke but yeah, I think this off season we're going to see Morey operating in a different manner.
No, just pointing out that it takes time for just about every team, which includes falling flat on their face before really contending. Fans get fooled by regular season success.
Maybe they don't - you're just seeing a correlation there. Generally we win when our shots are falling AND we are winning the rebounding battle and generating fast break points. Those last two things generally come from effort and intensity.
Yep. I agree. This Rockets team is not the Clippers team. The Clippers are more talented and have under-achieved. A team with Griffin, Paul, Jordan, Crawford should be championship contenders every year; especially when coached by Doc Rivers.
It was a tongue in cheek comment. I totally agree that fans get fooled by regular season success. I also believe that it's time to stop messing with the core and start building around it. If Morey does not think Harden and Howard are good enough to lead us to a championship, then he should trade them for some other stars, rather than keep sacrificing roster stability for that illusive 3rd star.
As a team that spaces the floor to the extremes offensively, the Rockets will generally get out-rebounded when they're missing shots. Because the other team gets to go on a fast break after picking up some of those Rocket misses, which leads to higher FG% for them. That, in turn, leads to fewer defensive rebounds for the Rockets and fewer opportunities to get out on the fast break themselves. I agree that effort is key, but fast breaks and missed shots go hand in hand.
Doc has only been there two years. Blake's game has improved during that time, and I believe DJ is more consistent. It's easy to look at the names know and think they should have always been really good, but that wasn't the case. That's kind of the point of the OP. We got talent, but we need to make some adjustments, in order to keep going in the right direction.
