This is what separates people who criticize this team based on a 'trend' or some kind of pattern they're seeing, and those who always say "oh, it's just one game." Well, no **** Sherlock, every game is just one game. Whenever Harden plays subpar, you can always chalk it up to having just one bad game. What should be worrisome is when the team/Harden is slowly but surely heading downwards, and some are just intelligent enough to see the signs before they clearly manifest into a trend. I don't want to be rude, but most people on this board are just plain stupid or at least very naive, and are unable (or maybe unwilling) to read the negative patterns developing, unless this team goes into a full-fledged five game losing streak or something. And the same goes for criticisms about Harden's game. Just because we happen to be winning at this moment, doesn't mean everything is all fine and dandy and there is nothing to worry about your best player's future performance, especially during playoffs.
I just think this shows that we need to get another wing that can create off the dribble. Harden and Gordon are the only two that can do it for the team right now. When shots are off and Harden and Gordon have bad shooting nights we look real bad. Ariza is not capable, and Dekker is still too young (he tries and shows signs though). I feel if we can get a F who can handle the ball and play make a little bit that will help this team a whole lot. I'm not panicking due to recent play I knew a stretch would come like this when you are a 3pt heavy team. Have to have guys that can attack off the dribble when their shots are off. Right now we only have two guys who do that. Let's see how they look tonight...
We are never as good as our best play and we are never as bad as our worst play. We are somewhere in the middle. Clearly, Anderson and Gordon are key cogs that make this team work and it doesn't work as well if Anderson is out and Gordon is off.
There's certainly a lot of that in the loss, DD. Adding Clint back into the mix seemed awkward. He's clearly not in NBA shape, in my opinion, and getting back there could take a while. Gordon didn't seem to have his legs under him much of the time. I'll put that down to playing hurt because the guy was missing some money shots, at least for him. Yeah, Harden just had a bad night shooting, but he still made enough of a difference to take us to a win if our defense had shown up and other guys were making shots. If not having Anderson was really the difference maker, everyone who's the least bit superstitious should bring out the good luck charms. I think we should have won without him, at least against Miami. How we played at the end of that game was pretty horrific on both ends of the court, in my opinion. They don't hand games to teams just because they've been having an outstanding season with an excellent record, not in this league. We didn't step up and close out the damn game. Maybe our guys think they can turn it up any time and pull out a win. They've done it enough this season. I hope they get over that complacency, if it's there, real quick. Very frustrating to watch.
Harden can do no wrong in some people's eyes, and maybe that means nobody coaches him either, but he CAN improve on not making terrible turnovers and also on his defense. Have you noticed, or is it just me? He just stands around down by the paint most of the time on defense, and that is why he is getting more rebounds this year. Yes, at least he is rebounding, but what is he really doing on defense half the time? Just focus on him and you will see what I am talking about. He is just standing around half the time. Yes, he is no doubt our MVP, but he hasn't played to his potential in some areas, and they are areas where we need him to. It's those things that will separate us from "almost as good as San Antonio and Golden State" to competitive come playoffs. All our guys need to help each other out better down in the paint. There were far too many guys just rolling around their defender with nobody else coming in to stop them from making easy shots.
Capela didn't play much but I don't care whose playing. Have some pride in your defense. The Heat players look like they were doing layup drills with no resistance from the Rockets. It was just shameful.
Good post. We seem to be a victim of our own success. Because we have done it several times, we are getting in the habit of thinking we can win every and any game by turning on the "D" in the 4th. We have let teams hang around. This is a trend that has happened to us before. We have stopped playing hard out of the gate. Sure, schedule and injuries have had some bearing. But we need to play like a team looking up (underdog) rather than a team that feels like they have come of age and doesn't have to work hard to win anymore.
Yes he is clearly resting for offense - he has periods of connectivity on defense, but not consistently, probably because he has to carry such a heavy load on offense. However last night ignoring the stats, was awful - he took FAR TOO MANY SHOTS - and for this team to win that ball needs to be moving, I thought last night looked a lot like last year - bad habits - lets hope it was just a one game short circuit... DD
He started pressing/forcing because we got behind. Even Gordon was taking some ill-advised shots. Ball movement is the key. But credit the Heat for playing solid defense and pushing the pace once they got the rebound.
This team will win 50 games but go home in the 2nd round with out current roster. A few tweaks here and there and we have a chance at this thing. Can't depend on Dekker, Harrell and Brewer when it counts.
