How'd you like that. No center for the entire 4th Q Down 84-98, we win the 4th 40-19 With only 19 threes shot so far as Portland stuck to the shooters, D'Antoni went center-less the entire 4th Q to force Portland to leave the lane or leave a shooter. Awesome defense and the lane just opened up for Harden. They chose not to leave any shooters, and Harden just walked to the rim. Spoiler: STATS This was the second lowest 3FAs by an MDA Rockets team to date, with only 25. It's only the 3rd time we were held to under 30 with MDA as coach. It didn't work with our new ability to go Death Lineup with awesome Defense.
I was surprised to see Ariza, Luc, and PJ all out there at the same time. That was suffocating defense and they couldn’t match up on offense. Insanity.
You just saw why the Rockets aren't going to pay Capela big money and why he isn't the ultimate center solution we are looking for.
******* he's pissed me off so many games this month. again, i haven't yelled at my tv so much since brewer was finally traded. capela has hit the rookie wall for the 3rd consecutive season, both physically and mentally.
I doubt that lineup will make Pops take Gasol out of the game, or make OKC take Adams out. Hell, I doubt it would take Nurkic out of the game for that long. But it will make them leave a shooter...or let Harden walk to the rim. And it does give a glimpse of how we can matchup with GSW, for sure.
feel bad for lilard, he was lighting it up before he tweaked his ankle. but wow, we’re bare knuckles tough w/ CP3, PJ, Luc, and Ariza all around harden. harden looks good w/ all that D around him, and CP3 to have to protect the ball and so harden doesn’t have to go on each and every big possesion. who was that guy harden left on his belly there in the lane? he was a snail, but when harden took him out of his shell he looked kinda sluggish.
Morey already said that Capela will not be let go. I believe him, we don't have many great options out there considering the lack of cap space we will have. We will just have to see in the summer who was right.
Tucker and Luc are basically, bigger Beverley's. The versatility to play/defend all positions is tremendous.
not gonna lie @Wylo was throwing in the towel at the thought of us being contenders. he was saying this is the only top 5 defense we have played this year and we are always going to lose to good defenses.
After all those years of McFail and JBB, we finally have a coach that knows how to make timely in-game adjustments!