You could also take into account that Harden is gassed and they could just clogg the pain AND they were doubling, so....its like it was always an available option to him.
welp... agree to disagree i guess... I would concede that given the differential of 3 pts vs 2 pts may make a 3 pt attempt a better option throughout the course of a game when you're just trying to outscore the other team... but when you are just needing a final scoring play - any score - regardless of 1, 2 or 3 pts to win a game... that is not your best option...
I didnt say this to blame Dantoni YET AGAIN. Replace Gerald with who??? Clark, they dont play the same position. Tell me who? We had nobody. Hartenstein gets burned on switches, but I agree Nene should have played more, and I dont know why he wasnt. But again Nene isnt saving us from being Bottom 20s in defensive efficiency, im talking about bigger picture, not just one game. Well we are still 5th in the West with injuries to our best players, so hey, cant be all bad right. Alright, no focus on defense I guess, just match ups and game flow LOL and whatever. Thats all fine and good but when you are bottom ranked defensively over a large stretch of game all that crap goes out the window. Dantoni and Jeff arent doing well with the players they have in terms of defense, weve had enough games to see that. We need better defensive players on this team.
I don't mind losing games like this during the regular season, but if it was the postseason this would hurt . Any Rockets lost hurt, but they can learn from this and foul the crap of the Dinwiddie guy, or any hot shooting guy. He wasn't double-teamed, he was 1 on 1 for most of the night and against a gassed Harden in OT. Or foul the guy, make him hit FTs instead of letting him shoot 3s. In hindsight we win, but this lost only makes the Rockets get experience
One thing for sure -- Clint Capela is the 2nd most valuable player on the Rockets. We can survive no CP3 since Harden can increase his usage. We have literally no one competent to replace Capela at center. Part of that is on Morey failing to add a backup C and thinking Nene, Hartenstein, and Qi were the answers.
He made a huge open 3 in the Warriors game. It's the reality of taking a bunch of threes. We're truly a make or miss team and it's honestly silly how much just the threes going in or not drives narratives. We shot SEVENTY threes and we only needed 1 or 2 more to go in to completely change the narrative.
Watching highlights of the choke job -- easy adjustment in the last few minutes of the 4th quarter is to put in Clark over Green. You've already scored enough points to win at that point of the game and there was no need to have Green out there and Clark provides better size, defense, and rebounding.
Morey uses more metrics than likely you and I could both understand He's hardly ever about brand name. He's always about the numbers. James Harden was a 6th man coming off the bench in OKC and Morey saw the value thru numbers. I remember seeing a break down on Harden's usage and effective rates when we got him. I thought "Wow, those numbers look pretty good when you look at them that way" And, of course, he was right. Not everyone has panned out. But overall, he's done a good job
Harden is 58th in the NBA in 3fg% [among qualified players] at 37%, but that is falling sharply. He may be just tired, but he is not shooting well at all - 12 for 51 in his last 3 games = 23.5%. 23%! A harden 3 attempt, right now, is one of the worst offenses in the NBA. Playing 37+ minutes a game (most in the league!) especially as a PG, and one who dribbles and shoots without passing more than any other PG, is a very very bad combination as far as endurance goes, the further along in the year we go. Either he starts resting, and the rockets possible concede some games, or the playoffs wont matter. The trouble is, due to bonehead lapses earlier in the season, they are only 1.5 games ahead of the "miss the playoffs" 9th seed line. They can't afford to concede -any- games. They are right on the bubble, with an exhausted Harden who seems to be chasing scoring totals at the expense of good shots or even winning. So they are pretty much screwed, imho.
This terrible loss is now only 40% damage standings-wise with OKC losing against the LeBron-less Lakers. Every team losses games they really think they shouldn't. Plus we still got b2b FIFTY-FIVE+ James Chamberlain !!!
