We are simply a better team when he comes off the bench. It gets him MORE shots and allows us to pack on the firepower when the opposition start to rest their scorers. With the wings we have now (House, Shumpert, and yes...even Gary Clark) there is no reason for us to have Gordon in the starting lineup. It just puts more defensive burden on Harden/Paul and puts us at a rebounding disadvantage. I don't have any stats to backup this up but if any stat-gurus would like to fact check my eye test, I will gladly give you fake internet points for your research. edit: i'm not saying Eric shouldn't FINISH games. i'm simply saying it would be a more balanced rotation if he were to come off the bench. I mean it worked last year for a franchise record winning record... and he may have won an award or something.
thank you was just telling my bro this. I understand people want House to start over Gordon but you gotta take in the fact that Gordon has been really playing well as of late. No reason yet to change it up. Besides like you said, its who finishes the game. Luckily for us we didn't have to see that last night.
This is one of the times we don't need stats. We all know our 3rd Quarters have sucked coming out of the lockerroom. Here is MDA, Paul and Harden talking about it, and hoping to be turning it around with the Minny game. MDA issued a warning about their play in the third quarter, and the message was received. "We definitely picked up our energy to start the third quarter," Paul said. "Coach gave us a crazy stat about how we've been playing in the third quarter. We've been (26th) in defense in the third quarter. We wanted to come out, get a good warm up, try to pick up our intensity to start the third quarter." "The biggest thing – our focus was better coming out of the locker room," D'Antoni said. "They talked about it amongst themselves, that we've been coming out kind of soft and we didn't this time. We came out focused, especially on the offensive end." Harden said. "Offensively, defensively, we wanted to be more aggressive, getting into their bodies and making them make tough shots, and we did that in the third quarter."
100% in agreement. House should start at the 3 providing some size to the starting 5, which it desperately needs and EG provides a scoring punch off the bench.
Rockets are winners of 11 of the past 12 games. If I remember correctly Eric Gordon has started all of them. We are on a roll. If it aint broke don't fix it.
Gordon has finally broken out of his funk. I'm very leery about moving him back to the bench. Though I do think House would really shore up our rebounding woes... My hunch is that they'll stick with Gordon in the lineup. More stability in the lineup, plus House isn't showcased as much, increasing your likelihood of retaining him.
honestly, start Shump and get him to buy in while it's still reg season. get EG fresh off the bench to tear into the opposing bench players.
I hear what your saying but big picture.... how are we gonna start EG at the 3 against the warriors with KD Klay and Dray size to defend. Might as well get the rotations set for that matchup to be honest
My thing has nothing to with Gordon but what MDA and the players said about our horrible third quarter defensive stats -- they are starting to fix their weaknesses which is great cause we suck in that period. How many times Houston built a 10 point lead by halftime just to see them evaporate in their infamous third quarter lulls? Yeah, come out with guns blazing and you're on the way to repairing a huge achiles heel weakeness.
I agree with this. Also, I wish MDA would play Faried more with CP than Harden. Harden misses him all the time vs CP actually looking for him out there. Guys like Faried change the complexion of games with energy. Ignoring him makes it harder for guys like him