No, I’m putting the blame on the players. Last year, the Rockets played with a chip on their shoulder (case in point: they had double-digit halftime leads in games 6 and 7 without Chris Paul). This year, the Rockets played up or down to their level of competition, and instead of seizing the moment when Durant got hurt in this series, they played with a startling lack of energy at home in an elimination game. Steph Curry had ZERO points in the first half and the Warriors were missing Kevin Durant, yet the game was tied at 55. That says all you need to know about the Rockets effort tonight.
Offense was an issue. JVG on TV called it too, we actually played pretty good D on the warriors down the wire in 3 to 4 possessions where they scored. Their offense was just better -- getting people at spots to be able to deal blow On the other hand, our offense was so easy to be locked down in that stretch. The last two minute offense in a game of this magnitude says a lot. It's a bit of cliche IMO to point to the 113 points and say our offense was OK. That's not the right way to approach this. Not that we are hired to coach or anything.
Our offense is predictable and only caters to our stars. When they choke you see the outcome. Its also why we are sitting here scratching our balls wondering how role players on other teams like kevin tarzan loony are able to go crazy while ours are completely useless.
That's a coaching problem. How you let your team walk up the floor in an elimanation game is beyond me. This team takes on the ho hum of danphonie and it shows. Lost with nd no answers for guidance when things turn bad. I've said this already but Danphonie is an offensive coordinater masquerading as a head coach. He can draw up a pretty good offense but doesn't know when to implement correct game plans for evolving situations.
James Harden has had issues with his effort level long before D’Antoni arrived. Also, coaches can’t make players play hard. They can bench those not giving effort to set an example for the team, but at some point you are who you are as a player. If you don’t have it in you to bring your max effort in an elimination game, then you are either soft or injured. There’s no way that the Rockets should have been tied at halftime with Steph Curry held scoreless and Kevin Durant in street clothes. Finally, everyone knows D’Antoni is essentially the offensive coordinator for the Rockets with Bzdelik serving as the defensive coordinator, so I don’t really understand your point there.
Agreed... whether people think it’s pretty or not is a different topic but overall we won 65 games a year ago and nearly captured the 2 seed after a horrific start this year. The system works. The problem in the last two games was that we couldn’t rebound effectively. We played great defense for most of the night only to watch the Warriors get extra possessions and chances to stay in the game. Eventually that gets tiresome and a bit demoralizing. The thing is, I can’t tell if we are just a horrible rebounding team or if the rebounding issue was a function of how we played the Warriors. That said, idk where we go from here.
Here's the thing... I actually really like a lot of things we do in our offense. For instance, the Guard to Guard dribble handoff straight into a PnR with the big man is absolutely killer to a defense. The PnR for Harden as soon as he crosses half court is impossible to defend because it gets him going downhill which puts the defense way out of position. I also love the Guard slip screen with a Center ball screen behind it. It heavily confuses the defense and leads to great shots. Anytime we screen the screener (meaning we set a screen for the man that is setting a ball screen) it gives me a little chubby. Those are all amazing aspects of our offense. The problem that I have is that early in the game we do those things to attack the defense and get open looks. Late in games, however, we do them to get a switch and then we ISO. Now, dont get me wrong, the ISO can be a great thing if your star has a rhythm going. It really, really sucks when he keeps bricking the shots, though. Compound it with our inability to get stops at times and it can be downright tough to watch.
Matching a ho hum player with a ho hum coach gets you ho hum squared. Head coaches call games: that includes timeouts, rotation, adjustments and getting in players ass-ness. He does none of that. He draws up the offense and rolls with them, leaving it to his players, do or die. He is not a coach.
Speed up, yes. Add a couple of pieces, yes. I’m very disappointed, but it’s not like we are the Knicks. Still rolling with our team 100
If we ran the system like it was designed to be ran then it would work but it has turned into too much hero/iso ball and thats why it keeps failing.
LoFs also apparently. I've had multiple random ass posters call me LoFs. I have no ****ing clue why or how.
It was obvious in the Jazz series when we pushed it we were killing them but he kept slowing it down and playing at the tempo they wanted.
D’Antoni did some stupid things this series, I agree. (Playing Capela way too much and subbing CP3 out tonight in the 4th quarter immediately come to mind). However, with him as the offensive coordinator and Bzdelik as the defensive coordinator, the Rockets are 10-10 against the Warriors the last two seasons. Who exactly are you going to replace that combination with that will be better? That’s the problem. However, I stand by my statement that if your coach has to light you up for a lack of effort in an elimination game against the team you want to beat more than anything in the world, you have serious soul searching to do as a player.
We couldn’t beat the warriors without the best NBA player on our floor to save our season Quit complaining about the refs.
