So the rockets are in a funk. Whats going to bring them out of it? Going 11-3 and now 0-3. What will rockets do to bring them selves out of the funk they are in. Are they going to steal one tonight or play lackadaisical all over again. What strategy would you bring to the table? more small ball or less? Should you start a Lineup tonight with a tall center? C- Chandler PF - Cabalo SF - Harden SG - Gordon PG - Westbrook Run some regular plays. Leave this small ball alone, and bring Covingon and Tucker off the bench. Also where the hell is Chris Clemons off the bench, he should be your 6th man. Comon now. Kid has alot of energy coming off the bench imo. Those 3's are nice too. *Why not use Chandler up top pass him the ball then he then passes either to westbrook or harden for the drive. He doesnt have to be in the lane all the time.
After the honeymoon, the problem gradually emerged, and Harden's threat of breakthrough was cut down. Paranoid shooting three points The reason is clear to all. Harden's breakthrough needs a player who can effectively threaten the basket, work near the paint area, and involve the opponent's defense resources. This player can be a center or a forward with enough sports ability and size. The most important thing is to form a line with Harden and Russell to kill in the paint area. Let's look at our start. PJ, CoV, house, Harden, Russ Do you see the problem? House, apart from the cool celebrations, I don't see any performance that he can threaten the paint area of his opponent. CoV, the offensive end is basically catching the ball and shot three points, occasionally cutting two baskets. PJ, in addition to three points in the bottom corner of the offensive end, his help in other offensive means to the team is 0 or even negative. Don't get me wrong. I'm aiming at PJ. I love PJ's tough defense, but he's really useless on the offensive side. The opponent seldom defends him except for occasionally marking his bottom three points (sometimes even not giving him space to shoot three points). The opponent's strategy often gets a good return. PJ can't even get it. We are in the offensive of 4v5. The most common scene in the game is: the open cut opportunity ball passed to PJ when Hardon / rice broke through. PJ was half or even one position ahead of the defender when he received the ball. At this time, any forward player with qualified sports ability could easily dunk and end, while PJ would only choose to pass back because of his sports ability, forcing teammates to reorganize attack or force project... In my starting line-up, with the exception of harden and Russ, the other three players have little ability to threaten the paint area of the opponent. Then let's take a look at our main replacement rotation, EG, Rivers, McLemore, Green, Carroll It's obvious that none of them except Jeff is able to score steadily in the paint area of the opponent. And Jeff may be the sweet spot on the defensive. Finally, to sum up, there are no players who can threaten from the inside. The result is that the tactics of each game can only be: three points, forced shooting three points, breakthrough, forced breakthrough. This is the way to gamble hand feeling and fate. We can't get points on the inside, so we can only hope to shoot three points.
Getting out rebounded is not working. Tyson Chander and Green should switch the center job. If you want to maintain small ball at the start then green is your man. I think Chandler needs to play some back up minutes at least 20-23 mins a game. Tucker is your 3 off the bench. You can run a line up of Austin, Russ, James, Covington, Green, Bring Tucker and Gordon off the bench. I just think Tucker is not a great as people on here think. Plus he excell better off the bench with Gordon. Things need to experimented now, you have to find out whats causing this. One thing is Harden coming up and chucking the ball up there to the cylinder gotta stop. This is stupid basketball, I totally agree with Webber on this. Everyone just standing around watching Harden gotta stop as well.
On some level i think personnel and coaching remain issues. i don't agree that we have everything we need to win a championship. But these are things we can't change this year. As far as what we can change; we can change our approach on the court. i know we are an iso-based team and that Russ and James have a huge advantage in 1 on 1 matchup's, but the times when this team has looked at their best, going back 3 years now, have been when there's good ball-movement and a commitment to defense. Russ and James are gonna get there's, but they shouldn't have to work this hard to score, and that's because all of the attention is focused on them in the iso-based offense we run. Then other guys just stand around; they aren't really involved and it's harder to get in a shooting rhythm. If we can maybe scheme a bit better to move the ball perhaps things will open up a bit. And if we increase our commitment to defense, our offense can really score points off that. We've got to take care of the ball, We've got to commit to defense. And we have to move the ball more to get other guys involved and take pressure off our MVP's. What do i know? But feels like some adjustments could help.
There is no slump. That’s just the new hoax from the fake news people. We have a perfect system. It’s because of our perfect trade, and our experts, probably the best experts in the league...many ppl think so. And not just one, but two perfect trades. And even before our perfect trades, it was beautiful.
Jeff Green Covington Tucker Harden Westbrook Jeff has been playing well (+29 vs Hornets) DeMarre Carroll has nabbed two games now in a row with a plus (+/-) while everyone else (except Green) struggled (+11 vs Hornets). Give Carroll more playing time off the bench......will pay dividends in the playoffs.
It won't solve the problem, but House needs to come the bench. Jeff is experienced and is a better player.
The only new strategy, plan B, whatever you want to call it is honestly quite obvious and has been staring us in the face the entire time. And I truly think D'Antoni is actually going to recognise it and utilise it! MOARRRR THREEEEEEEEEEES
I’d like to see some minutes with Bruno and Harden when Westbrook isn’t in the game. Run a Bruno/Harden PnR a few times to see if you can get some easy lobs. I think this could help Harden get in a groove. I’m starting to think Harden needs a lob threat in the PnR and as a release valve when he beats his defender.
