How the Rockets can counter Lu Dort's defense. In-depth film study

Was not aware. Thanks!

 

Stop.

2017 wants its clutchfans discussion back.

 

it’s true tho

Kawhi and other solid scorers have incorporated that move . It’s all about versatility and making the other team have to account for as many possibilities, because teams game plan to take things away .

granted , harden has been doing just fine . Our nitpick is that he’s not being absolutely perfect on offense and is canning midrange J’s as the ultimate FU to the defense .

if teammates were knocking down shots then he’d be averaging double digit assists , almost no turnovers , excellent defense, 30+ ppg , 7.5 rebounds . And his fg percentage isn’t even that bad . He’s had some clunkers from 3. What’s the maximum number of bad shooting games in a row James has had in his career?

Could he theoretically adjust his game on the fly and get some stepback 2’s ? Yes . Best case scenario he’s got it in his bag and is saving it for next round when the defenders might be even longer and allowed to get away with even more . But also , his teammates could make a shot . He can get hot , or one of our other 8 guys (a few have been hot ) can get hot . It would be a nice night for an rivers 40 point game or a gordon game where he makes a 3 .

 

The thing is those nitpicks are the difference between winning ring and not hence why some of us fans do nitpick. Yes Harden can be one of the 5 greatest scorers of all time but he does have some very head scratching flaws especially in late game situations. A lot of it is due to Harden restricting himself to score in only two areas of the court letting defenses game plan for it.

 

I think it’s just who harden is at this point . I hope he still has the move in his back pocket , but if he doesn’t practice it much it may not be as sharp . It’s hard for pitchers in baseball to maintain sharpness over 3+ pitches and janes already has a stunning variety of novels he can go to at a high level . At the end of the day , it’s likely he’s just supremely confident in his stepback and MDA and Morey encourage that .

yes I wish he closed out the game and we were up 3-0 , but this places more pressure and adversity on us ... which also seems to be a philosophy of ours . Then again , like I said , any one of several other players also could have hit shots .

 

LOL

Harden has more tricks in his bag than any of his peers.

Harden CAN post up but it is inefficient. Harden CAN shoot the midrange stop and pop, but it is inefficient.

Harden drives to rim, gets to FT line and shoots 3's because these are the MOST EFFICIENT shots in basketball.

YOUR aesthetics be dammed.

This not about YOU.

 

The way he plays the game has a tangible impact especially in late game situations that just isn't aesthetics. Defenses know how to hedge their bets in closing game situations against Harden because they know he refuses to score from an entire large area in the half court. His refusal to move his feet in late game situations also make it easy to deny him the ball where we have to depend on someone like RoCo being our clutch shot taker which is pbvot something you don't want.

 

You are a waste of time.

You have no clue about Rockets basketball, you are purposefully ignorant or a complete idiot.

You cannot talk your fake facts into existence.

 

Harden always has to do things that only 1% of championship franchise players have done.

I wish instead of whining about Harden they would go whine to Tilman to spend $15m more per season and Morey will solve all their f*cking problems lol.

 

Harden is easily a top 10 CLUTCH performer in this league. Closing game situations teams are usually defending him in WAVES .. not sure how your comment can stand on its own it seems pretty contrived and spiteful to fit a talking point or narrative. If Harden had more efficient role players he wouldnt need to play SuperMan every game. Plus - When did ROCO become our "clutch shot taker" ??? Im missing something.

 

Are we seriously going to pretend that opposing defenses didn't try to deny MJ and Kobe the ball on inbound plays in late game situations? They did try to deny them but they MOVED THEIR ****ING FEET to get open.

It's easy to shade and dent Harden the ball because Harden makes it easy to deny him the ball because he hardly tries to run to free himself. Instead he resorts to these hugging and shoving matches hoping the refs bail him out.

 

Harden can try to move his feet in late game situations so we don't rely on players like RoCo being the clutch shot taker.

 

To add: this is why Westbrook is so important to this team in late game situations because unlike Harden the dude WILL FREE HIMSELF by running and giving a chance for the inbound passer to give him the ball.

 

I think you're overlooking that Harden is not, and has never been a good midrange shooter. People always mischaracterize Morey and the Rockets by saying "they hate midrange" when it's not true. They don't hate midrange shots, they hate inefficient shots. If Kevin Durant or Kawhi Leonard were on the rockets I can assure you they would be shooting midrange shots. But here is Harden's percentage from the midrange since he's been in Houston:

12-13: 34%
13-14: 41%
14:15: 37%
15:16: 41%
16:17: 41%
17:18: 39%
18-19: 42%
19-20: 50% (only 0.3 per game, not a great sample)

I know y'all have fond memories of him in the midrange, and many posters will assure you that he used to be "cash" or "automatic" from midrange, but it's just not accurate. Harden has been a poor midrange shooter throughout his career. It's just not something he's good at.

 

You would think their lord and savior Kawhi didn't fold meakly into a half-assed screen to lose the game last night.

 

He shouldn't take the midrange shot because of "efficiency". He needs to occasionally take them because defenses hedge their bets a lot against the Rockets offense because they know exactly where Harden will never take a shot attempt.

 

you're arguing a strawman. Why even bring MJ or Kobe into it? Do you want to discuss each of those guys supporting casts or stay on time in the discussion? If you want to attack the efficacy of an inbound play you may want to direct that energy at the guy who drew it up in the first place. Instead of generalizing the 2nd best player (so far) in franchise history into anecdotal quibs you may want to research some of these pet peeves of yours, you may be surprised at what you find.

GO ROCKETS!!

 

He can't. Sucks. Disappears late in games, has horrible games, not clutch. It's not going to change, and we're not going to learn something new about your position on it. It's not going to change because no one who matters agrees to be honest. I'm sure it's not what Harden thinks, so it won't happen.

So what are we stuck with? Fairly efficient 30/8/8/2/1, decent defense. Any team would throw $40m on him in an open market even if he bricked every shot from now till the playoffs end.

Can we try to win with this? Is it possible that like Kyrie, Horry, Iguodala, maybe someone other than Harden does it? Hasn't stopped other teams from winning championships. It's a mythical obstacle to a championship. You can accept now that it's not going to change.

What else can happen to solve the problem you refer to where the team needs something and Harden seems incapable of achieving it?

 

Dude the point is everyone and their mother knew that MJ and Kobe were going to get the ball in clutch inbound situations and defenses planned accordingly and tried their hardest to deny them the ball but they MOVED THEIR FEET. Why is that such a difficult concept for you to grasp?

 

Like I said in another post, Westbrook is our defacto clutch shot taker due to Harden's deficiencies trying to free himself in late game situations.

If we are going to meta, none of our options and posts matter here. No one that matters reads this stuff
This is just where fans vent and cheer.