Our rim defense would prob be better if our center didnt have to constantly leave his man to cut off the driver that just blew by Reed Sheppard...
You know before coming into this thread I was going to say that hopefully the scapegoating became clear last night and people saw the error in their ways But unfortunately some people are just plain old stupid The defense at the rim last night was plain terrible there was no help defense whatsoever. harden definitely rode Reed, but you must be borderline disabled to think it was the reason Zubots and the other guys went off. A common sense evaluation would look at the game and realize this because it’s glaring, but seeing it continue when the player you’re obsessed with hating wasn’t on the floor should have been confirmation. playing the dumb narrative game isl counterproductive because it allows the issues to continue to fester. Senguin did good on offense but his defense was absolutely terrible. Same with Jabari. Adam should have been in. Period
He only plays 25 mins, but when that happens the PF is supposed to slide down and protect the paint.....that part ain't happening. Our centers are also not stepping up to stop the ball....that is a major issue we don't stop the ball. DD
I get your point, but that's just because of the way our defense runs and the goals we have. We do everything we can to prevent rim attempts, but when they do get through, they're often easy attempts. It's clear from the "points in the paint" stat that the strategy is working. So I just disagree with your premise (the title of the thread). On top of that, we've seen for years now that Sengun struggles with certain guys, and Zubac has always been one of them. So yeah, Sengun struggled to stop Zubac last night. But as others have pointed out above, it was a lot more than that. I just don't agree that our rim defense is bad, though. The numbers prove that we are good at preventing points in the paint, and to me, that's rim defense.
hey man... u agree with DD... I'd think that would be enough for a sensible person to re-evaluate their position... jus sayin... and yeah, Sengun is soft at the rim on many occasions... but if anyone wants to talk smack about Adams... well, like u said... some people are just plain old stupid. and for the record... I dont like to disparage any current Rockets and i certainly dont like to lodge personal attacks against any posters... but damn if DD doesnt jus trigger the fk outta me nearly everytime he posts his biased delusional crap... lol
i didnt see last nights game bc League Pass sucks - so i was forced to just listen to the game like a cave man or something... but i will say I repeatedly watched Steven cut off drivers in earlier games... and instead of rotating over to cover Adams man, Reed would stick on his man and try to get a block from behind... the driver would dump off to Adams man who would then dunk at Adams back... then guys like u wanna complain about Adams stats bc well he was the closest man to the scorer - bc Reed (or whoever) didnt rotate over to pick up his man... So yeh, i can see Steven get tired of that crap - i know i am!
It is 100% the opposite way to beat the Clippers - you pack the paint and force them into long jumpers, they are TOO old to make enough of them.....the strategy was one of when Harden and Kawhi were younger - they aren't....and it nearly cost them. You can't let them shoot 90% inside 3 feet and win very often. Someone in the middle needs to guard the rim, or, we will never be a real contender. DD
I see the game in a much different way than most, I view it as a game, and strategy - my views often clash with people who see it differently, especially those who use cherry picked stats instead of nuance - who cares? It is not so much about a PLAYER, but more a philosophy I believe will ultimately fail. We should be rotating to help all over the place, we don't. DD
The Rockets rim defense sucks when one turns blinders to the fact that the other team doesn't get many shots at the rim and a lack of free throw attempts off off attempts at the rim. Granted, Zubac had a good night last night so I guess I should I have expected posts in this thread to go through the roof.
Agree, people with lack of nuance blame centers when if you look at the defensive scheme it tells a different story by having our centers always guarding the perimeter as our guards keep having to switch and leave the centers on an island. Guess that's what happens when people cherry pick stats to favor their point of view.
Exactly! When Adams is on the floor, aint nobody attacking the rim - they know its a fool's errand.... Sengun... homeboy has regressed defensively... and yeah, I fully agree that he struggles in certain matchups... Personally, I think that is why Ime is having him shoot more outside shots... He wants to be able to utilize him as a stretch 4 next to Adams when he gets those bad match-ups like Jokic or Zubac...
How is the number of points we allowed at the rim in last night's game a "cherry picked" stat when we are discussing rim defense? That's like telling me "miles per hour" is a cherry picked stat when we're determining how fast a car is going. It is the literal measurement of the thing we're discussing, isn't it?
I think he is only interested in rim defense as in defense around the rim, i.e. how well you defend once the ball gets there. Then the number of points is not important. In this sense your rim defense can be terrible even if you concede 10 points a game. To be clear I am not saying this is a good way of evaluating your rim protection.
You also often ignore the obvious faults of those players whom you have an affinity. One thing I noticed last night, was whenever Reed was on the floor, Amen was caught between what the defense called for and watching the inevitable drive by Reed’s assignment. Reed’s poor defense is affecting the entire team defense, not just drives. The zone is also an issue, but maybe Ime is just trying different combinations to find a way to make it work. To Ime’s credit, of which I don’t often give, he is still giving Reed plenty of minutes to work it out. It is in the best interest of the Rockets for Reed to get adequate at defense and get his offensive mojo back, but he will not get a full year to figure it out if he wants many minutes with the starters and/or crunch time. His place is with a strong defensive unit top to bottom, which means very little time with Durant on the floor.
Sometimes it IS the centers and sometimes it isn't. A center should step to stop the ball - if they do that, then someone has to rotate into their spot - which rarely happens. Honestly, I blame Durant - he is pretty lazy on D, and IMHO the main reason our D doesn't seem as connected as last year. This is a clear case of where the stats don't tell the story at all...... What are teams shooting at the rim this year against us? When they drive it is wide open.... And @Hemingway in today's NBA hardly ANYONE can stay in front of their man at the guard position - which is why TEAM D is so important. DD
