Below is the only Rockets-related section from that article. Linsanity? Still there Remember when James Harden had to come off bench in Oklahoma City because there was too much ball-needing overlap between him, Kevin Durant and Russell Westbrook? It's fair to wonder whether the Rockets need to pursue a similar arrangement to get Jeremy Lin the ball enough now that he's been teamed with Harden. Somehow, Lin had only played 57 Harden-free minutes heading into Monday's game against San Antonio, and had posted disappointing results while struggling as a floor-spacer next to the basketball world's second-most prominent left-handed JH. The good news in all this is that Harden sat out Monday's game against San Antonio, and Lin showed he still has the goods to be an offensive focal point if he's not paired with Harden. Going up against a top-notch opponent, Lin scored 38 points, made only two turnovers and generally looked like the guy who had Knicks fans in a lather last spring. The solution couldn't be more hammer-to-the-head obvious: Play Lin when Harden sits, and give him the rock in a constant stream of pick-and-rolls for those 12 minutes. In other words, do almost exactly what Oklahoma City did with Harden. This would mean "demoting" Lin to a backup role, but it actually would make his function in Houston much more prominent, not to mention helpful. And since this is a story about the positives, the real takeaway from Monday is that yes, by golly, Lin is still capable of this. Not that he'll score 38 or make 4 of 5 3s every time, but he can be an offensive focal point and create high-value scoring chances. Linsanity wasn't a mirage.
The first mistake McHale made during the 3rd game this season was to let Harden play both 1 & 2, which hurt Jeremy's confidence as a pg, even though Harden is a much more experienced player. Now it becomes complicated to reverse it since they don't want to take the risk of making their top player unhappy. Similar argument could be made for the Lakers. When Kobe is scoring 30+ points consistently during each game, teammates' confidence can not be high.
A simple solution that I have been saying for months. Harden is very good at playing off the ball and with the ball. Lin is good playing with the ball. So what should you do? It doesn't take a rocket scientist (no pun intended) to figure this out. Give Lin the ball and let him be something called a point guard and let Harden play off the ball. Don't know what the coaching staff keep insisting Harden be the primary ball handler. Jeremy can do it and I believe if given the opportunity can even make Harden better offensively.
Only 2 big key to win for Houston: 1. Asik need to learn catching and dunking every single assist that given to him (go to the gym) 2. PPat need to learn rebounding and Dunking... if both of them can do that, that will be a big boost for Houston right now, if not, just trade PPat, or else, bring A. Varejao to houston
We are 10th in offensive efficiency. We are top 5 in the league in scoring. Offense is not the issue.
I agree Harden should score while lin distribute by handling the ball this is not Harden and lin fault anyway... but when i see ASIK cannot even dunk it, damn,, it all waste lin and harden effort
Inaccurate post is inaccurate. Sorry man but that's just a fact. Rockets have one of the quickest triggers in the league. There will be games where that will not be the case or players may have confidence issues at different times during the season but overall as a team they have a very very quick trigger.
I wish the coaching staff would let Lin be the primary ball handler with Harden playing off the ball more. Best example of what works is in San Antonio, Parker can get into the paint at will while Manu drives and can shoot with the best of them. Lin and Harden should be able to replicate the same thing.
1. Bigs finishing better. Too many easy points being loss here. 2. Cut those TOs.....this will help the offense by not having to score as much just to catch up.:grin:
It's more than just the transition D (27th, 13.6% Total Plays - 1.22 PPP). We're 20th in PPP allowed on post-up (9.6% - 0.86), 28th on P&R roll man (5.4% - 1.14), and 20th on spot-up (19.1% - 1.00). The Wizards actually have a higher PPP in that game (0.93) when compared to their season's average (0.92), although they have been playing better lately. The offense (11th in PPP) isn't that good to offset the defense. They have its warts such as among league worst in iso (26th - 9.1% - 0.69) despite having two of the best ISO players, in terms of PPP, from last season. Mind-boggling.
Anyone can play defense, requires effort, some IQ, and good strategy....uumm sounds pretty compilcated actually.
Great team defense, especially with almost all new players takes time. We have 3 great plus defenders in the front court, and Lin is very disruptive and great on the post/block despite getting burned on the high Pn'R too often. I think Harden is in the same light as a very active defender but can have trouble with screens high as well. When our actual rotations are solid and everyone is on the same page, we are very very tough to beat. It takes a superstar performance to beat us (i.e Lebron James). Time is the only missing factor. We're a talented team for sure.
Fire mchale, he's the one putting the restraints on players. He criticizes them openly in public and always deflects the blame on the players. His running style is not gonna win in the playoffs. I'm counting the days.
1. The key to improved Rockets offense and defense is to lower the TO rate. 2. Secondly, they have to improve the transition defense. Rox are ranked at 30 at opp fast break lost per game. 3. They also have to improve their defensive rotation. Rox are among the highest opp 3-point % AND opp 3PA in the league.
The Rockets plays like DA's Suns, scores bunch of points quickly, also gives up bunch of points quickly. You can call their "lack of transition defense", but like the old Suns, it's difficult to play good transition defense when you pull the trigger that fast. Unfortunately, the Rockets don't have the offensive talent/coaching as the Suns, hence stuck at .500
One of the keys will obviously be figuring out something were Harden and Lin can play off each other. We're already running some nice stuff off flat cuts, so I'd like to see them put in a flare option for Lin to play off off of Harden or vice versa. For example, imagine this set with the PF popping to the corner. The whole paint would be open for Lin/Harden every time the defense were to overload on the other. <iframe width="640" height="360" src="http://www.youtube.com/embed/eUOyYYm2Fwg" frameborder="0" allowfullscreen></iframe> Lin would probably have to improve on his in-between game a little for this to work for him, though. We have no bigs he can just throw lobs to and he's not athletic enough to finish around the rim against a half-decent shot-blocking big, nor is he quite crafty enough yet.
