It;s mind boggling to be honest. It's as if Lin has to get mowed down to get the call, whereas Wade can get a call by having defender breathing on him. Haha.
I can agree that ball movement is one of the keys to success, but the idea that bad passes can be considered "good turnovers" is hard for me embrace.
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Our defense started to struggle a little bit tonight. Probably tired legs from the back-to-back and Parsons getting 39 minutes of burn, Lin's free safety getting burned, and Marcus Morris not being able to play man-man on anybody, not even Teletovic LMAO. Offensively, we looked pretty solid, everyone was put into their natural positions this game, Harden took over when he needed to but never had to force fifty thousand ISOs, and there was a lot less of Delfino and Parsons initiating sets. Parsons beasted this game.
Harden played a great game without being a ballhog. Most of the time he was patient to let the game come to him. And he made quick decision even before the double/triple team to be set, either shot or pass. Therefore, his turnovers have been cut down dramatically. Nice game for Lin too. I don't worry about his TOs as long as he tries to get his teammates going.
Heavy TOs by your guards is okay....just not by everyone else to get a good tally at the end of the game. The 11 total TOs by the Rockets was a big reason for tonight's win.
one more thing i noticed is other players, delfino and parsons, did much less PG job. it also helped team TOs.
Yeah! I did not see too much of Parsons, though he had a career high of 11 assists, and Delfino as the initiator of the offense today, and perhaps that is why it looks like Lin is playing the 1 more. Just let Harden and Lin be the playmakers, not all 1, 2, 3, and 4!
Lin had some bad turnovers tonight no doubt, and he should improve them in future. Understanding your opponent is also key, you can't try those quarterback passes with someone like Gerald Wallace in the game. The key is that TEAM TURNOVERS WERE DOWN. Why? Because Lin did most of the ball-handling tonight. A lot less Delfino trying to run point and playing in position.
Yup. And you notice he handed the ball off to Lin when they got on the other end of the court? He's letting Lin play PG now. Took a friggen long time, but we're finally starting to click and mesh together. 0 TO's by the beard, and still 29 pts along with 7 assists. Asik actually grabbed most of the passes tonight, and when he does, he is actually a decent scorer. 20 pts for the big man. Overall, awesome game.
I think we just panicked a bit too much during the losing streak. That stretch would be tough for anyone, but especially on the Rockets since our success depends almost entirely on being high energy. Slow, half court teams might have more success in stretches like the one we went through since they break teams down slowly and surgically, but with our philosophy we just aren't built for tiring stretches like that. I mean that stretch was so rough that we even had our very own Nostradamus predict an 0-7 streak when we were at the very peak of our winning streak. Lets think about why because I think the reasons he predicted it may have some important truths about our team if we look deeper into it.
Well, technically, on a home run pass, if you're able to get it to the streaking player's hands, they should have a 90-95% of either converting the basket or getting fouled. If the average PPP is around 1-1.05, then if your home run pass is "completed" around 55% of the time, you would making an "average" play. Push it up to a 60% completion rate, and now you're talking about a very efficient play. So, if you were to throw 10 HR passes a game, with 6 being completed, and likely converted, and 4 resulting in TOs, you would be making a very efficient play. It would be ~3:2 Ass:TO, which on paper, looks like it sucks, but in this case, would be very efficient. Go figure,
The substitution also makes a lot of sense now as well as the time-out. Did Mchale just go into a different mode? We are also defending the PnR better. Other positives: 1. Asik is developing his post game! This guy has the guts to play against a good C! 2. Harden is not isoing to death and actually trying to improve the percentage of easy shots. 3. Pattern is working hard to help defensive rebound. 4. Parsons is helping Lin out when Lin gets stuck in the paint. 5. Morris rebounds hard! The negatives: 1. Lin has over helped again earlier this game. 2. Lin has 2 TOs trying to do his quarterback thing. He needs to have a better communication with his teammates and try to pass the ball closer to the paint. 3. Our transition defense still needs to improve.
Come on, the results has spoken for itself. As I said not all the turnovers impact the game equally. The worst kind of turnovers are the ones Harden lost his handle the top of the arch which give the other team easy baskets during that losing streak. Some turn overs are just the by product of aggressive team basket ball. There always a risk-reward situation, no risk no reward. That's why I did not like JVG's games which were so boring to watch.
So what did the Rockets do good today? Firstly, they let Lin play PG. This allowed: 1. Harden to be the assassin he could be...Look at what he did in 4th, omfg 2. Delfino not waste energy playing PG...He was allowed to get to his favorite spots all day and well result is moar spanish sausage 3. Notice team TOs went down. yes Lin took 6, but 2-3 was off Asik, 2 were really dumb passes, and one was a suspect charging call (well he was trying a jump pass instead of looking to shoot so refs didn't like that). As long as its not result of falling asleep or bad handles getting cherry picked I'm ok with it I am not saying Lin won this game for Rox, rather with Lin playing PG and allowing others to play their more natural positions it enabled the team to win the game. Second, I'm seeing some really good rotations today. Except with Parsons at 39mins none other starters are in more than 34. Not even Harden, he was so fresh coming back in at latter half of 4th, he sealed the game for Rox. Third, a bit of friendly competition between Patterson and Asik. Asik came out to compete, not to be outdone by Patterson's game last night. Yeah he is still dropping passes but wow some big plays in the paint by Asik today. Forth, attacked the paint more. Fifth, better defense. Lin was a bit lacking here in the first half but he cleaned up good 2nd half. Though Rox was getting sloppy in 4th on the perimeter. Overall defense was better this game than during the losing streak, collapsing and defending the paint much better.
since i put my flags back up on my SUV....Rockets has gone 3-1...I guess its the lucky charm...show your team spirit by putting on your flags
