Interesting article, thanks for the link. "[NBA players] all want to run until they have to run. ... Then they all want to walk," That applies to so many things
this is a fun squad to watch, i wonder who will be the next star to come to houston. i wouldnt want bynum, but i would go for smith.
I'm curious if opposing teams can keep up with our tempo for an entire series. We've been conditioned for it through 82 games, and you see some teams able to run for 4 quarters...but can they do it for 28 quarters? It'll be interesting...
"Jeremy Lin, their other major free-agent acquisition of the 2012 offseason, is an open-court and pick-and-roll specialist."
I actually do this. Every time Harden makes a free throw I'm like "DAT TRUE SHOOTING PERCENTAGE!" My friends hate me.
Lulz: "Houston is an exciting team to watch, but one of the reasons hard-core statistical analysis is not the norm in the NBA is because it's not the most inspiring way to look at the game. No motivational speech ever includes "points per 100 possessions." No impassioned fans will ever slap five in the stands and scream into each other's face "Expected shot value, baby!" " I started cheering stuff like this in the 09-10 season when we were starting to play this way after Yao went down. Ariza would run up and jack a three, and the perfect cheer then was: "Expected shot value, baby!" - except Ariza couldn't make threes. Edit: I see Hippieloser beat me to it.
Nice article, it shows McHale is stubborn but is willing to adapt and Morey kind of forced his hands but glad he's rolling with it. Interesting that our fast pace would not even be as fast as the slowest team in McHale's day. I know we're not that fast, the late 80s till mid 90s western conference was known for running and scoring in bunches (games in 140-150 was not that unusual), but I didn't know the NBA had become that slow.
Talk about slow play and control freaks . . . does the name Van Gundy ring a bell?! I loved him, but the games were less fun to watch. Great article. Morey thinks McHale should be in the running for coach of the year, eh? Well, the youngest and least experienced team in the league usually sucks hard, so he does deserve recognition I think.
You can blame a little of it on the Magic and the Showtime Lakers. Most teams in the league did not have the offensive talent to stay close to the Lakers so teams like The Pistons and later the Knicks figured out that they could get physical players, concentrate on defense and control the pace of the game by walking the ball up the court and using the entire shot clock. Those teams sold out for defense and did just about all they could do to prevent opposing teams from getting out in transition. Houston Rockets and Rudy T also have to shoulder some blame. On offense Rudy T would put three guys on one side of the court and isolate Hakeem in the low post on the other side. Hakeem and usually the point guard would play 2 man basketball which would eat up tons of clock. In those days you could not double a player unless he had the ball which is why this was so effective with Hakeem. In later years after the NBA changed the rules to allow doubling players without the ball we saw Yao constantly doubled in the post with out the ball. Another thing that has sped up the game is the three second rule that has a lot to do with Charles Barkley who would get the ball in the post and pound the ball while trying to use his weight to knock the defender deep enough into the post until he had a point blank shot or dunk. Obviously that strategy also used tons of clock and contributed to slowing down the game. Today Charles would regularly get called for 3 seconds if he tried that strategy. Other factors that had led to spreading up the game are the hand checking rules for wing players and the restricted area which gives offensive players more freedom around the basket.
