I enjoy reading the the plethora of comments on JLin and Harden. Really I do, however, we rarely address our number weakness. We play zero, nada, zip, zilch, a lick of defense. We actually think our offense (Fast Break and PicknRoll) is our best defense. Until the Rockets keep their man in front of them on D and everyone rebound as if their life depends on it is the only way the Rockets will improve. We need some PBev out of Lin and Harden, and some Rodman out of Chase and Greg. Delfino and Garcia will hurt u in this series because they play NO D whatsoever. DEE - FENSE, DEE-FENSE, DEE-FENSE. No stops no wins.
Dude there have been a million graphs, articles, studies, etc that directly correlate age/experience vs. Defense. We don't overlook it, as a team we don't know how to play it together
Lolz! Why isn't our young and inexperienced team with no reliable second scorer not winning the championship!?
Compare a NBA team to a NCAA? the worst NBA will kill any NCAA team these guys are professionals not amateurs.
Did you read my last sentence? We have a bunch of at least average INDIVIDUAL defenders. Watch the great defensive teams, they play great TEAM defense. Bev plays realky good on ball D, but he's nothing special with help defense
Agreed. I think that our team is showing their lack of experience by seeming to not yet comprehend a lot of the team defense schemes needed to succeed at defense in this league. They need to learn defensive rotations, when to help, and when to stay home. They are basically shooting each other in the foot by not being in the right place consistently. This creates situations where if one person holds their assignment correctly, someone else out of place leads to an easy layup/jumper for the other team. I really think that an off-season together will do a lot of good for this team. Now that they have had time to play together and get to know each other, they can actually focus on schemes on both sides of the ball (I hope a lot more time is spent on defensive schemes than offensive).
i agree with the OP, not much importance is being given to defense. the coaching staff seems to favor offense over defense. if you put in Delfino at PF knowing he would not stand a chance against the opponent's PF just because he can shoot threes; or if you overuse Harden leading him to pace himself on D, or overlook his deficiencies so he can stay on the floor for his offense; this sends a signal to the rest of the team that if you can score, you stay in the game. even here on CF, people keep talking about offense when it is plain to see that the Rockets main shortcoming is their defense, or lack of it. they have to have a scheme and the players have to fully buy into it, i believe effort and a sound game plan can win over talent.
Zero experience? He started for a Greek team before coming stateside. It's not as though he rode the NBA bench, and randomly did well for the Rockets this season.
Because you can have good defense without great defensive player while you can't have good offense without talented players unless you are Spurs.
We made the play-offs, be cool dudes. Next year we'll be winning in the play-offs, playing defense, second scoring option or whatever etc.
Rocket needs a new coach. PLEASE replace McHale. Look how the Knicks is with Woodson. He is a coach that able to utilize each players potential. Most important, he takes blame for losses and give credits to the team for wins. Not crediting any individual player, but always to the team. Basketball is a team effort.
http://espn.go.com/nba/player/stats/_/id/3964/patrick-beverley http://espn.go.com/nba/player/_/id/4299/jeremy-lin The stats say it all.
Yeah..after a decade playing together its obvious to say, this group of veterans led by Harden and Lin never gave a **** about playing any D...the ownership never had any interest to find the right people to develop those guys, who were once considered to have a bright future..oh wait!
