The Rockets are an amazing team. The Great - James Harden. His scoring brought us back and nearly got us the win against the Lakers. He shares the ball (sometimes to a fault). His ability to create contact and still score as well as knock down his FT's makes him next to impossible to shut down. His defense has improved. It sucked last year, and it is far from great this year, but it has improved. In the Laker game he was awful at the beginning of the game. At the end of the game his defense was above average and at times sensational. He got blocks, saved balls from going out of bounds, stopped the shooters from making shots. He needs to improve and get over his stretches of horrible crappy defense. The good news is that he showed he's able to do that, and has taken a step in the right direction this season. It isn't unreasonable to think that as the game goes on, it will improve. The Almost Great - Dwight Howard. His rebounding his huge, his help defense and blocks are a huge benefit for this team. His FT shooting sucks, and his lack of go-to highly effective post moves need to be improved, but I've seen little signs that it will. He plays well with both Lin and Harden The Good - Jeremy Lin is playing very well this year, and seems to have confidence in knowing what he should do and using his strengths better than he did last year. He plays well with Dwight, and can play on the floor with both Harden and Beverley. Omer Asik. His defense is still good, and he seems to be more aggressive in his finishes at the offensive end. He may be a little out of rhythm because of injuries, new personnel, and feeling comfortable in his new role with the team. I think it's likely he'll continue to improve as well, and he can absolutely help this team win. The bench. Casspi and Garcia are solid off the bench. They have weapons that can hurt the other team, and play hard night in and night out. Greg Smith has responded well in his minutes. He hasn't let the reduction in minutes hurt his game, and he's been solid. Either Beverley or Lin also provide a boost when they come off the bench. Patrick Beverley. His defense is good, his effort his good, and his shot is decent. He rebounds, blocks shots and does the little things that are a bonus coming from a PG. The team is not hurt and doesn't matter if Beverley or Lin starts. I like them both, and they both play well either as a starter or coming off the bench. The above average Chandler Parsons. The guys bigger frame and increased weight and muscle mass may have affected his shot, or maybe he just started in slump. He still makes good plays, his ability to move and drive still help him, and his defense is still a plus. He's definitely has the potential to move up into the "good" category. The disappointments Terrence Jones. He hasn't had much opportunity to show much, and hasn't done that much when he has had the opportunity. I think it's hard to find your rhythm without any real playing time. The knee jerk reacionists, and sky is falling fans on the GARM. They whine and want to trade our best players if they keep their favorite player from acting like a star which turn makes other fans lob on unfair criticism of a player who happens to have fans who like him more than the team in general. It's annoying and doesn't make for interesting discussions about the team and the game. In every season teams lose games against inferior teams, and the super stars make mistakes. It's hard to know that when people only see the highlights of other players on Sports Center or NBA Tonight. The Heat lost to crappy Orlando Magic team last year. It happens, and fans need to deal with it.
WE cannot win with the twin towers starting....period!!!!! during the laker game harden almost refused to drive the ball to the hoop as well as everyone else while the twin towers were on the floor together......2nd half was harden of last year.. driving and getting to the line........i also need to see dwight DEMAND THE BALL IN THE POST!!!! He is our second star not a role player.......c'mon i meen he's not shaq but putting pressure on the opposing defense will put them in foul trouble early and often regardless of his ft%...we also need ALOT MORE PNR WITH HARDEN-HOWARD!!!!
The first year that Wade, James, and Bosh all played together their record was 8-7 at the end of November. Maybe, just maybe, we are going through growing pains right now. At least that is the hope
I think it's realistic to think they will have to make adjustments as the new line up continues to play, gel, and deal with injuries.
I really hope you are correct. The Laker game however, exposed some serious concerns. Its hard to imagine that the Rockets, especially D12, could approach that game with so little sense of urgency. Very hard to understand. Further, the Parson's inbound play, the last shot of the game by Blake, the refusal to help team mate up off the court, and other examples showed very poor coaching, execution or chemistry...or very possibly all of these. Its one thing to have growing pains, but that Laker game exposed some real concerns.
The Rockets don't have great basketball player(s). They do have, "great offensive player" in Harden, "great defensive player" in Howard, "almost great defensive" player in Asik, "Good player" in Lin, "Good defensive player" in Beverly, "Average all around player" in Parson. But almost each of them has some hole(s) in their game, Harden is a horrible defender, high TO, hold the ball too long; Howard/Asik has no offensive game, horrible FT shooter, Lin only knows one speed when drive into the lane, and always pick up his dribble in traffic, Beverly is half liability on offense, and as a PG in general.
The guy beasted Portland the other night. Stop using his foot as an excuse. He was showing lots of quickness on offense.
And McHale has said if it doesn't work then they will not use it. Problem solved. I don't know how long of a test they want to give the twin towers to work, but if we start losing a lot of games, I'm sure they will scrap it in a hurry. The Rockets current record is 4-2
Why do they have to start the TT? I think the TT can be used strategically but not starting every game. Do they want to keep Asik happy by starting him?
I don't know why people keep saying TT won't work without trouble shooting the problem. Step 1: TT played exclusively with Parsons and Harden. Step 2: Weed out the possibilities that Parsons or Harden is the culprit. Step 3: Change Parsons w/ someone who does NOT just pump-fake open 3's but takes and makes them at decent %. For TT to work, it's critical for all other players HAVE to be able to knock down 3's. If one of them can't fulfill this requirement, TT, more than likely, will not work. Step 4: If that doesn't work, replace Harden. Harden is a score-first guard, therefore play TT with Lin on the second unit. TT biggest advantage is they are both big and great screeners. Design plays with elaborate screens which cause mismatches, open lanes, wreck hovac on their interior, and open perimeter shooters. My idea lineup: Lin Garcia Casspi Dwight Asik Until we eliminate the possibilities, no one can say with certainty that TT is a failure.
Please follow the logic. I said eliminate all the possibilities before we can say one way or another if TT is a failure. Harden takes away the scoring from other players. If we want to involve TT more in offense, it might work better if we take Harden out of equation.
Yea but we don't have LeBron, Wade, and Bosh... Big difference... And right now Howard is just a good player but his play isn't worth his pay. And if he doesn't get his free throw shooting together _ he's a liability in the forth quarter. But yes, still early...
You say Harden takes the scoring away from others...??? Like who... Who on this team should shoot more... Which one of these great scorers is it...??? And Harden only averages 17 shots a game by the way... Wade averages 16 and he's on a team with LeBron and Bosh... So it's plenty of shots to go around on this team... Especially when Howard doesn't demand the ball consistently...
