Surprisingly the TT wasn't the reason why the Rockets imploded in the 3rd quarter. However, the constant shift between Howard/Asik and whoever filling in at the 4 spot, I think, causes too much confusion in the team's offensive scheme that it just totally broke down during the Clippers game today. There were too many one-on-one possession instead of utilizing the PnR or well-timed ball movement.
They don't even try to explain that in interviews. Coach always go yeah we did that correctly and we didn't do that bla bla.... He hardly explains why Asik and Howard are so important to stay together. We don't play any lock down defense with them or outrebound teams consistently. Teams found ways to outrebound us.
That's like an NBA team playing a college team. (-1) per minute, or getting outscored 2 to 1 or 100-52 per 48 minutes. Twin Towers is a complete joke. Rockets have spent too much energy trying to come back every game. Harden is getting heavy minutes and is injured already.
I think the TT is ideal for PnR plays. But to do this, the team needs to allow for more mid range shots which they are not too fond of. It can work, but for some reason the coaching staff is stuck on not doing PnR.
When will McHale stop this TT experiment? IMHO TT isn't working but let's guess how long it would take for McHale to see what we are seeing...... I think it may take up to 10 games.... I also don't see any advantages of starting bev over Lin but I don't have any issue with that at the moment ( may change my mind as more games are played)
The better question is how long will Les and the FO take to realise we have a real coaching deficit and fix it. The TT line-up is not the core of the problems here. Doc rivers showed how TT can work within a good system, he sure as hell didn't beat us with a stretch 4.
Blake griffin can shoot at least a little bit. That helps. Both Asik and howard are useless outside of five feet.
Yet McHale refuses to pull the plug. What is it gonna take? A loss at home to the Raptors? This isn't working. And it's killing this team's energy. They're having to expend so much just to dig out of these 1st quarter holes every single night. Harden's banged up and exhausted. The bench shooters already look like they've lost their legs as they can no longer hit 3-pointers. And the team's confidence looks shot. We got lucky in the first week of the season. Our competition included the likes of the Bobcats and Mavs at home and the Jazz(who I believe are still winless) on the road. And despite the final margins of each game, those were all pretty close and in the case of Utah, we needed a comeback from 19 points down. Now that we're facing better competition this week, this lineup is coming back to bite us in the ass. Twice we've spotted huge leads to the Clips and while we were able to come back quickly tonight, it was an unforced error by McHale that probably kept the Rockets from being up more in the 1st and 3rd quarters. We spotted the Lakers a 19-point lead(like the Jazz) and while we came back from that, it took so much energy out of Harden that he had nothing left in the tank at the end(which led to ISO-ball). The one game we've played well in this week was at Portland, but that's starting to look like an anomaly. If McHale runs the Twin Towers out there Monday against Toronto, he should be fired on the spot by Morey. A team with title aspirations has no business having a head coach who's that stubborn(or stupid).
TT only works with two players who are at least athletic and mobile. Griffin and Jordan are both. Howard is athletic and somewhat mobile, but is of little value on defense if he is guarding a PF away from the rim. TT works better if they also have some of the following skills: low post game, midrange game, good hands, good passer. Asik is none of the above, so he clogs the lane and screws up our spacing on offense and our rotations on defense.
I like how we tried to make this work so hard, and Asik still won't even give us a couple minutes. Come on man. We tried. Just ****ing play until you're traded.
I agree. even though I might be the only one who thinks Dwight and Asik COULD coexist at certain times, No other franchise would have tried it to appease a players ego (which I had no idea Asik had). Rockets plucked Asik from bulls because they believed he could be a starting caliber player when no other team would have given him the chance or the money. Rockets MADE the league realize his worth. Now, apparently he thinks he is the **** and doesn't owe the franchise anything.. just lame. Cant wait to see what team will utilize Asik they way the Rockets have.. Chuck Hayes comes to mind in Sacto. They just trot his ass out there for a couple minutes and back to the bench. Here in houston Chuck was covering four men at a time and people loved him for it. .
I think it makes the Rockets look bad in a way. Not playing him at all? On another note. Illyasova sat out tonight as well.
Rockets played him 4 minutes in the Philly game and the matchups just weren't that good. Then Asik decided he didn't want to play after Mchale asked if he was ready. One game and he was done with the Rockets.. How does that make the Rockets look bad?
No what makes him look bad is the pouting hes doing. Now the Rockets are going to look desperate to trade him.
Can someone please tell me why this was completely abandoned. I understand starting Jones and upping his minutes, but it seems ever since Asik was taken out of the starting line-up, him and Howard didn't play a single minute together (i know Asik hasnt played much but even with the games he was there). I still think it can be used against certain lineups.
If we could get our backcourt to deny 3pt shots and lure the other teams into either shooting long 2's or drive into the paint, the TT line-up would work perfectly imo (except for teams like Dallas)...BUT there you go this would mean Haren playing defense, Sampson to actually think about defensive setups etc. so, I guess no chance.
But against a team like the pacers, against west and hibbert, lance and George hill aren't gonna burn us on 3s. Memphis vs zach and gasol, tony Allen and Conley aren't gonna burn us. Just saying give Asik a few minutes here and there alongside Howard when needed.
