The irony is Harden is the PG they had been looking for all along. When he brings the ball up and runs the offense the ball movement is so much better. He had 10 assists but just as many times or more he force the defense to shift to him and he would make the first pass in a chain of passes to the open shooter.
We are setting records all over the place and glad we did it again with defense We showed growth and a lot of confidence in this game. We never seemed rattled, never tried to just outscore the Heat and got everybody involved. Harden & Howard both played very well, both ends. Beverley's 3pt shot definitely improved. Papa made some great cuts and passes. Ariza was all over the place. Canaan and Terry were solid, Terry showed his leadership on the court and even Dorsey had a nice moment. D-Mo was the only weak spot. Impressed with our defense and rotations were very solid as well. Only pointer: give Ariza more open looks, he's automatic. Just 1 FGA in the 1st half was inexcusable. Also, I have to give a lot of props to Miami's announcers! They were unbiased and while we got some unfavourable calls, most calls were spot on and Miami's guys called it as they saw it, even if it was against their own team.
Like all of you, loving what I am seeing. Pappas, Canaan, the Jet (obviously) have proven to be good, dependable role players thus far. For the immediate future, we need a big that can dependably spare Howard in the event of injuries or just as a backup center. I do not trust Black (too inexperience, D-Mo (too soft), Dorsey (too bad). This needs to be addressed now.
Nice summary. Rockets were great!!! In particular regarding the bolded.... Isn't it great when people aren't so damn biased?:grin:
I really don't understand your constant focus of force feeding plays, as though it's an actual successful model in 2014. They're taking what the defense is giving them, the defense started to shift more towards Dwight and James because they pushed through 35 points between in the first half (do you know James only scored 2 points in that 4th quarter runaway?), then Ariza gets open, and even then its Ariza. You do not run plays for Ariza, he does not need them, his value literally comes from being able to produce with no plays, because he's a good slasher when the defense over commits, and he has an excellent shot with a difficult to defend motion, it's also easier for his energy conservation (for that there other end) just taking what's given.
Harden is irreplaceable too, that's just how it is with star players. Teams very rarely have the luxury we had with Asik last season (and even that came with chemistry problems). I'd like to see us get a backup combo guard playmaker AND a backup big man at the deadline, but we'll have to wait and see who's actually available.
This was the first game we can really take anything close to concrete out of. Ariza is balling right now, not the play maker Parsons is but shooting better and defending. Proving me wrong thus far. Pap has shown some sparks, still reminds me of Casspi but Pap hasn't had the time to adjust yet.
Give the Heat credit for running at him hard every time the ball swung his way. They didn't allow TA any open looks in the 1st half. Agreed on all your other pointers. Very solid defensive effort, good team chemistry and stayed composed even when the Heat made their little runs. Loving our new Identity
-Sure do miss Parsons playmaking. 2 assists per game for Mavs vs 3.2 assists per game coming from Ariza. And seriously, let's not even talk about how Papanikawow is making me miss Parsons playmaking. -Ariza now shooting 60% 3pters -Bev needs some credit. Welcome back Wolverine. 53% 3pt shooting. Just keep knocking down those 3s that come by every now and then. His 3pt shooting is the icing on the cake of our balanced starting 5 offense. -Canaan w/ 267 Off rtg last night? How is that even possible. Canaan, Pap, Terry....what's this about a week bench, NBA? Hey Terry, I see you with that 47% 3pt shooting. -Pap's newest, biggest fan has to be Dwight Howard. Pap's playmaking for the big man is sick. Easy dunk, easy dunk, easy dunk. Love it. -Harden seems to flirt with a triple dub nightly now. Should have had one last night if Trev shot that one shot. -Stay down, Tiago Splitter. I want D12 to feast even harder on the Spurs. It's nice to be playing someone else's back end of a back to back for once. Hawks need to hammer on the Spurs tonight. 6-0 win streak extension by way of I-10 would be oh so sweet.
I love how Harden refuses to let us down in the 4th quarter. Kostas had a really solid all around game. It turns out he's 2nd in APG for rookies. If he keeps this up he will make an all rookie team.
I'm pretty sure Morey knows we need another big. If we stay healthy, we may be ok at the PG spot. Bev just needs to play D and knock down open shots(i.e. be a poor man's Derek Fisher), and Canaan has to make 3's, score in transition, and run the offense for 15-20 minutes off the bench. With Terry able to play a little bit at the 1, we're set there. But there's no doubt we need help at the 4 and backup 5. T-Jones is a still a huge question mark as a long-term answer at that position and I'm not sold at all on D-Mo. Black is giving me a Greg Smith vibe and Dorsey is worthless. Everywhere else is looking good though. The starting center and SG are obviously set. The 3 spot is a huge strength right now with Ariza and Papa. And we have a decent guard rotation outside of Harden with Bev, Canaan, Terry, and Daniels.
Jason Terry is absolutely huge for this team. Seeing him on the bench, in-game coaching when he's on the court. I think one of his most important things whilst here will be mentoring and coaching Canaan. I was surprised when I heard Papa was mid 20's. He has the savvy of a seasoned veteran. Even when his shot is not falling he is contributing to this team - and he is up there already with Harden as the best passer on the team - his court vision for a first timer in the League is fantastic. There's no doubt last season this team would've dropped at least one of those 'gimmie' games on the road to a subpar opponent. Even though there were runs made against us - it's a great sign having won all by double digits. We are in for a good year. Our biggest weaknesses coming in were 3 point shooting and defense. We have addressed both. It was common sense to see even with the personnel lost - we would be a better and more cohesive team. People will begin catching on sooner or later. To see Cuban's face right now would be priceless.
Great win for the team. It was the second night of a back to back. They were playing against a solid opponent, and the improvement on defense from the whole team and especially Harden (who had the most room for improvement) has been sensational. I'm still a little worried about interior defense when Howard goes to the bench against teams that like to score in the lane. But we will see how it goes. Awesome to have Beverley back out there.
Uuuh! He failed. He needs to change his name from DMo, to DNo!! I think the Rockets need to waive either Garcia or Dorsey and sign Quincy Miller. Let K-Pa play back up 4
That would be unbelievable, given all the hype around the 2014 draft! But he has a chance, as does Noël, so that would be 2 non-2014ers...
