The Rockets have lost 4 of their last 6 games. What gives?

A couple things that I've noticed at a glance:

- Poor free throw shooting
- Field goal percentages including 3 pointers have dipped
- Turnovers, turnovers everywhere
- Allowing too many points in the paint

They were in it towards the end of the game tonight v. Wizards so maybe that's a sign of improvement in spit of having lost these contests.

 

There are many reasons for the recent slump. Better competition(Spurs, Hawks, and Wizards are no chumps). Bad free throw shooting(cost us the last 2 games). Horrible offensive performances from Bev, Ariza, and Terry(i.e the Rockets' 3-point shooters). Inconsistent effort on D.

The good news is a lot of these issues can be fixed(aside from the level of competition) pretty easily. We have other guys who can knock down 3's such as Canaan and Brewer. They need to play in place of Terry and Ariza if those guys aren't getting it done. Also, guys who won't hustle need to be benched. If Dorsey is playing harder than Dwight, then give the minutes to the guy who's actually trying out there. Free throw shooting is tougher to fix, although playing Dwight less will help.

 

Poor free throw shooting - no surprise there.

Field goal percentages including 3 pointers have dipped - Law of averages.

Turnovers, turnovers everywhere - same as it always was.

Allowing too many points in the paint - same as it always was.

 

It's a little slump. Every team goes through it.

 

Don't blame Dorsey for it.

Last 6 games
+23 L
+4 L
0 W
+2 W
DNP Black -12 L
-3 L

 

, the most important reason might be lack of rest IMO.

Harden shoulder does't look fine.
Dwight coming from a serious injury
Smith promoted to start on a team with no training or whatever
Patrick lost a step or two with his nagging hamstring
Ariza is just playing too much

 

The Pelican loss you can blame fatigue and injuries.
The Hawk game. Embarrassing. They cut us open at will.
The Spurs loss, Smith in the starting lineup, kinda mess up the balance. Late in the games, you see him not knowing where to go and not knowing he is supposed to give the ball back to Harden and set a pick for him. Very basic stuff DMO knows by heart.
This game, just another mess.

I am not too upset about these losses. We are still 21 and 9 early in the season. We lost to the best teams in the league. In this stretch we also beat very good teams. But what concerns me is we are lacking a system to put Smith , DMO, Corey in positions to help us win and really weak at the PG position (admittingly I was very pissed that Corey Joeseph was toying with Bev, who couldn't do a thing). We will win games so far because of the brilliance of Harden. But if thing remain this way, another first round exit in the playoff is awaiting us.
Nonetheless, I will remain patient until March. Hopefully, McHale and Morey figure it out quick. We shouldn't squander all the talents we have.

 

Aside from the inevitable slide in FG%, it's all stuff they can improve on. I agree that it's just probably a part of a minor slump right now what with personnel changes and injuries.

 

This is the tough part of the schedule.

We jumped on teams in the early part of the season, but now teams are in sync and have scouted us. It's up to us to adjust accordingly.

 

Didn't we lose by 1 to the Wizards?

 

I don't buy the rest argument. Yes, it may have been a factor tonight with the 3rd game in 4 nights. But the Rockets have played 30 games. There are other teams in the league who've had more than that so far. Plus they've had quite a few 3 and 4 day breaks recently(before the Memphis game for example).

 

coddling egos, you go with whats working best.

 

We would be undefeated if we had Lin. Can we trade Harden for Lin plus fillers?

 

All these are good points. I just don't like what I see out of Dwight and with him being one of the corner stone players, he can't be lacking in his effort. That greatly effects the whole team. Harden has done better in this area this year and Dwight looks like he has gotten worse. I just don't like what I see from Dwight. He doesn't play with an edge like most of the elite players in the league. I'm going to stop categorizing Dwight as a top ten/elite player.

 

Rockets suck thats what gives, Mchale looks clueless on the sidelines, just throw the ball to dmo for post touches dummy

Harden is most overrated superstar of this generation, He'll choke come playoffs like always

Dwight is soft as tissue paper, all muscle no heart, it was a waste signing him tbh

Smith was obviously a dumb signing

Dmo, give him his post touches, cause he needs his post touches, cause ya know, post touches

Bev and Jones needed to be traded ASAP, dont know who, but trade em quick for dragic maybe?

Ariza proving once again he is Contract Ariza, dudes defense is overrated, needs to be shipped out quick

SIKE. Lmfao, bet you was ready to smash that keyboard huh?

 

The defense has stood out to me as especially poor recently. Everyone, from Harden to Bev to Dwight, is playing worse defense.

Also we could use more scoring outside of Harden.

 

Idiot.

 

We need to have a more defined offensive repitoire.

Some strange offensive sets in there where Beverely or Ariza try and run pick n roll. These are three and defense guys. Really is no reason to take the ball out of hardens hands for them.

 

Dmo has to be more involved in the offense

 

Why oh why don't they feed him in the post when he comes in for Dwight? It was working when Howard was out and now they just abandon it. I don't get it.