Thought maybe this was worth it's own thread, though I'm sure y'all won't hesitate to speak up if you disagree. I knew our offense *overall* was pretty abysmal, but this is pretty bad. <blockquote class="twitter-tweet" lang="en"><p>Houston has the second worst offense in the 4th quarter, ahead of only the 76ers.</p>— Hardwood Paroxysm (@HPbasketball) <a href="https://twitter.com/HPbasketball/status/552621016719966209">January 7, 2015</a></blockquote> <script async src="//platform.twitter.com/widgets.js" charset="utf-8"></script> <blockquote class="twitter-tweet" lang="en"><p>94.2 points per 100 possessions in the 4th RT <a href="https://twitter.com/AminNBA">@AminNBA</a>: <a href="https://twitter.com/HPbasketball">@HPbasketball</a> like lowest ORTG or ugliest to watch?</p>— Hardwood Paroxysm (@HPbasketball) <a href="https://twitter.com/HPbasketball/status/552622211505217537">January 7, 2015</a></blockquote> <script async src="//platform.twitter.com/widgets.js" charset="utf-8"></script> Also: <blockquote class="twitter-tweet" lang="en"><p>And Dwight shoots 2.3 times in the fourth quarter, just 1.4 times in the past two weeks.</p>— Hardwood Paroxysm (@HPbasketball) <a href="https://twitter.com/HPbasketball/status/552621317631930368">January 7, 2015</a></blockquote> <script async src="//platform.twitter.com/widgets.js" charset="utf-8"></script>
I wonder what percentage of those possessions belong to Harden. He can be a 4th quarter monster. Its up to his team mates to help him.
I see a lot of players trying things that aren't within their abilities and they aren't looking to create and pass to others. The ball continues to stick.
Tacking on this bit about how we are (and aren't) using Dwight on offense, esp. in 4th quarters. <blockquote class="twitter-tweet" lang="en"><p>Pau Gasol says Dwight's not as aggressive this season, not getting as many touches <a href="http://t.co/veHrsqXgjZ">http://t.co/veHrsqXgjZ</a> Deep-dive on the situation.</p>— Hardwood Paroxysm (@HPbasketball) <a href="https://twitter.com/HPbasketball/status/552623718803845120">January 7, 2015</a></blockquote> <script async src="//platform.twitter.com/widgets.js" charset="utf-8"></script>
Can we please have more euro players on that note? American players don't pass and play hero ball too much...
The Dwight article is very good and eye opening. Though no surprise to many here, the culprit is McHale for whatever reason not emphasizing the Harden/Howard pick and roll. JVG and Adelman would be milking PnR for sure if they were still coaching here.
Dwight must still be hurt. Not only did Gasol say he doesn't seem as aggressive, but even we can see that he's not as aggressive from watching the games on our TVs.
I think its more Howard. Mchale always talks about pick and roll and the lakers talked about how they always wanted to do pick and roll and Howard just wouldn't cooperate.
Problem i see is Ariza is not producing anything on offense and his long 3's just end up leading to fast breaks... Its one thing if he shot mid range shots then Dwight would be able to get the rebounds but longs 3's just end up igniting the opp fast break. Ariza is shooting 26.5% on 3's since Nov 6th
FWIW <blockquote class="twitter-tweet" lang="en"><p>13th RT <a href="https://twitter.com/aprilnicole82">@aprilnicole82</a>: <a href="https://twitter.com/HPbasketball">@HPbasketball</a> any idea of where the rockets ranked in Q4 offense last season?</p>— Hardwood Paroxysm (@HPbasketball) <a href="https://twitter.com/HPbasketball/status/552629896288038913">January 7, 2015</a></blockquote> <script async src="//platform.twitter.com/widgets.js" charset="utf-8"></script> And as hard a time as I've been giving Dwight lately, it's infuriating to see him in that .gif w/ his man sealed off, gesturing wildly for the ball -- then seeing Ariza panic and look off him. But our PG savior is coming soon, right? Right?
I would have thought so too. But, Harden has fallen to 15th in the league in 4th Q scoring versus 2nd last year. 2014 he scored 7.0 shooting a blistering 49% FGs and 46% 3s 2015 he scores 5.6 in the 4th with slightly less efficiency than all game In last 5 minutes Harden is a monster! In the last 5 minutes he is 2nd behind Lebron scoring 4.8 points. So he scores most of them in the last 5 minutes. And he shoots 50% FGs and 55.6% 3s
Dwight constantly gets great position and isn't seen or is ignored by his team mates, leading him to demand the ball further out and attempt to go to work from there. We know what happens at that point. Does this team not run drills specifically targeted to find Dwight over and over? Those looks under the basket, paired with some dedicated, hard PnR would make him unstoppable. Perhaps even enough for him stop attempting post ups from 16ft out spinning into two defenders.
Even when were were like the 2nd seed I always knew that we weren't as good as our record indicated. 23-11 isn't a bad record and honestly it's about what I expected the Rockets to be around this time. It's just that this team isn't consistent. Either a consistent team wins in the finals or a team that gets hot at the right time wins in the finals. Right now the Rockets aren't either. I don't think Dwight is great in the post, but I definitely believe both him and Donuts deserve so much more touches in the post. 40 percent of our shots are three pointers. Only four of our rotation players shoot 32% or higher from beyond the arc and one of those guys is Corey Brewer who I don't think will keep up shooting >40% for the remainder of the season. That just isn't right. Can someone find out the attempt in threes per quarter from the rockets? I wouldn't be surprised if the number of attempts increased in the 4th quarter compared to the other quarters.
Never thought I would say this but... I wish we would go through DMo in the 4th quarter. Harden can take over at 5 minute mark.
Very ugly indeed Ms. Lady. They better to get it together before the playoffs. That's if they make the playoffs.
Cool. You people been saying this **** for 3+ years now. Dwight does not care. Dwight does not want to run PnR [as primary offense]. But hey, lets keep repeating it over and over again and maybe it'll change his mind! And y'all think he's gonna change now. BWAHAHAHAHAHA :grin: Welcome to the Lakers world. http://www.silverscreenandroll.com/...-nash-and-dwight-howard-run-the-pick-and-roll http://www.reddit.com/r/nba/comments/2a5a3q/dwight_howard_and_his_refusal_to_pick_and_roll/ Spoiler Nope, folks want less Howard, not more. Less Howard, more Motiejunas. Less offense, more "garbage man" stuff.