Would they have? Bev was not playing well when he got injured and when Dmo doesn't make his shots he's a paper wall. These two role players are not what's wrong with the Rockets. It's a combination of poor coaching & having no true leader on this team that's doing the team in.
The NBA is the kind of league where sometimes if you come back with the same core over and over, even if they failed in years past, they can figure things out and get their chemistry to where they can succeed even without significant changes from the year before. I don't know if we're at that point yet, but I do think you have to keep Harden and Howard and probably Ariza and let them work through things, now and in coming years. Josh Smith I don't think is a longterm answer for us; the guy is too moody and when his head gets out of the game he seems to cast a pall on the entire team, most notably Harden. We need more levelheaded guys who can be relied on through and thin. Over time you hope DMo can assume the responsibilities at PF, and who knows, maybe Llull at PG?
i agree 100%. the core of this team should be kept together at least next year. see what they could do without all the injuries, and another year of playoff experience together. a big issue still needs to be addressed though: we don't have enough scoring on this team. consider the clippers matchup: dwight and jordan cancel each other out. dwight is slightly better at scoring, but not much better at creating his own shots. harden and paul cancel each other out. when harden doesn't get to the line, he stops trying to drive and becomes a PnR facilitator 1st, and a PnR scorer 2nd... like paul. ariza = barnes, 3 and D. who is our blake, redick, and crawford? we still need a 3rd star, and 2 other scorers capable of 20-30 point outbursts.
This has been an issue for a LONG time, and it's one that seems to be (purposely?) missed by those who just get off on hyper-criticizing Harden. "Other stars get doubled and they find a way!" "Other stars get focused on by opposing defenses and they find a way!" Other stars also frequently have a capable creator who can help get them easy looks when the defense zeroes in on them -- Harden does not. He has to create everything for himself AND everything for everybody else... then people clamor to trade him when the net result is everybody else not capitalizing on the looks he gets them. And it worries me b/c if everything we hear is true, we're going all in on Llull as the answer? I don't know enough about his game to know how wise that is, but Morey better hope like hell it's good enough.
Mortgage the future for Aldridge..... And get a PG! We don't need to resign Smith or Brewer unless we get a coach who coaches discipline.
Simple truth, missing 40% of the starting lineup is REALLY hard for teams to overcome in the 2nd round of the playoffs in the West. You can get by scrub teams like the Mavs with 2 black holes in the starting lineup, but it's a different thing to get by a fairly good team with that kind of disadvantage.
I thought missing 50% of the cornerstone players would be hard for teams to overcome in any round of the playoffs. The Clippers lost their franchise players for two games and he played only 23 minutes in Game 3 and they still blew us out in 2 out of 3 games. Stop using injuries as our excuse.
Yeah, after a loss, he usually blames the players. I've never heard him say that we as coaches need to do a better job at getting them ready to play or making it easier for them with a new plan. It's just the same ole same ole - not enough energy, they need to play faster, play harder, they didn't want it bad enough, etc.
Also Ariza has been terrible. Like doesn't belong in the NBA terrible. Can't believe we have this scrub.
THIS. You nailed the simple truth brother, very astute call. They should easily be up 2-1 in this series and I'm still very baffled by the teams lack of fight and fire in the 1st game of this series. Patrick Beverly brought the fire and his energy is sorely missed. Also 1) lack of a real play making PG on this team to allow Harden to play off the ball, Harden would be deadly off the ball if playing alongside a play making PG.
There was zero excuse in not playing with energy or any semblance fire in game one when the rockets current roster was dramatically better than the Clippers roster without Chris Paul. They didn't even put up a fight!!!!!
Having to start 2 guys that aren't starter quality players in the 2nd round of the playoffs in the West is a huge disadvantage. Part of the reason we're struggling so much is because we don't have anyone to guard Blake Griffin and no one to make him work on the other side of the ball. It's been a field day for the Clipper's 2nd best player and their 3rd best player is working over Howard.....while Austin Rivers and JJ Redick are working over Harden SMH. Either way, if we had our starters back, it would fix a lot of problems and we'd have a better shot in this series. As it stands you have to make due with only 3 starting quality players in the starting lineup.....and we just might not be able to do that.
So what your saying is missing 2 starters is the reason the rockets couldnt play with zero fire and any semblance of fight against lesser talent in game 1?
Repped. I think it's just mental laziness (the same reason why players lose their man defensively off the ball or fail to communicate screens), but that's just a guess. It's baffling to see how huge the variance is in how well the offense functions. Harden is a big problem in this. End of quarter situations or run-stopping situations are different and I give him a pass there. But if the offense is flowing for 2 possessions in row, and then Harden decides to just make it stick and hold it against a well prepared defense that gets to rest now after it has been scrambling for 2 possessions in a row, then that's on him for being mentally lazy on offense...or selfish or brainfarting or whatever. It's also on McHale for not being more adamant in that regard. Hell, Doc Rivers has Blake and yells at them whenever they stick on offense, and Blake is a great 1-on-1 player. Because it's not about going 1-on-1, it's about how you get there. Half the time imo, the Rockets are getting there through lazy offense. And that's just letting the Clippers off the hook.
