This has been the biggest problem. The offense is not perfect, and there are some problems to correct, but the defense has been terrible. Or at least terribly inconsistent. They will have stretches where they're being aggressive on D and Dwight's blocking shots, but then they'll go through stretches where they get lazy on D and the Clips run roughshod over them. They won't win another game in this series if they don't get the D fixed. Offense is not the problem. I'm not giving up on them, though. As ugly as this has been, they are capable of playing much better still. Remember that this is still a new team. Nobody wins a championship with a new group right away. Terry, Prigioni, Ariza, Smith, Brewer and Capela were not on this team last year. That's 6 rotation players! Harden, Howard and Jones (who has been a non-factor) is all you have from last year putting in big minutes. I hope they do keep this core together (with just small tweaks) and let them build themselves up to true championship contender. I'm tired of the constant roster churn, year after year. I would love to see a team grow together.
I think the most important thing here is that the Clippers are effectively using three guys with superstar level impact, the Rockets only two. I hope people remember this when discussions start again about the Rockets pursuing a third star.
The simple truth is if we play our game, step up our defensive effort and limit our turnovers. We will go deep in the playoffs and might win the Championship. I'm hoping to see crisp ball movement and better team defense tonight. Let's go Rockets
No, there was more to it than that, but having two backup quality players as starters makes the starting lineup weaker and makes the bench weaker.....it makes it to where the team doesn't have enough firepower to overcome poor stretches of play. Given the talent available, the Rockets have to play well or it is very unlikely that they win a 2nd round playoff series in the West.
We are NOT PLAYING DEFENSE! Our rotations are too slow, we need to be more decisive in defending the pick and roll. Our guys look lost defending the PnR. More importantly, we are not closing fast enough on the shooters. Their guards are getting good looks because our perimeter defenders are lagging too far off the shooter which leaves us at at a bad angle and we get picked off coming across the screen. We just need to tighten up our perimeter defense, and we will win!
I think virtually everyone here underestimated the Clippers to some degree. They also misread the Rockets' first round victory. In that series the Rox possessed a distinct physical advantage over the Mavs and that advantage fed into their (Rox) strengths. They were faster and more athletic and it really showed throughout that series. Against the Clippers that is no longer the case. It is the Clippers who possess the advantage at the PG and PF spots and that has allowed them to negate what the Rox have been able to do with Harden offensively and defensively all season. This is why I really didn't put much stock into what happened during the regular season because I wanted to see how they (Rox) would adjust to the conditions and pressures of playoff basketball. In the playoffs, opposing teams can concentrate on taking away your strengths and exploiting your weaknesses and that's what we are seeing happen in this series. It will be interesting to see what they do tonight. They are against a very good team with a good coach and they simply can't expect LA to roll over. LA knows that if they win tonight they will have struck the kill blow to the Rox by going up 3-1 in the series. Should be interesting.
I wholeheartedly agree. Without harden on the floor, DMO was a steady hand we could go to for a good look at the basket, instead we have josh smith chucking up shots that lead to fast breaks. Hopefully we can flip jones for some production at a position of need
Those dam dribble hand offs that they keep shooting and making are really killing us. They need to trap immediately to force them to pass or get doubled.. Do that and we take away reddick
So basically your premis is because with you have two backup quality players in starting lineup the team gets a pass on not playing with any fire, energy and at least putting up a fight to win game one? There are no excuses IMO no matter you missing the beloved DMO or not, no excuse for not fighting to win game 1 without Chris Paul playing and all the rest they got prior to Clippers series.
I actually agree that it's "by design". By design, we didn't offer Kyle Lowry a contract, which could have pretty much fixed every item on this list. I don't see how you can, given Howard's shaky health situation and age. This year was a golden opportunity that may never present itself again, with so many teams suffering key injuries to star players and the 1-seed looking vulnerable. We should be trying to win it all every year starting the minute Howard signed. There is no long-term with him, it should be about putting the best team possible on the court each year he's making huge money and playing at a high level.
You don't seem to be following along very well, no one is giving anyone a pass, the effort is unacceptable even though they most likely don't have the firepower to win the series.
Here's the simple truth: If the Rox win the rebounding war and James Harden shoots over 10 free throws we are going to win. If the Rox lose the rebounding war and James Harden shoots single digit free throws we are going to lose. You can talk about defense. You can talk about turnovers. But those don't matter. Because we aren't changing our defensive scheme. And we aren't going to become a low turnover team. It starts and ends with us controlling the glass. And then the second factor from controlling the glass is getting Harden downhill in transition. Those 2 things happen and we are very, very tough to beat. Those 2 things don't happen and we are the worst team left in the playoffs.
