OKC scored 38pts in 1st Q against us Twice in reg season

Morey has stated that offense is more of a priority in the D'antoni's system/philosophy hence the team's goal of being #1 in offense and top 10 in defense. He also stated that the only way to really beat a team like Golden State is to outscore them. This will not happen if Ariza is our starter who plays that much minutes and takes that many shots.

 

He has always said we need to be top 10 in offense and defense to contend. Yes he had the additional goal of #1 offense because of this roster but one is not more important than the other

I don't know how we can be a top 10 defense without Ariza. There aren't many guys who play defense at such a high level and then still shoot pretty well on 3

 

I don't think there's anything anyone can really do about the Westbrook jumpers. He gets so much elevation on those elbow pull-ups that contesting the shot doesn't do much.

Those Gibson mid-range jumpers though--I don't know why we were letting them have that. On many of them, especially at the beginning of the game, nobody was getting out there to contest them. They punished us for it.

 

This is why I wanted no part of OKC. We can't stop Westbrook (or the rest of their offense in general), and we don't have bigs to match up with theirs defensively or on the boards.

Simply outscoring them has gotten us some wins, but it's always come tough. Could very well be going back to Houston 2-2 if we don't change something up on that end.

 

I am not trying to discount the importance of defense. But to beat the Warriors in offense in this D'antoni system, 4 out of your 5 players need to shoot close to 38-40% in 3pt fg%. Ariza hasn't been close to that the past two seasons. Yes, he still brings some value on defense but his offense is equally atrocious. All I'm saying is to beat a team like Golden State, you need a better offensive player than Ariza as playoff teams will just leave him open to beat us. But for people content with sitting on 3rd seed every year with the current offensive philosophy, Ariza will definitely suffice.

 

To me, it's about fixing what we can in an efficient amount of time. Our defensive rotations may be fixable, but not in 2 days.

Do we start not switching on Westbrook? The extra time spent by the player making a decision on defense would end up costing us more points anyway, unless we had more time to instill those habits into our defense.

Just don't see how Westbrook doesn't get those mid range jumpers whenever he wants. he might be one of the best in the world at them, but I'd still prefer those to a 3pter from someone shooting >30%

 

just need capela to show up.

hopefully we get steven adams in foul trouble again.

a close game 3 loss on the road honestly isn't a big deal

 

Agreed. Still confident we'll win, but our 1st quarter efforts need to improve. We lost the game in the 1st quarter last night, and Game 2 was a near-loss because of the same. Play a full 48 minutes and I like our chances.

 

Low energy. Sloppy. Soft. Just look at game 1 and compare that high energy, TOUGH, start. Rockets bullied the Thunder. Started with Capela playing tough and being a presence inside on both ends of the floor.

 

Start Lou and Nene for hustle/energy
Harden
Bev
Lou
Ryan
Nene.

Don't really need Ariza out there to start. Oladipo hasn't been lighting up the scoreboard this series and Bev covers Westbrook so we're good. Lou for an extra offensive weapon and Nene for the vet post play and big body D on Gibson...I REALLY want us to come out strong in the first quarter tomorrow

 

We ended up #2 in offense and #18 in defense.

Our offense has reached its goal, even though we fell a little short being second behind GS. Our defense is far from top 10 and I don't know how it could reach that goal with Capela, Anderson, and Harden as our starters. Anderson and Harden just aren't committed defenders. Capela tries but is just too weak to anchor a good defense, not to mention not having a defensive minded head coach.

This team is pretty much like the D'Antoni Phoenix teams. Great on offense but has no hope of being a contender-caliber defense.