Issues w/out looking @ W-L streak

Just came in to say this, that there are and were issues even during the end of our winning streak and more apparent with key DEFENSIVE players out, which in my humble opinion are:

1. relied too much on scoring, going back to our 'old' ways
2. consequently slacked on defense although it was never as great as our rating would have you believe
3. lack of effort
4. individuals regressing
5. passing up open shots
6. minutes, rotation and lack of trust beyond our core 8 guys
7. reliance on Harden & CP3
8. focus and reliance on referees

On some level the reliance on scoring and slacking on defense makes sense when you know the identity of this team is still offense first. You cannot expect a team with Harden the way he was forced and chose to play under McHale and last year with MDA to be great defensively. Deep down we all knew it was partly our weak opponents why we looked good on defense. Of course, there were definitely signs of having a defensive identity with Luc, Capela, Ariza, Tucker & CP3 as your key guys. Some posters on here pointed out though that we still gave up high percentage shots which opponents made at a high clip. I think the key was that we kept them to one shot, so our defensive rebounding.

When you have Capela, CP3 and Luc out at the same time or maybe 1 or 2 back for one game then of course you are going to be a lot worse on defense given our identity, defensive strategy and rotations. The latter I will get into in a second. We are still top 10 so we shouldn't be too worried, but even at the end of the streak there were way too many 110+ points given up. We won games, because we were just too good on offense. Look at FG% and we've won games that we really shouldn't based on those, but when you get a lot of FTs and threes partly because of our offensive system and our great back court then you can still win those games. We do need to shore that up though.

This brings me to our lack of effort, which starts with your head snake and Harden has not put in the effort. Sorry fanboys and apologists, it's true. We know he exerts a lot of energy on offense and he's probably still not a 100%, but there's still zero excuse for a lack of effort. If you cannot give a 100%, sit! I will never ever understand not giving it your all, even when injured. You chose to play and sure you will not be as fast or anything like that, but just slowly walking back, giving up lay-ups when you're the last defender back, merely swiping at the ball then that's inexcusable. Also, on offense he has been very lazy. Not even trying to get lose from his man, relying on 2 or 3 turnovers in the OKC game that were just mind-boggling. Again, injured or not, you can move.

It is not just Harden though. As a team we are not putting in the effort, plain and simple. All the 50-50 balls are the opponents and that needs to stop. Of course, I get that this has to do with our short rotation and heavy minutes partly due to injuries. What has not helped is individual defense slacking. Gordon, Ryno, Nene, Black and even Tucker getting burned more often than before. I thought our former Pelicans finally started to look decent along with Harden. Ryno in particular seems to have regressed. Gordon's butter fingers at times and shooting woes are nothing new, as well as Nene's deficiencies - people say he's worse than last year and aside from dumb fouls he's the same - but Ryno is kind of worrying me.

So about Ryno. Boy ow boy, there's some confidence issues that he needs to resolve ASA freaking P! He's just non-existent and taken out of games where he could be key to provide the space for Harden to operate. He has passed up shots he should take, miss or make. I'm not sure what's going on, but looking at the last 11games stats wise and just seeing him not even looking at taking a shot and it's obvious it's in his head. Maybe the home woes have started to get to him, because save the game vs. Spurs where he went 5-9 (2-3 from three), he's gone:

1-5, 1-4, 2-6, 2-9, 0-4, 0-2, 1-7, 3-7 (thrice) and 3-11. He's averaged 6.2 points during this stretch and 5.7 not counting that one good shooting game. He averaged 11.77 over the first 22 games. It's not necessarily his 3pt shooting since these are overall shot attempts. Looking at his 3PA confirms he's not shot as he usually does; taking 5 or more threes in 17 of the first 22, only 4 of the last 11 and 3 of them coming in the last 3.

This is not the Ryan we know nor need. We need him to take shots, even if he misses. The rebounding has been fine, but you can see the shooting is affecting his impact on the court. He's so key for us that we need more from him. You think LAC will take him for DJ knowing he will walk anyway? I think with both Ryno and Tucker, starting them has hurt them. Let's hope when CP3 starts to give him those perfect passes he will see shots fall again, thus getting his confidence back to normal.

Aside from Ryno, there's others who have passed up open shots. Wide open even! Gordon, Ariza and Weber. The latter showed last night he can make the three and I'm sure he should be able to make a lay-up or floater. I like his intensity on defense and he's solid at protecting the ball so let it fly. Ariza has passed up shots to get into the paint, which for now has worked out a couple of times, but he should just let it fly. He's been great from three. Gordon is having some confidence issues too with missing threes this year, because he passes up open shots while actually taking tough contested - early in the shot clock - and parking lot shots so he needs to stop doing that.

Before you start to lose it and take my words out of context, I get that the injuries has caused a lot of different line-ups, from starter to bench and back, guys getting extended minutes who played much less or not at all before. While some of this is obviously out of MDA's hands, the roster is not the best beyond the 8 or 9th guy, but some of it definitely is. Black has produced and still cannot get many minutes. With Nene not being able to produce at a high level, he should get minutes every night. We signed Canaan and did not even give him a shot. We have Troy who produced and hasn't shown any development. We all know MDA is not known for developing and playing young guys. The Spurs and Warriors have 12-13 guys they trust with playing time, we have 9 basically with Nene and Black alternating.

With regards to minutes, the 7-8 men playing now with injuries is not getting it done so might as well give other guys a shot. Also keeping Harden and others in for 37-38 and up during games we don't need them too might be a problem too. It's arguably affecting their production, longevity and chance to get injured. Also, while I get we need to get wins, it should be all about the post season so for the life of me I don't get why CP3 comes back early, same with Capela and if Harden is really injured, why is he playing? I don't care about his MVP nor that 1st seed if it comes at the expense of our players!

This ties in with my 7th point, our heavy reliance on Harden still. We won a lot of games without CP3 and even with, but it is obvious we rely too much on Harden. It's already taking it's toll it seems. Along with the injury, he has gone back to chucking threes, not getting lose from his man and since 4 guys are looking to get him the ball it's just too obvious not get a turnover, Harden is turning it over still way too much, over-dribbling etc. Now, we can not argue with the results necessarily since we have won and Harden often needs to get his for us to win. Lately in particular with guys hesitant to shoot and playing too many minutes, but we need to incorporate some more plays. Get some shots for Nene, some for Tucker, give Weber some instructions so he can call some plays.

We also rely a lot on CP3, which is why this losing streak doesn't mean much, but you'd hope that with him out and Harden not 100% that you'd incorporate some new plays and try something else. That's what used to be great about Adelman, when T-Mac was out, our role players were able to step up and still get wins. I honestly have very little trust in MDA, especially in the post season. He is a good coach, one of the top dogs, but somehow he falls short. Not calling a time-out when everyone can see we need one, playing other guys when we are down 3 key players etc. I am glad Morey finally understood we needed a wing player in case of injuries and Green is a fine player. I fear he will be cut, but believe he should be kept. He can light it up, play above the rim and can definitely thrive in a system with a lot of freedom.

My last point, is not necessarily the Rockets fault, but with the Harden rule and focus on continuation and all that we need to find a way to adjust. Harden cannot let a guy like Smart get in his head. He cannot solely talk about the referees after losing a 20+ point lead, especially as a leader who was a big reason for why we lost. Plain and simple. He needs to take responsibility again, let's hope he has behind closed doors. Same with MDA, but I get he's relying on key guys who are out but would like a coach at least to own up somewhat. With regards to officiating, can we stop whining so much and just play the game. Unless there's a situation like the end of the Clippers game where they should've pointed out the mistake, we let refereeing get to us too much. We are almost as bad as the Warriors. We, Harden in particular, benefit from calls so when it goes the other way, that's the nature of the game. Let it go.

That being said, still 2nd best record in the league, best offense and with key guys out still were within reach to win against OKC & Boston so I am not too worried for now. If MDA can learn from this, embrace using Black & Green and play 10-11 guys on a regular basis and we get everyone fully healthy, we should be fine.

Just some thoughts