Chris Paul was the only Rocket smart enough to shoot mid range

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// ....starting waiting for aelliott to bring the facts as usual.
// Facts brought.
// Leaves thread.

 

We collapsed in games 6 and 7 because we were missing Chris Paul's midrange shots? Interesting theory.

Let's take a look:

Game 1 - Paul from midrange 2-4 (Loss)

Game 2- Paul from midrange 1-2 (Win)

Game 3 - Paul from midrange 1-2 (Loss)

Game 4 - Paul from midrange 1-3 (Win)

Game 5 - Paul from midrange 0-3 (Win)

Please show me any correlation between Paul's midrange shooting and us winning games.

Maybe you've convinced yourself that Paul was dominating from midrange in the series but that's completely untrue. He shot very few midrange shots in the series and he shot a poor percentage on those.

Paul hit a grand total of 5 midrange shots over the course of the 5 games that he played. He only attempted 14 midrange shots over the 5 games that he played. On those 14 midrange attempts, he shot 5-14.

What about those great 2nd half comebacks that CP3 led in games 4 and 5? Well, he was 1-4 from midrange in those two halves. He was almost exclusively shooting layups and 3s.

We lost game 6 and 7 because we didn't have Chris Paul. Period. He's a hall of fame passer, good three point shooter and great defender and he can break down defenses. If he plays, I believe that we win one of those two games. What he would have done on his 3 or so midrange shots in each of those games is irrelevant to the outcome.

 

It's good that for every Tinman, we have an Aelliott

 

The relevant stats are those that he put up against GS in the WCF. You can post Capela's pick and roll stats for the whole playoffs and they're reallly good. Didn't work well against GS though.

 

What happened? GS started packing the paint. Did you not see the game?

The Rocket's offensive philosophy is very simple. They try to only take efficient shots.

For most everyone that means Layups, Free Throws and 3s. Paul is a super efficient midrange guy so they are fine with him taking those shots. That's why Dwight's postups were so bad. We didn't want Dwight postups because they were inefficient. If prime Hakeem were here then we'd be begging for postups because they were efficient.

Bottom line is that CP3 doesn't take that many midrange shots. This year he took a total of 180 midrange shots over the course of the 58 games that he played. That's 3.1 midrange attempts per game.

I don't believe that anyone is saying that Paul shouldn't shoot midrange shots. He's very good at it, why wouldn't he?

It's when you start blaming the losses in games 6 and 7 on the lack of midrange that I have a problem. For one, he simply doesn't take that many midrange shots to begin with. Secondly, he was having a very tough time with his midrange game vs GS.

The Rockets were gassed in the 2nd half of those last two games. That was mostly from playing with a super short bench and facing a really good defense that made them work hard. They were tired in the 2nd half of the first 5 games too but they found a way to win in 3 of them.

Tired legs also effect your midrange shots. Likewise, the opposing defense has an effect on what you can do. Whatever the combination of those was the cause, CP3 took his normal 3 midrange shots a game but he was way way less effective than he normally is from midrange. In those games where we weren't shooting the 3 well, why do you think that Paul didn't start shooting a ton of midrange shots instead? That's because he was struggling with his midrange shots vs the Warriors defense so he still only took 3 per game. If it were as easy as you seem to think, wouldn't a smart guy like Chris Paul have simply started taking midrange shots every trip down the floor? It's not like we were lighting it up from behind the arc in most of the games he played.

As I said, if he had played in the last two games, I believe we would have won the series. But that's because he's a great player and easily our 2nd best. If he had played and didn't attempt a single midrange shot, I still feel as if we win one of the final two games.

If you want to believe that CP3 would have all of a sudden taken a ton of midrange shots and that his percentage on them would have suddenly spiked then go ahead but there's not basis in reality for believing that.

 

The only thing for me - CP or no CP, what was frustrating for me to watch was knowing that Harden was only going to shoot a step back 3 or drive to the basket that more often than not would be met with a collapsing defense and refs swallowing their whistle.

While both Harden - not a prolific mid-range shooter and CP also struggling from mid-range in the GSW series - i think just the threat of that being an option opens things up for other players. IMO, whether they take those mid-range shots or not isnt as important as the threat of them taking and making those shots.

Harden in previous years has mixed it up with mid-range and post-ups. I think he should have made more use of that (and should look to work on this in the offseason) rather than spending majority of his energy dribbling and crossing over and then settling for a step-back 3 or spending a lot of energy driving the basket and getting hammered with no call - even if his success rate is in the low 40% range.

 

The "brotherhood" on here is the love for the Rockets (with our assorted long time trolls who hate all things Rockets).

We are lucky enough to have a great GM, an offensive genius as a HC, a very good Defensive Assistant and 2 future hall of fame players with a very good role players.

We actually got a whole lot of open looks in the series, especially in the final two games. Getting open shots wasn't the issue. Making open shots was the problem. What shots were going to open up? Most of our complementary guys are primarily effective at the 3pt line.

Was Harden going to get layups for them? Probably not since GS was packing the paint.


Seeing as how badly we shot from midrange in the series, then why would GS change anything just because we attempted a few midrange shots?

Unless we were really hurting them from midrange, they'd have been more than happy to let us fire up shots at 30%. Why change anything?

Also, Harden's midrange attempts have always been very low. He didn't even really attempt midrange shots when he was in OKC. He's taking more 3s now but he's pretty much always been a drive or 3pt guy. He's rarely posted up in any season. NBA.Com has the breakdown if you want to get an actual number.

 

Agreed on all your points. My only other argument would be with Harden doing his dance and then stepping back for 3 while also spending a lot of energy on defense - taking those 3's just got that much more difficult with dead/tired legs and makes it easier to defend. Would the results have been different had he attempted 2-3 more mid-range jumpers? Maybe not, but wouldn't hurt to mix it up, IMO.

 

It worked well enough for the best regular season record in the league.

And it worked well enough in games 2, 4 and 5, plus half of games 6 and 7. So it basically worked half the time in the playoffs against the best team in the league.

By all means, let's not repeat THAT failure of a strategy.

As many people pointed out all year long, the mid-range shot is an option that's on the table. MDA has never benched anyone for taking a mid-range shot.

 

Could've avoid sending him.

 

Chris Paul is the only guy that hits the mid range at an elite clip on the Rockets....

Its different for everyone else.