You nailed it. Nothing made me more angry than harden slow walking it up possession after possession. Allowing a great defense to play defense for only ~8 seconds is doing them a huge favor. We had better possessions when we went early, which other ball handlers did. Still need to cut down on TOs in general. Would also love to see dantoni anticipate some calls we all know are coming...i mean did anyone else predict a quick 3 by durant with 48 sec and us up by 6? Frustrating game from the second half on...so so so happy we pulled it out. Gordon was huuuge
Lots of those 'hero ball' plays where we were trying to switch curry on harden or one of their bigs on paul. Most of those screens Austin and PJ set were so bad we couldn't get them done and shot clock were down to single digit. And harden is the best at those situations when switches didn't happen. We were pretty lucky this game and a few calls also went our way but that's nba. It's all down to one or two moments. What if refs called travel on curry, green wouldn't have hit that 3... What if refs didn't call that foul on durants 3... What if igodala missed one of those 3s... We would have won the game in regular time. Games are decided on a few moments especially between 2 great teams. We could and should be up 2-1 but that's what it is. I'm super stocked we won and I think we can play better in game 4. Let's get it boys. #SWAG
Kind of reminded me of game 1. It could have easily gone the other way if GS got a call...like a Harden charge late instead of a no-call (we know the play). GS also missed some easy shots, like the Steph dunk and some open jumpers. If Steph has any kind of decent night at all, then we don't win this game. I would like to win the next game with a little less reliance on lady luck. Rockets definitely played well enough to win (and did) but it is rare indeed that KD scores 46 and GS loses. GS had a pretty good shooting night aside from Steph. But, so did we.
Rockets could easily be up 3-0 and so could GS. GS is up 2-1 so lady luck has been or their side a little more.
For the last three posts I agree luck has played a big role in this series. As I said earlier though good coaches and players don't count on luck. I believe this team has the talent and the heart to win another championship. I have criticized them before or lack of heart but seeing Harden et al scrap for those grimy points they've convinced me they have heart. That is why I get so frustrated when they just revert to bad habits that make it harder to get there.
I don't want EG running any offense. He had 2 horrible turnovers in the 4th when he jumped in the air with nowhere to go and threw it out of bounds. And frankly, CP3 was off too. He had no confidence in his jumper and wound up driving into the paint where 3 defenders were waiting for him. I think both of those areas can be cleaned up, but right now, I trust Harden way more than those two late in the game.
you are a 100% correct. People here can't take criticism, or better yet understand it---keep posting.
Thanks brother of chickens! I don't want to be a Debbie Downer and I don't blame anyone for getting upset that I'm criticizing after a much needed win. It is just probably the coach in me that I have a hard time just accepting and enjoying the win rather than ripping my hair out when I see a team that I love making dumb mistakes.
The Rockets need to tighten up their perimeter defense. No excuse for letting Klay and Iggy get so many wide open 3's. Guys need to be sticking to them like fly paper all over the court. They dodged a lot of bullets last night.
I think Iggy being open is strategic. You have to give up something against the Warriors. I'll live with Iggy and Draymond taking 3's over Curry and Klay. If they knock them down, so be it.
Meh, you can both be right. Harden single handidly won this game for us down the stretch. He ALSO single handidly lost us the lead with his missed defensive assignment on Thompson, slowing down the offense, and turnovers in the 3rd
The rockets made around 5-6 adjustments this game. If you’re a coach they should have been extremely obvious. Adjustments are smaller in the NBA when players actually know the game well. It’s not like coaching the YMCA.
The regular season is not the same as a 7 game series. Especially against the Warriors. Those 82 games against random teams shouldnt be expected to be perfectly representative of the Xs and Os in a particular match-up. We'd be going nuts if Dantoni didn't make adjustments. You don't "abandon your offense" but you need to be willing to diversify more than you do when you're playing the Suns or Grizzlies.
I have no doubt they did. I think Tucker getting more rebounds was an adjustment in positioning him. They tried several different combinations on defending Durant. That said at the end of regulation this team’s offensive set looked remarkably like what it has looked for the last few years with unfortunately the same results. Wasted possessions. I’m not claiming deep insight this is pretty much what everyone following the NBA is seeing.
None of my critique is saying we need to scrap everything. This is a great offense and one that can get the Rockets into the playoffs for as long as Harden is healthy. The question is whether it’s good enough to get past perhaps the most talented team assembled.
I brought this up in another thread. Since I live in Minnesota I see a lot of parallels between the current Rockets and the Minnesota Vikings of recent years. Both teams have a lot of talent but both get bogged down in predictable offenses. If we look at a team like the Patriots though we see a coach, a star player and a team willing to make change sometimes radically when the moment calls for it.
When I talk about bad habits this half was exactly that GSW is in this because even their bench players are trusting each other and moving the ball while we’re still wasting time in the shot clock and just counting on individual matchups.
