True Rockets fans have known that Hardens defense can be elite when he locks in. Given his usage rate on offense, it's unreasonable to expect him to be locked in the entire game, but damn his hands are so quick and strong... I don't love the way we play sometimes, but we are going full troll mode on the rest of the league. 61 3's... and most of them weren't even bad shots, they were clean looks! Just keep hating on Harden everyone, it fuels the fire, and makes the nice wins even that much more bamf. What a great win!
*raises hand* people on social media like “we beat the Bucks, and we didn’t even have Gordon”...meanwhile, I’m sitting here thinking no EG was a good thing
You're forgetting a kind of pretty important aspect of Giannis' drives. Dropping the shoulder and barrelling through someone is an automatic offensive foul no matter if the defender is set or not. Please make an hour long compilation of Harden dropping his shoulder and doing this thank you. I look forward to it.
Once I saw the ABC option for the game I naturally chose it because of JVG. It's funny you say that, because throughout the game I had the thought that JVG is commentating a lot differently to what he does in the past in this game. Highly doubtful I know, but it almost seems as if he's been tapped on the shoulder.
Food for thought: Giannis had a great game 36pts, 8 ast, and 18 rebounds and on the other hand, James and squad besides Russ had a so so game offensively, and we still pull out a W.... just take a min to think about that.
It seems like the whole league is still watching that Spurs playoffs game couple years back as game tape on Harden.....yeah please keep sleeping on him...and we shall release the Kraken.
I think they are jealous of his offense and they want to take it out on him on defense..because of his false reputation around the league that he is not good at it.
These last 2 games, coming from behind to beat the teams with best record and the most efficient offense, was just what the doctor ordered. Nobody panicked. These Rockets players just kept on chipping in, playing great defense and finally overcoming adversity. This is how you build the mental strength to win a championship cause it's not all about physical portion of it. You have to be mentally strong. Going forward, I don't think MDA can wait for Gordon to come back and expand his line to 9 players. Tucker, while playing elite defense, is already showing signs of fatigue. Man doesn't have the necessary lift to hit his 3-pointers. At one point he clancked 6 straight wide open 3s. I think MDA needs to either try out Carroll or the Prince for a few minutes. You never know, they might still be useful.
Bledsoe not being there is an important side note to this victory. He was always the one who set the tone for them and got into Harden’s head.
hopefully we can get hot from 3 in a few of these next couple days and that will give us a cushion to put new guys in . I’m curious to see if we sit some guys the last 4 games or so . I don’t mind going hard in the tune-up games right now , but IMO we shouldn’t go balls to the wall for all 8 .
The thing about fatigue is that it isn't specifically relative to small ball though. not saying you're completely blaming it on that but I've seen a number of posts from people trying to pin it on the style of play. Yes fatigue is an issue but we gotta remember these issues came up even when the rockets weren't completely committed to small ball. guys went cold and in significant stretches when they played traditional lineups. that's just a natural part of the game regardless of how you play. we've seen the best shooters in the world even go through cold stretches. It happens and everyone has to deal with it. it's just a matter of how long it takes to get out of it.
The thing with Gordon is that when he is at his worst, he is a minus. But a Standard Gordon for sure is going to help us a little bit on offense. At least allows for greater lineup flexibility through the game. I know we have said this a hundred times, but if he returns shooting the 3 ball he raises our ceiling. Having said that, I'm loving the way we are playing