Ime Udoka calls loss to Warriors "one of our softest games since I've been here" 12/5/2024

The team overall will become better shooters because he called out their effort? Bold strategy Cotton!

 

We employed an interesting defensive strategy, where we let guys do easy, straight line drives and then only very gingerly and gently contested at the rim.

It didn't work but it was worth testing out, because now the team knows they should seek out a different defensive strategy. This is just how science works, guys.

 

Ime is becoming a one trick pony. Eventually he will lose the locker room, if all he does is scream effort. Amen comes in, is flying all over the court and scores 10 quick points and then gets pulled. We're getting killed on the boards and he takes his rebounders out so he can play Dillon 35 minutes, who was playing awful on both sides of the court. FVV plays hero ball every 4th quarter. Sometimes it works and sometimes it doesn't. Kerr was schooling Ime's switching defense all night. He was forcing Wiggins/Kuminga onto Jalen and FVV consistently. Give Tate or Uncle Jeff a chance if you're unhappy with "softness". Horribly coached game.

 

I refuse to believe a team can play playoff intensity defense all season long with an offense as putrid as ours and be a top seeded team.

The regular season is very long and expecting our guys to play like we did vs OKC every night is just a pipe dream. Even OKC themselves, with the #1 defense don't play hard on defense every night and they still win games. Why? because they actually field a competent offense. It's the same for the defending champion Celtics, the Magic and the Cavs. Even the Warriors last night, missing Curry and Draymond can field a decent offense.

 

Very weird that every combination that Dillon Brooks played without Jabari on the court last night had a positive. It is almost like pulling Jabari and having Brooks on the court wasn't detrimental at all despite not having rebounders out there.

The starting lineup stunk to start the 3rd. The Rockets lack shooters. The Rockets are going to have very poor shooting nights. Kuminga did a lot of damage, but for as bad as the Rockets offense was, the Warriors only scored 6 more.

 

Then pull 36 m Jalen instead of Dillon if you like. The starters all sucked last night and we play our second best player 22m. It's asinine. If you are going to rely on defense, then play your best defensive players not freaking Holiday and Green (who played crap defense last night). Ime has relied on Amen and Tari to save the day all year long. He didn't have Tari, so he rotates to Holiday and Sheppard instead of Tate or Uncle Jeff, give me a break.

 

The team's energy was lackluster right from the tip-off. It was strange to see. Had all the recent attention and accolades gotten to their young minds, making them think this game was a gimme? Then, they couldn’t make open shots and started losing trust in each other.

A good new is they only lost by six while shooting 26% from 3 and 38% overall. Bad news is they can't shoot and that's not something you can fix with more on-court effort.

 

That's funny. I had the same exact thought and reply on another thread.

 

I'm not saying I know this, just guessing.

Maybe fatigue has something to do with not shooting well or executing the offense? But of course it doesn't explain why Sengun shoots better in the 4th quarter.

 

That's the same thing JVG used to say when the players couldn't make a basket. "Play harder!" as if in-game effort can transform you into a good shooter.

 

Nah I don't think we have enough guys with established history of 37-38% shooting on big volume. Only FVV really.

The guys we have who forgot how to shoot are just being over-used. They can't shoot this much.

 

Except that's not what he said. He said:

they didn't share the ball like they had been in previous games
didn't show up until halftime
weren't assertive on offense
didn't protect the ball
didn't help on defense

Ultimately he said the things they had been doing previously to win all went out the window....and they weren't shooting well before this game either so seems pretty obvious he wasn't referencing shooting

 

It's uncanny and it's been that way for a long damn time!

 

Yeah, I was replying to a post about demanding effort. I don't think this team needs more effort. That has been instilled by Udoka pretty well. It still does not solve the shooting issue. The Warriors shot poorly last night (42/32) and we still lost because we shot even worse (38/26). We had more steals, more blocks, and fewer TOs than the opponent and still lost.

We didn't need great defense to limit this undermanned Warriors team to beat them if we could just make the normal amount of baskets a good team would make.

 

Maybe fatigue has something to do with not shooting well or executing the offense? But of course it doesn't explain why Sengun shoots better in the 4th quarter.
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Well our players couldn't shoot under Silas either. And they weren't exerting any energy in defense lol. They didn't even run back on defense. Tired legs or rested legs. Same results. Think about how Boston played under Ime. They got stronger both offensively and defensively as the season progressed and into the playoffs.

Our guys just can't shoot consistently. Other than making a trade it's what we all have to endure until Reed comes into his own hopefully. Jabari is showing some improvement. Amen and Tari as well. So there is some hope with this group moving forward.

 

Our defensive mentality is "You can't beat our guy. We man up. We're physical, and we aren't helping to avoid threes. The D has to be organized to counter specific actions (screens, PnR, etc.), but we're as good as anyone at the point of attack.

Our offensive our mentality is "Beat your guy. Finish through contact. Come off the screen and light them up from 3...Set up on the block and go to work. Crash the glass and win your matchup."

Defensively, it's hard to fault what we do. But offensively just trying to outwork, overpower, and make the shots the D gives you is the single hardest way to play NBA basketball. You might not have many turnovers, but you have at least ten dead possessions for which you never earned an easier shot. And veteran teams can neutralize rebounding.

A trade to add more shooting makes sense, but if they walk into this game plan, even Steph Curry would struggle to be successful.

The answer is not "Share the ball." That's the wrong offensive mentality. The right idea is for everybody to keep moving and keep working. Receive the ball, move it from side to side. Set up your teammates. When we're on the court, we don't rest. We search out good shots.

 

We have more coaches than players. Do any of them teach shooting?

 

Forget "super". If the Rockets just had a "star" player that could close games or create some offense when the going gets tough.

I actually give credit to Fred and DB for trying to step up when they see everyone shrinking from the moment. At least they act decisively, play strong and get off a legit FG attempt (even though the result isn't always good).

This team very badly needs an alpha scorer that can create his own shot.

 

Basically you're saying playing insane defense for 48/82+ is too hard & saps too much energy

"I know what we need to do"

 

Does udoka expect the team to be tough for 82 games? That is literally impossible. There will be games or even stretches where the team loses focus.