I'd like to see a few Aaron Holiday minutes as well. FVV is a much better overall player than Aaron Holiday but I don't want Fred playing 40 minutes per game. Especially when he can't make an open 3. FVV busts his ass all game on defense. We shouldn't expect his shooting to be effective at the end of games when he plays 40 minutes. Especially when he can't hit his shots earlier in the game. Holiday is a much better overall player at this time than Reed Shephard so I don't want to see Reed in a playoff game unless it's a blowout. Jabari Smith needs more than 3 shots as well. We are desperate for spacing and Jabari is our 2nd-best spacer behind Dillon. Ime doesn't seem to even coach us on offense. He just lets what happens happen. In game 1, that was Jalen and FVV missing shots all game. More Sengun late in the game and more shots for Jabari. Less shots from Jalen and FVV. If Jalen is struggling in game 2, Cam should get 4-5 minutes to see if he can provide some offense. Whitmore is an extremely talented player who is ripe for a redemption story. Ime will read this board and make some adjustments based on our advice. Rockets win game 2.
Game 1 Houston won the Rebound edge by a large margin: Rockets 52......Warriors 36 Warriors didn't attack the offensive boards, got back to take away Rockets fast break points. Warriors 6 OffRebs.....22 Rockets OffRebs Fast break points: Warriors 16 pts......4 pts Houston. Fast break points was a big part of Houston scoring during the season. 2nd Chance points: Warriors 12 pts......22 pts Houston Points in the Paint: Warriors 12 pts........22 pts Houston Turnovers: Sengun 5...... Jabari 4 (+/-): Amen -16 Dillion -13 Jalen Green -5 VanVleet -3 3PM: Warriors 12.......Rockets 6 3P points: Warriors 36 points......18 points Rockets. ----------- Summary: Rockets won the rebounding edge and thus won the 2nd chance battle; but the Warriors won the fast break battle of 16 pts to 4 by not even trying to get Offensive Rebounds. Popovich scheme of 4 1/2 men back on defense to eliminate fast break points. Sengun and Jabari need to protect the ball better and the Rockets need to insert Holiday and Jeff Green.....even if it just for 8 minutes a game each. Without hitting more 3's, it's like taking a knife to a gun fight. Spacing is crucial and depends on it. Without spacing Sengun and Jalen Green see a ton of clutter between them and the rim. Sengun can hit 60% from midrange shots one game but then 32% the next game. Plays right into the Warriors hands. Just like this video below. Spacing is important.
Obviously Jalen needs to play better, but why is Aaron getting minutes indicative of something going wrong? He shot 40% from 3 for the year, he'll ensure that Fred isn't out there for 40+ minutes bricking shots, he can allow our guards to get a breather, and he's able to push the pace. Sticking to an 8-man rotation when half the team can't buy a basket is how things go horribly wrong.
It was discussed prior to Game 1. Sounds like a planned adjustment ... Also, Fred was defending Draymond a lot. It was key to our match-ups (allow Sengun to cover Moody). We'll see if Aaron is strong enough to do that, or get him in during Double Big, more likely On Tuesday, Udoka said he’d considered playing Holiday in Game 1 and that it might still be an option for Game 2 on Wednesday at Toyota Center. “Yeah, we were considering it last game,” Udoka said. “That unit in the third quarter was running well and so we went with them, stuck with them, but Aaron’s played well against them. Obviously, not just the shooting, his physicality and aggressiveness on defense helps as well. And so yeah, we’re not just tied down to our guys. I think a big part of it was finding the rhythm with our guys and kind of sticking with them through their first experience in the playoffs. That’s part of it, no doubt but yeah Aaron’s had a great series against Golden State.”
Hopefully we don’t reach the point where inserting Aaron Holiday is a strategic move we need to make. That’s….depressing.
Yeah, 3 non-shooters was not on anyone's Bingo Card. minor point: we have seen that lineup before. Not many minutes, but four separate games, I guess just to get data. We've seen 9 separate lineups with Double Big and Amen. I think the Tari, Jabari combo is best ... not for too long though, but just to screw with the other team like on an ATO play, they look up and see all that size and length.
It's not just the lack of shooting. What about the lack of ball handling and passing? I've spent the past few days listening to Lowe, Windhorst, Hollinger, et al, claiming that the Rockets best offense is missing shots and counting on put-backs. Is that actually Ime's theory of the case? The failure to develop Reed is damming. You can't tell me that Podziemski is a better player than Reed - he's just been given better opportunities. Fred was 17th in the NBA this year in minutes per game but only 229th in PER - you won't find a larger disconnect for any other player. It would been better to feed Reed more minutes.
We rarely run that lineup, it’s more a stunner … like out of a timeout, teams bring a called play, and then see that lineup and it screws up their play. but even still, … dude, Adams and Sengun might be our two best passers … and while not ideal, Sengun, Amen, and Tari have handled the ball enough to safely bring it up for entry it into a High Post offense man, y’all are waaaay too negative atm … it’s pretty boring reading this bbs right now and listening to playback
