It is a tough match up but man we didn't make adjustments. Giving up that 12 point lead so fast in the 2nd quarter was a gut puncher. We should be past doing things like that at this stage.
Dwight Finney Smith would be on Stephon Castle, no one on the Rockets can stay with him. And I wonder if any of the Rockets watched Luka, the Lakers beat the Spurs couple nights ago. Marcus Smart especially and the Lakers was taking charges that caused Wemby to play sub-par. Wemby's strength is driving to the lane without fear and shooting without hands to his face, this game we let him determine the game assisted by Castle . There was a point where there were 4 Rockets in the paint on a miss and all of them were looking at the ball instead at the man, boxing out. Yep, a Spurs guy came in a rebound it might of been Keldon Johnson. And watching Jabari getting beat on the defensive side by everyone from Vassell, Castle and Avery Johnson. True liability that a big man is not tough enough to man up basically all the Spurs flew past him. Reed Sheppard vs Castle should never happen, Castle's offensive moves are too fast, defensively he is like DWS, he matches up against #1 players like Luka, or Kevin Durant. We need to play tougher on Wemby because if we don't, we will not win a series against these in-laws. All the Rockets game are close when the lose and it is only 1 game. On to the next...........
Listen man....im not going to accuse KD of point shaving. But there were some possessions that legit had me wondering. It felt like those Harden games at times where it felt like *wanted* to turn the ball over.
And Fox and Harper weren't there!! blah blah I'd rather have those bozos score their averages than Champagnie and Barnes turning into 26 yrd old Curry like they've done against us in various occasions. Not doing the regular things we do, like hustle and securing missed shots, bit us.
Ime and his zone, along with the refs...should have won this game. Nevertheless, later in the year, we'll be a lot stronger, with serious chemistry. *I think some are being short sighted regarding Reed. Yes, his D/boxing out needs to improve...but, the big takeaway from this game should be the confirmation we're seeing on the offensive side. We know he's a work in progress. This really bodes well for our Rockets.
Its like he is Jabari's kryptonite! Jabari plays well against everyone else but for some strange reason Johnson out plays him every time. Yeah, KD played bad last night, as most of our players but to me Jabari's lack of production on the boards and interior defense hurt more than anything
They have been notoriously awful at closing out the first half for years now. It’s getting really old!
Jabari played bad, but he didn’t give up 8 TO’s like Durant. Ime lost the rebounding battle when he decided to play so much zone. I bet he plays a lot less zone when DFS gets back. You can survive man to man defense with one bad defender (Durant), but not in the 2 big lineup or when Reed is in the game (until he gets better). As you pointed out the whole starting unit played horribly last night outside of Okogie and Sengun (who played a fair game, not a good one). People are figuring out the 2 big lineup and the frequency for that unit needs to be lessened. It made way more sense when you had chuckers like FVV and Jalen, but not when the team as a whole is hitting 3’s better than any Rocket team ever.
KD said everyone’s pissed after the first two losses, and he likes that kind of attitude because it motivates the team. Now they should be even more pissed and explode against the Bucks tomorrow. Rockets did not get blown out in any games, they need some refining and better concentration.
Im not an XOs guy but it seems to me there’s not a lot of cutting or movement in our offense. So the ball stops on its own while Alpi, or whoever, waits on someone to get open. Meanwhile a sneaky player from the other team comes from behind and pokes the ball away.
