Well he tried to make adjustments all right, but not the right adjustments. Besides, adjustments are not only who you sub, it’s also what plays you’re drawing on the white board. Ime clearly struggles with drawing the right plays.
No need to make blatantly obvious lies about Ime not making a single adjustment in the 4th quarter like you did. We lost a winnable game by shooting poorly from everywhere. In December we played terrible defense. And so far in January we've been shooting poorly.
We've had the same "problem" for years -- the roster lacks enough perimeter offensive skill. Handling, shooting, passing, shot creation, turnover avoidance, on-ball offensive reads and execution... the sum total of it, for us, is too low. We drafted 9 frp's in four years and the aggregate perimeter offensive skill adds up to not much. It is what it is. Adding significantly more of those qualities, when you don't want to compromise in other areas, is a massive challenge. So the FO has tried to work around it by overloading on offensive rebounding, defense, and size. It worked up so a certain point, but that strategy has a ceiling and we've hit it. Also makes our games very aesthetically unappealing, IMO. Ultimately, but probably not this season, there will be a pivot and a reallocation of resources to recalibrate our arrangement of talent.
Rockets play with more energy and are more lethal when Reed is the PG and initiating the offence. Rockets also go on runs where they are able to pull away/pull closer when Reed is in the lineup. I've seen this multiple games now and i'm CONVINCED.
Personal eye test Reed had a great game today. Everyone complimented him even Doris Burke, but she also said he's going to have to get better on D. Jabari was bad on offense but he had some winning defensive plays. If you are having a bad game, effect the game in other ways. Same with Alpi he became engaged and played better defense. Maybe Alpi is not fully healed, because he usually yams that spin move., but he got hung and somehow put it in. Also this game made me realize that our free throw shooting is really poor. Good thing Minnesota missed one more free throw than we did. I bet we have lost alot of these close games, because of our free throw shooting.
Minny does not have many options when Ant is out, you can swarm Randle even with his 35 point game. Gobert can be hacked and he is a no show on Offense and he is a horrendous FT shooter. Alexander Walker was the engine off the bench with Naz Reid, he has not been replaced. Luckily Durant could not miss and Reed shot close to lights out again.
The rockets lose that game if Reed doesn’t hit half those 3s. Easy. his defense was what you’d expect and still good from a guy focusing more of his efforts on offense in case you hadn’t I noticed , we’ve had a stretch where were the worst shooting team of all time Reterdoka doesn’t really have an option and he still chose not to play the guy shooting 80% from 3 at the end of the game. As expected we almost lost as we couldn’t buy a bucket. Defense is one side of the game, if you focus on every little lapse by a guy on D, don’t ignore that offensively the team has been bottom of the league these last month.
Past couple of games... Teams don't fear Okogie behind the arc. His "defender" is playing 2.9 defense. Rockets don't have enough shooters, especially those that can play defense.
Reed needs to practice with Capela or Adams to learn how to beat a big man when he is switched on you. Every guard in the league would love the speed mismatch. But Reed just couldn't shake Gobert. Granted Gobert is one of the best defensive big men, but you've got to be able to cook him in the perimeter.
I'm not saying he shouldn't be in the game when he's hitting his 3s. All I am saying is that if he's not then that's a different story. I like Reed, I really do. I will criticize everyone on this team when I see things. My point is everyone should do things to effect the game in other ways. Jabari had a stinker yesterday and came up with some huge defensive plays. During that stretch on the West coast. Jabari didnt do the little things to effect the game. Rebounding, getting deflections, swinging it to the open shooter. If the people you swing it to miss, I can live with that, but everyone on the team has to find ways to effect the game. Hell, everyone hates DFS, but I thought he came in and played solid D on Randle and who ever he was guarding. He boxed out and everything. It's the little things that win the tight games, but the bigger problem is freethrows.
That is the fallacy of the Reed only fans. If we want Reed to play 30 mins a game then he has to contribute more when his shot isn’t falling. Maybe that can be accomplished with more pick and roll action. If we continue to roll out the same Iso centric offense with Durant primarily Reed brings only one thing to the table. When his shot isn’t falling, he has to sit. Last night, we were utilizing pick and roll more and consciously trying to free Reed up. We need more of that.
He was able to shake Gobert in the 1st half but rushed and missed the middy at the FT. 2nd half, he looked scared to do his usual moves when Gobert switched to him.
I think my thought process on Ime's doghouse is that I dont want to jump the gun again. I vouched for Cam Whitmore so bad. I followed him when we traded him and he wound up in the doghouse on a tanking team. So, maybe I dont know the situation and I know these are 2 totally different people. I think every coach has someone that's in their doghouse. Ja Morant in Memphis, Buddy Hield and Kuminga in Golden State. I just know that these players will have to be traded to get the playing time they probably deserve. Is it right? No it's not but then again I'm just a fan of the Rockets. As long as we win games and have title contentions I live and die with it. It's up to the brass to decide when it's over for Ime. Am I fed up with Ime? Yeah sometimes I am.
The fact of the matter, is that Reed cannot consistently beat his man off the dribble or get to the hoop. Maybe someday that will change, but in the meantime he needs picks and plays run for him to get him involved in the offense. If they can make him a threat on a consistent basis by utilizing a better offensive scheme, then he can have an off-shooting night and still have a positive impact on the game. In their normal, Durant ISO only offense if Reed is not shooting well, he is useless on the court.
Yesterday was not the game to bench him and play Tate in the final minutes of the game. we couldn’t buy a bucket for eternity and they cut the lead that was created when reed was on the court, to 2 pts im not disputing what you’re saying, but if you can’t play Reed when the team is going to its 4th Q collapse because it can’t buy a bucket then you can’t make an argument to ever do it. There was literally no compelling eye test/ metric based argument to play Tate and co over reed. I’m strictly speaking from a perspective of “what will help the rockets win the game” It’s sabotaging him as well as the team. If he’s off like OKC game yea it makes sense, but you also have to ride with guys in their ups and downs to get their rhythm going. They won’t ever develop otherwise. If prime curry was on this team he would be benched. The warriors understood that offensive standards are just as if not more important than defensive standards
