Impressive win. Yeah, the Hawks were shorthanded, but so were the Rockets. What's really great about this one is that the bench finished off Atlanta in the 4th quarter instead of blowing the lead and forcing KD back into the game before he could get enough rest. Hell, I was screaming at the TV when Ime put him and Alpi back in late in the 4th when the Rockets were comfortably ahead. They actually have a decent shot at a little winning streak if they don't screw around and take care of business. Up next are the Mavs at home, the Pacers on the road, and then a home B2B against the Celtics and Hornets.
Shut out to Okogie and Tate. They were hustling all over the court. Okogie also made three 3s. They need to get more minutes. Long term, it will help the starters.
We have poor defenders in KD, Alpi, Reed etc....... Our transition D is awful - we don't have the same commitment or team to run a great defense anymore. DD
When you say team, only lost JG and DB though? I suppose FVV but I don’t know how you consider an injury a loss. And let’s not kid ourselves about JG being a big contributor. So that really all comes down to DB being our defensive identity/commitment.
Rockets' defense is 11th best at preventing transition points. The Rockets are bad at transition defense when an opponent gets in transition because the Rockets have a lot of live-ball turnovers. The Rockets are good at preventing transition relative to the league in most areas besides turnovers.
Their new coach is an offensive genius and DBrooks complements him so well by elevating their defense. Jordan Ott turned career vet mins Collin Gillespie and Grayson Allen into Steph Curry lite.
In today’s NBA, it’s not Eason’s nor Finney-Smith’s decision to sit out one game of a back to back. That rests with the Rockets’ medical staff, and neither are good enough players to override them.
Nah it genuinely is both FVV and Dillon. That's the defensive culture. It's the attitude and the brain (Amen's the enforcer and Tari's the engine) of what made us so potent on that end missing. We've still got our main 2 actual weapons (and more besides, if DFS and Okogie play to their strengths) but we don't have 1.The energy/aggression/hype of Dillon or 2.Fred directing it, so our weapons aren't utilised as well. There's been a clear culture shift, we're not dogs anymore in the same way that we were. I'll still take this win though tbh, was annoying last night for some reason League Pass wouldn't work if I had any other browser tabs open so I couldn't be in the game thread, but I'm glad I stayed up to a win and not another loss.
They’re real and they’re spectacular. Sengun could turn around and motorboat. No wonder he had such a shitty game. He was distracted. Those puppies must’ve been cold!
