Depends on what you mean by "mediocre." I think there are some data out there that say that almost every championship team had a top 10 offense. BTW, most people would agree that offense needs talent, and defense needs motivation. In fact, I suspect that the cliche "defense wins championship" came from coaches trying to motivate their already offensive talented teams. So maybe you can say: MOTIVATION WINS CHAMPIONSHIPS. I think the Lakers are a good example of a talented offensive team but not always motivated to play defense unless they feel that they have to turn up a notch.
Defense is there,not just motivation. Last 30 years, 4 teams won Championship without top 10 offense, 2 teams won Championship without top 10 defense. No team won Championship without top 10 offense AND top 10 defense. Both are important, and it's slightly in favor of defense.
I did some serious statistical research and conclude that you win games when you score more than you give up.
That's what worries me about this team going forward, too many offensive minded players in brooks, martin, and scola none of them are good defensively where we always have too double team. Most teams that win championships are known for great defense's mixed with elite players.
The celts were 11th in offense ppg and 2nd in defense. The lakers were 4th in o and 19th in d. The celts won 9 more games and were obviously the better team. Not to mention, they were just tougher and thats something the rockets can't ever say they have been since the hakeem years. I forgot who, but the lakers were rolling before malone got hurt. Malone covered duncan 1 on 1, kept him out his spots and the lakers scored baskets. Do you remember when the spurs were getting beat by la? If you remember the series in those years, they would put shaq on duncan and keep him out his spots on post ups in the 4th qt and kobe would outscore the entire team. They lost because they played a good defensive team and couldn't score. When you get deep in the playoffs, you play top 5-10 defenses, but the teams that win are the ones that can score to go along wiht that defense. The rockets haven't been better than 15 th offensively since yao and mcgrady played together.
Are you Mr Dawkins? That is - if anyone disagrees with your point 3 they are illogical?!?!? Defence wins championships - you can't escape it. But that does NOT mean that having the best defence in the league automatically assures a team of a championship - just puts them down as a contender. If you haven't got someone who can generate a bucket, then sure, you're not going to win either. But the fact is that you must have the defensive ability first, then bring the offensive spark to that.
Yao is the clog in the key that we need, and he's going to be back next year, so nothing to worry about, this year though its going to be our offense that's going to have to step up each time........ btw.....no offense doesn't win championship.....but who cares, the Rockets arn't going anywhere this year anyway.....
I think you need one in the top 10 and the other in the top 5 if you want to be a legit contender. Is there some reference that has combined off/def rank for the last 30 years or so? Would be interesting to see what the avg number is.
You need motivation on offense and talent on defense too. But talent is more important for offense, and motivation is more important for defense. I think that's why great defensive teams with good offense won slightly more than great offensive teams with good defense. If you are motivated to play defense, you are likely motivated to play offense too. So if you already have the offensive talent, you win by motivation.
So you're saying that the finals match last year was between #1 ranked defensive team and #6 ranked defensive team? The topic was "does defense win championships or not?" I think the answer is clear. You need defense if you want to win.
The only time defense doesn't win a championship, is when both teams abandon it (see most All Star games) and/or have multiple offensive threats. Other then that, it is usually the team that has the better defense that wins.
No. Defense has nothing to do with it. Look at the winniest teams...they had the elite offensive players, not the elite defenders generally: MJ, even if he was a great defender, was known as the scorer. There's also Kareem, Kobe, Shaq, Magic, Bird, etc. Obviously not all scorers succeed, but having an elite defense has very little to do with winning championships imo generally.
