And with this single total beat down of the Jazz... The Rockets have moved from #12 to #8 in the power rankings. The Jazz have moved from #13 to #22 in the power rankings. The Rockets play off odds have moved back up to 86.4%. The Jazz play off odds have declined to 44.9%. Yes, it's the Hollinger rankings and doesn't mean all that much, but Oh, the Humiliation! :grin: And to recap this fine performance. WORST JAZZ HOME LOSS EVER. :grin:
We are definitely not in a "rebuilding" season. The time is now. Our offense is too potent. I mean, we scored 119 playing Brooklyn, now we score 125 playing the Jazz while we're RUNNING the ball. We scored 120 in many other games we decided to run. Defenses don't stop our offense. Only the time and our own decision not to run stops us. When we chose not to RUN the ball, we had serious problems. Running is our strong suit. The only team that may give us problems is the Spurs. Against OKC, we did the same thing, ISO harden against a really good team and we did terrible. That's why harden got blocked like 6 times. We had a difficult time beating the Bobcats w/ ISO plays. No, this is not a rebuilding team this year. The time is now. We can't keep on saying next year is we'll be better. Then the following etc etc. That's like Don Fanucci from Godfather 2, saying to one of his customers he extorts, domani, domani, domani!!! No, we're going to contend this year!
a fanucci reference. that made my day. 1. bench did nothing wrong playing hard. 2. losing 7, then celebrating together when winning big makes great chemistry. 3. what is an "exert"? (see jzz pregame quote) 4. my girl bought me league pass last night so i'm about to watch it again. (although, the local slc adverts creep me out. christ, i'm glad i don't live up there). 5. i saw hornacek on their bench and it cancelled out any feelings of pity i had for them. 6. keep it up guys, let's make some more history.
i don't think the time is now. very young team, first year together. i think the goal for this season should be to get into the playoffs and gain that playoff experience. and playing against a high seed, that might mean being swept out of the playoffs this year. but that is ok. add the correct pieces to make some noise in the playoffs next year. and finally, in the third year, make a run at the title.
Patience. It's the youngest team in the NBA. We're playing to be a play off team now, which is a LOT more than should have been reasonably expected going into this year with 13 new players, let alone 13 of the youngest and least experienced players in the NBA. There's still cap room. That means Morey and Co. can STILL improve this roster Substantially. This team is still in building mode. Not so much Rebuilding, as opposed to building on what they now have. They're still working on the roster. They're still working on chemistry. They're still learning play sets and the subtleties of individual and team defense. In the next 2 to 3 years, depending on who they pick up in Free agency and trades this team could easily grow into a repeat play off and possible championship contender. That's a heck of a future.
Seems the power ranking systems ought to count every, say, 20+ point win as just a 20 point win. When the margin is that big, it really doesn't matter whether its 22 points or 45 points, most of that difference happened in garbage time without any regular lineups playing anyway. There is a difference between winning by 2 or 4 pts and winning by 18 or 20 points, but not really between winning by 20 and by 35 or even 45.
I'm currently in a very busy schedule, and it's been hard to watch games and comment. However, after a historical outcome, how can I resist? So, I've watched it on League Pass and coudn't believe how our team dominated the Jazz. The whole 4th quarter as garbage time! This game was one of those when everything suddenly clicks. Our players on a good night, the mood was terrific (since the beginning, I noticed focused and happy faces all over from our side), defense with a perfect strategy, 3-pointers falling, bench showing up... really impressive. If that is a glimpse of our ceiling, and how good this team can be, I'm very optimistic towards the next 7 years. The bads: - by mid 3rd quarter, the game was not a challenge anymore. I mean, yes, we were challenging ourselves to put on a 50 point lead, but from a fan standpoint, no thrills, the game was pretty much set. Why is it bad? Because if we keep beating the opposing team by that kind of margin, it will be boring... NOT - only 1 bad thing really: that 3-point shot attempt at the end. Unnecessary, and I don't know if you realized, but if we had run the clock, the margin would have ended 48-points instead of 45, giving the Jazz the worst loss on their history, home or away. So, kind of frustrating. The goods: - defense: this was our key to the victory. The strategy was perfect: make Ln double team the Jazz frontcourt player, whenever possible, and not rotating the defense, letting Tinsley and Watson free (and both are not prolific shooters). This way, for instance, when Millsap got the ball, he was harassed by Lin, having a hard trying to rotate to a post play, and not having no one to pass besides Tinsley from outside for a low percentage shot. Thus, we forced them to a low FG %, taking the game out of their good frontcourt (Millsap ended with a very poor night, and Tinsley also). That, combined with Asik huge rebounding, lead to several fastbreak points. So, in resume, I think our terrific defense strategy and execution generated fastbreak oppotunities. - running again: once we had the ball after a Jazz's miss, we faced an opportunity to fastbreak. And that we did. Running again, I think almost 50% of our points came out from transition. Not checking the numbers, but surely felt that way. As we know, when this team run, it is hard to stop. - bench play: our bench was huge outscoring theirs by a large margin. Even the third stringers outscored Jazz's, continuing the fast pace, ball movement, hard defense and 3 point plays. - ball movement: this was beautiful. Passing fast and with purpose, we were able to find several 3 point opportunities, and that made our 3-point % high. Also, keeping the Jazz' defense unbalanced, the driving game became easy. Harden was able to penetrate from a pass, rather than from an iso, which gave him a much easier way to the basket, with more room to go. Same with Parsons and Lin. Not dribbling the ball, not stopping it, not hesitating before a pass. That is the way to go. - chemistry: it is hard not to be happy about our players attitude towards each other. The way the starters were cheering and supporting the players on court shows that this team has chemistry and is really committed to each other's success. The players: - Lin: terrific game, he was the key of our defense, executing the strategy to perfection, and being a huge factor to Millsap's and Tinsley's poor %s. Also, being the primary ballhandler in the last games, he is able to feel more comfortable, get into rhythm, and be able to knock his shots. We all know by now that Lin increases his %s by getting more playing time, feeling the game through bumps, ball touches, fouls received.. the more he gets the ball and gets hit, the better he plays (for instance, every time he bleeds, he has a good game). So, it is no surprise he plays well when he can handle the ball. Besides that, since the first minutes, I noticed a focused stare on his eyes, when we know he is in the zone. Perhaps attending the Sundance film festival and reliving all the Linsanity moments inspired him also. Lot of energy and 100% FG%. - Harden: that's the way to play him. He cannot be an iso guy, or a ball handler. That way, he becomes predictable and the opposing defense just have to wait for him to come (thus, several misses and TOs). On the other hand, when he plays like a SG, receiving the ball through a pass and with the defense moving, he is a killer. He can shot, drive, get to the line or assist, and all leads to high % plays. He can score 20+ anyway, but with this approach, with a much more efficient rate. - Parsons: After his shoulder injury, he went through a slump, but it is way past now. He is hitting his shots (even if he didn't make a 3-pointer yesterday), driving and finding a midrange game. Also, he is one of the defensive anchors of this team, and always give a solid contribution overall. It's not rare that his PER is the highest one, and last night's was again. - Patterson: very good game. He has been more physical lately, dunking, fighting for the rebounds. Perhaps he was indeed trying to prove a point over Millsap, but the fact is that PPat is playing with more energy, and his midrange jumper is money. Still has to rebound more though. - Asik: 19 boards in 25 min. Holding Jazz's bigs on D. He was perhaps one of the most influential players on court. His rebounds originated fastbreaks, and that was a key to the blow-out. He can score less than 10 points anytime he wants if he can make such a contribution on the other side. - Delfino: a scoring threat, a cold blooded shooter. He has been terrific and giving solid performances lately. His play at the first half was very decisive to our lead. - TDouglas: once we are running again, TDouglas can shine all over. Specially when he plays SG, and helping to handle the ball alongside Lin or Beverley. Not shooting well, but his pace and intensity surely were important. - GSmith: quiet game, fighting a lot with Utah's bigs, hold his own on D, but was not as efficient as usual on offense. - Morris: maybe another one that wanted to prove something agains Millsap. He had a terrific second half, leading our bench and hitting 3 pointers all over. - Beverley: after debuting in a high fashion, his game regressed a little bit. However, he continues to give very nice ball handling and decision making from the bench, and is proving to be a worthy option for the PG position. Definitely an improvement over Machado, and a useful player since the beginning. Also joined the 3-point festival. - Anderson: he still has to prove himself more. As an option for the 2 and 3 positions, he has been very wise to not be a ballhog as Cook, and to be unselfish and move the ball when he is on court. Getting his shots from the flow, he was able to get 8 points, proving he is a scorer. - DMo: hard time holding his own in the paint, but shooting well from the 3-point line. His time on court could be described as: thrilling, clumsy and intriguing. He can be a star or turn out being just an average player. For now, inconclusive. - Aldrich: solid work on D, working hard for the boards, and not showing much on offense. The coach: -McHale: this was an A+ game for him. His defense strategy was perfect, and showed he is studying the other teams and learning from past games. Also, now, finally Lin is being the PG and Harden the SG, and that makes our game much more efficient. The ball movement, with passes without hesitation, shows something is starting to stick from the practices and talks. The team is starting to show much more fluid ball movement, and the rotation is now well balanced. Nice to see the bench players come and continue the game plan, keeping up the pace and movement, which really proves that was a coach work and not a fortuitous night from our starters. Overall, that was history being made. The worst home loss from Jazz, and the lead reached the 50-point mark. We were able to do that without getting our starters too tired. The conclusion is that the best way to rest our starters and give playing time to our rookies is to blowout by the 3rd quarter.
Agree 100%. Your post-game analysis is always much closer to the truth than most of the journal articles.
Excellent analysis by a good student of the game. I will also add that our starting unit won the game by playing sound basketball with a lot of off the ball movement, screens and cuts and running the floor when they get defensive stops instead of relying on the 3-point shot to solve problems on offense. The ball was not "sticky" and everyone participated. The rockets quit living on the three and forced the Jazz to die by the three.
coffetime 18-min highlights is back! <iframe width="560" height="315" src="http://www.youtube.com/embed/0OSjwD8nZoQ" frameborder="0" allowfullscreen></iframe> You know what strike me as weird? Seeing how HOU coaches allowed Parsons, Patterson and Lin to take FOUR long 2PTs in the first 5 min of 1Q to take 13-6 lead (Also, Harden's layup and Lin's layup plus And-1. Utah only made 2 3PT-ers) To me, it is a dramatic change for the old strategy of ONLY penetrate and find 3PT shooter. Often times, it caused HOU to trail by 10-15 pts behind in the 1st half. If coaches are now willing to tweak their system to get open shots even if it means long 2PTs, it will only create more spacing to penetrate because the big men can no longer pack the paint to prevent only penetration. Kudos to the coaches to finally do the right thing to incorporate long 2PTs to keep the defense honest by not packing the paint. Better late than never!:grin:
Thank you for the recap shuh! I can't watch the game So I listen to it on the radio And follow the clutchfans game thread.
No, it did make a big difference. Our margin for the last 25% was -2.0. Now it's +0.67. That brought our RAT up a full 2.0 to 102.740, and that's why we are now ranking 8th overnight from 22nd.
oops, I seem to have trouble embedding Youtube link. Can someone help? <a href="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0OSjwD8nZoQ">http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0OSjwD8nZoQ</a> <a href="http://<iframe width="560" height="315" src="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0OSjwD8nZoQ" frameborder="0" allowfullscreen></iframe>" target="_blank"><iframe width="560" height="315" src="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0OSjwD8nZoQ" frameborder="0" allowfullscreen></iframe></a>
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