Dwight's post-up game not good for Rockets' offensive efficiency?

I don't think that's the case. We had excellent chances to win this game and that dallas game. We just fell apart at the end of both games. It has very little to do with the fact that dwight had it going early on.

 

Agree with could have won with McHale's coaching but totally disagree on Howard's great post game resulted in the loss!

Portland was very keen on guarding the 3's, it was part of their strategy. Furthermore, we started losing the game when Howard wasn't posting anymore, starting with early 4th when Howard wasn't in (Rox's bench playing against Portland's starters), and most of the rest of 4th when the post game was mostly abandoned.

Obviously the coach (Sampson) could have called a timeout and told everyone to get back to what worked before, but he didn't.

 

Fell apart late on defense.

Those two games were there for the taking.

 

so now Cf's is attacking dwight for making post moves.

 

So far you are the one here in this thread claiming that.

 

The open shots we were getting we just couldn't hit

 

Howard's post moves (esp back to the basket ones) looked more legit this game. The feed showed that Dream was giving Howard some drills before the game. So Dream is travelling with the team in this trip?

 

we lost those games because of defense not offense.

 

It just comes down to coach not being here and also playing in a very hostile place against the best team (record wise) in the west. This team is new and just gelling harden and Howard were fantastic and played well enough to win the game. We easily could have won the game and this was a playoff game in terms of how we're going to have to play to win. The good thing is I think we can do it. Aldridge is not going to have 30 and 25 every game, he had his best game ever and that why they won period.

The good news is Howard was a monster and showed us all that he's clearly the best center in the league and is starting to look like 09 Orlando Dwight with better post play. It really looks like the rockets are not cutting and giving him more space to make his move. He's being more patient and not forcing it. I would think most scouts are scared after tonight's game because Dwight has played really really good his last 5 games. It's only a matter f time before we pull off a 10 game win streak.

 

we couldn't hit our 3's, had an awful game shooting the ball tonight. that's why we loss and the inability to guard the 3 late

 

If these losses would have Howard's post moves oiled to the perfections, I can live with it since Howard must up his offensive games so that we can have a chance for the championships.

 

Glad to see that pretty much every poster here didn't buy this argument. Its evident that both portland and dallas game were open for the taking. We just lost and got outplayed in the end........ not because of dwights post play.

 

Defensive rebounding is why we lost this game.

 

howard gets position down low while the defense is in transition (first 4 seconds of the shot clock)

rockets wait for the defense to get set and give howard the ball 8 seconds into the shot clock.

doesn't make sense.

 

Yes, and to dig deeper, it was because we abandoned the half-court post game featuring Howard that worked so well earlier. Rox likes to play fast too, but with Portland, Portland's fast game is better than our fast game, and our half-court game is better than their half-court game. If we stick to our post game, there is less chance for Portland to run (which was what caused the defensive breakdown in the 4th). Our coaching staff just did terribly, letting us played into their hands.

 

A Rocket fan of all people should know how valuable the post is, especially when the game slows down in the playoffs.

 

I love stats and efficiency, but god damnit, there must be balance. Post-ups by old school big men and mid-range j's are dying in large due to morey ball, but guess what, you become very predictable, especially in the playoffs where teams analyze, study, re-study, and exploit every single weakness and aspect of each and every player and team. If you have an injured left ankle, guess what, theyre going left; if you arent taking pull up mid-range j's, then you're all the more easier to defend when going to the basket; and if you have no big man posting up, then you're too reliant on the perimeter players, who are already limited by not having a mid range game and a post presence. The point is to be a swiss army knife, the more tools you have, the more you can do, the more dangerous you'll be.

 

Great post ! Best I've saw all night! Like how you mentioned playoffs