People complaining this has no clue of how Portland played. Portland just won't double team Howard and rather play him 1 on 1 in most situation because they just don't like to give up on 3 pt shots. Even in the regular season, the Rox are only shooting something around 32-35% from threes. It's not Howard doesn't want to pass, its rather Portland are mostly focusing on stopping us to shot 3. In most cases, if Portland will double team Howard, they use the guy who will guard the one to do the entry pass to come back from the weak side to do it. For that, Howard had made some good pass to Bev and knock down some threes before.
WTF? He may not be "THE DR34M" but he has certainly shown he can play with his back to basket and do the other things you think he should at the same time lol... Big men either face up or post in one on one situations. He can't shoot if you want to say that...
I don't consider Dwight Howard as a smart player. There are times he forced himself unaware that he was being double or triple team. He lacks the awareness and the anticipation of passing the ball. Sometimes he failed to see everything on the floor or see ahead of time...and that's why he even turn over the ball when being double team. Lacking awareness and anticipation. He is somewhat of a "single-minded player" but getting better. In other words, when he make up his mind that he's going to back down his man and go at it, he failed to adjust his mindset when that plan failed or is screwed up such as being double team.
simple...no one is moving...harden hides in the corner when dwight gets it in the post..parsons is the only guy to flash to the rim but the spacing is off..mchale should work drawing plays out of those dwight post ups
Very good observation, and something I can't believe isn't more obvious to the clueless fans here. Dwight is a very good passer out of the post, and a willing passer. I hate to say it, but people are simply dumb if they dont know that. However teams dont give him early double teams? Why.... well as you mentioned, that's where the Rockets are at their best.... when they are shooting a massive amount of wide open 3's. Teams will live and die by Dwight post ups all night long. Dwight has to be otherworldly for the Rockets to win by Dwight scoring 1 on 1 as the bread and butter of their offense. However if thats all you can get in the Rockets offense, you have to make them pay for guarding Dwight 1 on 1 because the Rockets have nothing else left in their offense other than Harden step back 2's.
When Howard is doing his post ISO's, all our other four players would just stand and watch on the weak side. (I have been wondering if that's by McHale's design.) The weak side is very crowded and stagnant. And it's very difficult for Howard to find a teammate with open look to outlet. This gives the Blazers' bigs (Lopes, LMA, Batum or even one of the guards) a chance to move up to him in the paint, since their assignments won't be getting the ball anyways. The solution would be simply for one or two of our guards to run to the strong side. This would unpack the paint for Howard to get a less contested shot, or a chance to pass out to a shooter. (Remember this is almost impossible for Howard since all his teammates are at the back of him when he is backing to get closer to the basket. It's just too much for him to find and pass accurately to a teammate with his peripheral vision.) I would put this problem on McHale, since if having everyone else on the weak side is not his design, he should have noticed this and come up with a solution.
This requires Howard to be deep inside, because otherwise he'll get doubled really easily. But how you get around that is off-ball screens, which we don't run...
This. I'm more than happy to see 60%+ of his field goals. He should shoot more if that percentage holds. Feed him the ball more often, until the Blazers adjust to free up other Rockets more.
Good points. They should shift along the 3-point line as well, especially when Howard starts his dribble. Sometimes even a sneaky baseline cut would be nice and everyone else rotates along the perimeter to spread to the open space on the floor. Also they need to actually TRY the give and go hand-off layup when they pass it to Howard in the post.
