Offense 1) More Pick and Rolls - Harden and Lin are 2 of the best pick and roll players in the NBA. - OPEN LANE - when ONE of Lopez or LA is out of the game. You just involve whichever one is in the game on the P&R. - Harden is not shooting well from the outside, so a pick and roll can get him more open to attack the basket. - Higher efficiency 2) Establish Dwight Early - In-out game is recipe for success in the NBA - Dwight has been consistent with post moves - More attention to Dwight means more open shots for others - Less predictable alternating P&R 3) More Troy Daniels - More space - defenders have to pay close attention to him - Fast break 3s -Players are looking for Harden and Parsons before Daniels. He should be the first guy for a fast break pass down the court. - RUN PLAYS FOR HIM 4) Wear LA Out - Make him play defense - Do what Matthews is doing to Harden - When Jones is in the game, make him attack LA Defense 1) "Show Less" on Pick and Roll - LA is always open when Asik/Howard comes out too far. - We can come out 1 step less and still bother Lillard/Batum, while having enough time to recover for LA. 2) Asik or Dwight on LA at all times - Good job McHale. 3) Watch for Pump Fakes - DON'T JUMP TOO EARLY LA does this on almost every play he dribbles toward the basket. 4) STOP Stupid Fouls - STOP REACHING AT THE BALL - If you do foul, foul hard on lay-up/dunk attempts
If you want to beat the Blazers, you keep doing what you are doing. The Rockets have had double digit leads in every game. The jump shooting of Portland isn't sustainable over a series. You can't rely on 27 off balance 27 footers to go in all night. It slowed last night in crunch time and the Rockets took advantage. The Blazers are in trouble.
Offense 1. In regards to the P/R...yes they do need to do it more, however I think when Omer is on the floor, it really unproductive to throw him any of the roll passes...He just has a really hard time catching passes. After Asik sets the pick, shooters need to be ready to launch their jumpshot. Perhaps a way to get Daniels some good looks is precisely this way. Another person that could benefit from the Pick and roll is TJones. He definitely has soft hands and can make plays above the rim. 2. No question. Dwight's activity level has been a series changer. The more involved Dwight's been, the more worn out their bigs are. 3. Daniels will get his opportunities, but right now the Portland players have been instructed to stay on their man at all costs preventing the Rockets from having sustained rhythm. However, he has a green light anytime he is open. 4. Part of LMA lack of offensive success has been because Dwight has done a good job wearing out his legs by posting him deep into the paint. Dwight must continue to punish anyone trying to guard him one on one. Defense: 1. I have mentioned this before, Asik is our best big in terms of P/R coverage. He hedges briefly and quickly recovers to his man. Dwight lingers on the pick(perhaps of fear of getting a cheap moving foul), but often he tends to wipe out his own player as well for any recovery. 2. So far, we've been able to continue to have success, but never know when a great shooter can get hot. LMA fits the bill. 3. TJones has been the most susceptible at jumping and letting his man blow by...especially with smaller defenders. Unfortunately that may just come with experience. Lin must avoid at all costs to recover on any scramble situations without flying by(ala three point shot Mo Williams had in game 4). I think he recovers quickly, but sometimes he overshoots for no reason, and has gotten burnt. 4. If you are gonna foul...hit their arm hard. Its the playoffs, and make them feel playoff fouls. They took it out on Dwight last night(Lopez's hard foul). The Rockets need to do the same as well. great job with your post 4.
You can't keep doing what you're doing when we're 2-3 and we have more talent. We should have won 4 of these games. We have done many things right, but there are always things that we can improve on.
More Pick and Rolls. Lin/Harden pick and pop was working brilliantly when utilized this series. Getting Lin's man (Lillard or Mo Williams) guarding Harden one on one at the top of the key. Harden/Howard pick and roll. Also worked brilliantly when used this series. Lin/Howard pick and roll. Gives the option of Lin to drive to the basket or dump it to Howard over the smaller man. This was the Knicks bread and butter during Linsanity and Howard is a much superior player to Tyson Chandler. His athleticism and mobility(which was a weakness of Yao's) is as good or better than Chandler. Howard also has great hands for a big man, which is why I prefer this over Lin/Asik P&R. I'll never understand why this isn't used to death.
Haden, get to the basket. Use the pump fake and get them in the air. Kick it out when the defense collapses for the wide open three. You should know where your teammates spots are behind the arc.
Medicine N Music is the only one qualified to be the next coach of the Rockets! In all seriousness, I agree with all your points. And, it should be that simple. I don't understand why we don't do any of those things more often and why we make adjustments so late. For example, why did it take to Game 3 to start Asik in for Jones when it was painfully obvious in GAME 1 that LMA can just abuse Jones on offense? The LMA Game 2 debacle could have been avoided. In Game 3, there was that Howard/Harden pick and roll that Portland could not stop in the first half so why haven't we seen that play at all in the second half of that game or the subsequent games? In the Game 4 overtime, why did we go to Howard post ups the last 2 minutes of regulation and the first 3 minutes of overtime when Howard couldn't get much consistently? It was only when we were down 7 with 2 minutes left in overtime that we finally went away from Howard post ups but by then it was pretty much too late to save that game. The one thing that bugs me about this coaching staff and players is that our adjustments are always too little, too late. Harden should not be consistently struggling if the team made the right adjustments. Howard shouldn't be the only consistent player on our team. The Rockets shouldn't be down 3-2, at all.
yes please! yes hell yes yes yes yes yes yes, DWIGHT! We need you, stop with the early fouls. Refs got a boner for you
Lin is on the court with Asik off the bench - usually he works with him. When PNR is ran, it's Harden/Howard. Harden has a nice bounce pass.
The Rockets game plan is fine, it all comes down to execution. The modern NBA is a players league. There are few coaches that rule with an iron fist and control most of what happens on the court. The most common procedure is to do what Thibs does, and just not play the player (Boozer), however McHale does not get that luxury because the Rockets are not deep at all. The Rockets will win if they hit their 3's, limit turnovers and their perimeter players do not sag into the paint too soon. Game 6 will probably be the hardest game the Rockets will have the entire series. The Blazers do NOT want a game 7..... especially with the Rockets having the momentum in a game 7.
