What's the story behind 'We played with energy' after wins, 'We didn't play with energy' after losse

It's just a catch all generic answer for rebounding, getting back on defense, etc. They aren't prepping or giving much thought to these media answers, most of them don't even want to do it in the first place.

 

<blockquote class="twitter-tweet" lang="en"><p lang="en" dir="ltr">Its not energy buddy.</p>&mdash; Haralabos Voulgaris (@haralabob) <a href="https://twitter.com/haralabob/status/595433522690707457">May 5, 2015</a></blockquote>
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Just for some context - in Game 7 of the Spurs/Clippers series - one legged Chris Paul ran 3.93. That's faster than James Harden ever runs for a game. Josh Smith just limped in with a 3.66 in Game 1 Rockets/Clippers.

The Clippers ran like pros in the 4th quarter and blew us out. I'm not sure we have any answers for Jamal Crawford, Matt Barnes, and JJ Redick. These are the guys that just kill us. They love to play us.

Josh Smith - “We acted like this wasn’t a playoff series with the energy level, and that was really discouraging,”

Coach McHale after the game - “We’ve got to do better. We’ve got to come off things more decisively. We have to play with more quickness. We have to play with more speed. And then, when you play with more speed, things are more definite. When you are stopping and starting, stopping and starting, you don’t know where to throw the ball. We just have to come off, get into our actions and get moving.”

 

rust defeated rest. When it was go time, we weren't ready for the adversity. Their early small successes fueled their confidence, and crushed ours all too easily. I think we thought things would be easier with CP3 out, and when they weren't, we looked lost. They saw that and capitalized.

I expect better energy, less turnovers, and a w next game. It needs to show immediately in game 2 for the clips not to play like they can't lose, and if not I'm not sure we're mentally tough enough to overcome it. Intensity and precision needs to be evident from tip-off onward. I suspect it will be.

 

Nobody should be surprised that the master gambler things you can quantify everything.

Energy, lack thereof, was the main reason we lost last night. Everyone outside of Howard.

 

turnovers killed. a couple of those harden turnovers came about without any pressure or even swiping hands, he simply mishandled the ball dribbling. this doesn't happen when a player brings energy and focus.

 

good call

 

Clippers/Rockets Game 5 notes: The stats tell us that the Clippers energy level was much more down than it was that the Rockets were much more up. Josh Smith did make it up to a 4, which again is his high water mark. Chris Paul is atfull speed, but his teammates weren't.

Our rebounding and contesting for rebounds was much better.

The Clippers only made 17 of 52 uncontested shots. Having 52 uncontested shots is why McHale keeps saying, "we have to clean up our defense."

We also made a few contested shots in this one (33-58). That's big for us.

 

We played with energy last night.

 

How do you measure energy? What's the analytical tool? Maury needs to get us more energy playas

 

Game 6 Notes - Great Win! The stats tell us several important stories:

1. This game featured the highest energy level for Dwight all season: he ran 4 mph (his highest), his rebounding numbers (9 possible offensive chances, 15 possible defensive chances - actuals: 7 offensive, 14 defensive) were super. He also contested 8 shots (Clippers making 3) which is at least a series high.

2. James Harden ran harder in this game than any in the series, and maybe in the year (3.93 mph). This might tell us why he was gassed, and why in the 3rd he couldn't make a shot. He looked really good for about 4 possessions in the 2nd quarter. He had that swagger that he's had all season, but did anyone else notice his fade?


3. Corey Brewer made 4-8 uncontested looks and 2-6 contested ones. Those both have to be series highs. He made a huge contribution.

4. We missed 10 free throws in the fourth quarter, and won by 12. I bet there's never been another team trail by in NBA history do that. Trail by double digits and leave so many points on the court and win? Wow!

5. The Clippers only committed 2 turnovers in the 4th quarter. We got back in this by solid rebounding, shooting, some timely Clipper misses, defense, and going 7-11 from the 3 point line for the first time in forever.

What a great, great win! Don't celebrate too hard. There's a series and a championship to win.

 

Guys played with energy and pushed the ball. No home run plays ... smart plays in the 4th.

 

This is a perfect example of taking miniscule data and twisting it to fit a false premise.

Those are SPEED numbers, Rockets88. Speed! How do you think that data is collected?

Now consider how Harden plays, with the stops and starts and jukes, etc., handling the ball for 40 minutes a game.

Those speed numbers mean ZERO! They do not correlate with energy expended! They're showing Prigs at over 5! Know why? Because Prigs doesn't use a lot of hesitation and fakes. He mostly runs down and catches the ball and moves it. Same thing with all the other players that play off the ball. You can obviously run faster if you ain't dribbling the basketball end to end and handling the ball more than anybody else on the team. That's a fantastic speed number for the guy pounding the rock for 40 minutes! Fantastic!

One more time. This whole series comes down to how Dwight/Smith match up against DeAndre/Blake. And more specifically how we handle Blake on both ends of the court. We have to control the glass. We can't control the glass without Dwight and Smith playing heavy minutes. And our best 5 guys are Harden, Dwight, Ariza, Smith, and Brewer with Terry a close 6th. We've got to defend, board, and get out in transition. We do that and we win.

And Harden has been busting his tail this whole playoffs just as much if not more so than he has all season for us. Please don't bring no junk up in here. That whole post was garbage. Harden's been bringing his A-game this whole series and the whole playoffs.

 

they need to play with tesla energy instead of edision energy!

 

Game 1 notes: The effort level in this game was the highest of the season. I was the proud for the way we played.

Harden ran a 4.02 - his fastest running of the year - great effort (I've harped pretty hard to see more effort here - and it's nice to see)
Smith's 4.15 was his highest effort of the year
Capela's 4.52 is truly notable as well - what a talent!
Jones's 4.38 was his highest effort in some time

Also kudos to McHale for trusting in some bench play. The Warriors really played their starters some long minutes (Green & Curry in particular). Over a long, physical series we can hope that will pay off.

I do hope we can clear away some of these obvious breakdowns. . . We are either well organized and contest shots or fall apart. I don't think we can allow the Warriors 45 uncontested looks and win. Klay Thompson won't keep missing.

And I can only hope that Terrence Jones can flip a switch and clue in on defense & finish a basket or 2. He still seems to struggle with his explosiveness.