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Why are the Clippers such a bad matchup for the Rockets?

Discussion in 'Houston Rockets: Game Action & Roster Moves' started by HamJam, May 12, 2015.

  1. B-Bob

    B-Bob "94-year-old self-described dreamer"

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    /thread
    /season
    + Dwert a year older with more knee mileage...

    /era

    [​IMG]
     
  2. Scolalist

    Scolalist Member

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    Not enough quality Rockets defenders to match up one on one with a Paul, Reddick, Crawford, Griffin & Jordan on the floor
     
  3. JazzLakerHater

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    We struggle, because apparently, Harden thinks that JJ Reddick is Scottie Pippen on defense or something.
     
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  4. Jbarrachina

    Jbarrachina Member

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    I like your post, and I would like to support you in some of the things said:

    1. Lack of defense. very true - the Rockets have no steady defensive stamina. Usually they only do it at the end of games (when they "wake up" from their day dreaming from the first 3 quarters, and usually it is too late to crawl out of the hole ). Defense IS the name of the game - defense will create offense, not the other way around.
    Giving up 120+ ppg is just a joke.
    The problem about no defense, I must say, is linked to their offensive style of play. This Morey non-sense of only 3-pointers and dunks is crazy. The Rockets play like they are always out-of-control, running and gunning while committing a crazy number of turnovers. But this is due to this erroneous style of play. I have to compare them with the Denver Nuggets under Doug Moe in the 80's.

    2. The bench - the players need to stick with their own role. However, everyone seems to try to do everything. A good team is a team where each player understands their role and does not invade another players role. Examples of this is J Smith dribbling up the court ( is he a PG?) or initiating the play by the 3-point line (again, is he the PG?), Ariza shooting brick after brick after brick.... and never trying to shoot a higher-precentage mid-range jumper (Morey's fault), Harden also trying to be the PG in the team is a mistake because he dribbles the ball for too long and then ends up taking a very difficult shot.
    We need more effective shooters, not force mid-range shooters into taking only 3-point shots. The other solution, which is better to me, is going back to the mid-range shots (not everything has to be a 3).

    3. Harden is NOT a superstar - Howard IS. The team needs to focus more on passing the ball to Howard inside and starting an inside-out game.
    Harden, as seen in these playoffs, is really not someone whom you can expect to use as your #1 offense. Maybe #2, but not #1. And he has shown that he does not want to be the #1 go-to guy.

    4. Coaching - they should go and see prior games by the Clippers (go see the San Antonio series) to understand how to defend these Clippers.
    However, I am not blaming McHale - he seems to be just following orders by Morey about this crazy style of playing.


    But my #1 point is that DEFENSE has always been and will always be the key to winning championships.
     
  5. Kwame

    Kwame Contributing Member

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    Who are these so-called "good 3 and D players" the Clippers have to put on Harden? Crawford and Reddick are all 3 and no D. Matt Barnes is a slightly above average defender, but shooting less than 30% from 3 pt land in the playoffs. Don't tell me you think Austin Rivers is a 3 and D guy. Who else is there Dahntay Jones, Lester Hudson, and Hedo aka the bench warmers? You know even less about basketball than I thought. There is no way anybody on the Clippers should be able to guard Harden, especially any of the guys mentioned above. There is only one person that is stopping Harden and that's the breakfast defector himself. Now go hang your head in shame with your garbage "analysis" of how the Clippers "have good 3 and D players to put on Harden" not to mention your prediction of the Rockets winning in 6. So much fail from one poster.
     
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  6. RedEyesKirby

    RedEyesKirby Member

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    Yeah let's talk about match-ups.
    In terms of player match-ups
    Howard > Jordan
    TJ < Griffin
    Terry < CP3
    Harden > Redick
    Ariza >/= Barnes

    Our Bench > Their Bench

    So in terms of RAW matchup we are actually a GREAT matchup against the Clips. It's just we decide to sleep and stop trying.
     
  7. haiti1804

    haiti1804 Member

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    I agree with you to a degree..the Clippers don't have any great INDIVIDUAL defenders but they are playing good team defense.They are basically playing 3 to 4 guys against Harden at all times. Its not just Reddick, the whole team is shaded toward Harden and react to any slightest move that he makes. Look at the replays...that's why I laugh when people say that Harden is choking. The difference between this series and Dallas(besides the atrocious defense at all times) Is that Smith,Brewer,and Jones and to a lesser degree Howard are complete no shows in this series.
     
  8. RMGEEGEE

    RMGEEGEE Contributing Member

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    You're not quantifying the advantages... FTFY
     
  9. RedEyesKirby

    RedEyesKirby Member

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    If you want to do it like that, then it should be

    Harden >>>>>>>>>>> Redick
     
  10. count_dough-ku

    count_dough-ku Contributing Member

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    No, there's no reason Redick or Rivers should be shutting down Harden. Granted, the refs are allowing Redick in particular to get very physical with him. When that happens along with a few no calls in the paint when Harden attacks the rim, he mentally checks out. But he has to learn to get over that and stop pouting when a few calls don't go his way. If he kept attacking the basket, eventually the refs would blow the whistle(unless the Clippers were so good on D that they literally never fouled him).

    But when he just camps out on the perimeter after the first quarter because the refs refuse to call a few fouls, he takes himself out of the game and basically dooms the Rockets since they have no other reliable playmaker. We'll see if he gets over himself tonight. If the prospect of the season ending doesn't motivate him to leave it all out there on the court, I don't know what will. Then again, it didn't seem to matter a year ago when the Rockets were down 3-1 vs Portland. Harden played one of the worst games I've ever seen until the last couple minutes of the 4th quarter.
     
  11. jordnnnn

    jordnnnn Member

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    This is still a thing to some people?

    Harden is our superstar. He has been a very efficient #1 scoring option. Howard is atrocious in the post and doesn't pass out well. Howard should be out there to defend, rebound and run endless pick and rolls. You know, the things that make him an amazing player.

    If your game plan is to work inside out with Dwight then the game plan sucks. You need a better skilled big men for that.
     
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  12. haiti1804

    haiti1804 Member

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    lol...so true
     
  13. TexasStake

    TexasStake Member

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    this reminds me of the playoffs of 2007 playoffs IIRC... vs. Utah Jazz. In the season, we beat the Spurs 3 out of 4 games, 3 blowouts and the one game they beat us they barely won. We were a 5 seed so we would've played Spurs in the Conference finals as they were a #3 seed.

    If we had beaten the Jazz, we would've went on to play the #8 GS Warriors as they knocked off the #1 seed Dallas... we would've been playing a Spurs team in the WCF that we could've beaten in 6 games and then went on to play the Cavaliers in the finals (which the Spurs swept the Cavs).

    The series against the Jazz went to 7 games... and the Jazz were the ONE team in the playoffs that Yao could not play against. Yao was too slow to handle the speed of Okur/Boozer on the perimeter and that left a huge void in the paint on defense. Had we gotten past Utah I think we would've won the championship that year.
     
  14. count_dough-ku

    count_dough-ku Contributing Member

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    I don't think the Rockets would've beaten the Spurs that year. They probably beat the Warriors in Round 2, but the Western Conference Finals would've been as far as they'd gotten.

    Of course, then Van Gundy wouldn't have been fired. I wonder if the Rockets would've been as good under him the next 2 seasons as they were after Adelman took over.
     
  15. TexasStake

    TexasStake Member

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    Right on brotha... people around here seem to have short term memory or something. Remember when Yao went head to head with Dwight Howard who was basically labeled the best big man in the game even infront of Yao? Dwight shrinks when he's up against a large skilled player. That said player doesn't even have to be athletic like a Deandre/Blake, they just need to be able to shoot the ball, be crafty, and stand their ground when defending Howard and he turns into a 8ppg, 9rpg, 1bpg player.

    My opinions about Dwight were spot on before he joined the team, just as they were about Josh Smith before he joined the team... a little bit of promise and lots of negatives that go with their athletic bodies.
     
  16. rocketsballin

    rocketsballin Member

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    cuz they play defense and run a real offensive system. those teams will always beat a team who iso-balls and plays lazy/fake switching defense.
     
  17. kingkingston

    kingkingston Member

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    The Clippers are not that good at defence
     
  18. larsv8

    larsv8 Contributing Member

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    They got more talent.
     
  19. killtaker

    killtaker Contributing Member

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    Clips have a perfect roster for defending Harden. 2-3 wings who can play up on him. Up top, Blake defends pick n roll well enough, and then downlow, you have Jordan playing QB spy every possession.

    They are just built to stop iso-ball, and we are idiotically playing to their strengths. Very poor coaching.

    Best way to combat it is to get a playmaking PG that can create and alleviate that pressure.
    But this series, i really don't know why we don't have Harden running to get some off the ball looks, give the defense different looks that force Clips to adjust to us for once.
    I just can't believe our best offensive strategy is to have Harden do everything from start to finish, with no plan B.
     
  20. Nero

    Nero Member

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    As I said.

    We make our shots, everything else falls into place.

    One game at a time now, the pressure is all on the Clips, so we'll just have to see what happens. The Rockets now know they can truly beat those guys.
     

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