At least I give the coaching staff kudos for recognizing a problem, but the team's inability to solve the problem is troubling. Blame it on coaching for not having the players ready to make plays. Blame it on the players for not being strong and decisive with the ball. Blame it on the GM/Ownership for putting together a team that can execute a 4-3. Going into the playoffs, many figured you don't have to be the GOAT Warriors of 2017 and 2018 to win it this year. You probably don't have to be the tough Raptors of 2019 or even the Warriors of 2015/Cavs of 2016. The winner of the 2020 NBA bubble championship probably has to play just a little worse than the 2015 Warriors to still be able to win it this year in terms of talent and execution. At times during the OKC series, I had high hopes that this was possible; however, it has become evident that the 2020 Rockets don't have the collective talent (shotmaking/playmaking/intelligence/discipline) to execute at the level of those teams. Yes, the 2nd half was full of moments of quit and fail and brain farts, but unless you're a robot, that is just human nature when your plan A and plan B gets kicked in the nuts and you're behind by double digits. It's just a shame that a talent like Harden who commands a trap off the PnR gets wasted when that situation doesn't gain an advantage for the team. Only Harden, Curry, Lillard and few others command that trap. For base reference, let's look at the 2015 Warriors when they were down 2-1 against the Cavs. At the end of the previous game that they won, the LeBron Cavs decided that they can't let Curry go 1-on-1 on a pick because he's just too good (step backs, floaters, creating downhill). They would trap hard as their base defense. To counteract that, the Warriors made Draymond Green the playmaker for the and PnR. Curry would get the ball to Green going downhill and he would attack the rim or make the right pass to get the engine going. This reel shows a lot of that: (times to see: 47s, 1:11, 1:25, 3:01, 3:24, 5:07) Now let's look at the 5 first half traps I found by the Lakers. 1) Harden turnover 2) PJ Tucker hockey assist to Westbrook to McLemore 3 3) Jeff Green short arm shot put 4) Austin Rivers passes up wide open mid range or floater = turnover 5) Jeff Green stripped, turnover https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KKrTPZvJpDE 5 possessions: 1/2 shooting for 3 points, 3 turnovers, putrid Give credit to the Lakers for good trapping, but there's no way in hell a team with championship aspirations shouldn't be able to execute against a PnR trap and turn a 4-vs-3 offense into a huge advantage. It's maddening. Get those open buckets, infuse your team with confidence, and watch it transfer to the defensive end too especially if the Lakers aren't running (from turnovers and bad misses). The Rockets already have enough to overcome with LeBron, AD, Rondo (I can't believe I'm writing) playing well, Westbrook's ridiculous fastbreak turnovers that lead to Lakers fastbreaks, and the size disparity. They can't let basic half court trap defenses befuddle them like a middle-of-the-pack team. Why isn't Russell Westbrook playing the role of Draymond? Sadly, maybe the truth is that this team isn't good enough to play winning basketball even when it's 4-on-3 downhill. No more room for error. My fingers are crossed. I'm not hopeful, but damn it, there are open shots to be had.
It appears simple to me that it should be Westbrook floating to the free throw line in the trap scenarios. It leaves PJ in the corner (rather than Westbrook).
Westbrook is killing our spacing...if he could just be an average shooter, all of these problems go away.
I love reading your posts but where do you get the time? Must be a non-drinker because between our three pro teams tonight I was already into my 5th of Bushmills.
I hate to go all fchowd here but if they're going to play Harden like this he's got to play different. It's abundantly clear that "dump the ball as soon as you get doubled and then sit out for the rest of the possession" is not the answer. The lakers are VERY good at recovering from the trap, I don't even think it's fair to call it a 4on3 situation. They rotate back and recover almost instantly. Maybe it just seems that way to me because of how bad this team is at capitalizing on those situations, I don't know. But that's what it looks like to me. Why can't Westbrook just be the primary ballhandler in these situations? If you look at the offensive numbers, Harden+4 > Westbrook+4 > Harden+Westbrook, and that's inexcusable. I can accept that Harden plus four shooters is the best of the three options, purely from an offensive standpoint. But I cannot accept that Harden+Westbrook+3 is WORSE than Westbrook+4. At its absolute WORST, Harden could just play the role of "stand still at the 3 point line" like our other guys. Harden is an elite catch and shoot 3 point shooter. I mean, reducing Harden to a catch and shoot spot up shooter is pretty pathetic, but somehow the offense we've chosen to run is much worse than this option. I'm not even sure Westbrook is better than Draymond in these spots. I'm not saying as an overall player, but specifically in terms of receiving a quick pass from Harden being trapped, and then moving quickly to turn that into a good shot. After watching the plays from the warrior video you posted, Russ should be able to do this stuff. But they're so good at it, Draymond especially is just so good in those spots. I guess because it's highlights, but still, they look so good.
Man that warriors offense is such a well ran machine. There's zero hesitation on those traps. I feel like we still take 5 seconds to process the trap every time it happens which gives more time for the defense to react.
But where in those Warriors videos do you see Curry getting back into the play? And this was just one game, for the majority of this series Westbrook only lineups are far and away are worst lineups.
Firstly curry is much faster passing out of those traps and hitting in stride running towards the rim Secondly Draymond is much bigger than WB and can finish or draw some fouls even when challenged inside, where as it's much more difficult for WB to try to challenge AD and not get blocked.
It's also because as soon as Curry comes off a screen he can pull up for a 3, Harden doesnt really do that. The trap comes immediately and hard for Curry while for Harden they have time to adjust.
Yeah but why? Harden is a better passer than Curry. He makes harder and better passes his entire career. Are they not practicing this situation? It's not unreasonable to expect him to be able to do that as well as Curry does. As for the Draymond/WB comparison, yeah. I don't think that one is as simple. Maybe we can't expect Westbrook to be as good in those spots as Draymond.
Numbers for the lakers series (4 games) - HARDEN + WESTBROOK: 102.4 ORTG / 108 DRTG (-5.6 net) HARDEN+4: 113.8 ORTG / 102.2 DRTG (11.6 net) WESTBROOK+4: 112.3 ORTG / 123.2 DRTG (-10.9 net)
Pretty much this. Curry is already thinking ahead. He knows it's coming and knows what to do with it right away. Unfortunately for Harden, he also knows it's coming, but 3-5 seconds into the trap, he's still trying to figure out where to go with it. He needs to react and get the ball moving quicker.
They are hedging that trap for Harden, for Curry they are going directly at him because they are worried about the pull up.
Harden PostUPs would throw a wrench into the traps .. let WB bring it up and dump it down .. Harden is actually good posting up he does it all summer - just not in our system
Doesnt this just prove my point though?. The defense is worse because he has really REALLY bad turnovers. Like the Westbrook only lineups are not great. Harden and Westbrook arent a good fit together and Harden with the ball has greater value than Russ without the ball.
Also the Lakers are smart at who they use to double. They rarely trap with WB's man so WB is never in the situation to receive that pass down the middle. Also when they do trap they make sure either LeBron or AD is in the paint to challenge WB at the rim. Basically the problem comes down to us not having a Draymond type PF who can just attack on the high pnr. Tucker catching it in the middle is essentially a waster possession because everyone know he cannot actually drive it to the hoop. We actually had the same probably with Capela receiving the pass down the middle because he also cannot attack on the roll from the free throw line.
