This is a very nice thought, but the Rockets are gonna turn the ball over against this Warriors defense; no way around it. The antidote is to get an equal or greater number on the other end. Not directed at you in particular, but people have to realize the Warriors defense has been #1 in the NBA since the Butler trade. He has transformed their team. Their connective tissue on defense is insanely good. IMO, the key to beating the Warriors is clamping down on Curry and Butler on the other end, forcing other guys to beat you and winning a physical junk fest. Nobody's offense is going to look good against them. What really bothers me about game 1 is how winnable it was, but two guys were trash and Udoka gave them too much of a leash. The absolute trust in Fred must stop and if Jalen continues to fail, those guys need more bench time to meditate and reflect. Them being allowed to shoot 34 times while making only 7 is a basketball crime!
We got the lead down to 4 . . . . .then Ime for some reason changed out the line up BOOM . . ball game Jalen and Fred should not have been our closers last nite maybe another nite but not last nite Rocket River
We can definitely cut down on turnovers by prioritizing getting shots up. There were times when we were in a great position for rebounds and tried to force feed passes inside or dribble into traffic. Just jack up a shot like Fred is doing. We're going to get the rebound anyways.
What I was going to post would have been a version of this so I won't repeat. The only thing I will add is that my guess is Udoka has committed to Jalen/FVV because while Reed/Cam could help us win a game, they won't win an entire series for us at this point in their development. This team won't win a series if both FVV and Jalen are awful the whole series. It doesn't matter who we plug in specific situations. The team is built around FVV/Jalen as primary playmakers/scorers. The only way this could have been different is if we conceded the season from the beginning and gave Reed/Cam starter level minutes all year to figure it out.
Our winning formula has been the same all season. Dominant rebounding, elite defense, and minimum viable halfcourt offense. it's visually ugly but the formula works. It mostly worked last night too. Two things went wrong: 1. We played too many minutes of small lineups, which get crushed because they don't rebound. Happened again last night. 2. Not enough 3's went in to get the halfcourt offense to a minimum viable level. If even one of those things can be improved in game 2, we should win. GSW doesn't really have an answer for our formula if we don't beat ourselves.
But we can keep shooting bad or uncomfortably. I really hope we don't but hopefully we learn from game one. I pray for that. From coaching on down to playing. We need to be the team that makes the other team uncomfortable and pay.
Fred shouldn’t be out there for 40 minutes. If he’s not feeling it, cap him at 8–10 shots. No need for 19 forced ones like Game 1. If he’s off, play Holiday instead.
I wonder who's bright idea it was for Fred to take so many shots. Jabari and Brooks deserved a lot more shots in this game.
Missed shots were bad but what compounded it was that VanVleet was indecisive, bringing the ball up slow, getting late in a shot clock and then hoisting an unbelievable difficult shot. It became even more apparent when there was only two minutes and 30 seconds left in the game and he was still moving slow, getting into some slow and hurried offensive set with about 10 seconds left on the clock. Is this on VanVleet or the coach?
I respectfully disagree because of our youth and inexperience. I believe that the Rockets will have to blow them out to win.
1. The Warriors had the bright idea of making Fred one of the guys who had to beat them and he failed miserably. Like many of us would post in game threads back in the day: Yo Rafer, there is a REASON you are open! 2. Fred saw the Warriors defenders were very good at deflections and stripping players in traffic. I don't think the Rockets ever fully adjusted to this in game 1. There were many times Fred was alone on the perimeter and decided it was better for him to take a wide open or relatively open shot than to run a play that would probably be blown up by the Warriors defense. In other words, a FGA is better than no FGA at all. It's a logical thought and I can't blame him 100% for this. Ime should have given Holiday some of Fred's minutes.
I blame two people on game one lost Jalen Green, and Udoka. In the second quarter when the game was getting out of reach he never called any time outs, he waited to long to put back in the starters. It was two blown calls in the second quarters he never challenge. Jalen needs to take some mid range jumpers to get himself in rhythm.
Reed is definitely not the answer. He's gonna be roadkill out there. Even older rookies play horribly in the playoffs and Reed with his little baby teenager body will just get straight up runover.
