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The "Big Men Crush Smallball" argument has absolutely won.

Discussion in 'Houston Rockets: Game Action & Roster Moves' started by Josh Smith, Sep 10, 2020.

  1. Josh Smith

    Josh Smith Member

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    the lakers are simply too big

    too many easy dunks and finishes for ad and lebron

    just because they started markieff in place of javale does not mean they are small, they are still much bigger
     
  2. hakeem94

    hakeem94 Member

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    small sample size alert
     
  3. Juxtaposed Jolt

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    Not only is it a small sample size - it's the wrong sample.

    Our current roster just isn't optimal for small-ball. Too many inconsistent shooters, non-playmakers, etc. One of the superstar duo can't even be counted on to hit a wide open 3.
     
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  4. Josh Smith

    Josh Smith Member

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    3/8 tonight

    2/4 last game

    what other excuse can we use
     
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  5. hakeem94

    hakeem94 Member

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    small sample size
     
  6. Juxtaposed Jolt

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    What are you talking about?
     
  7. Landsdale

    Landsdale Member

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    House missing 2 games in a row? Westbrook still hurt (in my opinion) and cant stay in front of anyone on D? Refs (I dont really think this, but trying to think of other excuses)
     
  8. harold bingo

    harold bingo Udoka Only Fan
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    I don't know if you're trolling or just stupid but let's assume you're not trolling and you actually don't get it. Small ball is not about wanting to be small, It's a misnomer. It's about playing 5 guys who are skilled and can shoot. The rockets do not WANT to be small. The strategy is meant to demonstrate that you can sacrifice height if you're going to get shooting and offensive skills in return. It's still good to be big. Obviously if PJ Tucker was 7 feet tall that would be better.

    The fact that the Lakers were starting Javale and playing Dwight, and slowly reduced their minutes, and now they both get 0 minutes, shows that the "small ball" idea is correct. If one team is playing 5 shooters, despite them being small, you will run the traditional bigs off the court. I'm surprised it took the lakers as long as it did to figure it out, but they figured it out. That doesn't mean Anthony Davis can't play, or Markieff Morris, or that it's better to be small. @Clutch is right.
     
  9. Cannonball

    Cannonball Contributing Member

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    I don't disagree.

    My question though is, why did we go all in on small ball when we don't really have the player to run it at a really high level?

    Moreyball is predicated on volume shooting from 3, but as a team we're bottom 10 in 3PT%. We don't have the kind of 3 point shooters necessary for this to be truly successful and we don't have enough players who can consistently drive and finish either.

    We went all in on a strategy that our personnel is simply "OK" at hoping that the numbers would even the playing field. It didn't. And if teams want to "out Morey" and "out small ball" us, quite a few could probably do it better than us. The Lakers are even proving that their version of small ball, which they never did during the season, is better than ours.
     
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  10. YOLO

    YOLO Member

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    what's funny is look at the 2 teams that will be representing the east. oh miami and likely boston. Two teams that play small. one of them taking out the huge #1 ranked team in the league and one of the top odds to win the title this year
     
  11. wekko368

    wekko368 Member

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    Because we've consistently failed playing the traditional way. We're in a win-now mode so we had to take the risk.
     
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  12. JayGoogle

    JayGoogle Member

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    Lakers have a better small ball team than us.

    Issue with us, only Tucker can play against Bigs. Roco...eh, not really.

    Lakers have Lebron, Morris, and Davis that can play our 'bigs' no problem.
     
    #12 JayGoogle, Sep 10, 2020
    Last edited: Sep 11, 2020
  13. Josh Smith

    Josh Smith Member

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    so you're saying take the moral victory of "running the traditional bigs off the court"

    so we went small, "played 5 guys who are skilled and can shoot" you said, shot 42.4% from 3 tonight, and we still lost

    this proves that small ball works?

    you're "surprised it took the lakers as long as it did to figure it out" but it only took the lakers one game
     
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  14. Jontro

    Jontro Member

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    the real winners are doncic and zion. they're so handsome.
     
  15. kevtse

    kevtse Member

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    We just dont have elite shooters.
     
  16. harold bingo

    harold bingo Udoka Only Fan
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    It was a common take (before this series started) that the rockets were going to get eaten alive by Javale/Dwight. That it would be "barbecue chicken" for those big guys. The debate was whether the big guys would dominate the little guys, or would the little guys run the big guys off the court. The small guys won that debate. I'm not really considering it a moral victory, but if you want to look at it that way I guess you can. It shows that when one team "goes small" (I don't like calling it that), the other team is forced to also "go small". And that's exactly what the lakers have done. Unfortunately their small ball lineup beats our small ball lineup.

    To take out the stupid "small ball" moniker, it's better to put it this way - if one team is going to stretch the floor and play 5 guys that can shoot, you aren't going to beat them unless you also play 5 guys that can shoot. It's the same thing we saw with Capela against the warriors. That means guys like Javale, Dwight, Capela, or whoever else fits this "big guy who can dunk, block, and rebound, but can't shoot or dribble" archetype can't play.

    You are right though, it did only take them one game. I was wrong on that. I just went back and looked at the minutes, I thought they played Dwight/Javale a lot more in games 2 and 3. Dwight hasn't played since game 1 and Javale only played 7 and 8 minutes in games 2 and 3.
     
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  17. Sweet Lou 4 2

    Sweet Lou 4 2 Contributing Member
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    The take away is that Russell Westbrook is not the ideal fit for this team.
     
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  18. Easy

    Easy Boban Only Fan
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    Lakers's small is bigger than our small.

    They can run us off the 3pt line and still have people big enough to protect the inside.

    The "big men crush small ball" argument has not lost. But the "3&D players can beat skilled and mobile bigs" argument has.
     
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  19. sealclubber1016

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    If Davis hasn't been a softie he would have been playing the 5 all year, thats their best lineup. A rim protecting 5 that can shoot is perfect for the modern NBA.

    The Rockets pretty much ran standard 5s off the floor.
     
  20. apollo33

    apollo33 Member

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    The Raptors also shrunk their 4th quarter and OT lineup to Lowry, Vanvleet, OG, Siakim and Powell. That's even smaller than our small ball.

    The difference is their players can all play basketball at a fundamental level vs our line up full of guys who are so flawed at simple things like dribbling the ball
     

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