Assistant coach Chris Finch explains the evolution of the Rockets' read-and-react offense

Don't think the part about Howard is anything big. It just reflects the fact that he's the key new member of our team now, whereas the other players are returning (core) players that already knows the system.

 

Miami's ball movement is also top tier.

 

Yeah, god forbid lin or parsons or tj or dmo touch the ball. They're such scrubs. I'd have to see or read the actual interviews, but from the way you've put it, that is a horribly ignorant rationalization.

As far as players not moving or cutting, why should they? They knew harden was going to dribble out the clock and chuck it. The harden iso, dribble out the clock and then chuck it 'strategy' was far too frequent to be a mere slip up and anomaly. It's much more likely that the coaches wanted the ball in harden's hands by default. Either they were terrified of correcting harden (very unlikely) or they designated harden as an iso guy explicitly, by design.

I will be very pleased if we NEVER see another harden iso again. Iso's are incredibly common in the nba, but this roster is far too talented for such an unimaginative offense.

 

I love seeing that ball move, Democratic ball.
don't get me wrong, the teen wolf set has it's purpose, like when a player is on fire and can't miss. But when it's clear that defense is stopping it, you have to continue to move the ball. It's what we did best when the fuhrer was here and now that the finch is here.
Not many teams are as good at moving the ball... here are my top 2 in the west

Spurs

Rockets

 

I don't watch Miami as much as SA, but they iso'd more late in games than SA in the games I watched. Granted, Lebron James in an Iso isn't a big drop off (if at all in small spurts when Lebron can go full tilt) from their usual game.

 

imagine finch and tom thibs work together........

hnnngg

 

Where did Finch say it was Harden's fault or say Harden was holding onto the ball causing late game break downs? I read it that everyone but Harden was standing around and waiting on Harden to do something.

 

it's for this reason late in the game, we need to incorporate some bread & butter half-court sets that allow Howard to get involved in dictating the offense, like an inside-out game.

 

Finch said that the late game iso's weren't part of the system, but because they abandoned the system. McHale has complained about "stickiness" and there was a large debate during the season on CF about whether those late game iso's were Harden's fault or McHale's. Most people blamed McHale, but this interview by Finch seems to put the blame back on Harden.

It's a read-and-react system, so the players are suppose to react to what Harden is doing with the ball. If Harden's holding the ball to iso at the top of the key, you're not going to have guys running into the paint to crowd out his drives. You either need read-and-react responses that promote off-ball movement, or you need set plays. Instead, you see guys get into position and waiting for Harden to penetrate and kick out to them. That's their read-and-react response when Harden iso's, just get into position and wait. Then everything stagnates as the timer clicks down.

You can't blame the guys. You either blame Harden of holding the ball too long, or you blame the coaches for not putting in read-and-react responses for what to do when Harden iso's that involves movement instead of standing around the arc and waiting. The guys are clearly primed to go to the arc and wait for kickouts, and clear the path for Harden. If they run around, it becomes harder for Harden to hit them for a spot up unless it's part of a set play where Harden knows where they will be, as well as crowd out space he may need in the paint to penetrate if they're cutting. That's why everything stagnates when he holds the ball instead of a fluid offense.

Finch says the system requires fast decision making and unselfishness. Holding the ball and iso'ing isn't fast decision making, it's waiting for the timer to click down. That's the difference between iso-Harden and the spurs offense.

You gotta pass the ball or drive and kick out, to get the fluid offense moving. If you hold the ball and wait out the clock for an iso, everything stops.

 

I never thought the iso's were Mchale's idea, only that he probably could have talked to Harden about it after the games and at the same time run a play where it would allow for movement. All they did after a timeout late in the game, was inbound the ball to Harden, not even setting up a screen or a play to get guys moving.