Nothing special here but after reviewing how many close games we’ve been in and loss and wondering how much a healthy Yao and Brooks may have made a difference… Against the Lakers we had a double digit lead in the second half and lost Against the Warriors we had a halftime lead and lost Against the Hornets we lead by 9 in the 3rd quarter and lost Against the Spurs we lead by 4 points with 50 seconds remaining and lost Against Wizard leading in 4th (Yao Injured) Lost Against the Bulls we are winning by 8 at the half and lose. Against the Raptors we lead by 6 late in 3rd and lose Against Suns we Rally back to within 4 under a minute and lose Against Bobcats we lead by 7 at the half and lose Against Bulls winning by 3 with 10 secs remaining and don’t foul Rose and lose Against Bucks losing by 3 with 21 secs remaining and lose Against Heat winning by 3 at half close to within 3 under 1 minute and lose Against Jazz winning by 14 at half and lose in overtime Against OKC winning at half close to within 2 under 1 minute and lose Against Jazz winning by 14 in 3rd and lose in overtime Even in the 8 other losses only 3 of them we were really out of . We played 4 overtime games and lost all 4. IMO We are in desperate need of a defensive stopper and a better go to guy. Yao Ming was supposed to be both of those guys for us.
that's what separates the contenders from the pretenders. Close means nothing. We are not playing winning basketball. time to shake things up a bit.
Our 4th quarter collapses (on both ends) and inability to step it up in crunchtime is really no secret. I would imagine Morey is targeting the type of defensive stopper (at the five) and go-to-guy in the 4th (Melo, CP3, etc) that you mentioned.
Hmm good thread. I would also like to point out that part of the close closses is also due to bad coaching decisions made by Adelman. The stubborn refusal to play PP even when we desperately needed size and layup drills were happening on the court, subbing in up to 4 people all at the same time, sticking to what seems to be a predetermined rotation irrespective of who's hot and who's cold on the floor, all these things add up land can cost us a game like when we were up by 2 and the staff decided not to foul with just a few secs left on the clock. Superstars apply to coaches as well, and even if the chance of us getting a superstar coach is slim, I hope our next coach is much better at such an important part of the game.
This teams execution late in games has been awful. If the game is close in the fourth and we don't hit our three's we lose. Anytime we set up a play for the last shot we never get a good look. If we don't end up trading for a better player I think we need to put the ball in Aaron's hands at the end of games. This idea of trying to go to the hot hand at the end of games has been a failure.
I wanted to chock up some of those close losses to just bad luck (and maybe some of them are), but I can no longer deny the fact is good teams would have made some of their own luck in a few more of those games. I still think we're better than our record and should have grabbed at least a couple of those games, though. Either way, the team is showing some signs of life with some good close outs in the last couple games, and in Boston... So we'll see what happens.
Pretty much spot on Yao and Brooks were the only closers on on the team. Yao isnt playing anymore. Brooks has been hurt and as much as I love AB, you can't have a role player and guy his size being the lone closer on a contender.
yeah i know right but it must be a houston thing we can allways find a way not to win just ask the texans
Go to guy is nowhere near as important as paint defender, this team wins with movement and they just stop playing their offense down the stretch. Celtics don't have anyone who creates their own shot, they win with movement too, even Pierce gets assisted on over half his clutch shots.
The problem, I think, is complacency. When our guys get ahead, they don't subsequently stomp on the other team's throat; they let off the gas. That allows the other team to come back, the Rockets get defeated by that and continue to hemorrhage points. It's a pretty bad pattern to be in and I'm not sure what can be done to improve it.
The sad thing is, if this were the Rockets, we'd end up with the worst possible lotto pick we could get! Pugs
I watched the game last night and it is true the Celitcs to have movement but I would argue that Pierce is a better go to guy than anyone we have on our team. What you need is a player that commands doubles. That insures someone will be open. ANd Pierce d Garnett do get doubled at times. That's what separates their offense from ours ohterwise I would say we run a better motion offense without a star than anyone in the league. Also defensively Big Baby is a bigger body than anyone we have. I watched him body Howard and keep him out of the paint. Maybe it was the combination of Shaq and Big Baby that wear on Howard but that combination makes them a much better defensive team than us. Size beat us worst than anything. That's why I think having a healthy Yao but in top game shape would have made us a serious contender. I don't think anyone will beat Miami if they are healthy but I do think with Yao we could seriosly contend against the Lakers and Spurs.
-The Rockets will lose any game that is played in a Half Court style of play -Almost all of these games lose were to teams (with the exception of the Suns, Raptors) that affectively control the tempo of the games they play in and thrive the opposing teams in a half court setting with their size and strength on defense. The fact is that the Rockets lost a majority of those games because of lapses on the offensive end that happened because the opposing team affectively switched the tempo to a half court defensive game, causing the Rockets to lose their affectiveness on offense. -In order for the Rockets to affectively win games against teams like this, they need to find a way to keep the tempo fast paced into the late third and fourth quarter.
I think complacency can really narrowed down even more to defensive complacency. ANd really characterized as a lack of enough defensive talent. One of our defensive strategies is to have Battier cover 2 guys at once. Him and Scola or always the doublers. It's why Martin and Bud don't get damaged defensively as thay used too. Battier, Scola and even Lowry at times come over and help martin and Hill. If you watch that defensive strategy works a lot during the game. But in the 4th quarter it tends to break down. I think in part because Scola and battier start getting tired and can't run around as quickly but also because focus on their open guys more. Maggete's offensive outburst yesterday is an example of that. Again having a big to protect the paint would help alot. having would help a lot.
Although I understand the sentiment, I think if you applied the same criteria to other teams with losing records, you'd find pretty much the same behavior. I think it was posted in another thread that KMart, at least statistically speaking, is one of the top clutch performers in the NBA right now. I agree that closing games is an issue, but its underlying causes vary...some of which stats cant necessarily always speak to- Dont have a player to run our regular offense through, glutton of players with comparable skill sets at certain positions (roster management has been a constant discussion topic this year), going 'clutch by committee' late in games rather than having a go-to-guy (to be fair, AB has played this role at times), lack of a defensive big man, etc.
The timberwolves are a playoff team if the game lasted 3 quarters. The failures come down to 1. Lack of execution - mostly due to lack of talent and experience. Our experienced players lack talent and our talent lacks experience. 2. Defense.
