Yeah, he pushed him out to not catch the ball so close. Vucevic is good enough to slowly back the ball down though to score. The difference in the second half is that we were bringing a 2nd man to trap him on his drop steps to the base line. And we were timing it well, without getting called for 3 seconds and having tucker or someone play safety on the kick out pass to the corner or the 45. I think that's what separates Vucevic from turning the corner to being a star. Our team gets destroyed by bigs who know how to use their size to any extent. He could have had another 16 in the second half if he played more aggressively and fought for position earlier.
On another note, anyone else see Terrence Ross shoot them out of the game??? Lolz. Some of it was credit to our defense putting their team in bad spots for him to chuck up shots, but man ... I was way more at ease seeing him shoot those shots than Gordon and Fournier.
Couldn't agree more. Everyone of us can probably tell he's hunting that stepback 3 in the 4th. I'm fine with it if he's got some level of rhythm, but I think he's trying to gain his rhythm by making one instead of taking them when he already has it. It can shoot us out of thee game potentially, but I mean it's also won us games too. But overall, the thing that bugs me is that if teams are going to continue overplaying him to drive right (and he's hitting his floaters are a very good rate, hence his overall fg % being pretty freakin good the last few games heading into the 4th), I don't see why he doesn't keep doing it until they adjust ... And maybe give just one more half-step of daylight for his stepbacks. I guess I just wish he'd utilize more of his options since he has developed so many. Like last night, when cp3 called for the pin down handoff at the 45 (the one that put us up 5), I can't remember the last time harden took that shot and missed. You can tell it's a lot less energy expended and keeps the defense guessing because he's off-ball a little bit (which is always harder to guard). And later, I was really happy to see him go for that pull back midrange on Fournier. He's been butter with those shots ever since he was cookin' klay with it in the 2015 WCF. In certain pockets of close games, I truly feel he'd be unstoppable against even the elite teams if he just mixed it up a little bit more. He already trained himself to have all the tools.
Agreed completely. With James , he has EVERY tool . He's just got to find the right mix and situation for everything . I love him going to the 2's down the stretch because it's a shorter shot and one that he makes at a higher percentage . His 3's have improved so much this year ... and he had to turn the aggression all the way up with CP3 out . I expect him to have better shot selection going forward
I know it isn't "new," but rather something I hope he starts using as part of his bag of tricks on a regular basis. He should. I don't know what Harden's percentage of makes on midrange step backs is, but from what I can recall seeing in the past, it's pretty good. Anyone know?
Contrary to the "back in mah day" old-school purists, Harden never killed the midrange game, he just took it beyond 22' 9".
Terrence Ross is a boss. He would excel in MDA system and is huge upgrade over Ennis. Ross, JaGreen, TPrince or Covington. Make it happen Morey!! AG or Vonleh too while you are at it. PJ needs to come off the bench.
AG is unrealistic, the others will be hard, but might be available, but a lot of picks will have to offered plus fillers, and none of them are worth that much. I do like them though. Perhaps, Ross might be available with a highly protected first and a 2nd plus fillers, not including Tucker.
