We had two close losses to MIA, the defending NBA champion, first by three points and the second one last night by six. We could have won either of them if the wind Had just blown a little bit our way, e.g. ref calls and a few more 3's made, or a better schedule. What makes me really proud of our Rockets team is the fact that we have silently won 17-6 against the East Conference teams, and MIA has only got 16-9 so far. We could have been sitting at #1 in the East if we were an Eastern team.
Thanks to Beardsanity in the 4th quarter. The win was within reach. If Parsons was playing in the end, the outcome of the game might have changed.
please give credit to miami. their coaching staffs did great job to contain lin. whenever lin had ball in his hands and started to make moves, they trapped him and forced him to give up ball early or led to a TO. on the other end, we should be happy for lin. his pivotal role to the rox winning was clearly in coach's head of other teams. btw, miami's defense was really good. they closed in open man so fast we didn't have alot open shots.
How could Lin's assists numbers not be off if he did not get enough possessions to make the assists? He had only two turnovers last night.
Absolutely. Very winnable. Down by three with little over a minute to go. What ended up happening was, we reverted back to what we normally do when games get tight and we're behind. We give the ball to Harden and watch, along with Harden going into hero mode. That last Harden turnover was painful - 1 on 4 with lin wide open at the three without any Heat within 10 feet of him. Lin has been shooting over 40% from 3's over the past few games - I think that would've been a better play and higher percentage shot then Harden going 1 on 4. I'm not saying Harden is selfish. No, far from it. It's just that as a young team, the players don't fully trust each other when the games get tight. and for some reason they don't trust the system that has gotten them there in the first place. When we're ahead, we move the ball, trust each other, and blow out the other team. When the game is tight, when we're behind, especially against top teams, some of the players have the tendency to go into hero mode, and that just makes things worse as we go into a tailspin. Maybe Mchale is letting them play it out and figure it out for themselves in these situations. I would hope that in these situations, we have a few plays that we can run to make sure that the ball moves, the players move, and we get a quality shot rather than 1 on 4 or contested 3's with hand in the face. It's just that every, single, time when we are behind late in Q4, we abandon the free flowing ball movement offense and resort to the same crap, and it's the most frustrating thing to see. On the other hand, to be playing the way we did in Q4 and still be within striking distance against Miami? That tells me we have serious talent on this team.
George Karl agrees with you. As he said, Lin is the motor of the team. Harden is the superstar that will score and score and score. But Lin is the motor that gets the team going. You take the ball out of his hands, you have Harden dominating the scoring and others not doing much else. However, the fact that we were within striking distance even with a non-effective lin tells me we have serious talent on this team.
Miami fought us in a playoff mode last night because we had a better record (17-5) against the EC teams than they did (16-9). Also we had just beaten BKN, UTA and GSW in a big way. That was high respect for our young and new team.
The only reason it was down to a 3 point game was Harden being the hero you are saying you wish he wouldn't have been.
Yes, because of the big win by Lin the night before. Lin was the number 1 target by the Heat last night.
This game, to me, was proof that Harden, like Melo, does NOT suck on Defense so long as he tries at it. His defense has not sucked as much as compared to December and January, and I think it really might be because of the offensive burden he carried earlier on and the fact that he was never the #1 option, nor a starter playing 38-40+ minutes per game. I never understood why people said Harden lacked the physical abilities to play D; I mean, he did a great job on D against Kobe and the he did great against the Spurs last year in the playoffs. Although, I have to admit his D on Wade was relatively subpar compared to his D on Lebron, which is okay since the two are legit accomplished superstars, one of which is still in his prime and is the best in the league. It’s funny, Ira Winderman, one of the Heat commentators stated early on in the game that Harden still has not truly proven his max salary superstar status, but that he sure did have superstar firepower; but as the game went on, Winderman began to fear the beard. Though I must say, Winderman, or the Heat commentators in general, were very objective and fair, and gave every player on the court their share of the credit; the guy even gave credit to JLin for going to his left—though that drive to the layup resulted in another frustrating rim out—and said that the kid was very talented. Also, speaking of layups that almost went in but didn’t, it was happening all over the place; it happened to Lin, to Harden, to Asik, to some of Wade’s shots that he normally makes, to Aldrich’s would-be monster dunk, and to a couple of Ray Allen’s layups—Allen’s was the worst as they literally rolled out as if the wind blew them right out of the rim.
Good points... Being a young team comes with the territory, they'll get better as the season progresses.. I'm really going to be stoked come next season, The Rockets if Injury-free is going to ignite the NBA come 2013/12 season!
Totally agreed. Especially about Smith, with .625 FG% and 4.1 REB, he could have been a good backup for Asik in this game against the Heat, which ranks 30th in rebounding. Yet he didn't even get to play one single minute. He's had a few good games this season, shouldn't he get a chance before Aldrich? McHale is too obsessed with his small ball strategy. For a lot of time in the fourth quarter, we were clearly out-sized and over-powered when Asik was not on the floor.
All those who thinks Harden went hero mode didn't analyze the game properly. Harden didn't go iso at all. He took what the defense gave him and he executed his plays beautifully. In the beginning Heat made it tough for Harden and Lin, especially Lin for some reason. They made it to the point where they made sure he doesn't get to touch the ball from the get go first pass. And whenever Harden crosses the half line he gets double teamed. They probably fought since Lin is pressured so much that he would defer the ball whenever he gets it. This is where I credit Lin for a good job he's done. It shows how much he's improved. Harden made passes to everyone but he especially gave the ball back to Lin to handle after getting double teamed. If Lin had been his old passive self against the heat, the defense would slack on him. But he made it clear to the Heat that he can drive by at will and make it to the rim if they're double teaming Harden. Even though he missed, he made a presence there. As a result, they started double teaming Lin and guess what, that gave Harden room to do whatever he wants which results in a massive point scoring game for him since they cannot play player vs player against him. So it wasn't iso/hero ball that killed the game. It was actually played out VERY well. We lost because we couldn't make some shots and had some really BS charges called on us. We also lost because the Heat's intensity on defense vs our B2B sapping energy game. As to Lin and Harden, they contributed A LOT in this game (as well as all the starters). It was a win in my book in terms of how they've grown.
What games are you referring to by the 17-game and the 8-game stretches? There seems to be some new perspectives in what you termed r****ded iso ball. Care to elaborate a little bit?
Very nice point! Though, Harden should probably have had a little more faith in Lin's open 3s in the last few possessions. Batman needs to trust Robin, right?
You got a point there. Also considering that we have a better record (17-6) against the EC teams so far than Miami (16-9), yet we are still fighting for a playoff spot in the West.
The coaches seem to think drive and kick is enough to get the 3Ps going, but forget that it would be even more effective and efficient with more picks.
i actually liked keeping james anderson in at the end he was playing well hitting shots... why take him out ?? he made 1 mistake but so what i thought overall he played well
