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Does Small Ball Lose Advantage When Opponents also go Small.

Discussion in 'Houston Rockets: Game Action & Roster Moves' started by apollo33, Feb 9, 2020.

  1. apollo33

    apollo33 Member

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    Just by eye test to tonight it seems the Jazz made a run and caught up by pulling Gobert out and playing us straight up.

    When the other team go small, we don't have enough defensive players to match up on the perimeter on defense. And with zero rim protection it's a layup drill if the other team also have quick guards.

    Clarkson absolutely feasted on us, he essentially got to the paint on every drive and Tucker rotating over is pretty much useless at the rim.

    We are essentially playing the odds that our guards can outgun their guards with no rim protection on either end. With Harden being so inconsistent lately its hard to say we have a real advantage on either end of the floor.

    I think our strategy would work if our perimeter defense is elite, but it isn't. Harden is slow laterally, WB is also not great, House is just very fundenmentally bad on D position wise. Only Covington and Tucker are sound on the perimeter.
     
  2. D-rock

    D-rock Member

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    Could not agree more, need better and longer perimeter players.

    Sign MKG and Bolden ASAP!!!

    Dion Waiters would be helpful too, since Rockets role players cannot score or playmake when Russ is out/cold or Harden doubled/cold.
     
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  3. icewill36

    icewill36 Member

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    I actually like waiters a lot and feel he is underrated but we need more size. Also you have to have some concern if he will buy in and accept a role. He pretty much lost his place in Miami due to injuries then those going guys came in and played so well his role was cut big time and he couldn't handle it. He is a great talent though.
     
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  4. Zboy

    Zboy Contributing Member

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    If we are not making our threes then we lose the advantage against the opponent, whether they play small or not.

    We are not a very good 3 point shooting team. We just take a **** load of them to try to get the numbers in our favor.

    It is baffling that the team that wants to take the most number of threes wouldn't have added some dead eye shooters along the years.

    Warriors small ball was dominant not just because they went small with Draymond at center, but because with Curry+Klay+Durant, they had some of the best long distance shooters in the history of the game.
     
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  5. treyk3

    treyk3 Member

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    Yes because we don’t have enough depth. We need lengthy buyouts badly. I don’t think Clemons is a smart use of a roster spot.
     
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  6. bj3175

    bj3175 Member

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  7. Juxtaposed Jolt

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    Short answer? No.

    Long answer? No, because our smalls > their smalls.
     
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  8. realonemo

    realonemo Member

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    Small ball means no rim protection. If you can't keep your man in front of you then guys like Clarkson goes for 30
     
  9. Asian Sensation

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    All I know is we have the wrong personnel for small ball. That’s my story and I’m sticking to it.
     
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  10. Zergling

    Zergling Member

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    We didn't have Eric Gordon. EG is the Jazz killer. The end
     
  11. Easy

    Easy Boban Only Fan
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    Well, you have to give Morey some credit for trying. He did bring in "dead eye" Ryno signing him for a historic contract.
     
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  12. Zboy

    Zboy Contributing Member

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    I guess so...because Ryno pretty much went ded.
     
    #12 Zboy, Feb 9, 2020
    Last edited: Feb 10, 2020
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  13. apollo33

    apollo33 Member

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    I would like to add that we also don't force as many turnovers when the other team doesn't force lob to their bigs

    This remind me when we played Chuck Hayes at center under Adelmans. We were a juggernaut team on offense and gave up just as many points on defense. We ended up with a .500 record
     
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  14. roslolian

    roslolian Member

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    No because Dumbtoni isnt playing small ball he is playing midget ball. Midget ball can beat big ball sometimes but gets destroyed by small ball.
     
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  15. tycoonchip

    tycoonchip Member
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    We lose when they have tall versatile players. Their players are also not just versatile but they can block shots which is something only clint used to do. The switch defense gets exposed without clint.
     
  16. Blackjack84

    Blackjack84 Member

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    u keep bringing up these two dudes a d they are trash
     
  17. D-rock

    D-rock Member

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    I'm not the only ones bringing up these names. If you understood why the names are being brought up then we could have a better discussion.
     
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  18. kjayp

    kjayp Contributing Member

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    waitaminute... so yer saying we've decided to take an aspect of the game and run it out to the nth degree to exploit an area that in reality we have no clear advantage in...

    thats silly... that'd be like pushing to set records for 3 pt attempt without elite 3 pt shooters...

    jus crazy talk...

    lol
     
  19. Realjad

    Realjad Contributing Member

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    Dude. Our Guards should outgun their guards. Our guards are Westbrook and Harden. Our two guards represent 60% of our entire teams salary.

    If we can't count on the odds being in our favor that our guards can outgun the opposing teams guards then Westbrook and Harden are vastly overated, overpaid, and basically they suck & we need an entirely new team.
     
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  20. bmelo

    bmelo Member

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    We didn't have EG and still we dont have Gerald Green. Austin played like he didn't want to be there. Harden still in slump. And we basicaly beat the Jazz + Lakers. Ill take our chances... Westbrook looks so amazing with spacing, It is so much more fun to watch than iso stepbacks
     
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