Eye test is telling me that ball handling still matters. And that we have the same problem as last year: no offensive vision. No system. Just the same ole iso/leave it up to the player to make it happen. Not having Tari and DFS is not helpful. not the best configured roster and not the best coaching right now.
a lot of rockets players spam the same move over and over and over. durant - mid range jumpshot amen - blindly b line straight to the basket euro step sengun - holding L2 from the 3pt line hoping to bully his way to the basket jabari - awkward wrong shoulder turnaround jumper what i'm talking about is when they need to get a shot off. there's no dynamic and fluidity to it. when panic sets in, bad habits come out.
The defensive problems continue and have been there since day one, with one exception: the defense was very good during the few-game stretch when Durant was out.
Follow-up. Rockets could have won easily if they decided to play defense. That said, NOP punished the Rockets for playing multiple non-shooters and guys without ball-handling skills.
It's really quite simple. Sengun KD Adams Jabari (and Clint) are strictly 4's and 5's. Only two of these guys should be on the floor at the same time. When Ime puts three of them out there together it doesn't work.
The 4th quarter lineup was atrocious. Three non outside shooters. Jabari was one of the two outside shooters but he's having a bad shooting night. Two non ball handlers. Durant was one of the three ball handlers but he's always been very shaky and TO-prone. Sengun was another supposed ball handler and he's a center trying to attack from the 3pt line. And that lineup went on for a long time even when they missed shots and committed turnovers again and again. Jabari tried to dribble penetrate. Amen spotted up at the 3pt line.
This may be an overexaggeration, but it seemed like too many plays were something like a KD iso or KD pNr, KD gets doubled, KD gets ball to center in the middle of the court (usually Adams), center drives towards basket, low man picks him up, one guy guards the statue of Jabari, one guy loosley guarded Okogie and/or Amen. I don't fault KD as he did his job in either making a basket or creating a power play. Reminded me of a game that the Rockets beat OKC a couple of years ago when OKC refused to take Giddey out for most of the game. Rockets were really outclassed by OKC. The Rockets just didn't guard Giddey and let Sengun (sometimes Tari if memory serves) just roam around breaking up every offensive possession. Lost a lot of respect for Mark Daigneault's coaching ability that day. He's been earning it back. I've not been as critical of Ime as most. Last night, was not a good Ime not to say it politely.
Like other sports... sometimes you just play conservatively to keep the lead. Credit to the Pels, they got a lot of momentum going in the second half and realized all their wing and forward could eventually overwhelm the Rockets. We don't have a real "offensive system" because we don't have anyone healthy on the roster who can consistently run an offense and get everyone in the correct places. When FVV went down, I said we went from a contender to a dark horse contender.... now we may need a significant trade to keep up as a dark horse contender.
