How Is Houston Against the Play-Off & Elite Teams?

Amazing post. I real it all.

 

Instead of using Harden so much as the primary ball handler at the perimeter, use two PGs alongside him, depending on opponent and how they are defending Harden. If Houston gets sluggish, use the Harden-Bev-Lin trio, let Bev-Lin be primary ball handlers. If the opponent rotates to defend these two, Harden has a more open floor to attack the rim. Won't work all the time, but I think for some opponents it'll definitely force them to change the way they defend.

 

Both losses to Dallas are good examples of defenders getting physical with ball handlers and the Rockets failing to execute - to the tune of losing a double digit lead in both contests.
I think the Pacers game is another good example along with both those losses to Memphis recently.

Play gets physical , refs swallowed their whistles , the Rockets ball handlers fold .... Its like they forget how to play the game.

I'd like to see them go to a more organized offense in those situations , more specifically post plays for Harden , Jones or Parsons especially after forcing a defensive switch to a favorable matchup.

For the life of me I cant understand why Harden doesn't take guy's in the post where he can bully most shooting guards ....

 

Good against the good. Bad against the bad. That's the Houston sports way.

 

They look great on paper, but I cringe every time Durant goes to the line after a phantom foul on his jumpshot. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kQl9hMQbFLY

At least Harden puts on a nice show of falling down and clutching his head to earn free throws.
http://www.nba.com/video/channels/originals/2013/11/07/james-harden-flop.nba/

 

I distinctly remember one Houston team from the 90's exhibiting this behavior. I don't remember exactly but it was either the '95-'96 team or the '96-'97 team. Basically we had Eddie Johnson by then, and every night was a struggle to show up in spite of our superior talent.

What this post highlights are the following conclusions: San Antonio is overrated, OKC is underrated, actually the overall favorite for the championship right now, and the Rockets have a good shot at righting the ship if they can get some line-up consistency down the stretch.

Come on 3 seed! We can do it!

 

Great post Crash. The only thing I would add is that any stats factoring in wins versus expected playoff teams needs to be heavily downgraded if those wins are against Eastern conference playoff teams. The 3RD SEED in the East would not be making the playoffs in the Western Conference. Miami and Indiana's records are artificially inflated by playing ALL the other Eastern Conference teams 3 and 4 times, and make no mistake. All the East teams excepting Miami and Indiana are utter trash.

I almost think a major conference realignment is in order just to provide more balance and make the playoffs more legitimate. Yes Miami is the 2-time defending champion, but they have had only three teams that were true challengers to them coming out of their conference in the last 2 years: Boston, Indiana and Chicago(w/ Rose). Having 80%+ of the top teams in the West means most of the time there is still championship quality teams that aren't making it to the finals because they beat up each other before reaching the finals.

The West is so much stronger. It seems wrong that perennial all so rans like Toronto, who is in danger of getting a Top 3 seed being just a couple games over .500, and Atlanta, who is littered with one year players and a couple of almost all-star quality players in Horford, Millsap and Teague, are going to EARN(HAHAHAHAHAHA) Home court advantage in the travesty that is the Eastern Conf. playoffs. Neither team is a playoff contender and should not be allowed in simply because the rest of the East is so bad that .500 ball signifies a successful, playoff-bound season. I think top 6 teams out West and Miami and Indy from the East should be in an 8-team playoff format, at least until the East can put forth more than 2 solidly above .500 teams

 

It's just part of the learning process. I think it's a mistake to look at this team record as it is right now and be too down.

This team was not realistically going to contend this year for a title, and the record reflects that. What it does not reflect - and this is my only issue of crash's analysis - is that this is a team in flux.

Of our 7 losses to non-playoff teams, 2 are against Memphis with Pau Gasol - that team is a playoff team. They are going to be trouble for other teams. You look back at our schedule and only 5 of our loses are really inexcusable. Twice to Sac-town, once to the Lakers, once to Philly, and once to Utah.

Furthermore, you look at how this team has played lately - only 4 loses this year - none to bad teams - and you can see that consistently developing.

In other words, this team is evolving. People tend to see the team as a snap shot of whatever game or stretch of games, but the staff is teaching these guys bit by bit. They aren't going to learn everything at once. They are young guys. You don't become savvy in the course of a few years. But you look at their growth and it is certainly there.

Harden and Lin have a lot to learn - as do Jones Dmo, Parsons, and even Dwight is evolving as a player.

Take that into consideration, and the fact they are still figuring out the offense, and then look at our record, and that gives a lot of optimism for this team.

It's just going to be very hard to predict how this team will do this year. But I can tell you this, I know this team will be a contender next year barring injury.

 

Wow, someone left me a message, actually an ad hominem attack to my above reply where I comment that in certain situations two PGs can be used alongside Harden. I'm hardly the only one who notices that this works well at times.

The person accused me of whining and saying the same thing in every thread, and calling me a fanboy stalker (I don't even know what this term means...I usually fall in the middle and have received disagreements to my viewpoints from multiple sides, on this board and another). First of all, I'm hardly the only one who notices that having two PGs in to facilitate can work well given certain situations. Also, I rarely have enough time to venture out of game threads, and usually only comment after games. And since each game is different, my comments are never the same each time.

The person didn't leave their moniker, so I don't know who made the comment. I sincerely hope who left the comment was not the same person I replied to above, because I would expect much more maturity and civility from someone with so much "status" on this board. Instead of leaving a reply in the open thread with at least a rational reason behind why they disagree, all I can say is their ad hominem attack was not only pathetic but quite cowardly.

 

dw boutit, the best one i got was, "wtf i thought you weren't a lof i almost believed in you man" when I posted something like fans should be rooting for everyone on the team LOL

I've never understood anonomous hate rep, its like trying to hurt someone by throwing a $5 bill at them, in the end it gets washed out

SHOW YOURSELF COWARD 1V1 ME