The only adjustment they made was to hold, and grab in the refs blind spot. No adjustment Dantoni could have made could have countered that. & We elected not to play cheap and dirty.
Not exactly. They more aggressively contested threes, forcing the Rockets to drive, and when the Rockets drove they took advantage of the missing ref and "Harden Rules" to hack away at Harden and Gordon at will. Unfortunately no one else on the Rockets stepped up offensively... Weber can't shoot, Anderson is too tentative at this point to shoot, and PJ Tucker and Ariza are too inconsistent. Green may be the only other potential scorer (creator) but he missed his open corner three. Rockets should have focused on ball movement with hope of getting Ariza or PJ or Anderson a wide open three. They should have had PJ and Anderson set more screens and Black take an offensive foul setting a screen if needed. On defense we were in trouble because Baynes was able to go over PJ with ease. Without Capela we are in trouble... need a 4/5 with length bad. Black just won't cut it.
People look at it from different perspectives. Some see that the Rockets could have done nothing because of the refs, some see that the Rockets could have done something despite the refs. It's a tough situation either way, but it's an interesting scenario because now you see more superstars calling out the refs for bad officiating, not just Harden. I still think the Rockets could have done something despite the refs, however this is the area where I believe Harden's decision making and game closing skills come into play. Thus, this is why I believe that CP3 is so vital to this squad, his judgement and decision making is what makes him a needed asset.
You shouldn't avoid the GARM, A_3PO, because your opinion is valued, at least from here. In my opinion, members should assume that participating in the GARM is going to be a stroll through madness, punctuated by moments of brilliant clarity and outstanding posts (not necessarily the same thing), and surrounded by endless repetition. It's all part of the ClutchFans experience, honed for many, many years by Clutch, the Crew, and the brave souls who came out of the lurking darkness to spread light upon an unsuspecting NBA world. Those 3000 or so who were here Before Yao, a seminal event in ClutchFans history, when the world descended upon the league's greatest fan site.
That's on D'Antoni. If the Rockets had continued defending like they did in the 1st half, they would have won the game by a decent margin. The 2nd half would have been a sloppy, low scoring mess by both teams. Instead, they gave up 61 points playing like sissies. One of the Rockets big problems is they play the score after getting leads worse than (seems like) any team in the league. Part of that is Harden; part is D'Antoni. CP3 has helped counter that some. Unlike great coaches such as Pop, Riles, Carlisle and now Stevens, MD is too slow to call timeouts (and sometimes yank players) to break momentum. He had the same problem in Phoenix where they were famous for blowing big leads. I just don't get why he won't change. This flaw seems sooo obvious to me. He's a link to one of my favorite regular season games in Rockets history. While the Rockets went on something like a 60-20 run during the 2nd half, I think D'Antoni called one timeout. http://www.espn.com/nba/game?gameId=250311021
Yeah i agree, the ball movement stopped in the 2nd half. And thats what caused all those 3 period turn overs. It reminded me of our Francis, and Mobley days. But the holding and grabbing still played a factor.
True overall you dont blow a 26 point lead. even with bad calls you cannot blow a lead like that. They did play some stupid iso ball which lead to many turnovers. And its true, theres a huge rift betweens players and refs. Its the largest i have ever seen, and it needs to be address before its too late.
The defensive rotations in the first half were beautiful. It reminded me of how good our defense was when we went on the winning streak. Because if we had good defense it would have lead to more transition points, and it that situation even ifthe Celtics were holding and grabbing, it would have been hard for them to do that on fast breaks and get away with them.
you've provided unlinked quotes (one of which doesn't even relate to the 1st half) and no actual plays. which exact calls from the first half are you claiming were incorrect or biased in our favor?
