Do you guys wonder why Houston struggles against the Grizzlies? You need not go further than to look at the Grizzlies 9.7 spg and the fact that the Rockets cannot handle the ball. If Houston wants to be the team they are capable of being, then they need to figure out a way that they can keep their TOs in check.
Also, the fact that Memphis is the exact opposite style of play than us. It's all about control and tempo, and the Rockets were forced to play their style. Unless the Rockets are able to control a game, slow it down, they cannot stay with fast pace, running teams (Mavs, Sonics, Grizz, etc...). We play well against the Lakers because we have similar set ups and don't run all that much.
Teams beat teams that are better than them all the time. We all b**** and whine and moan when the Rockets lose to a lesser teams... but there's a lot of bad losses on any team's resume. But the Rockets don't beat the Spurs, who don't have the best record in the league. It's not just a "they're better" issue.
DaneB, Yeah, it was kinda funny actually...the commentators mentioned the same thing. He said, The Grizz are the tops in the league at causing turnovers... The Rox are the tops in the league at turning the ball over. Yikes! We do a "fine job" turning the ball over ourselves. We don't need the Grizz to help us out!
As I have mentioned before, TO differential is one of the most important stats in achieving success. Usually the Rockets are good enough at the other facets of the game to make up for it, but tonight their rebounding and defense was not better than the Grizzlies'. Our other Achilles heel is that we do allow open shots on the perimeter. Basically, if another team has 5 more shots than we do and makes their perimeter jumpshots at a decent clip (7 of 15 for the grizz last night), we will lose. If the Rockets also fail to make their three point shots in this situation, we will get blown out. The bright side is that under a correct implementation of Jeff Van Gundy's system, we would have a low number of turnovers. Unfortunately, we may need to get different players to accomplish this.
It all boils down to the same exact reason for our last 3 losses: We can't handle pressure. And the playoffs are all about pressure.
Hey DD, next time you say Duh, make sure you know what you're talkin about. I was referring to that guys post, which said, "We hang better with teams that slow it down." I know San Antonio is better than us. Doesnt take a genius.
