Key Takeway: We Need to Play Small Ball Against OKC

no... just need to limit lin to fewer minutes, and give canaan or casspi some minute

 

What. The. ****?

Anyways.
I agree with OP in part.
We're going to have to run some unorthodox sets to beat OKC and probably the Clippers as well. They are better than us.

 

too bad we dnt have delfino to play power forward no more..

 

It's felt like Mchale doesn't want to use small ball against OKC in the regular season, we know it from last year's playoffs that it's our best matchup vs them.

 

1. Play physical on Durant and others.
2. Not back down.
3. Shoot well.

ONce you get into their grill, they sorta take plays off.

 

The team should not go to Dwight immediately. They should run PnRs and get him settled in the offense, then give him spot up post up opportunities.

The team, especially Dwight, needs to set A LOT of screens. Asik was doing a great job at that which led to the Rocket run. Asik sets great screens for Harden and Lin which allowed them to break loose.

Put Garcia on Durant, he can't completely stop him, but he stays on him better than anyone else. Let Parsons reserve energy for offense instead.

The most important part is to get Harden in the game as soon as possible. I feel like the current offensive system prioritizes Dwight Howard too much. In the first half the team always defers to Dwight post ups even if they aren't working, and Harden doesn't get to play his game until the 2nd half.

 

Key Takeaway: We need to DOUBLE durant on the catch EVERY time. Make other players beat us. Durant 1 on 1 with anyone on our team is a MISMATCH.

He WILL drain shots and he WILL always burn us! Doubling him immediately from the start of the game will mess up his rhythm. And please, please, against OKC do not start Jones or DMO. Start Lin at the 2 and play Parsons at the 4.

This lineup not only gives us better offense but allows us to double durant with a faster player and rotations would be better with our guards. Mchale has been coaching well lately but it blows my mind why he does not double durant.

 

I disagree with playing physical with Durant because Durant is making a living off the freethrow line (superstar calls). And you can't play Westbrook too close. He either gets by you using his speed and quickness or he gets the foul calls.

 

Easy way to beat the Thunder.

Coerce Westbrook into taking shots.

We respect Westbrook a little too much. Harden help defending off wide open three point shooters. Just make Westbrook take the majority of the shots for the Thunder.

 

Some teams just seem to be able to shut Dwight down. We played better with Asik in the game tonight. OKC is just a really good team, and they didn't even have two of there starters.

 

Either McHale or Morey said that Delfino was getting worn down from guarding PFs last regular season. Miami has moved away from small ball in the regular season too.

Even though its big for us fans, in the grand scheme of things this loss isn't a big deal. I'm sure in a do-or-die situation Harden probably get put back as PF.

 

The small ball + hard screen setting Asik worked for Houston, but it was a case of too little too late.

Feels like the Rockets wasted way too many possessions going for Dwight post ups. Dwight should have set more hard screens for Harden and Lin to facilitate better ball movement.

 

Wow, first decent post after the OKC loss that isnt kneejerk garbage.

It was painfully obvious from last years playoff series against OKC.

We need to play small ball and have a TEAM DEFENSIVE SCHEME.

I remember from last year's series, going zone with garcia shadowing Durant was effective at times. Other team defensive schemes are needed because there is no stopping Westbrook and Durant 1x1.

Our best small ball line-up is...

Beverley
Lin
Harden
Parsons
Howard

with Lin playing the PG role.

 

Well, this is a regular season game. And even if it's failing, at least the Rockets get tape on how OKC is defending Howard and how they may counter that in the playoffs should we meet.

 

1. okc owns dwight. unless he makes a quick move to basket before they double OR dwight kicks it out fast open

2. garcia played really well good job on mchale to put him in

3. i thought lin played well and should have stayed on. not sure if bev was the best tonight after he came back. lin played decent defense

4. kd is unstoppable...we need to swing the ball more and have more plays, it seems like the okc defense just swams whoever touches the ball

5. harden cannot iso against okc - too many athletic guys to block his shot

 

For as much as Harden is awesome as a post-defender, you can't have him spend all his time defending bigs in the regular season. Especially not when he's also playing 40+ minutes.

 

Play Parsons at 4 to start the game, stretch Ibaka out of the lane and run pick and roll with Dwight to get him rolling and then have him kick out when they double. Game over, Houston by 15.