[MDA] "We are the Rockets! We don't match up with anybody." You match up with us.

Les picked D'Antoni for appeal; he knew he'd be selling the team soon. He didn't actually think he'd be getting a contender, but he knew it'd have selling appeal. So say my sources.

SIL

 

Thank you BamBam!!

Now That’s What I’m Talking About !!

Now I’m stoked for tonight’s game

Lakers: Our basketballs will blot out the sun

Rockets: Then we will fight in the shade......or indoors (Staples Center)
Makes no never mind

 

Rockets: LOL wut? WHOSE basketballs will blot out the sun?

Lakers: OH. Never m--

 

Uhmmmm.... that's why we have CP3. The ultimate in ball control, moving dishing and scoring in very tight spaces. What else?

 

Oh our half court defense is doing well at present. There really is no phase of the game that we aren't doing well at.

I'm talking about winning a championship. I always have to reset the table in those terms. We've got to beat the Warriors, two other WC teams, and whoever comes out of the East.

Newsflash! The only great transition defense is not to get into transition defense. In other words, minimize turnovers. That's a function of the offense. In the 8 games Paul has been in the lineup, Harden is averaging 3.5 turnovers per game, the team is averaging 15.25 turnovers per game, and the team TOV% drops to 13.7. And those games have all basically been blowouts with our end of the roster guys playing in junk time and actually piling the turnover rate higher. Those numbers and matrices are all very good.

So realistically, with Paul in the lineup it's safe to say we don't have a turnover issue that would then lead to transition defense issues. These playoff teams aren't going to magically cause Paul to turn it over. He's too good. Everybody knows that.

What we don't know yet is how our interior defenders will respond to being under seige. I will tell you this. In our 4 losses.....a much greater percentage of points against us have come from the free throw line and the rim. So it's still a concern. In our 4 losses our defensive efficiency on three-point shots is the roughly the same as when we win. We allow basically the same percentage and same volume as in our wins. It's the free throws and layups/dunk possessions against our defense that climb.

When we win, we force opponents to take more midrange shots while keeping our fouling in check along with decent rim defense.

That's why I say the key is how we defend half court and specifically how our interior defense holds up. We need more data. Gonna have to see more playoff teams to determine just how good or bad our halfcourt defense and interior defense is. I'll be watching. Just some of my farts.

Yes. A lot can happen. But I'm not interested in what other teams weaknesses are. I'm only interested in our weaknesses. To win a championship you've got to be great in several phases of the game, and decent to good in the rest with no glaring weaknesses. I've seen enough to believe we are ok in all phases with the only possible exception being our interior defense specifically in half court set play.

Remember, I told you all last season that we had playmaking issues and defensive issues in the lower box. This year I'm telling you the playmaking/turnover issue is fixed. But I'm not willing to say the interior defense is fixed. It has been mitigated and impacted significantly by our drastic improvement in defensive rebounding. We're not getting murdered with second chance points which are a KILLER. Gotta give Capela and Anderson and others full credit here. If we can maintain this defensive rebounding and paint defense then we're good. But we don't have any interior player with a Chris Paul type reputation that we can stake a claim that our defense is good enough. We'll have to wait and see on that.

 

Yes, I wrote down stats prior to last nights game.
Rockets (17/18). per NBA.com
Steals: 3rd (9.1)
DefReb%: 1st (81.7)
DRtg: 5th (101.6...tied with Warriors)
Blks: 12th (5.0....10th-12th tied with 5.0 blks/game)
Opp Pts 2nd chance: 2nd (10.3.....Spurs 1st)

Yes much can change between now and by season’s end. An injury to a key rotational play throws everything off
for Houston. It also does the same for a Curry-less Warriors. Or Irving-less Boston. Or LeBron-less Cavs.

I just wish you would put your big brain to work and analyze the opposition. Take the blinders off and take a look at
the other teams. You might find that they are not much better than Houston once you do. They all
have major flaws. Putting the other teams on a pedestal would be deceptive.....unless you put the
Rockets at or near that same pedestal level.

Example is before last nights game. Eric Gordon moved up to 3rd in DefWinShares. From 5th without playing
games the last few days. This is a work in process day to day because of the small sample size. Tristan is not
a power offensive big down low for Cleveland. MeGee/Pachulia/David West are not the power force bigs they
have been in the past. Those are two team that have won the championships the last 3 years. Because of
zone defenses; the big get swarmed as soon as they put the ball on the floor. This is why the post game
is less effective an option in today’s NBA. The post up normally comes from a forced mismatch such
as Draymond screening for Curry; then Draymond posting up opposing PG. or use Livingston in that same
model. LeBron and Cavs forcing a switch while playing Boston and getting a prime mismatch of LeBron
on Isaiah Thomas. Occurred last post season.

So getting a good post up game from a big is overrated......since it can be derived elsewhere.

Edited:: Eric Gordon moved up to number 1 in DefWinShares before play on 12/04/17

 

McHale would've said we have to match the other team.