'Moreyball' is nothing but a gimmicky mirage

That's fine. But this nonsense about Moreyball being this and that is simply nonsense.

 

Look, sometimes the best laid strategies take time to hone in, that is what I think is happening, we finally hit on the key to regular season success, but we also found out that when teams lock in they can shut down our 3s and layups game - now we sprinkle in a little post or mid range, and we come back at it better next year.

DD

 

moeyball or d'antoni ball or 3 pt shooting ball.....at the end of the day we still isolate and don't run an offense consistently. There is no plan b if the 3's aren't falling in.

 

Yea it's called being a top ten team in points in the paint. Do you even Rockets brah?

 

yeah, that's called an insignificant stat when we get blown by 40? you watch harden in important games brah? lol

 

offense wasn't the problem, it was defense...or the lack of that.

 

yeah, except that 75pts in game 6. right?

 

Sample size of 1 doesn't mean our offense is lacking. It has some weaknesses, but it's not why we lost the game. When you keep giving up easy baskets, you are not going to have an easy time scoring at the other end. Our defense has been pretty bad to mediocre all season. And there's no reason for the pathetic effort there. Fix that and this series might not even had made it to a game 6

 

The Rockets 1st round ORtg was 115.3, higher than their efficiency in the regular season. Pretty good considering that OKC was the 10th ranked defense in the regular season.

The nosedive really happened in the 2nd round-- 103.5 efficiency. A big part of this is the Spurs are the #1 defense in the NBA, and the ugly #s (82 Ortg) from the Game 6 blowout didn't help.

 

There are people like Harden who can hit fts at 90%. If hitting at mid range is as easy as abc why aren't there mid range shooters hitting 90% and above? The fact that you compare open mid range shots and fts is just laughable be to me, if people can hit mid range as easily as they hit fts, then coaches wouldn't eliminate them.

I say the same thing because it was true then, its true now and the rest of the NBA agrees with me and the Rockets. What end result are you arguing? The end result is the NBA has been decreasing mid range shots, how clear does this need to be? When the entire league decreases the mid range shot regardless of playstyle or preference or players, then there's a reason for that.

You can continue to live in delusion land but don't argue for something when you refuse to accept reality.

 

So if Capela is open at the 3 he should take it because its what the defende gives him?
You don't have to drive at the rim, you can pass to an open man or give it to Harden so he can go 1 on 1.

The Spurs defense leaves open the mid range intentionally. If you always take what the defense gives you the team will just take mid range shots the entire game, aka the worst shot in bball.

I keep repeating it but if the Spurs game plan is to make you take mid range shots why will you agree to their game plan? Like in MMA if u are up against a jiujitsu expert and he tries to bring you to the ground you lie down on your own? How dumb is that? This is the equivalent of that, the Spurs game plan is to let the Rox take as many mid range shots as possible, Rox should agree because thats what the def gives them? How is agreeing to your opponent's game plan supposed to make you win?

 

How is a mid range shot open but 3s are not? It just seems open but mid range is accessible from everyone, it is close to both paint and 3 pt area. If you are "open" in mid range the moment you try to take a shot somebody can easily rotate to you. Unlike a 3 pt and paint system when opponents rotate to them they pass to the other side, it leaves somebody wide open for a long time because people stay in the triangle position so opponents have to sprint to where the guy is. But if you are in mid range and you pass to somebody open then the rotation is easier to do because like I said mid range is closer to everyone. Why do people accuse players like Melo, Kobe and Gay of not making their teammates better? Its because they stay a lot in the mid range area, it makes it harder for their teammates to score. Even the Spurs run s lot of ISO plays now because with Kawhi and LMA taking a lot of mid range, there isn't a lot of oppprtunity for team plays.

I don't see how Spurs vs Rockets have anything to do with Moreyball nor is it a justification for more mid range. Do the Rox and Spurs have similar talent? No, LMA, Kawhi, Gasol, Parker and Ginobili are all allstars or former all stars, on the Rox only Harden and Gordon have been all stars. Does Moreyball account for MDA 7 samurai, Harden choking and Ryan Anderson being a piece of hot garbage? Like I said there has to be an apple vs apples comparison, don't compare a star laden team like Spurs and then 1.5 man band like Rox and say Moreyball sucks. Lots of teams have just 1 star like New Orleans, Philly etc. which of those are straight up better than Rockets?

 

Your whole argument make no sense with the 1st sentence. Clint can barely hit 50% of his open FTs and you make the argument about 3 pointers with him. He isn't very skilled. A majority of NBA players are pretty skilled and can hit a large chuck of their open shots.

Your MMA argument would be like you box and you will kick, but you can't wrestle. So once you get to the mat you will only try to punch and kick. You have to be good at all phases of your game to have chance.

I don't know if you go outside and play basketball, but you try to go shoot open shots. You don't try to purposely go where people are to shoot.

 

Honestly? Are you serious? Cleveland, San Antonio and GSW showed how to "shut down" MDA's strategy during the regular season and the coaching staff from MDA on down appeared to not notice. OKC showed how to attack this offense during round one - they were just fundamentally flawed and just couldn't execute down the stretch. No, I don't see them making the changes necessary to get better because said changes that are needed are not on the offensive end and that's all that MDA is concerned about. If anything, I see MDA doubling down on his approach next season because that's been his track record. It is what it is.

 

You forgot Utah.

I agree, that it is easy to shut down, if prepared for........but that doesn't mean they can't adjust and fix it....

Sometimes ONE player makes a difference, if our Center, could hit a 15 foot shot consistently, that opens things up...

It can be tweaked.

DD

 

Like someone else already mentioned, one of our major problems is that we go away from any kind of basketball resembling Moreyball at the end of close games, too often.

I agree that putting a bit of mid-range back in the gameplan will help keep the spacing right.

But I've also seen too many times where we stop driving/penetrating/dishing/passing/moving in favor of the "let the air out of the ball" ISO play. I never want to see that again unless we're forced into that play.

 

I hear you and as far as tweaking the offense, what you propose is reasonable. But as I pointed out, the problem does not lie with MDA's approach to offensive basketball. It's his focusing on offense to the exclusion of everything else. Worse, it's his single-mindedness with that approach that ultimately does him in - especially when facing teams like the Spurs. He knew that the Spurs knew that the Rox entire offense was predicated on Harden's ability to execute his role with the least amount of interference and when they (Spurs) did just that MDA had no adjustments to his strategy ready. And you'd think that after losing 4 straight times in the playoffs to Pop and the Spurs, MDA would have come up with some ways to counter their defensive strategy. But, nope. Didn't happen - won't happen. Oh, Morey will tweak the roster here and there but nothing major will change because in the minds of MDA, Les and Morey the Rockets are close - really close to breaking through. You will excuse me if I don't share their optimism.

 

Your argument is wrong because in MMA if you are already down on the mat of course you have to wrestle. But this case nobody is forcing you to go to mid range, this is 100% your choice like if your opponent is jiujitsu master and he lies down, you jave the option to kick his face or lie down and wrestle with him.

Of course you don't go where people are, duh. But nobody is preventing you from running around to get open or passing the ball. You have a false equivalence going here where you are either contested or you shoot the open mid range shot. Nobody is preventing you from getting somebody open from 3 pt or in the paint. How come Rockets didn't have any issues getting open in game 1 and game 5? The 3s and fts are all you need provided you dont get inconsistent shooters like Ryan Brickderson. How come Rox got 3rd seed with just 1 superstar if it was so easy to stop? LOL based on the data Rox are the only 1 star team that got a top 4 seed, it shows how powerful Moreyball is. Pointing to instances where the 2nd seed and multi star team dominated the Rockets isn't a good argument, nobody is saying Moreyball is invincible and will allow 1 star teams to defeat multi star teams. No system can do that.

 

Gasp! Say it ain't so!

Cleveland with Lebron/Love/Irving and Spurs with Kawhi/LMA/Gasol/Parker and GSW with KD/Curry/Green/Iggy/Klay have figured out the Rockets with Harden and Gordon.

Amazing how teams with multiple stars can shut down a team with 1.5 stars. Clearly Rockets lost not because they were out talented, but rather everybody knows how to stop the rockets. Just guard the paint and 3 pt, right? Easy #figuredout#3rdseed