I wasn't able to watch the game last night since it was a family night and we watched a movie instead. I did keep an eye on the box score and read articles after the game. Here's what I saw: The mismatch glaringly favors the Rockets. The Lakers just don't have the players to match up with our team. The Lakers are two great players, a couple of decent players, and scrubs. They're a group of mercenaries and castoffs. You have to wonder about their motivations. Is it to win? Or to collect a paycheck and live in LA? James' +/- was 0. He had a good but not great game (by Harden standards). Usually his +/- is the best on the team. What this tells me is that he was effective and drew defenders, which spread our floor and we killed them. Again, they just don't have the players. Rockets coaching is far superior. The playtime choices that their coach (LeBron?) made were terrible and exacerbated the mismatch issue for the Lakers. I did see -one- small part of the game when we paused the movie for a break, right before halftime. AD made two quick scores and the Lakers looked like they were warming up. MDA sagely called a timeout and we made a few adjustments. When we came back on the court, we switched the gears back to the Rocket's tempo and the Lakers momentum was gone. The Rockets wanted it more. The box score shows it. We didn't have a single player in negative +/-. The Lakers had ONE player in the positive in +/-, McGee, and he had an astounding FOUR points. The Rockets wanted it more. I hope we can keep up this intensity and energy. I think we win handily if we do, because from what I saw, their coaching was confused the entire game, and I don't have a ton of confidence that they can adjust with the tools they can. I will say I never count LeBron out but based on the small sample size, the Lakers look like they're in trouble.
Actually Lakers is a weaker version of Bucks, Houston can use Miami method to treat them. AD = Gianns Leborn = Middleton Theory is the same
You're right. Bucks and Lakers are both big-man-heavy. Good wing and shooting teams will prevail with the current rules. It's ironic because it's obvious that the NBA, ESPN and the rest of the media favors those two teams.
I felt like the Lakers weren't playing to win. Instead, they were experimenting to see what their offense looked like if Lebron/AD had smaller roles and everyone else had bigger roles. At one point, AD was shooting 7-10, and he looked unstoppable.....and then the Lakers stopped giving him the ball. After that, he looked frustrated, so whenever he DID get the ball, he would try to force something.
That's an interesting observation that I didn't get by not being able to watch. Not giving AD the ball, playing washed-up Rondo and Howard so many minutes...all shows how poor their coaching is.I think at least two of their assistants weren't there, and good assistants make the game for the Head coach. Head coach is more than just Xs and Os, hes a salesman and hype man too, so often head coaches aren't tactical geniuses.
AD is skilled. Giannis is not. Miami can get away with giving Giannis 18 ft jumpers. I wouldn't be comfortable giving AD the same treatment.
Prediction thread on series I have Rockets 4 - 1 I felt Rockets would take game one because they have been playing while the old man (LeBron) and crew haven’t played in 6 days. Plus the Rockets have the favored mismatches. I have the Lakers only winning game 3. I love that the media, including Shaq and Barkley, still feel that big players are the formula for success. Old dinosaurs fantasying about the days of old. Lakers can’t beat the Rockets unless they downsize. That means not playing MeGee and Dwight Howard. Even then the Lakers perimeter game does not warrant the Rockets not packing the paint bs LeBron and AD. There was a reason teams were avoiding the Rockets first round.....and beyond.
this post shows why +/- is overrated stat. Harden had a great game. He came in right from the beginning at took it right to the lakers, calling for an isolation on King James and shook him. The mismatch does indeed glaringly favor the rockets. Unless the Lakers decide to play AD at the five i think they are toast. Having AD guard Russ and Lebron guard Harden on the perimeter is a recipe for them being worn out by the fourth. It plays right in our hands. The only hope they have is that we go into a shooting slump because we are getting the shots we want. They cannot handle our speed.
My only fear is that at some point some scrub randomly catches fire against us, like Dort in Game 7 for example.
What Shaq/Barkley don't realize is that the game change has nothing to do with the league being "soft." Go watch games with them and see how often ticky-tack fouls get called. It's always been that way, and you really have to go back to the 80s to see some really rough games. The main reason big men are not as meaningful as they once were is the rule change with the removal of illegal defense. This is a good post on it: http://www.celticshub.com/2017/09/20/celticshub-whiteboard-illegal-defense-shapes-nba/
Salient reply. Thanks! +/- is a tricky stat by itself but if you compare it to the overall game it’s very telling. A team -very rarely- wins when the majority of its players are in minus.
The Lakers were playing to win. Maybe not with the intensity of a game 7 but they didn’t mail it in until 2 min to go. Switch everything defense and the length of the Rockets hurts teams trying to post, we play the passing lanes and are very stout. Not to mention fronting AD. Lakers wanted Rondo back because they have no one that can defend our guard rotation. Ultimately the Rockets are a bad match up for the Lakers.
Been saying it for years. I knew small ball (predominantly SF’s) would work because teams making it to the final four of each of the respected conferences are usually the best small ball lineups (in recent years). Slight difference in recent past years are teams like GSW and the “Hampton 5” using a center for spot minutes of about 18-20 minutes a game. Rockets have just eliminated that with less All-Stars but probably more depth. PJ being our Draymond.....Jeff Green/Covington taking the minutes of say Bogut or MeGee or Zaza or Jordan Bell.
Stop this stupid crap. Giannis is much more skilled than AD just because Giannis can't hit mid range jumpers at a respectable rate (neither can AD I'll gladly take his mid range jumpers for a whole game). Giannis can't hit jumpers but he's also a better ball handler than AD and a better passer.
And this is why the Bucks are down 0-3. You can't simply gloss over something as important as the ability to shoot jumpers. If you don't think Davis can hit mid-range jumpers at a respectable rate for the whole game, then you didn't watch the LAL/Portland series.
