We are 18-9, pts scored diff is +4.1, top 5 in the league, pretty neat huh? but wait to hear this, our FG% is 44.1%, #24(thats right, one of the worst teams) in the league, OPP FG% is 43.9%, not that great either, #7 in the leagure. Lets look at some other DIFFs, FGM -1.1, FGA -2.9, So how do we score 4 more pts a game while we have less shots and shoot as bad as our opponents? the answer is ...... Free Throws! 1. We are enjoying a whopping +4.5 FTM DIFF, ranking #1 in the league, no others even come close. 2. Our 3PA and 3P% DIFF are both positive, nothing dominiating, but good. did you get it right?
So far into the season despite our 18-9,I really don't see any defense sometimes of the games.What we used to be proud of seems long gone,we get used to just outscore our opponents stead of suffocate 'em with our stuffed defense,that's not a good sign at all. Well,we really improve the ft shooting from last years shooting slump,they should earn our credits for this.
Lols. Considering our free throws sucked so much during the JVG era makes me wonder how high our record could have been in those days. The nice part is with Artest and Battier being more healthy as time goes by I expect our Defense to sky rocket. That'll only leave our offense to work on, and with Tmac and Barry recovering that shoul improve as well. Maybe those Championship aspirations weren't that farfetched after all ^_^
I'd say that is a pretty precarious way to win. To shoot poorly (often because of poor shot selection) and not defend well (especially against bottom dwellers such as the TWolves, Clippers and Pacers) is a recipe for disaster.
What are you guys talking about? I feel like our D this season is up to JVG level quality-with the potential to continually improve. At the very most, it's different and slightly worse than our D in the Van Gundy era. Still though... But yeah, it's pretty clear to me that this Rockets team is the best it's been in the past several years at free throws and 3 point shooting. Considering how spotty the FT shooting was last year, it's great to see such an improvement this season. See... this team has those little intangibles that let us hang in there with (and be among) the top 5 best teams in the league. We can usually find a way to win against any team-even if we're missing one or two of the big three on a given night. This flexibility has been, and will continue to be very important going forward. Our team is deep, much deeper than it has been, and with a perfect mix of vets and young talent to boot. Guys like Brooks, Landry, and Scola can more than pick up the scoring slack if the "big three" are off. Plus, we play top 5 D, we have good coaching, we have the offensive ability to play outside or inside, and we still have two of the top 15 players in the NBA when healthy. Yao is starting to look like preinjury Yao from last year (aka the best center in the league), it's clear McGrady is feeling better, and you can bet Artest is gonna improve throughout the season-all that, plus the roster depth and intangibiles that this team has, gives me confidence in our being a top 5 team and also a real contender. In my opinion, the only thing that can keep us out of round two of the playoffs this season, are major injuries (because more minor ones are inevitable but tolerable) creeping up again or a complete unpredictable meltdown (i.e. Ron Artest putting coach Adelman in a coma). However we're winning hardly matters... what's important is that we just keep doing it!
The reason for the FTs is because we have a more aggressive team, mostly due to Artest being added offensively. Artest is a foul drawing magnet. And now we got Brooks going to the rack along with Rafer, etc. I have felt for a long time, going back to the Van Gundy era, that if we were aggressively taking the ball to the hole early that our offense would open up. That's why I feel that our starters should be 111 plus Brooks, Artest, and Landry. That is a very potent offensive lineup with McGrady running the play from the top, Brooks cutting, Yao in the post and Artest having choice of spotting up from 3 for spacing or taking some overmatched defender to the rack and getting the foul. Then you bring Scola, Battier, and Rafer off the bench and get Scola some space in the paint to operate and draw more fouls against an overmatched 2nd unit defender. The earlier we get teams in foul trouble, the more unstoppable we become.
Meh, I would be open to starting Brooks, especially in certain matchup situations, just to see how he'd do. Yet, I definitely don't think we should start Landry. He's just not ready to be starting, and he is the perfect spark coming off the bench... he's well suited getting a lot of minutes, but not as a starter. Not yet. Plus, as good as Brooks has been lately... Alston is our starting PG, man. He's a better defender, he runs the offense more smoothly, has better basketball IQ, and can handle the tempo of the game better due to his experience. Don't get me wrong, if both players stay on this team long term Brooks could be rightfully starting as soon as next season but, to me, he's just too raw to put out with the starting team now. He has proven that he's a quicker alternative to speed up the offense, a good shooter, good scorer, and has even shown occasional defensive brilliance (vs. Billups anyone?) but to me those are all things we need coming off the bench-at least until he matures a little.
#7 in OPP fg% may not be great, but pretty good in my book. And we did that without fouling a lot. That's always true during the JVG years. It usually signals good disciplined team defense.
LOL. great thread. but its true, we're not dominating our opponents for sure. I'm juz glad tmac's FT has improved a great deal this season. Clearly he has put in some work.
We may not be dominating opponents, but we usually win (or nearly win) against top tier teams-it's the games that are supposed to be easy that really snag up the Rockets. If we can stop overlooking the lesser teams, and consistantly win games we should win we'll be fine. I think, considering the way 50 minor injuries happened at once, it's not surprising we seldom dominate in our wins. Likewise, I wouldn't be surprised if we became significantly more dominate now that it appears our players are starting to get a bit healthier and Yao appears to have finally begun to pick up where he left off last season. So, if you couldn't tell, I'm really counting on our team meeting its potential and moving up to that dominate "next level" in the coming weeks... it's gonna have to if we're seriously gonna contend.
The biggest reason the number is up because T-mac has improved his free throws, also because our big man our shooting good from the stripe. Yao is 86%, Landry is 80%, and Scola is 76%.
The overall offensive statistics don't look very good, but in the past week or so ever since McGrady returned, this offense has been putting up points with great efficiency. Twenty-six assists in three straight games is nothing to sniff at. That said, FTM and 3PT makes/% have indeed been a major boon for the Rockets all season long. Also, the team has slipped defensively, but I expect that to improve as they finally get all their guys together and start to build some consistency and continuity on the court. We really have yet to see just how good this team really is. From what I'm seeing, I really would be surprised if they didn't end up with home court advantage in the playoffs, and may even win the division outright.
If an opponent is shooting ~60% after a 1/4 or 1/2 and we're still close, we'll win. This team plays lock-down defense when we want to. Problem is they just seem to start slow. I'm not worried about our defense at all ...it's winning us games despite what the stats look like. I also like how Yao has recently been making moves TOWARDS the basket. So either he makes the shot or gets fouled. Plus TMac hitting his FT's helps.
Being more aggressive gets you more FTs. But shucks we're shooting them 20 percentage points better than last year. Except for Yao last year, I cringed when we went to the line. This year I'm all excited when we go to the line. I'd rather have Brooks & Artest comming off the bench for more consistant scoring for the 2nd unit.
Four factors: shooting from the field: 19th on offense, 6th on defense rebounding: 18th on offense, 12th on defense limiting/forcing turnovers: 13th on offense, 27th on defense getting and making FTs: 6th on offense, 4th on defense So, we're a net positive on shooting from the field, essentially a wash on rebounding, poor in winning the turnover battle (don't force enough), and extremely good at taking advantage at the free throw line. The biggest area of concern for me is rebounding. We don't force a lot of turnovers, but that's ok because we're not a great transition team anyways and a gambling defense can lead to openings for the other other team. But if we're going to play a conservative brand of defense, we have to be much better on the defensive boards. Under JVG, we were routinely top 3 in that category. Falling out of the top 10 should not happen.
We've had the weakest strength of schedule in the entire league over the last 10 games and the 26th weakest overall this season.
