Reason For Losing = Defense

No defense? The devil you say! We hired MDA, our prized acquisitions were Ryan Anderson and Gordon, and we decided to let harden play pg... you expected defense?

 

REASON FOR LOSING = LOSERS!

 

but like mid range jumpers, we dont believe in defense, so no thats not the reason we lost.

i blame brewer, who says no?

 

The other problem is Harden's backups are Brewer and EG. EG has been shooting like crap lately. Brewer has been garbage for awhile now. Every time Harden sits with a big lead, we blow the lead and Harden has to come in early when he's clearly gassed since he's still taking a huge load on his shoulders.

Harden just doesn't have the stamina of a Westbrook or a Lebron. It could be that he's been top 2 in minutes played since coming here and how much offensive load he has to carry every night when his teammates are in a shooting slump.

Anyways, I was never too high when we were overachieving early on this season since I knew in the playoffs, you can't just rely on 1 Star in this era, where all the contenders have 3-4 Stars per team. If a team just shuts down Harden and our role players have an off night shooting, it's an instant loss since we're not elite defensively either.

 

Getting out-rebounded by 18 didn't help

 

Always cringed when reading how high a lot of users here rated our team this season. The defense has just been utter sh**, you won't get far in the playoffs when your team is all-offense.
Plus I've been following EG for the last years and knew how streaky he is, this will be a big issue come playoff time, Harden can't keep us in the game himself.

 

We're fine. It's just schedule. Let's get this B2B out of the way.

People who are whining are just the people who thought MDA was a bad choice or who were trashing us for keeping Morey or signing Ego/Ryno. They want to take this bad stretch and play the I told you so game, as if it's possible the first 30 games were a fluke and the next 10-12 are clear indicators. No worries, let them do it. We're still a top 4 team in the NBA, and once we finish this back to back and start shredding teams again on an easy schedule the team has EARNED (haters will still say it's easy schedule lol), I'm going to bump all their posts just around the time we're messing with breaking the franchise record for wins.

To add to that, Morey will add 1 or 2 guys who will help us for playoffs.

It's going to be awesome guys. Shout out to all the people who can see the big picture. We're not a top 10 roster, yet we're a top 4 team after the most difficult month that any NBA team will have this season, and the reward (easy schedule) is coming up. Can't wait!

 

Asik's Contract is an issue right now plus not sure how he fits in MDA game plan but yeah he can rebound. Bogut would be a better get.

 

This is kind of a bs narrative, as our defense has been consistently in the bottom 10 all season in oppg and ofg%. This is not a fluke and we've had these issues for years now, no one is playing the "I told you so" game because of a stretch or small sample size.

 

You say defense? Jeff Biglydick preaches defense first.

Mike Antony: Ask Jeff about the defense

 

Excellent post good to have someone who sees the big picture. Long season so there is always time for the boo birds and the folks who only see Harden's turnovers to have their moments too..

 

Eh

The team is built around having an elite offense. That's what's failing right now.

 

I agree. When the shots aren't falling, you lose. Pretty simple, actually. They're not built to win if the shots aren't falling (and to be fair, that's true of most teams). Gordon was miserable shooting the ball last night.

Ultimately, this franchise is going to have to add a legit Robin to Harden's Batman if it wants to hoist up another banner.

 

Yup. Gordon was a legitimate all-star level player in November/December. We were rolling because we had 2 legit threats.

Now that Gordon has been downright bad, we're pretty much back to last season, which is Harden and a bunch of guys who can't shoot. That early season momentum is long gone.

 

E needs to be shooting a higher percentage on his 3s. i'd like to see Trez start shooting 3s over Brew.

We had no answer for people getting in the paint, no strategy at all on how to react to a cutter going to the basket full-speed. Capela ended up doing a lot of ball screens on Gordon, and if that starts to happen, the strategy needs to change.

 

Respectfully, the bs narrative is that we can't be one of the best teams in the NBA with a middling defense.

What you're asking for is to maintain the offense (so top 2 or 3) and to have a top 10 defense. Why on earth would we be able to do that over an 82 game stretch? I mean seriously, why would we be that good? Why can't we ask the same thing of the Sixers, for example?

Talent matters, and usually it matters the MOST. We have one historic offensive talent, a few incredibly good complementary offensive pieces and strategic offensive genius. Defensively, we don't have great talent, we just don't. For this team to be a great defensive team, we would need a coach like Thibs or JVG, and then our offense would become the equivalent of what our current defense is. No one can magically play JVG defense and MDA offense with any middle of the road roster. This is what we are. The games we've won on defense are against poor offensive teams and are a product of having a crazy good defensive coach and terrible defensive players who generally try to play their best defense - none of these guys other than Ariza have had a better defensive season in their lives, that's the harsh truth of the defensive talent on our roster. It has ZERO to do with our defense the last few years, this is a totally different team with different starters and different coaching staff.

This team has one thing others don't have, which is heart and hustle and chemistry. That's why RIGHT NOW, even after this allegedly apocalyptic stretch, we own the 4th best record in the NBA after playing the most games overall and the most road games in the NBA.

We are a top 3 offensive team and a top 20ish, maybe top 15 defensive team when all is said and done over a proper sample of games. That is one million times better than what you can ask of this team. If you had told anyone this team should win 60 (which is the number people are furious the Rockets might not get) they would have LAUGHED out loud at you. Every season, Morey has the most lofty expectations and he announces them publicly. We are exceeding the overly optimistic expectation of having home court advantage.

Then there's the playoffs. Now a lot of people make it seem like the playoffs is some kind of magical place where all other teams suddenly become better defensive and half court teams and the Rockets don't. The truth is all teams play better in the playoffs, including the Rockets. And that happens with the same roster they had the day before the playoffs. So what is changing that's making all these teams play better basketball with the exact same resources? Heart and hustle and chemistry. Oh and one more thing, you know how everyone says it matter who has the best player in the series? We have this guy called James Harden, you may have heard of him. Yes I am worried about the Warriors and the Cavs, but even the Warriors and Cavs are worried about each other, and I assure you the team they least want to face is the one that finished 1 or 2 spots below them.

I'll repeat again. Look at the big picture. Over 50ish games, we are a well below average defensive team and the 2nd or 3rd best offensive team, and the 4th best team in the NBA despite the 29 other teams all having easier schedules. That means we are 4th and everyone else got a head start. But we are all running roughly the same race, so now these guys have earned a head start the rest of the way.

I'm confident man. I believe in this team. If you're feeling frustrated about this team not playing excellent defense 82 times in the regular season, then that's more on you than them.

 

I agree that defense needs to be improved but additionally Rockets are now 12th in the league in 3 point % while number one in the league in 3pt attempts. You can't be a contender if most of your players shoot 3s below a 35% clip in an offensive system where 80% of their attempts are 3s. Morey's analytics should show this but everyone seem to be in denial or surprised! Rockets need better shooters as much as a rim protector. Ariza and Brewer need to go asap!