8 games at beginning of season and it did work against portland and jazz in 3rd quarter. We got off to a bad slow start in those 8 games but it was as much about new team and start of season, finding mojo etc then asik/howard not working. People have confirmation bias about 'it's not going to work' then they give it 8 games and it works in spurts and 'confirmed it doesn't work' ?? WTF doesnt seem very stats like and overall benefit of doubt but if you have your agenda then I guess so. I am the TT only fan club president so you know where I stand.
Why are people saying it didn't work? And for any such reason people come up with it, there's other factors too on why things didn't go well. I think our team would do great with a dose of twin towers out there.
I'd like to see the Twin Towers in the playoffs if we play the Grizzlies or Clippers and to a lesser extent if we play the Spurs or Blazers.
That's why it didn't work? That's not the TT experiment gone wrong, that's coaching gone wrong. That's McHale and defensive guru Calvin Simpson's directions, or lack thereof, on defense. He must instruct who goes where. That's not the TT's fault at all. I think a huge reason why the TT "failed" were horrible coaching(not being clear about which big is supposed to be where), and a crappy shooting start from our players. We're rarely going to have 4 shooters on the court. TJones is not much of a shooter, himself, D-Mo can garner some respect. If anything, against certain teams(MEM, DAL, POR), this twin tower lineup is far superior. Asik or Dwight down low, the other on Aldridge or Dirk. Or even Asik on Gasol and Dwight on Zbo. This is a luxury, this is what great team's have. They have the Ray Allens coming off their bench, the Lamar Odoms off the bench, the 3-studded lineups, etc. Asik is a huge piece to our team. Being "experimental" now may be dangerous, but in a certain matchup we should exercise this.
NO. Just no. No offensive spacing (cannot happen if neither can hit a shot from beyond 5 feet) and neither is willing to contest outside jumpers. Jesus. Just let the pros show you what is right (Morey and McHale) and just keep quiet. And don't post threads about a dead and gone idea.
I don't want to consider this until I know we are healthy. Howard (ankle), Jones (back), Lin (back), Beverley (knee) need to get healthy, some may not be ready until 2nd or 3rd rounds.
If the Rockets want to win the championship, they do need to play Asik and Howard together for key stretches of games and the coaching staff should tell them both to get out of the lane on offense to let Harden, Parsons and Lin drive. They'll get their share of PnR alley-oops and layups.
Well I guess this leads me to what I think will happen when Howard returns. I think Asik's minutes will increase. That only happens in 2 ways.. Twin Towers OR Dwight's minutes reduced. I'd rather cut into TJones minutes than Dwights so let's just see what the coaches think of this Asik we are seeing. I think it would be foolish to say "Thanks for the help big Turkish fella..now go back to the bench and play 10 mpg" I don't see that happening.
Only problem i see with TT lineup, it makes Harden's job harder. So maybe, when Harden is resting, Rockets can try TT. Yes, scoring will be hard but it should boost defensive quality.
TT is basically the left-handed specialist out of the bullpen in baseball. You ONLY want to use it in a specific situation -- not for the freaking starting lineup as McFail tried to pull off early in the season.
Ok, so you know the WC playoff teams we are going to play. You know their starting lineups and who they bring off the bench. Tell us please, what is the specific situation that we would want to use the Twin Towers lineup in that's not the starting lineup?
How does it make Harden's job harder? We've already seen there was no increase in Harden's efficiency after Asik was removed from the starting lineup. If Harden's job is easier with Asik not starting alongside Dwight then shouldn't there be an uptick in his efficiency above the first 8 games since we were so bad in them?
Asik does not care about pick-and-rolls and alleys-and-oops. Asik wants to dominate the game defensively and clean up the trash offensively. He's not bothered if plays aren't run for him. And they shouldn't be. However Asik does have a significant offensive skill set. He makes great decisions when he catches the ball out high, whether that be the handoff to a cutter or a pass to the weak side or a one-dribble drive to the rim, which he does very efficiently when he already has control of the basketball. (Not to mention, Asik shooting the ball when left wide open from 17 feet is no worse than Jones or DMo shooting it out there and they are much more likely to take that sorry shot than Asik is.)
I think TT gives us the only chance to beat the Clips. If we can neutralize the paint, I have a hard time seeing how they can operate their O. Asik on Blake and Howard on DeAndre. Or the other way around.
Just FYI, if the playoffs were to start today, the Rockets would face the Blazers in the 1st round, and the winner of OKC & the 7th seed team (Pho/Dal/Mem) which would most likely end up being the Thunder. Looks like the Clippers will have to face GS in the 1st round, and SAS in the 2nd round. If the Rockets are LUCKY enough to move on the conference finals (First I'll be dancing & drunk in the streets of Houston) & the Clips are lucky enough to beat both GS & the Spurs (tough road to the WCF), the Rockets will get to analyze the GSW Vs Clips matchup & the Spurs matchup to get a little more sense of how match-ups worked for both teams or didn't work out. The Warriors will likely be without Lee so we will get to see Barnes or Iggy in a small ball lineup and we will get to see a TT type of look with Duncan/Splitter against those two bigs in a 7 game series. I think we will know quite a bit more about how to match up with the Clippers after watching 10 to 14 games of Clips in two long & hard playoff series' to tell us whether or not McHale should go experimental in the Western Conference Finals with Asik/Howard or not. Point being... I wouldn't worry too much about the Clippers and the TT right now. Lets worry about Portland first.
Shoot- Sorry guys, I was wrong. Playoff bracket would actually look like this - -SAS(1) Vs 8th Seed (Pho now) -Hou(4) Vs Portland (5) -Clips(3) Vs GSW (6) -OKC (2) Vs 7th Seed (Dal now) ...... So most likely the Rockets have to worry about Portland & SAS next in the 2nd round. If the Rockets face the Clips in the playoffs, most likely we will get to see them go through both GSW (small ball) & OKC (small ball, super athleticism, & TT look) If the Rockets make it to the WCF & go through the Spurs I can just go ahead and die right then and there. Winning the championship would just be icing on the cake. *Note - TJ has had some of his best games as a Rockets against the Spurs who possess a Twin Towers type of lineup.
