The one question I wanna ask Morey

So puzzling what happens to Harden when it's playoff time.

In the regular season, he would be barking at teammates, fighting over screens, taking a lot of shots. But once it becomes the playoffs, he becomes invisible. What really happens to him?

He just stands there on the perimeter. Not even cutting or setting screens for others. Maybe he has a twin. And this twin is the one who plays come playoff time. I don't recognize him at all.

 

This game wasn't lost by harden alone. It was lost bc of terrible defense, lack of offensive and defensive game planning and honestly, just a talent deficient roster. We play an up tempo, inside out game but without the ballhandlers (nobody besides harden even capable of attacking the basket without looking silly, and no real point besides a 37 yr old Argentine player who is as much a liability on defense as jason terry), post presence (Dwight flicking prayers in the paint dont count; DMo does and we sorerly miss him) or shooters (none of our bigs can reliabnly make outside shots, or free throws) to really make it work. We are the poor, poor mans version of the warriors.

I give Morey lots of credit for rebuilding this team without sniffing a top lottery pick, but he also hitched his wagon to a coach that has yet to demonstrate the ability to cultivate a disciplined team that focuses on execution and attacking a defense's weak spots. Without a real system, Moreys only hope is to keep adding talent and hope its enough to overcome undisciplined play.

 

Post of the year....sadly

 

Other than the San Antonio Spurs I can't think of any other championship team that didn't have to learn how to win, or mature into a winner. I'm pretty sure the Clippers fans were saying the same thing about Griffin and Paul last year and the year before.

But I really would like to know what Morey thinks is wrong. We all have our opinions, I would give anything for a coach from the Popovich coaching tree, but I would really like to know what Morey thinks because if anyone is disappointed or pulling their hair out over our losses, it's got to be him.

 

I think Harden gets frustrated by the tough defense against him. Reddick has been doing a great job, and the Clippers as a team aren't giving him easy looks. His reaction to the frustration is to become more passive.

 

Yup, same thing with T-mac, when teams put on the pressure, they check out.

 

Good observation. The truth be told I never in a million years would have thought Reddick could shut down Harden, in fact I would have welcomed that much up all day. Its baffling.

 

in the playoff----no back-to-back games and less travel---there is more time for preparation.

the Clips has devoted its prep to to lessen the effectiveness/efficiency of Harden.

whenever possible, Clips'd double on Harden to take the rock outta his hand and make his teammates beat the Clips and,

should the Beard hangs on to the ball, they'd over-play to his left making him go to the right​

so far, after 3 games, this strategy to minimize Harden seems to work

 

I wouldn't really blame Harden. His teammates all have low bbiq except ariza and Terry and Prigioni who are limited players to begin with. Clippers are doing a great job forcing the ball out of his hands. He needs some teammates that know what to do with the ball when they get it in space. Josh Smith can't do anything this series it's insane how much space he has everytime he gets the ball.

 

Well, all the superstars go against the same tough defense, and they keep fighting even though their efficiency plunges.

I just wanna see him fight for his team and teammates. Instead he's the first one who turns passive. Miller described him as "shell-shocked" in Game 2 before his teammates turned the game around. In Game 1, media questioned him why he took only 13 attempts.

Last night he was downplaying the loss again saying it's just one loss. Unable to take responsibility. Even Terry showed more emotion by getting ejected.

 

Could you provide us a list of players you do think are good enough to lead a team to a championship. Thanks

 

Has anyone else noticed they kind of changed the rules against harden lately? He doesn't seem to get those calls any more, when he jukes around and gets his defender moving, then thrusts his arms out into them, & up as if shooting, for some reason the refs are ignoring it now. If they would call that consistently, like they used to, this would be a different series.

Until they suddenly made his go-to move illegal in this series, harden was like a bigger stronger version of 2006 D. Wade, but who could shoot. I'd say that's good enough.

 

Some refs will call it different than others. Mauer officiated last nights game and has never given harden the benefit if the doubt. Tony Brothers is like that, too.

You can see the Rockets body language change when they (esp Harden and Smith) aren't getting the calls on offense; they become frustrated and begin to pick up fouls on defense. Then, they turn passive and stop giving effort; it's a snowball effect and doesn't stop until the coach pulls them out of the game and brings in players with some hustle.

I mean, It's not like we haven't seen it before during the regular season. The Pels blowout and the Bulls crushing are two games that immediately come to mind.

 

Harden himself has low basketball IQ at times. Moreys philosophy of Moreyball just doesn't maximize his potential. In order for Harden to be successful we need to run plays. Morey doesn't like plays

 

Harden was mugged several times last night, and would have gotten the calls in the regular season. However, the Rockets have more problems than that. We will find out if they are ready to go fishing on Sunday. I don't see the passion or skills necessary to advance so far.

 

You can't let JJ Redick make you his b**** on both ends.

Christ. I can't believe I even have to say that.

 

There may be something to a team's collective basketball IQ. The fact that our most solid, intelligent player is a 37 year old who was rotting on the bench for a lottery team lets you know how high the Rockets' IQ is.

 

I've said this before but I think for guys like Smith and probably Harden it was about getting out of the first round. Smith played fantastic ball and in dramatic fashion crushed his haters. Harden had a series perhaps good enough to shed or at least chip away at the "playoff Harden" label. In their minds, they accomplished what they wanted and anything beyond is just icing on the cake.

I feel like Dwight, Ariza and Brewer are the only guys 100% in the game. Terry and Prigioni are simply too old but I believe that they are giving all they have too. Jones is just too bamboozled by Griffin to get his mindset where it needs to be.

 

Serious question, so who do you want to get instead? (that's realistically available)