Turnovers are the reason (58 total in last three games)

I hope they will build some chemistry soon and fix the turnover problem. But, they need to fix the shooting problem too. If McHale wants us to be a 3pt shooting team as he has said, well then that means we need shooters who can actually make 3pt baskets. Right now, none of our players can hit 3pt consistently.

 

This is the only post I've seen recently with some sense...I think the problem originates from harden's ISO plays. Lin should actually assert himself as the playmaker with harden as a corner threat with cuts by others. Unfortunately, mchale wants to win so badly that he won't adjust until more losses come by

 

Yeah and we give away too offensive rebounds. So if you include points scored off turnovers and 2nd chance points from offensive rebounds - we probably give up 20-30 points right there.

Game over!!!!

 

EXCELLENT THREAD! This is the meat and the potatoes of the losses.

Game 1: WIN (+ 9 points) (Harden scores 37)

Team______________Assists_______TO's_______Rbs_______FG%
Houston_____________28__________20_________45________49.4
Detroit______________21__________16_________36________44.3

Game 2: WIN (+ 7 points) (Harden scores 45)

Team______________Assists_______TO's_______Rbs_______FG%
Houston_____________22__________21_________58________42.2
Atlanta______________23__________13_________36________47.1

Game 3: LOSS (-10 points)

Team______________Assists_______TO's_______Rbs_______FG%
Houston_____________19__________18_________56________35.4
Portland_____________28__________16_________53________41.9

Game 4: LOSS (-6 points)

Team______________Assists_______TO's_______Rbs_______FG%
Houston_____________18__________18_________43________36.9
Denver______________20__________21_________49________45.1

Game 5: LOSS (-8 points)

Team______________Assists_______TO's_______Rbs_______FG%
Houston_____________17__________20_________41________40.8
Memphis_____________16___________9_________40________37.2




For the first 5 Games this is what the Numbers Look Like:

Team______________Assists_______TO's________Ast/TO Ratio_______Rbs_______FG%
Houston____________104___________97_____________1.07_________243_________40.94
Opponents__________108___________75_____________1.44_________214_________43.12


Now that there are some numbers to discuss, what do y'all see as the cause other than the predictable offense, which is probably part of what is causing this mess.

One other factor to put into play is that the 4 of the 5 starters on this team are 23 years old with Asik being 26. Lin and Parson have 1/2 year of experience (lockout season), Patterson and Asik have 1-1/2 years of experience and Harden has 2-1/2 years of experience. Take that and add the fact they have only had 5 games to play with one another might help to make people a little more patient.

 

Poor ball handling is really the root cause of all the turnovers.

Every single one of the guys who handles the ball locks up when a little bit of pressure is applied. No poise and poor handles = turnovers.

 

It isn't even that. I am watching the game right now it is sloppy passes for the most part. Delfino, parsons, Harden Omer etc all had some boneheaded passes.

 

We don't have an offensive system and teams are figuring that out now that they have tape on us. Expect losses like this to continue if we don't adjust.

 

The team gave up 27 points off the turnovers. Most of those turnovers were due to sloppy passing, not due to ball pressure on the ball handler.

In terms of rebounds, we actually out-rebounded the Grizzlies (remarkable considering they owned us in terms of size), but they managed to snag alot of critical offensive rebounds.

Just some stats to consider...

2012/13 season rebounding
Asik - 13.8 rpg
Parsons - 6.4 rpg
Patterson - 5.5 rpg
Lin - 5.4 rpg
Harden - 3.8 rpg

Forwards - 11.9 rpg
Back court - 9.2 rpg

Memphis game
Asik - 13 rebounds
Parsons - 5 rebounds
Lin - 5 rebounds
Harden - 4 rebounds
Patterson - 4 rebounds

Forwards - 9 rebounds
Back court - 9 rebounds

Rockets - 40.8 FG%, 33.3 3pt%, 93.3 FT% (14/15), 41 reb
Memphis - 37.2 FG%, 31.6 3pt%, 73.9 FT% (17/23), 40 reb

We outplayed Memphis, we outhustled Memphis, we outshot Memphis. We gave away the ball TOO many times on bad passes.

 

I don't know how we're supposed to cut down on them? You're going to get those with lin, and you can live with them because that's what an average-to above average pgs averages.

If we don't want to see douglas, that means Harden will have to get those minutes as facilitator. I guess harden can cut it down by 2 turnovers. Leaving us to 18 a game.

Ignoring asik 40% more on offense, thats 1.5, leaving us at 16.5 turnovers a game.

It would be less difficult if we had a nice point guard to come off the bench relieving harden and parsons from having to create for others when lin isn't in the game.

anyways, yeah, turnovers and bad shooting are responsible! it's chaos out there sometimes.

 

I agree Lin got ripped and is very careless with the ball. He's thinking to much instead of just attacking the basket. And I don't mean get to the lane and stop, go up and hit the shot and draw the foul. Harden was hesitating on his wide open shots as well. To win in this league you have to take care of the ball and shoot your shot when it's there. It's frustrating but I'm an "Original Rocket Fan" so I'm patient enough to wait. Love the fact that Chandler worked on his shot then came out and hit some baskets and dove on the floor. That's Rockets BB.

 

Really, the passing turnovers are only fixable through improved chemistry and player experience.

Already Lin's TO's are MUCH lower than last year (experience, off season).

I fully expect the entire team's TO's to drop similarly as they get more accustomed to the sets and player movement.

Also, a solid back up PG would help considerably. Fatigue is a factor late in the game when you play your starters for 40 minutes, especially when you're asking them to play Defense (which they did last night rather effectively against a higher scoring team like Memphis).

I'm also hoping Asik's TO's will decline as McHale continues to work with him. His Offensive game is already developing at a decent clip. He shot very well last night in terms of FG, EFG and TS%.

 

Turnovers aren't the cause, but the effect. It's not a case where you can just make the team aware of the turnovers and ask them to tighten it up.

 

Your contention is coaches have no control over turnovers?

 

Yeah, but how many of his jacked up shots get rebounded by the opposing team (it's as good as a turnover). Let's hope Morey fills in these spots with quality ballers.