INCONSISTENCY Dwight's free throws T. Jones & J. Lin's performance in general Tendency to blow big lead Harden's defense These can all be attributed to inconsistency. A lot of it can be attributed to the numerous injuries suffered, but also that this is a young team with a inexperienced coach.
I know the turnover are frustrating but our offensive is still elite! Why are so many of you fixated on it?
Jones and bench play. Jones is only in his 2nd year, so its not like he is a bad player, but for a championship team the 4 has to be much more consistent. Casspi is also probably one of the most boneheaded players in the NBA, on top of the fact he can't do the one thing we got him for, which is shoot.
I came in to post: 1. Defensive Rebounding 2. Turnovers 3. Coaching However, I think all can be attributed to our style of play and all have net positives. As soon as the ball hits the rim we have four guys frantically running in the other direction and Dwight or Asik boxing out ready to throw the outlet pass. What this results in is a double-edged sword where we give up a lot of offensive boards and second chance points due to having one rebounder committed to the boards and four committed to running. It works more often than not because our rebounders are elite at what they do and we get a lot of buckets in transition and draw a lot of fouls due to the defense not being able to get set. The high turnovers can be lessened but will always be higher than most other teams due to our up-tempo style of play. Also, we (especially Harden) often play for the foul instead of the shot and the refs often swallow their whistles on us resulting in no-calls that become turnovers. Again, what we do has that drawback but they are the turnovers we live with because our style often has the benefit of drawing the foul, allowing our defense time to get set and putting the other team in the penalty early. We do make a lot of STUPID mistakes apart from the turnovers that result from style of play, so this could be shored up. As for coaching, again, you take the good with the bad. McHale is not an X's and O's guy and is pretty hands-off. He also makes some really dumb decisions in terms of who and when he subs and the "plays" he draws up. With a young team you could argue that you may want a guy with a tighter reign and more control, but the players really seem to like and respect coach and I think that that's so important to a team that literally lives and thrives off chemistry. So, for every "flaw" there is a B-side that results in a net positive. We are 38-18 so everytime I want to write about another negative I can't help but to add what we are doing right. Overall, I think our biggest flaw is consistency (said earlier) in our effort. We often play down to our competition and let teams get back into games. It is hard for this team to maintain focus and intensity over 48 minutes but I'm hoping since that is more attitude than ability, it can be remedied by playoffs. One huge improvement in that regard is I see a mental toughness to play with our backs against the wall, an ability to claw back, an ability to maintain composure, and an ability to close games, all of which weren't there in the beginning of the season. In the clutch moments of the game we have a chance against anyone, but now we have to learn how maintain leads so it doesn't get to that point. If our goal really is championship, we can't be the scrappy underdogs for four series always playing with our backs against the wall and pulling it out at the end. It doesn't always work like it does on TV!
yep. as a Lin fan it hurts to see the game to into OT especially if Lin had a poor shooting night or missed 1 or more FTs. often in our close losses if any one Rocket was just a *pinch* better we woulda won.
That killer instinct...the ability and willingness to crush a team when they're down. We are getting better as a unit, & have won 'ugly', but consistent outside shooting, perimeter D & some boneheaded coaching decisions have really cost us dearly this season. In a high octane offence turnovers will come, but some of the turnovers are just inexcusable.
Defensive rebounding has definitely hurt us but I think inconsistent play from our point guards and power forwards is going to cause us the most harm. Especially in the playoffs where we are going to go against some of the best point guards in Paul, Parker, Lillard, Curry and Westbrook ad some of the best power forwards in Griffin, Dirk, Lee, Duncan, LMA, and Ibaka. We have no advantages in any of those match ups.
Our biggest flaw is the lack of screening and player movement away from the ball.... It's a flaw that Harden is good enough to overcome, but it is the core of why the offense becomes "sticky" and why we commit so many turnovers. I do think the "layups and threes" strategy is also a problem, I think we force too many contested shots. Especially passing up open midrange jumpers for contested three point shots and forcing layups where floaters would have been better shots.
The defensive boards and turnovers are definitely killing us. It's been obvious for a long time now. What's upsetting is the lack of improvement in these areas. We also have trouble maintaining tempo, staying on task, running the offense efficiently. The things you get with a veteran PG (even for just 8-12mpg - see Fisher) or disciplined coaching staff. If the coaching staff wont fix these things I guess it's up to Morey to work some magic again.
It's 3pt% and FT%. That's it. It's not some mumbo jumbo intangible. It's not imaginary chemistry. We are among the worst in the league in those two categories, and they have significant impact on our winning %.
Shooting and stretch 4 are linked with that. Both of those would cause the spacing to be much bette.r
Of course it is some but not nearly to the degree that the defensive rebound rate is hurting the defense.
Right now is Lin, I was a LOF honestly, but he's been phoning it in recently, He really wanted to be traded.
I'd say perimeter defense. The rebounding issue is a consequence of sub-par perimeter D. Because the perimeter D isn't good, Dwight has to often get out of position to challenge shots that he usually wouldn't challenge. This works, as Dwight prevents a bucket, but it allows the other team to fight for an offensive rebound. If the perimeter defense was better, Dwight wouldn't be out of position as much, and there wouldn't be as many opportunities for the other team to grab the offensive board. So better perimeter defense kills two birds with one stone. It stops the offensive guards to score as much, and it reduces the amount of offensive rebounds the other team gets.
