What we have learned going forward. By FAR the biggest reason we lost the series.

Whoever is our starting C next season we need another backup C.

Smith better plays PF.

 

Greg is indeed no match for the battle-tested Ibaka/Collison.

 

Or you can just said... Asik is just that AWESOME. Remember DM saying we are the #1 half court D with Asik. And we are what w/o him? Close to last. That showed in this series. This also said outside of Asik, our D isn't that great - it's horrible. :grin:

 

Reggie Jackson killed us, he was the x factor. No one can play defense on him and the Thunder defense was a killer. We had no one else to create offense besides Beard. Another creator, or superstar would gives us strength.

 

Smith is so young. Give him sometime.

 

Less than 1m productive rocket killer with shot blocking and a good soft touch - Brandan Wright his a mav i know but a free agent this summer. Still young big plus is his cheap.

 

Lin'D is not that bad.
His D was 2nd best in the team before All-stars weekend.

http://www.nba.com/hoop/the_devil_is__the_dtails_2013_02_05.html

He struggled when played against athletic players, particularily Miami Heat or Westbrook.

He did guard other elite PGs (Rondo, Curry, Parker) very well in regular season, but look exhausted in D since April.

Maybe playing 82games is too much for him.

 

Still young, first year starter, rookie wall?

 

Actually...

1. Okc is a better team.

This was an exciting year and exceeded expectations on a number of levels. In the end, the better team won the series.

 

A forgotten man in all this...

I think COLE ALDRICH coulda helped with the backup center minutes. All the Rockets needed was PASSABLE defensive play at backup center.

The trades held back the Rockets possibly an extra seed up, possibly from a game 7, maybe even a series upset.

 

The biggest reason, and only reason Rox lost - OKC won 4 games before we won 4 games.

 

Totally agree. The plus-minus stat is a very flawed measue. Also, blaming one player is weak logic. There are four other playes on the floor.

 

Agreed, we can second guess the decision to play Greg Smith as backup C. Jones should have been able to provide more energy. Also, the fact that it was usually the Thunder going small with Collison playing C and Durant at PF was pretty embarrassing. I think the key for the Thunder in these series was Collison as much as it pains me to say it. He matched up well with our small lineup and played really solid defense on pick and rolls and cleaned up the glass. Also, got to the foul line quite a bit. We should have been able to destroy their bench but we were ineffective at times. We should have been taking it to the hole every time Collison was their only "big man" but we didn't and it cost us. I think Scotty Brooks could have saved his team from playing games 5 & 6 if he played Collison 30+ minutes and left Perkins on the bench. I have no clue why Collison was so effective but it is inexcusable in my book to not at least have someone capable of matching his production and energy level.

 

There is overlap with the PF position. I think the real damage to our playoff performance was the absence of PPat due to the trade. That trade is what brought Smith forward. We could have really used PPat's steady shooting.

 

Yeah, I forgot Cole Aldrich. Even as mediocre as he is, he could not done worse than Smith. I mean, you just knew the Thunder was going to make a run when Smith came. He was beyond horrible.

 

It's not just Smith but it's also on McHale for failing to recognize that he was the weakest link and not giving playing time to Jones and/or Motiejunas.

But let's not act like we're strong on all the other facets of the game. Backup C is a huge need of course, but we need more production from the PG spot. Lin could be the answer if he improves but that's a gamble. We also desperately need a quality SG to allow Harden to rest.

McHale rode Harden and Asik into the ground. That can't happen anymore. We should be thrilled those two players survived the season without suffering a catastrophic injury.

 

It's not even about matching up with the opposing bigs, what Houston misses when Omer Asik sits is his ability to position himself perfectly while containing/contesting dribble penetrators while still stay in position to catch the defensive rebound.

Asik's rare ability to dominate the defensive boards and protect the rim are key to the Rockets' ability to unleash their generally very effective small-ball/stretch 4 attack.

Smith actually does fine guarding the post-up (in fact, he did a better job on Dwight Howard than Asik did in the first Lakers game this season), but he is a much worse help defender than Asik-- getting lost from time to time, and is too small to be a rim protector-- and is only a decent rebounder, not an elite rebounder like Asik.


The problem for Houston is that the drop-off when Asik sits isn't so much a matter of Smith being horrible (though he is at times), but a matter of Asik being really really good. Guys who can be even a reasonable facsimile of Asik just don't grow on trees.

Given this, I wonder whether Morey's wisest course of action if he actually lands Dwight Howard would be to keep Asik. Otherwise, the team will be facing the same problem that it does this year-- whenever the starting C has to sit, defense falls apart.

 

Meh. The upgrade would be marginal

 

OP makes a great case for the Rockets winning this series had Patrick Patterson still been here.

 

Small ball did it. And why did we have to play small ball again?