What we have to do to have a chance to defeat the Warriors

I don't agree with this.

Clint needs to play a lot of minutes. He sets the best screens on the team and rolls to the basket. He also is quick enough to switch on the perimeter. The one area that the Rockets have a clear advantage at is center. Not to mention, Clint will keep Green from cheating defensively as the roll man to the basket.

The Warriors have two elite defenders on their team. Iguodala and Green. Clint helps limit their effectiveness because he sets screens to limit Iguodala and he limits Green because if the Warriors switch, Clint has a lob to the basket.

On a side note, I think that Harden and Paul and Tucker and Ariza all need to be physical with the Warriors. Green and Iggy handle physical play well, but Curry and Klay do not. There is a really possibility that if the Rockets can physically limit Steph Curry over a 7 game series. His ankles are not in good shape.

 

The jazz in the playoffs gave up 0.85 ppp (11th) to the ball handler and 0.96 ppp to the roll man (5th)

During the regular season the jazz allowed 0.80 ppp (5th) to the ball handler and 1.01 ppp (3rd) to the roll man.

 

100% this. You absolutely have to play physical on Curry/Thompson. They have to "feel us." That force will be a big factor on wearing them down for their shooting.

 

I took a look at the last Rockets Warriors box score from January. That game probably is the most representative of the 3 games due to who was playing.

Box Score: http://www.espn.com/nba/boxscore?gameId=400975425

Some takeaways from the 116-108 Rockets win

-Ariza & Green were suspended. Iggy did not play.

-Rockets started hot in the 1st quarter. Won it 40-28

-Rockets had a 46-33 REBOUND edge! 12-4 in offensive rebounds. And RYAN ANDERSON had 13 rebounds! He had 5 points. Felt like the rebound advantage here was crucial.
-GSW had 19 turnovers to the Rockets 15. Important for Rockets to have an advantage here. Rockets keeping their turnovers low keeps GSW out of scoring easily on Rockets transition defense. This is a killer.

-Eric Gordon was 2-14, 0-9 in 3’s with 6pts.
-Nick Young had 16pts (6-10, 4-7 3’s).

-Draymond Green (21/6/7) and Durant (26/5/7) had GREAT games.

-Rockets WON the backcourt matchup with more efficient shooting. Harden and CP were hitting 3’s at a high percentage.
-Harden 22/8 (8-16, 5-9 in 3’s) & Paul 33/7/11 (10-20 , 6-11 3’s). CP was AGGRESSIVE looking to SCORE.
-Curry (19/8 on 6-20, 5-15 3’s) and Thompson 8pts (3-11, 2-5 3’s) shot POORLY.
-Did the fact Harden and CP3 make Curry and Thompson have to WORK defensively help aid in their poor shooting?

-Luc 14pts and PJ 12pts weren’t duds. So they played their defense and weren’t offensive liabilities.
-Capela had 18pts and took it right at Draymond Green.

Rockets didn’t have everything right happen for them. But the Rockets backcourt came to play with good shooting and the team REALLY was aggressive in REBOUNDING and played with Force.

Seems like a replicable and not outrageous formula for wins. Can Harden and CP out shoot Thompson and Curry?

 

Green is a 40% shooter, Capela and Tucker can handle him fine in the post.

Draymond Green is shooting a little over 40% from the floor this year and in the playoffs. He isn't burning anyone offensively. Clint and Tucker both are fine guarding him. I agree that he is an elite passer and the second best defender in the NBA.

 

Good stuff. This matches up with my gut-check. Clint has to be big on our PNRs and dominate on those finishes. He has to be extra careful about ball security because Golden State is one of the most handsy teams in the league, like the Spurs. Swiping and hacking at everything.

 

Anderson plays "OK" against the Warriors. I want to be clear, in this thread I'm not demanding that we play Anderson. I understand that he has confidence problems and is a defensive liability. But every series is a totally different style of game, and we can't dismiss Anderson completely because of the first and second rounds. Not playing him against the physical Jazz was a smart decision. I trust D'Antoni to make the right decisions.

So far he's played Green exactly the right way, and gave Johnson a small chance in the Minnesota series (which he quickly flunked).

 

Twice in the final game against Utah, I saw both James and CP3 drift away from wide open 3-Pt shooters. That was during the run that gave Utah a substantial lead before we finally whittled it back down. There were multiple wide open 3's that, according to our "switching" defense should NEVER happen. Those shooters were left open most often by by our two best offensive players. This MUST NOT be allowed to happen against Golden State at any point. If James and CP3 don't show up ready to play just as hard on both ends of the floor, our chances diminish substantially. When we have all 5 players on the court committed to D as was apparent against Utah, our offense absolutely soars. My favorite moments as a fan this season is when we have consistent and relentless pressure on D. We can debate the "how" of the Defense, but the biggest keys are commitment and persistence.

 

No. 9 is all we needed.

 

Ahhh okay thanks for this, much appreciated. It's lookin like Clint is gonna have to big this series. It feels like he's got to make a big impact early otherwise Dantoni isnt gonna be too comfortable not playing Tucker or Luc at the 5.

 

Gerald will need to be focused on D, he can't rotate or read the situation well. That is why Luc will be getting more minutes. What Gerald can do is shoot the ball quickly. That is not necessarily a bad thing. He has the confidence to try and make a shot. He has to drive too, he can't just settle for jumpers.

 

Something I think a lot of people are underestimating about this "Hamptons 5" nonsense is that Andre Iguodala is 34 years old and he is nothing near the player he used to be. He doesn't have the same athleticism and his 3P shooting is dodgier than ever. This is a guy who averaged 6 points per game in the regular season. SIX.

He's still a savvy defender with good instincts, but he just can't do it like he used to. Trevor is a couple years younger, and his game has held together much better. Luc is a better defender than the 2018 version of Iggy. Hell, Tucker might even outplay him this series. We have an advantage in that position in the lineup because we have younger, better players and a lot more depth. So that will make up for some if not all of the advantage GSW has with Klay at the other wing, not to mention Gordon if he gets hot.
.
I really think this series is going to come down to whether Harden/CP3/Capela can outplay Durant/Curry/Green. If they do, we win. If they don't, we lose. That's all there is to it.

 

KD doesn't like force either!

 

Harden, Chris, Capela and EG. They have to show up in every game. My concern is Draymond will outclass Clint. He can post him up, fight him on the boards, defend the P/R and shoot over him. Tucker is the better match up against Draymond.

 

A couple of notes from our last matchup:

-CC had 3 defensive rebounds...they dont want him in the paint. They will consistently put him in ISO situations to take him out of the paint. Harden, Pj,CP,Ariza have to finish the possessions with defensive rebounding.

-We won the offensive rebounding battle 12-4. Have to crash the boards on offense for second chance points, we have a rebounding edge that needs to be taken advantage of.

-They shot 48% from 3 compared to our 38% and we won...we can beat this team even without the 3 ball. Hope that gives them confidence.

-GS used KD as the the designated "switcher" at the top of the key. They were trying to avoid Curry, West and zaza guarding our stars. Need to have plays to negate that because that scheme could easily be exploited with multiple screens.

-Amazing team but top heavy... exploit the weakness. Be very physical with steph and KD. Tire them out and target them on the defensive end.


Our best help defender is PJ, so i would def put him on either Iggy or Green, that means harden is gonna have to guard one of klay or KD. Preference is Klay but communication has to be on point so they switch in screen situations. Hardens low post D is good enough to switch all the curl screens.

RUNASONE ...Lets get it

 

This is some Kevin McHale type insight here.

Congratulations.

 

It was a near perfect game for the Rox and Warriors were still within 8-10 pts.......

Curry and Klay were clearly far below their averages.

Nick Young is not going to play that much, so won't Ryan Anderson.

The GSW have upped their D by leap and bounds.......while Houston maintained Top 2 Defense.

Regular Season Defense GSW was 16th or 18th in the league so now they are Top 2. (still coasted to a 58 win season)

The rebounding is about the same.......won't see GSW outrebounded every night.

 

Zhou was key to beating the jazzholes as per holic.

 

Good post OP. Can you make a video? Out here we like our previews in the form of videos then shaq2yao will create the thread