More than one side can be blamed, shocking I know. It's ultimately up to the players but the coaches are in the best position to influence the players.
This is on the players. There is no alpha male on the team that will get one people's faces and hold them accountable. This has been at least games that the Rockets let a near certain win become a loss. Asik and fillers for Rondo is making sense by the day. Don't worry about adjustments. Star players will adjust their games accordingly.
Coaching for sure. Plenty of players who were bad at defense have been able to improve. we even have Howard... and most of our team actually aren't even bad individual defenders.
I always wonder.... is there a condition in Haren's or Mchale's contract that Mchale have no right to bench the franchise player even he play like ****? Even cant call him out? Nobody call him out or risk get traded like PPAT last season? this is a mess. contender? pretender.
and that's why they suck. "Defense first" is a broken philosophy. You have to score to win. Rockets did not lose because of bad defense - they lost because of bad offense. They had a big lead and just needed a few extra buckets. THey melted down. And it wasn't because Dallas played Killer Defense. They played crap zone defense and the Rockets lack of offensive power could not break it.
Defense is stupid. Move the ball and score. I agree with Adelman philosophy. Too bad he had to put himself above Morey and cause a rift.
How is that? Is it possible to win a game with zero points? Can you give negative points to the other team with defense? You must score to win.
Uh, no. The Rocks shot 55% from the floor, 38% from 3, and had 11 turnovers. They scored 120 points. If they did that for the season and were an average defensive team they would win the championship going away. They lost because they gave up 58% shooting and 50% from three. That's atrocious defense.
Wrong, wrong, wrong. If scoring is all a team had to do to win, the 2000-2006 Phoenix Suns would have been NBA champs X 2.
you don't start off with 0 offense and 0 defense. an elite defense has historically and will continue to win more than an elite offense.
Uh, no. Championship teams typically have top 10 Offenses AND top 10 defenses. And a lot of coaches would rather have a top 5 defense and top 10 offense because some nights you miss shots, but defense is always there. Our offense is fine. Our defense isn't anywhere near what you need for serious play off contention unless you believe you're going to shoot well for every series of a play off run. And you wouldn't need to break the Zone of Dallas when you already have 120 points on the board if you could defend Dallas better. 3 or 4 more stops and the game is a win. And that's a LOT easier than getting more wide open shots to fall.
OPPG: Opponents Points Per Game DRTG: Defensive Rating 2013 Miami Heat: 5th OPPG, 9th DRTG 2012 Miami Heat: 4th OPPG, 4th DRTG 2011 Dallas Mavericks: 10th OPPG, 8th DRTG 2010 Los Angeles Lakers: 9th OPPG, 4th DRTG 2009 Los Angeles Lakers: 13th OPPG, 6TH DRTG 2008 Boston Celtics: 2nd OPPG, 1st DRTG 2007 San Antonio Spurs: 1st OPPG, 2nd DRTG 2006 Miami Heat: 14th OPPG, 9th DRTG 2005 San Antonio Spurs: 1st OPPG, 1st DRTG 2004 Detroit Pistons: 1st OPPG, 1st DRTG 2003 San Antonio Spurs: 3rd OPPG, 3rd DRTG ^ What do all those teams have in common? NBA Champions 2014 Houston Rockets (before tonight): 27th OPPG, 12th DRTG defense wins championships
They lost by 3 points. One extra 3 pointer + a free throw, then the stats look nearly identical yet the Rockets win. Shooting percentages do not tell the whole story. Especially since Rockets were ahead for the entire game until the end. This discussion has been done to death, people still do not understand - the rules of the NBA favor offense. Thats why the average score is 100+ PPG, because the NBA wants it that way. Trying to buck the system with a defensive approach is a bad decision. yes, defense wins championships - because champion caliber teams already know how to score.
