8 replies to this topic

[Red94]

New post: Houston Rockets 95, Dallas Mavericks 92: Bringing back Van Gundy ball
By: Paul McGuire

After flaming out in the first round last year, all anyone inside or outside the Rockets organization has talked about is defense. Well, it’s clear tonight that Houston is truly committed to bringing defense back. The Dallas Mavericks, who have averaged around 110 points this season, finished with just 92 points against a Rockets team with no Dwight Howard. Trevor Ariza contributed on the defensive end despite a miserable offensive performance, and James Harden will finally get to be called “defensive” after a great job guarding Monta Ellis and Dirk Nowitzki on the final two possessions. Houston is starting to look like the teams coached back by Jeff Van Gundy several years ago – both in the good and the bad.

 

We should note that Dallas’s poor offensive showing was not just the product of Houston’s play tonight. The Mavericks did play last night while Houston has been off since Wednesday, and Dirk was just not himself. Dirk scored just 11 points on 18 shots and failed to hit a single three pointer. Rick Carlisle may be one of the very best coaches in the league, but Dirk still strikes so much fear into the hearts of opposing defenders that he can still be considered Dallas’s linchpin. Tonight, that linchpin worked so poorly that Carlisle even placed Nowitzki on the bench for a time late in the fourth quarter.

 

However, everyone on the Rockets played their hearts out on the defensive end. Donatas Motiejunas in particular deserves praise. For much of the game, McHale played Motiejunas and Papanikolaou against Dallas’s much better frontcourt of Dirk, Tyson Chandler, and Brandan Wright( and I will freely admit: I do not know why Brandan Wright plays so few minutes for the Mavericks. He has always given the Rockets trouble, and this season leads the league in FG% at 78%) Dallas did run alley-oop plays for Wright and Chandler seemingly at will, but Motiejunas still worked to stop Dallas’s other options like the pick and roll. Motiejunas also had 14 points on just 7 shots and 12 rebounds, three shy of his career high. While Motiejunas has not developed into the starting power forward many hoped he could become, he has become far more serviceable on the defensive end than I truly expected from him.

 

Houston’s defense as well as some late game heroics from Harden were what ultimately won them the game. But at this point, questions need to be asked about the offense in general. At this point in the season, Houston has a top 3 defense in the league – but a bottom 10 offense as well. The Rockets are scoring nearly 9 fewer points per 100 possessions this season as opposed to last season. Tonight was their fourth straight game when they failed to reach 100 points. Tonight, Houston started off strong when their three-point shots were falling and at one point led the Mavericks 73-55 in the middle of the third quarter. But when the threes dried up, (or in Trevor Ariza’s case, never came at all), the Mavericks completely shut down Houston. In a six minute stretch in the fourth quarter, the Rockets failed to make a single field goal, while Dallas cut away the deficit and then led 91-86 with 1:22 left in the game. While Harden was resting, the Rockets lacked a true creator and were thus left to just hoist up threes with no chance of going on.

 

Harden heroics saved Houston this time from a third straight loss, but that will not work every time. The optimistic view is that the return of Dwight and Terrence Jones will do a great deal to bolster Houston’s offense while not harming its newfound defensive prowess. That view may not be entirely unfounded, but if Houston is to win a championship, it must possess an elite offense AND defense like every other championship team before it. Will Dwight and Jones be enough to move Houston’s offense from a bottom ten to a top ten?

 

If that was not enough bad news, Patrick Beverley left for the locker late in the fourth quarter. It appears that the hamstring which kept him out for four games has flared up again.

 

Still, a win is a win, a win over the Dallas Mavericks is a special win, and a win over the Dallas Mavericks without Dwight Howard is a truly special win.

[Lucas Daniel Uribe]

This was a solid win by the Rockets. Just like you said that a win against the Dallas Mavericks is always good for the City of Houston. Especially against a Mark Cuban team, but anyways. The Rockets played real good team Basketball, everyone was moving on offense and on defense. I'm just glad we got a win against the Mavs without D12, it just shows how much resilience this team actually has compared to last year. #RedNation

[cointurtlemoose]

It seemed to me that the looks we were getting when we went ice cold in the second half were still really good looks, for the most part. And the ball moved pretty steadily - when options were shut down by the D, there wasn't much hesitation before moving on to something else, and generally getting a good look. This offensive performance, though only 95 points, was more encouraging to me than our last couple games.

[thejohnnygold]

I'll just keep repeating what I have already stated....

 

Take the starting center and power forward off of any team and they are going to struggle to win games.  Seriously, find me a team that doesn't.  Perspective....try it.

 

Combine that with 4-5 new players that are trying to work themselves into the system and synergy of said team after only 13 games and, hopefully, a fan of the game could see that any team is going to have a rough go of things.

 

Sure, we can nitpick the points per 100, the 3 pt.%, the assist numbers, the zero in the blocks category, etc.

 

Or we could remember that no less than 5 players last night  saw a lay up go up, roll around the rim like there was a force field on it, and fall into a Mav's hands.  That's 10 points we gave away.  There's your 105 points and suddenly it's a blow out win instead of "another late game collapse". 

 

I love how dismissive so many are about the fact that these guys are insanely good at basketball and no lead, no team, is safe from an offensive barrage.  Sometimes, JJ Barea is going to back down Patrick Beverley, get inside position, and get an easy lay-up (that whole play I kept thinking, Bev's gonna stop him.....this isn't happening....no way he's going to try that....it's gonna get blocked.....  Wat!?!?)  Things happen.  Jameer Nelson is going to hit 3-pointers from 28+ feet...multiple times...not even because the shot clock is winding down...just because he can.  

 

I hear you.  When these "late game collapses" keep happening it becomes endemic and represents a deeper problem.  Coaching.  Hero Ball.  Predictability.  Let us not forget the nice drive and kick to Terry that was waived off (he nailed it) as the refs awarded Harden with 2 free throws.  That took a point off the board too.  Let's take off last season's poo-colored glasses and try watching this team with clear eyes.  It is different.

Once again, for those who loathe the Dwight post-ups.  That six minute drought we had could have been different with Dwight on the floor.  D-Mo was decent in the post and I think he deserves more touches--especially when shooters start to get cold.

 

Papa and D-Mo showed once again that they have the makings of an excellent 2-man inside-out game.

 

It's too early to panic about our offense.  It's not going to be as good as last season--which is fine.  Point Differential is where it's at and ours is +5.  That list is more proof that the East/West disparity is ridiculous.  The West has 10 teams with a positive point differential while the East has 4 and one of those is Miami with a +.6.

 

Golden State and Dallas have double digit spreads, but I think they will come back to Earth as the season rolls on.  I think as long as Houston is at +5 or better we're in good shape.

 

The Rockets, the severely depleted Rockets, beat one of the NBA's golden teams (back to back or not) and one of our rivals...let's celebrate and leave the curmudgeonly worry for another time.

[kdo]

I know we live by the three and die by the three.

+ A three ball is statistically more efficient and a greater expected return.

+ We're one of the best three point shooting teams in the league, so it makes sense to execute as such...

The problem I've seen are three balls under pressure. To me, a three ball under pressure has a much lower % rate than a 2-pointer under pressure, so much so that, frankly, it evens out in expected return or may be even worse. Statistically, on an aggreagte sum, you may see higher point differentials in favor of the three ball, but the peaks and valleys game to game swing so high that consistency is non-existent, which if we do win those games (low 3pt% games) then it's typically games that "we had to win ugly" or "we had to grind that out"...in other words, luck.

My point is, it's a crapshoot, so in a full season, we're fine, we'll have a great record...

 

For the playoffs though, this inconsistency of the three, especially under pressure, is a crapshoot that I'm concerned about...especially when this crapshoot needs to be successful for four rounds.

[rocketrick]

I know we live by the three and die by the three.

My point is, it's a crapshoot, so in a full season, we're fine, we'll have a great record...

 

For the playoffs though, this inconsistency of the three, especially under pressure, is a crapshoot that I'm concerned about...especially when this crapshoot needs to be successful for four rounds.

 

I admit it is very difficult to disagree with kdo's take on the Rockets and their penchant for the 3 point shot this season.

 

Still, I do believe that the Rockets, when at full health, will do better at shooting higher percentage 3 point shots when D12 is clearly available in the lane for a bunny and other Rockets are at full health and playing in the regular rotation (P Beverley, anyone?)

[thenit]

Maybe its a little bit early. But doesn't Dmo start to look like he finally getting it? He started with defence, then better rebounding, and now decent offensive game. I like the progresssion.

[Willk]

I'll just keep repeating what I have already stated....

 

Take the starting center and power forward off of any team and they are going to struggle to win games.  Seriously, find me a team that doesn't.  Perspective....try it.

 

Combine that with 4-5 new players that are trying to work themselves into the system and synergy of said team after only 13 games and, hopefully, a fan of the game could see that any team is going to have a rough go of things.

 

Sure, we can nitpick the points per 100, the 3 pt.%, the assist numbers, the zero in the blocks category, etc.

 

Or we could remember that no less than 5 players last night  saw a lay up go up, roll around the rim like there was a force field on it, and fall into a Mav's hands.  That's 10 points we gave away.  There's your 105 points and suddenly it's a blow out win instead of "another late game collapse". 

 

I love how dismissive so many are about the fact that these guys are insanely good at basketball and no lead, no team, is safe from an offensive barrage.  Sometimes, JJ Barea is going to back down Patrick Beverley, get inside position, and get an easy lay-up (that whole play I kept thinking, Bev's gonna stop him.....this isn't happening....no way he's going to try that....it's gonna get blocked.....  Wat!?!?)  Things happen.  Jameer Nelson is going to hit 3-pointers from 28+ feet...multiple times...not even because the shot clock is winding down...just because he can.  

 

I hear you.  When these "late game collapses" keep happening it becomes endemic and represents a deeper problem.  Coaching.  Hero Ball.  Predictability.  Let us not forget the nice drive and kick to Terry that was waived off (he nailed it) as the refs awarded Harden with 2 free throws.  That took a point off the board too.  Let's take off last season's poo-colored glasses and try watching this team with clear eyes.  It is different.

Once again, for those who loathe the Dwight post-ups.  That six minute drought we had could have been different with Dwight on the floor.  D-Mo was decent in the post and I think he deserves more touches--especially when shooters start to get cold.

 

Papa and D-Mo showed once again that they have the makings of an excellent 2-man inside-out game.

 

It's too early to panic about our offense.  It's not going to be as good as last season--which is fine.  Point Differential is where it's at and ours is +5.  That list is more proof that the East/West disparity is ridiculous.  The West has 10 teams with a positive point differential while the East has 4 and one of those is Miami with a +.6.

 

Golden State and Dallas have double digit spreads, but I think they will come back to Earth as the season rolls on.  I think as long as Houston is at +5 or better we're in good shape.

 

The Rockets, the severely depleted Rockets, beat one of the NBA's golden teams (back to back or not) and one of our rivals...let's celebrate and leave the curmudgeonly worry for another time.

I agree with JG on this. Perspective is needed. The Rockets are missing TJones and Howard. That is 35 points and 19 rebounds. This is not easy to replace. However, with the exception of the Memphis game, the defense has been exceptional! Who would have thought this team would be 2nd in PPG? Even without Howard, the Rockets have held the Warriors and the Mavs, well under their season averages. As long as this team continues to compete on the defensive end, they will be in every game they play.

[thejohnnygold]

If, like me, you find sadistic pleasure in knowing that our rival's fans are as upset about Saturday's game as we are elated then check out this video some Mav's fan posted.  Honestly, I don't know why I watched all 5 minutes, but I can tell you it was strangely satisfying.

 

Very, very, very NSFW.  This is one foul-mouthed dude.  Check your volume before clicking.  If profane, bigoted, shouting, irate people offend you I'd say do not click this.   LINK