18 replies to this topic

[Red94]

New post: Miami Heat 114, Houston Rockets 108: Two is Better than One

[amacbrooks12]

Our main problem tonight was defense. We couldn't get any stops late in the game when it most mattered, and kept fouling which had them in the bonus much of that fourth quarter. Despite scoring 108 points tonight, our offense was not good. We missed Carlos Delfino in this game bad, there was no type of spacing on the floor when our guards penetrated. And as I watched the game there was a lot of isolation plays, but we still managed to move the ball well on other possessions and score in the paint without good floor spacing. But honestly, if it wasn't for Harden catching fire from the 3 point line in that 4th quarter, we most likely would've been blown out. However, it was a good game and I enjoyed watching. Im sure we'll learn from this and move on. Nothing wrong with losing to the world champs.

[Jeby]

The biggest silver lining for me was seeing Harden walk onto the court against Lebron James and Dwayne Wade and walk off after posting a 36/23/7 game. Considering the doubts around him after last year's Finals, that shows he belongs in the club.

[thenit]

Harden had a great game offensively and was really the only one who could create his own shot. Lin had the same problem with Heat;s stifling p

[timetodienow1234567]

Yeah Lin struggled, no doubt. But Chalmers is a great defender. Lin is not an all-star. He's getting better though. I like him much more this second half than the 1st part of the season.

[thejohnnygold]

The Heat played good team defense. That resulted in a +6 turnover margin for them. Assuming they converted 50% of those into points--which is 6 points--that was the difference in the score right there. A +10 free throw advantage didn't hurt either. Given those two "setbacks", the Rockets played great and, hopefully, learned a little lesson from Miami about defense.

I'm still waiting for the "law of averages" to catch up with Houston...it is nearly inevitable that soon after a game where everyone's numbers are sky-high there will come a stinker to balance it out.

[phaketrash]

Lin's play is inconsistent, but he's young and learning and prob changing what he practiced in the offseason. I think by the end of this season, or at least the upcoming offseason, Lin will be worth his contract and more. Not saying all star, just worth more than he's paid.

[Alituro]

The Heat use Battier perfectly. There's no one in the league that can slow LeBron down and very few can stay in front of Wade. To win last night would have been a matter of simply outscoring the Heat rather than trying hard to stop them. Unfortunately outscoring even the Bobcats is hard to do on the second night of a B2B on the road. We played good otherwise and a couple little things to go different and we may have stole a win, but oh well.

Other than the Heat, the Rockets are better than the entire rest of the EC, hands down.

[timetodienow1234567]

I can't believe that some people actually believe that Parsons is better than Leonard. It baffles me. Leonard is lightyears better defensively and has added a 3 point shot. While Chandler is a little better offensively at this point, I am dumbfounded with how little respect Kawhi gets from ESPN.

[sircharles]

I can't believe that some people actually believe that Parsons is better than Leonard. It baffles me. Leonard is lightyears better defensively and has added a 3 point shot. While Chandler is a little better offensively at this point, I am dumbfounded with how little respect Kawhi gets from ESPN.

get out of here, spurs fan. just kidding. but what are you talking about? leonard is great but before january was VERY inconsistent

[thejohnnygold]

I can't believe that some people actually believe that Parsons is better than Leonard. It baffles me. Leonard is lightyears better defensively and has added a 3 point shot. While Chandler is a little better offensively at this point, I am dumbfounded with how little respect Kawhi gets from ESPN.

Random....

Looks pretty similar here....kawhi has a slight edge in numbers.... (be sure to click on 2012-2013 tab...the jump resets to first year stats)

I will repeat something I stated in another thread about the Spurs. It is easy to look good and play better when you are on the court with Duncan, Parker, Ginobili, etc. and coached by Pops. Imagine a high IQ guy like Parsons on the Spurs...guarantee Pop would love to have him.

ESPN "dislikes" him the same way they "dislike" Tony Parker. San Antonio is off the radar and not "sexy" enough for TV. No one cares outside of a 100 mile radius.

Oh, and I like Parsons over Leonard.

[timetodienow1234567]

I like Parsons and think he has the potential to be an all-star if he continues growing, I just don't think he's as good as Leonard. And you're right about ESPN hating everything dealing with the Spurs/Pacers/etc... non dunking, fundamentals driven teams. I just think that with his defense, he should get more respect than he does. And it wasn't out of the blue, there was part of an article on here about Parsons v. Leonard.

[thejohnnygold]

ah, I remember...did not read it though. I don't put too much stock in the talking heads from ESPN.....Bill Simmons gives better analysis than most of them...and he is a humorist first.

[feelingsupersonic]

I like Parsons over Leonard. Both are good with upside but Leonard had the advantage of dropping into a system that really was tailor made for him and maybe even made him better whereas Parsons excelled in a chaotic team situation that was anything but stable. We can all see this year that Parsons has seized the moment and become a leader on a young up and coming team whereas Leonard has been good though inconsistent even with Pop's system to fall back on.

[timetodienow1234567]

Good points. I see both as future all stars and Parsons has made the most of his situation. The Spurs system works well because each player does their own role and not to try and force the issue. That's when I see Parsons at his best, so he would do well in Pop's system but he would not have gotten the opportunity since his defense isn't at kawhi's level, so I think both had a good opportunity "for them"

[Rahat Huq]

i was watching the highlight package of this game on sportscenter and spoelstra was saying something like "....well, they didn't put up 140 on us. they can really put up some points."

i felt proud. we are mediocre, but we have an identity.

[amacbrooks12]

You're not alone Rahat, I felt really good about Dwayne Wade's comment after the game saying "that team is hard to guard". But the cherry on top was how both Lebron James and Dwayne Wade agree that James Harden is in the superstar category.

[feelingsupersonic]

Amacbrooks here is a link to a good article Windhorst wrote about Harden today. This guy has been watching and reporting LeBron since he was a kid and probably has rarely ever seen anyone outduel LeBron. I did not watch the game but it would appear that maybe in some people's opinion The Bearded One outplayed The King in the fourth quarter.

http://espn.go.com/b...-superstar-role

[thejohnnygold]

I just read that article. Good stuff. I actually posted some quotes from it on the thread on Harden's defense as I felt a few paragraphs from that shed some interesting light on how he is playing this year. In short, Miami exposed his weakness in last year's finals and Houston is protecting him from it until he can learn to overcome it. As Harden says in the article, “I’m in a totally different role...I have to find a way to master this role I’m in now.”

All of this pleases me.