86 replies to this topic

[rocketrick]

Rahat,

1st thanks for your very impassioned and detailed article on the Rockets woes thus far this playoff season.

I just want to point out how much Harden struggling with his shot is having a detrimental impact in the results of these games. Portland has won by a total of 9 points with LaMarcus Aldridge clearly playing out of his mind. Aldridge is by far the most impressive player this young Playoff season, bar none. I can't even think of a close 2nd impact player at this point in all other NBA playoff series this season combined.

Harden has been struggling with his shot for some time now. In late March and April regular season games, for instance, Harden shot:
4/16 (0/4 3PA) against San Antonio
1/9 (0/4 3PA) against Denver
9/23 (3/10 3PA) against Denver
9/22 (4/8 3PA) against OKC
4/10 (2/6 3PA) against Brooklyn
9/22 (3/11 3PA) against Clippers

The only latter season games Harden shot well in were (except for Toronto) against terrible teams:

10/22 (3/8 3PA) against New Orleans
7/14 (4/5 3PA) against Minnesota
10/15 (3/6 3PA) against Lakers
7/17 (2/6 3PA) against Toronto

The Rockets really needed that 2nd player to step up and help D12 last night and no one else stepped up. Not even close. And how many high percentage shots did D12 take at the goal that just bounced out? Man, that happened at least 3-4 times that I clearly remember while Aldridge is taking fade-away 19- or 20- foot jump shots at the end of the shot clock with Asik in his face and swishing the nets.

I understand the intense scrutiny in the media, on this board, on radio talk shows today in Houston, etc. vis-à-vis one Coach Kevin McHale. It brings back those memories of the 1993-94 playoff series against the Suns when the Rockets lost the first 2 home games. Unfortunately, this time around the Rockets are a much younger, inexperienced team that just hasn't had to deal with adversity to this level (the Rockets lost a heart breaking Game 7 against Seattle in 1992-93 Western Conference Finals that in my opinion hardened them for the playoff battles to come the following seasons). The odds are more than stacked against this Rockets team coming back from an 0-2 hole in my opinion. Still, I expect them to fight to the bitter end or I will be even more disappointed.

It just makes me wonder where the Rockets would stand in this series with better outside shooting by our ace, James Harden, not to mention other usually reliable outside shooters like Parsons, Lin, Beverley, etc. missing in action thus far this playoff series.

For any team, and I mean any team, to be successful in the NBA in this era, there has to be some semblance of outside shooting. Even the back to back Rockets championship team relied on some timely 3 point shots dropping.

To this point in this series, shots just aren't dropping for the Rockets while the Blazers seem to be hitting all the shot clock buzzer beaters and toughly contested shots from the outside.

I just dread that the Rockets sell out and double team Aldridge all, or most of next game and the Blazers 3 point shooters simply scorch us with wide-open, uncontested 3 point shooting.

Edited by rocketrick, 24 April 2014 - 11:31 PM.

[miketheodio]

LAD relied on 2s to kill Rockets.  Why is Rockets relying on 3s so much?  Philosophically, I don't believe a system that relies on 3s so much by the teams's main players can go far in playoff.  Anyway, LAD's play was fun to watch.  His mom looked so young also.  Batum, Wes, Lillard, LAD -- they all seem no-nonsense type of guys who respect each other and play as a team.

the 3 philosophy is a bit a a misnomer. Spurs and heat take a good amount. However, their offense has more structure while the rockets are unstructured. Of course those teams have a more balanced offense as well. Rockets need to fill out their playbook and incorporate more options on offence. Developing midrange options in the playbook while developing players midrange skills. The system needs to become more complete.

[rocketrick]

The Rockets only shot 16 3-pointers in Game 2 vs. Portland shooting 23.

The Rockets ended up 3/16 while Portland finished 8/23.

Whether or not the Rockets should shoot more mid-range shots or not is a subject likely to be debated over the summer. This team is built on the Rockets shooting layups, 3 pointers and free throws to succeed. I don't see the Rockets all of a sudden changing their philosophy this late in the season. Would seem to be more a sign of desperation than anything if they did.

Edited by rocketrick, 25 April 2014 - 01:29 AM.

[miketheodio]

The Rockets only shot 16 3-pointers in Game 2 vs. Portland shooting 23.The Rockets ended up 3/16 while Portland finished 8/23.Whether or not the Rockets should shoot more mid-range shots or not is a subject likely to be debated over the summer. This team is built on the Rockets shooting layups, 3 pointers and free throws to succeed. I don't see the Rockets all of a sudden changing their philosophy this late in the season. Would seem to be more a sign of desperation than anything if they did.

I should have specified my point. Yes in the off-season. Doing it now would be too desperate.

While their is an argument that Dwight got 3-5 to many post up possessions, I think Portland's perimeter defense is preventing and stopping 3 pointers pretty well. I put some of that on the unstructured offense.

[Willk]

Stagnant offense, when did we become a post up Dwight offense? What Barkley said was right and Rahat. It wasn't sustainable and it too Harden (he's just flat out horrific right now 14/47 in 2 games?), Chandler (tad but horrible under Harden), and Lin (who just seems to shoot spot up 3's and waits in the corner watching Harden and Parsons miss everything). Can we see a 1_2 pick n roll?

No adjustments on defense. Was that the adjustment to make? Just play Asik on Aldridge? Can we even call that an adjustment? Can you try a double team? Atleast try? Do something!!

Series is done without drastic measures. Me personally, I'm throwing Lin in the starting lineup, and running PnR all day 1_2, 1_4, 1_5? I don't care, nothing else is working anyway. Only time we really had energy is when Lin was making plays, assists, breaking down the defense. And when Dwight was going off. Other then that, what was a bright spot for the offense?

That makes sense. Let's run PnR w/ our 2nd best PnR player. How about playing PnR with our best PnR player Harden with Howard. Lin should not be starting Bev has been playing better. 

[rocketrick]

Some fans just clearly think Lin is a much better player than Harden and since McHale doesn't agree with him, that makes McHale a horrible Head Coach. And that Harden is coddled too much.

Harden definitely needs to turn it on in Game 3 or this season is going to come to a crashing end much sooner than anyone anticipated.

[NickyK]

Why so serious?  When your star players don't perform, you lose the game. So it is two straight losses due to non-performance from our star players. From my opinion, next game is the one to judge our star payers whether they are "chokers" or not.

Just one thing to point out, Q4 line-up putting in D12, Parsons, Harden, Bev, & Lin isn't working.....not enough rebounding, giving them too many second chances.

[rocketrick]

Plenty of rebounding, they just need to all focus on getting the defensive rebound. Make that the #1 priority. Making Portland miss their shot just to simply see them grab the rebound is not going to get it done.

More importantly, everyone from Harden down to Beverley (Parsons, Lin, Garcia, too) must hit a higher percentage of their outside shots, especially when they are wide open. If the Rockets outside shooting woes continue, it won't matter what adjustments defensively are made or not. It is really going to come down to the Rockets making a much better percentage of their outside shots.

Edited by rocketrick, 25 April 2014 - 02:01 AM.

[Willk]

Houston's problem isn't Lamarcus Aldridge, or even James Harden, its Coach McHale. 

 

Everything in Huq's Pen I agree with 100%. I said all year long that McHale would be the weak link come playoffs. Terry Stotts has made all the right moves and Mchale hasn't made any moves (which has been the wrong move). 

 

McHale coaches this team like a baseball manager,not a basketball coach. It's called late game "execution" because it implies that your'e executing some predetermined play. Everything late in the game was about how do we get Harden the ball so he can save us. Well the entire world knows that play and the Blazers defend that pretty well now which isn't a surprise considering this was the 6th match-up this year between the 2 teams. 

 

Plan A has failed and Mchale has failed in developing a plan B. Watching D12  go bonkers in quarter 1 was great however the whole time I knew it wasn't sustainable. You need to score about 108 points to beat the blazers and Dwight wasn't going to go all Wilt Chamberlain on them. In the second half he started missing and when the blazers would start doubling and instead of passing out to open shooters which Dwight should do he forced up bad shots.

 

However you can't really criticize D12 too much, he gave a performance worthy of a win (had the other "super" star participated).

 

Mchale's limitations are being exploited at the worst possible time. He is being outcoached and he doesnt even know it. Listening to the post game news conference he sounded defeated however he never once took accountability, its was only "we need to set better picks for Harden". Really? Your gameplan for the future is how do we get Harden more shots? All his eggs are in Harden's basket but he hasn't given Harden and instructions on what to do. Instead he's relying on Harden to make the right decisions.

 

The bright spot in losing in round 1 will be having a new coach. Here is my list of who I'd like to see. The list of coaches who are better than him is much longer so that list can wait.

 

-Jeff Van Gundy

-George Carl

-Any of Gregg Popovich's assistants

-Tom Izzo

-Fred Hoiberg

-Tom Thibadeau

-Nate McMillan

-Mike D'Antoni (at least he knows how to coach and win with players who dont play D)

-Lawrence Frank

-Rudy Tomjonavich (so what if he's retired)

 

 

On a side note, wouldn't it be great if the NBA had a player loan program like European soccer. This way for the first month of next season the Rockets could loan Harden to the bulls so Harden could learn how to play defense. Or if McHale is still around the Rockets could loan Mchale to the Spurs so he could see what a play looks like.

Lets look at this list of coaches

Jeff van Gundy - both sides have to want to coach. Who knows if he wants to coach again

Any Spurs assistant - which one? Who are they?

George Karl - How many times has he lost in the 1st round? He was the same coach who did not the glove on MJ until Seattle was down 3-0 in his only finals appearance which was about 20 years ago.

Tom Izzo & Fred Hoiberg- really? college coaches who have never coached in the NBA before. This team is built to win within the next couple of years not wait 3 years for a college coach to figure how to coach in the NBA.

Thibs - he is under contract with the Bulls next year. The same coach who plays Jimmy Butler 48 minutes whenever he can.

Nate McMillan - Has a career winning % of 514 (McHales is 531)

Mike D' Antoni - What has he won? He has a career winning % of 516. Who has had more talent D' Antoni or McHale?

Why not name Hubie Brown, Phil Jackson, Pop, or even Red Auerbach?

[Willk]

What gets me is that ... Beverly really isn't looking like some superior defender to the extent that his lack of playmaking is warranted, while Lin's defense has looked spectacular. He not only stayed in front of Lillard, but looked to block him twice (but there was a foul call and the second was blocked again by Howard). Just run more offense through him. This "no assist" game is just ugly and not worth the trade-off. And beyond that, certainly don't tell Chandler Parsons that when Harden sits, it's "Parsons time." That's just ridiculous.

 

I actually thought Bev had a good game, but looking back at Aldridge's big plays, Asik kept having to move toward the lanes left open on Lillard drives, with Bev chasing behind. We can all say Beverly is an elite defender, but so far, Lin has done better. At some point in this series, Beverly has to show us.

Spectacular really? Lin had a lot of help with guarding Damian Lillard you even mentioned Howard's block as an example of this help. Lillard also scored on Lin every time Lin guarded him in game 1.  Lin has done a good job against Mo Williams. Williams has not really challenged anybody that has been guarding. He has been looking to shoot jump shots. Bev played good defense yesterday whether you chose to see it or not.

[Willk]

been a fan of the game for along time
If a player is going off like LA you must take the ball out of his hands.
One thing i noticed over the years I have seen the best players check the other team best player all the time when it comes to the playoffs. i have seen Lebron check Parker, Rose, Hibbert, West, Rondo, Pierce, Dirk, if didn't matter their size because the leader of the team sets the attitude that he is going to take it upon himself to win. In the playoffs good coaches will exposed your weakness.. This team is lost on the defense side of the ball. No way a team should be able to do the same thing over and over. i noticed in the second period Blazers sent extra people at Howard and Howard traveled twice and made a bad pass. That is in game adjustments and Mchale must make changes on the run. It's not over till its over. I have seen it all in sports. Go rockets

How do you take the ball out of LMA's hands? Who is this best player who should checking LMA?

[PhillyCheese]

A few things that I would like to see - by all means play LMA straight up most of the time but they need to show more doube teams to keep him guessing.  The Blazers doubled Dwight early in 1Q and he found Bev all alone in the corner for a three.  But that did not stop Stotts from throwing some double teams at Dwight.  Yes you might get burned, but I think the benefits outweigh the times you do get burned. 

 

Jones has no clue on off the ball defense, weak side help D and boxing out.  It's too late and he is not going to all of a sudden get it.  Therefore, give DMo some burn.  He can't be as bad as Jones and he adds a little more length against LMA, and he gives them 6 more fouls.  Considering Dwight and Asik were close to fouling out in game 2, they could use the extra 6 fouls.  

 

When they play the TT, put Lin in for Bev.  You need passing and court vision with the TT and not perimeter D so much.  And watching the last two games, I would even say that Lin's perimeter D has been better than Bev's, though I know there will be a couple of posters here who will vehemently deny that. 

[Willk]

Lin was the best perimeter player yesterday hard to blame him too much for the loss. While he's been awful this year Harden played well last year against okc, I woudlnt label him a choker just yet.

 

A couple things about last night:

 

1) I think the Blazers are happy with the Rockets offense centered around Howard in the post. Even though Howard was a monster in the first quarter and most of the second if it wasnt for a Beverley jumper at the buzzer the Blazers would've been ahead at half. So despite Howard looking like the Howard of old (pre  Lakers) it didn't give the Rockets any advantage (in regards to the score). Robin Lopez looked like a little boy against D12 however Lopez had a +/- of +18 last night, highest of any player. Not sure what to make of this but my opinion is that the blazers are better off with the offense going through Howard.

 

2) Lin's foul at the end of the game when down only three did seem a bit stupid. Who knows what he was told or not told in the last huddle. I give Lin the benefit of the doubt on this one because he doesnt seem like the type of player to not know the score and shot clock at any given time. Who knows. In the post game news conference no one asked McHale about it so it probably wasnt as big of a play as some on here make it out to be. 

 

3) Wesley Matthews getting behind the defense for an easy lay-up at the end of the game wasn't on Harden (surprise). The bigs were supposed to be back and the guards were supposed to trap. I do blame D12 for not fouling Matthews to stop the layup. It looked like Dwight could've stopped the layup rather than try to block it.

 

4) Harden's post game comments and body language at the end of the game are worrisome on many levels. Instead of taking accountability for himself he kept emphasizing the team needing to play better defense. Do they need to play better defense to offset your bad defense?

 

5) Beverley needs to guard Lillard once Lillard crosses mid-court, not in the back court. We all know that Beverley is tenacious but he's exerting a lot of energy on the wrong side of the court. Lillard wasn't great shooting the ball last night but he was great overall (18 points, 11 assists, 8 rebounds). 

 

6) Back to Harden. During the regular season he was great at drawing fouls, but in the playoffs you have to get fouled, not draw fouls. I've noticed he's now flailing in order to get whistles. Officials are reviewed after each game and when or if they find out they've been fooled by Harden they're going to be less apt to give him calls.

 

7) The Rockets aren't a good 3 point shooting team because they have good shooters, but because they get good looks and shoot them often. Not a single Rocket regular is a good three point shooter (good as in someone who would be invited to the three point contest). Hoping the Rockets make a barrage of threes the next game is silly.

 

8) What Aldridge is doing isn't sustainable but the Blazers offensive efficiency thus far is sustainable. You can't really double LMA because he's such a good catch and shoot shooter. He keeps the ball up high so bringing help with guards wont work and he's a pretty good passer. The Blazers were the best team in the NBA early on when teams doubled LMA. I'd rather leave Asik on him and live with Aldridge if he keeps making long contested jumpers. Both Matthews and Batum have had mediocre games so far offensively and you don't want both of them catching fire. Then you have 4 players who can go off. 

 

I dont feel good about the Rockets chances for this series. I don't think the Rockets have the intestinal fortitude to come back. They also lack the veteran leadership and the coaching. Portland at home is very tough and the Blazers are going to smell blood in the water. If the Rockets get down early the Blazers will pounce. I wouldnt be surprised if this series ends on Sunday.

1) Lin's foul was definitely of his own doing. Nobody else ran out Lillard to foul him as soon as he caught the ball only Lin. Bev's reaction definitely showed that they did not want to foul there, well unless you are saying McHale gave Lin a separate secret message. Lin has lost track of the game clock multiple times this season ( a couple come to mind are the Atlanta game where Lin threw pass after the game ended instead of shooting and in Minnesota at the end of Q3 when Lin went iso was guarded and threw a pass after the quarter ended). I like how you state that foul was not a big deal. It only took the game from a 1 possession game to a 2 possession game. Yep, not that big of a deal. Who is your favorite player?

2) you have already been proven wrong about the Mathews lay-up

3) What was Harden's body language during the post game interview? Was he slumped over? Was should his body language have been?

4) Why shouldn't Beverley pick-up Lillard. Do you understand that by picking Lillard full court it takes time off of the shot clock? What is your rationale full this.

5) How is Portland's offense efficient? Lillard was 3-14, Mathews was 4-11. Batum was 3-11. The only other players that were Lopez 3-5 (I will gladly take him taking more shots), Mo Williams 4-8,  and Dorell Wright 4-5. Portland really needed that 40 point game from LMA yesterday because their offense was not efficient.

[Buckko]

Welcome to the forum kdo and your annoyance for Mchale is not alone. Let the articulate discussions of the rockets continue.

[Willk]

A few things that I would like to see - by all means play LMA straight up most of the time but they need to show more doube teams to keep him guessing.  The Blazers doubled Dwight early in 1Q and he found Bev all alone in the corner for a three.  But that did not stop Stotts from throwing some double teams at Dwight.  Yes you might get burned, but I think the benefits outweigh the times you do get burned. 

 

Jones has no clue on off the ball defense, weak side help D and boxing out.  It's too late and he is not going to all of a sudden get it.  Therefore, give DMo some burn.  He can't be as bad as Jones and he adds a little more length against LMA, and he gives them 6 more fouls.  Considering Dwight and Asik were close to fouling out in game 2, they could use the extra 6 fouls.  

 

When they play the TT, put Lin in for Bev.  You need passing and court vision with the TT and not perimeter D so much.  And watching the last two games, I would even say that Lin's perimeter D has been better than Bev's, though I know there will be a couple of posters here who will vehemently deny that. 

Who do you double off when you double LMA? Lillard and Mathews are both 39% three point shooters and Batum is a 36%. I would rather try to make LMA keep making contested jumpers then letting anyone of those guys or even all of them getting hot.

I agree about Jones.

I disagree about Lin being inserted in for Bev when the TTs are in. The Rockets are significantly more effective team with Bev on the floor. They were a +6 with Bev on the court this year and a -.8 with Lin on the court per basketball-reference.com. Lin does have a decent 2.25 Assist to TO ratio, which during the regular season would have been good for 38th in the league. Bev is averaging 4 assists to every TO. Bev is the steadier player. Lin's perimeter D has definitely not been better, but Lin is your favorite player so I understand why you posted that.

[Willk]

Some fans just clearly think Lin is a much better player than Harden and since McHale doesn't agree with him, that makes McHale a horrible Head Coach. And that Harden is coddled too much.

Harden definitely needs to turn it on in Game 3 or this season is going to come to a crashing end much sooner than anyone anticipated.

I agree 100% with everything you wrote here

[Willk]

Plenty of rebounding, they just need to all focus on getting the defensive rebound. Make that the #1 priority. Making Portland miss their shot just to simply see them grab the rebound is not going to get it done.

More importantly, everyone from Harden down to Beverley (Parsons, Lin, Garcia, too) must hit a higher percentage of their outside shots, especially when they are wide open. If the Rockets outside shooting woes continue, it won't matter what adjustments defensively are made or not. It is really going to come down to the Rockets making a much better percentage of their outside shots.

agree with this too

[datruth]

Mr. wilk
what is your point in calling people out.
Not trying to talk about you, but why make personal suggestion about people you don't know. Our best player is james harden and d12. Those two guys set the pace for this team. Not sure why you would ask who our best player is.. Not sure what game you are looking at our perimeter defense is bad. The first thing you learn in playing defense is keep your man in front of you and move your feet. That's is elementary in playing defense, not letting your man get past you then trying to reach in from behind that awful defense. No disrespect toward you, but when you call people out. please have a clue about basketball. i wish you the best on this site, i will not add to the fire until the series is over. i tell my grandchildren to stay in front of the ball and at that the first then you learn while playing defense to move YOUR FEET..

[PhillyCheese]

Who do you double off when you double LMA? Lillard and Mathews are both 39% three point shooters and Batum is a 36%. I would rather try to make LMA keep making contested jumpers then letting anyone of those guys or even all of them getting hot.

The guard closest to LMA should double him while the other guard covers his man.  LMA would have to make a cross court pass to get to the open man which should allow the guard to rotate back and contest.  Same thing that Dwight managed to do with Bev.  But not suggesting they do this all the time.  Problem is I have never seen Harden ever double someone, nor do I think he will expend the effort to rotate.  I can see this happening if we have Bev and Lin on the court without Harden, as those two will give the effort on D.  

 

The Rox D is pretty sad because of one guy not giving effort affecting the rest of the rotation.  Everytime I see Harden on a PF I want to scream, because they don't move around too much as Harden doesn't move around too much, and that is where they try to hide him,  With two relatively slow wing defenders that play 40 minutes, no wonder it's tough to get stops against a pick and pop, mid range shooting superstar.

[PeteChilcutt]

Rahat, 

 

I am Juan Manfred on Bleacher Report's Rockets section. I am an avid commenter there. I believe you "borrowed" my words verbatim when you said "you need a tactician, not a motivational speaker."

 

Of course you'll deny it. But I have screenshots. I can't do anything about it. I just wanna let you know, I'M ON TO YOU. 

 

Also, your mentioning of the Bill Simmons quote.