Could have kept a hand on Lillard with the foul to give. I think Lillard sold the casual look well and had a amazing take off. Woulda Coulda Shoulda. His athleticism was on display all series even winning a high 50/50 ball between 2 Rockets. Its still a awesome shot and he made a lot through the season. Harden needs to watch some of Lillard's tape to see how he uses screens.
Ultimately this original post is right. "Predictable" is really just referencing the team identity (or lack of) that the Rockets took on during this past regular season. Of course a loss in the WCF would be more educational, but it is year 1 of this team working together.
In some ways, I have sympathy for how little the team seemed to gel in a consistent manner on defense and offense over the regular season (note the word consistent, there have been flashes). Don't forget there have been huge stretches where key players have not been available, along with a initial spell of trying the twin towers look. We never established when we would go post offense first or PnR. Even Dwight didn't seem to know what his true ability was, one night eviscerating his defender and other nights having the ball bounce out from every angle. I think in many ways, targeting a good seed was a little misguided, as we should have really targeted to develop a certain philosophy of playing. Given where we started in terms of knowing what the team could do, how little the team was consistently together, I think I can accept this season a little better. I do still feel the coaching is lacking but have stated before that maybe a good lead assistant would be important. Also how much did we miss Kelvin Sampson on the bench? Lots it seems. In the end, its clear talent wise we should have got to 2nd rd or WCF at least, but the abundance of talents also mean we never knew with certainty which way to play and in the end it showed.
BTW Dwight was a complete monster in Q4. I felt like he couldn't miss from the foul line, until he did. The guy is improving make no mistake. Dream will be working hard with him this summer and telling him things like "why do you care that people say you can't shoot the 10-15 footer". I have a feeling everyone will come back a little bit better next year.
Of course they will listen to offers for Asik/Lin. But make no mistake, those guys are hard to trade and probably have more value in the short run on the team (at least against the offers we will likely hear).
The most critical things to work on actually belong to our 2 stars. They need to have a better 2 man game, and this isn't just about lobs on the roll. There is the post and repost and screen re screen. Harden individually needs to work on his conditioning and defensive mindset. In the 2012-2013 edition of the Rockets, there really wasn't a talent that Harden needed to bend around. Now there is.
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Pop is great, but don't discount having 3 clutch, reliable guys in crunch time on the roster...that makes coaching a lot easier. When he runs Parker ISO three times in a row at the end of the game he's a genius....because Parker makes all 3--two of which were just crazy good shots.
