8 replies to this topic

[Red94]

New post: Golden State Warriors 131, Houston Rockets 106 - Gotta get better
By: Forrest Walker

The Houston Rockets aren't good enough. Sure, 28-13 is good for homecourt in the first round, a pace for 56 teams and an improvement in the first round. The Rockets have been beating tough teams, winning with solid defense and have a legitimate MVP candidate on the team. This is probably the best Rockets team we've seen in twenty years in probably the best Western Conference we've seen in decades. There's little reason for anything except effusive praise and recognition of how good of a team Daryl Morey's front office has built.

 

Losing in a drubbing to the best team in the league is a good reminder that they still need to get better.

 

Is there anything the Golden State Warriors can't do? As this season hits the midpoint, the only thing the Warriors have to prove anymore is that they can stay healthy long enough to win a championship. Even when MVP hopeful Steph Curry shoots a miserable 2-8 from three point range, the Warriors can still dissect the #2 defense in the league for 131. The point, however, is not that the Warriors are good. The point is that with that team out there, the bar has been raised for the rest of the NBA, especially the meat grinder that is the west. Tonight, we saw what happens when a team vaults face-first into that bar.

 

James Harden, in particular, took in on the chin. Klay Thompson did as good a job defensively as anyone's done on Harden all season on a night when James' game temporarily left him. 12 points on 15 shots isn't anyone's idea of efficiency, and his 4 boards and 4 assists were sub-par, even for a mere 30 minutes of play. Foul trouble kept him out much of the game, and garbage time forced him to some early rest at the end. With Harden disrupted at best and sitting at worst, the Houston offense sputtered and died at times. The 106 point total says more about the pace of the game than about the shooting, which was a miserable 42% overall.

 

The three point line was smothered by defense all night, leading to not only a bad three point percentage for Houston (7-23, for 30%), but some disappointing lines for a number of players who rely on the arc for points. Ariza's 7 points on 2-5 shooting was actually preferable to several lines, like Patrick Beverley's 4-13 night, or Jason Terry and Corey Brewer combining to him one three in six tries.

 

The only bench player who really stood out was, of course, Josh Smith. He went 5-10, knocked down a three (that maybe he shouldn't have taken, if we're being honest), went 75% at the stripe and was just generally in the right place at the right time. Josh Smith is that TV show you won't admit to your friends that you watch because you don't even really like it that much and you don't even think it's good, but you keep seeing glimpses of the great TV show it could be and you keep watching because it gets just enough right that you think that with enough time, one day, when it plays to its strengths, it's gonna be awesome. Today the Josh Smith show had a fun episode. What will we see next time? Stay tuned to find out.

 

The one bright spot was that the Rockets posted up well against the Warriors. Drive and kick? Pick and roll? Golden State was ready and waiting. Backing them down in the paint, however, was more effective, and might just be a place to put together a plan. Howard had his way with Andrew Bogut, racking up 23 points on 9-15 shooting and getting the Australian big man in foul trouble early. His 7 free throws looked strikingly better, and he made 5 of them. 10 rebounds and 3 assists are a fine line any night of the week, and he was aided in his quest by Donatas Motiejunas. D-mo shot 50%, scored 14, grabbed 7 boards and had a +/- of only -3! On a night when every Rocket logged a net negative, that's reason for hope.

 

The Rockets now have time to lick their wounds before they face the Pacers next and then the Warriors again. If there's any way Houston can instigate improvement without roster moves, now is the time. If that turns out not to be the case, the trade deadline is only month away. Going .680 might be good enough most seasons, but good enough just won't cut it this year, against this level of competition. It's time to take another step, even after having taken so many.

[Losthief]

well written summary. Can't argue with your conclusions, will be interesting to see the defensive changes (and offensive if any) we make before next weeks re-match. Need to take one I believe out the 4 this year for confidence sake.

[thejohnnygold]

I disagree that this game serves as validation for a knee-jerk reaction (i.e. a trade).  I think we have the necessary personnel to beat the Warriors.  I think we failed in effort level and the coaches need to figure out how to exploit them on offense better while not getting killed on defense.

 

I simply cannot disagree more with a panic trade that robs us of quality depth and a very, very promising growth curve in exchange for a PG who will still be 3rd banana around here and wasn't going to help us prevent GS from dropping 131 points on us--that was the problem.

 

I can not count the number of people I've seen/heard (not all here) who genuinely believe we can just bundle up however many mid-level contracts (Terry, Shved, Brewer, Papa) and tie them up with that pellies pick like a pretty, little bow and somehow make that look appealing enough for a team to hand over an all-star caliber PG.  It's not going to happen.

 

That Pellies pick is going to be at the end of the lottery.  We know all too well what picking at the end of the lottery is like.  What team is going to give us an elite PG for a mid-first round pick and bench filler?  Seriously.  Stop trying to believe that is going to happen...it's not going to happen.

 

The asking price starts with D-Mo, the pick, and probably Beverley, Capela, and one of Brewer/Papanikoloau.  All of that just to pretend like our chances of getting out of the Western Conference got better for one season.  Or we could exercise some patience and understand that this is a process.  We could keep all that talent and try to improve internally.  PG's can be added in free agency if we want.  Nick Johnson and Canaan are developing in the D-League.  One of them is going to contribute for us next season.

 

The Dallas Mavericks are practically running a starting 5 of All-Stars.  Yet, they have the same record as us at 28-13.  The season is half way over and we are ahead of Dallas, San Antonio, Los Angeles (Clips), Phoenix, New Orleans, and OKC in the standings and have a better record than  Toronto, Chicago, Cleveland, and Miami.  (Considering our injuries and new players this is impressive in my eyes).

 

Yet, the persistent calls to tear it down echo throughout Rocket Land.  Forget the fact that OKC had dismantled GS the night before and that we handed it to OKC the night before that.  It's the WC, no, the NBA, people.  Memphis just beat Portland.  The Spurs and Clips did too.  The Wizards beat the Spurs and Bulls, then turned around to lose to Brooklyn.  The Mavs lost to the Nuggets....I could go on and on and on....

 

Despite the negatives from last night's game there were positives.  We've got the horses to win this race.  Who cares if we go 0-4 against GS in the regular season.  I seem to recall SA going 0-4 against us last year and all that did was earn them a championship.  Point being, it's what we do in the playoffs that matters.  Panicking before we get there is what we have to not do.

[Mario Peña]

Whoa johnnygold! Don't hold back brother! What site were you on where fans were discussing trades that got you all riled up?

[thejohnnygold]

Whoa johnnygold! Don't hold back brother! What site were you on where fans were discussing trades that got you all riled up?

 

I see a lot on Reddit.com in the Rockets sub.  There is some here, but it's rampant over there.

 

I guess I was a bit riled up.  It's not that I am completely against having a top notch point guard.  Of course that would be great.  I guess I just see far too many people that are ready to fork over quite a bit (or that think we can just pass off scraps) and think it will solve all our problems.

 

I think we have enough talent to win.  I think the players and coaches need to spend the second half of the season refining what we've got (and I do think that is exactly what they are doing) and we will do well.

 

A team like Golden State is tough.  They are very good and if Harden has an off game our defense needs to keep us in the game.  Yet, there was Mareese Speights wide open time after time because Dwight won't leave the paint to guard him.  Transition defense was not up to par.  Three point shooters were open time after time.  We let them get too many offensive rebounds.  Golden State has too many weapons not to score, but we have to do a better job of making them work harder for those points.

 

A PG upgrade (as was alluded to in the recap) is not the answer for this problem.  We still managed to put up 106 points on 88 shots which is only 5 more than we average per game.  On the other hand, Golden State took 91 shots.  We average 82.6 fga's against per game.  Considering that they blocked 11 of our fga's that reduces the number to 77 shots that made it to the rim.  The 7-23 from deep didn't help at all.

 

Again, I think we can beat these guys.  I liked the damage we did inside against them.  Letting them shoot 9-22 from deep hurt (and that included 2-8 from Curry).  The Rockets seemed to approach the game with the aim of stopping Curry.  I disagree.  I think we should let Curry do his thing and shut down the rest of the team.  He can't do it alone....well, maybe he can, but I think that would be a lot harder for him to do.  Instead of the 27 points and 11 assists he racked up along with 7 rebounds, 3 steals and only 2 turnovers I'd rather see him have 40+ points and 4 assists with 5+ turnovers.  I think if we force him to try and do it all we can get that while frustrating the other 4 guys instead of invigorating them with easy shots.  It's the LeBron Strategy.

 

If people think trying to out gun GS is the way to the title I think they are misguided.  They have better horses for that kind of race.  It may not matter.  GS is lining up to play one of San Antonio, OKC, or Phoenix in the first round.  I think any one of them can knock them off.  Phoenix matches up better with them since they play a similar brand of small ball and have some defensive bull dogs to sick on Curry and Thompson.  Meanwhile, they have Morris and Len who can do some damage inside.  I'm not saying it's likely, but when it comes to match ups I think Golden State loses some of their edge against Phoenix.

 

The point is, just like us and San Antonio last year, another team may knock them out for us clearing the path for a deep playoff run.

 

I'd like to see us establish a stronger identity and force teams to adapt to us rather than make another trade to try and be more like them.

[cointurtlemoose]

I agree that this loss shouldn't be cause for panic. GS is probably one of the deepest teams in the league, if not THE deepest team. But even so, the biggest factor last night wasn't a big talent gap between us and them, but rather two main things, as I saw it:

 

1) We lacked defensive discipline, especially in transition, and then completely lost it in the 3rd. 

2) They seemed completely prepared for our offensive drive/kick tendencies, and for containing Harden. We failed to adjust to their preparedness.

 

So I'm not intimidated by the loss, but Wednesday's game will really tell the tale. We all know this, but playoffs are all about matchup and adjustments. Wednesday will go to show if our coaching/roster is able to make those adjustments.

[Matt Maloney's Ghost]

Am I the only one that thinks that our defense got torn apart due to GSW offense scheme rather than effort?

 

Fans will discuss the lack of effort or intensity, but I saw a defense that was confused. And when offenses make you think, you become less aggressive. 

 

Also, GSW were just making shot after shot, you have to give them credit. 

 

My concerns after the GSW are;

 

Can we win when our second option is Howard becomes the first option on the offensive end?

Is Howard our second option, or is it D-MO?

If it is D-MO, then why didn't hit that match up more with Green on him?

Our second option is undeclared and thats the problem. We don't know what to do without Harden.

 

When Harden is struggling, can he play without the ball? Make a couple of cuts, run through pick after pick. Make Thompson work! He just stands out there.

[rocketrick]

Harden's at his best with the ball in his hands creating shots for himself or for his teammates. His game is not the catch and shoot type of a Klay Thompson, as an example.

[Jatman20]

In watching the games vs GSW's this season.....my take on it is that the Warriors play a better form of small ball than teams of yesteryear. The commentators made a good point when noting that the Warriors bring a lot of 6'8" guys or those with length, speed, and agility. They switch well and prevent posting up with a collapsing defense which harasses both inside and outside (they get out to 3 point shooters well defensively) games. It has been often said that even Olajuwon would have trouble posting up in today's NBA with help defenses being so quick and organized. I saw D-Mo guarding Bogut on a play.....they ran a high screen at the three point line (Bogut screening for Curry) in which Curry steps back and shoots the 3; he misses but Bogut crashes the board for a dunk. D-Mo and our point guard were left at the 3point line just looking. When everyone is blocking out their guy (their assignments); Bogut needs to be accounted for and not allowed an uncontested lane to the rebound/dunk!! There is more to basketball than offense. Every team in the playoffs is going to test not only D-Mo's defense; but all of our PF's. I'm not suggesting a trade for a PF anymore........but the playoffs are about adjustments starting from game one. I have said all year that the quick PF's who have range (in the playoffs) will give us trouble (David Lee, Draymond Green, Blake, LMA). I'm not sure we can run with a GS Warriors without going small ball ourselves. Without a trade for a Dragic or backup shooting guard with range who can also defend (about 6'6"-6'8).....it's hard for me to see us matching small ball vs small ball with them.

D-Mo has to learn to dig in deep for prime post up real estate before initial entry pass. Something D12 has yet to grasp as well. I don't care for the criticism of Barkley or Shaq on D12; but they right on how the center should always try to beat the defense down the court before they set up and get that rim runs every play (where they the center sets up in front of the rim) for a cheap easy bucket and/or foul. Shaq's philosophy of getting 7 points a quarter is something D12 should aim for.....18 points a game is nice; but rim runs of just getting deep under the rim and forcing a defender to get pushed directly under the rim or stand one side of him or the other (if not fronted) D12 should react accordingly. As Shaq puts it the center can expect to be pushed away from the rim.....if you have deep under the rim ground staked out, they end up pushing D12 just outside the restricted area without getting a 3 second call; D12 could add another 4 points to his average to about 22 a game with more rim runs. As it is D12 sets up on the box and allows himself to get pushed away from the basket another 3 feet away (ending up about 7-8 feet away on most plays. In the playoffs Houston will need to get D12 or D-Mo 1) deep inside posting [the defense will collapse] 2) D12/D-Mo will pass out only to reset and get 3) deeper penetration by reposting and quickly putting up the hook shot. This will test the playoff defense of most teams and hopefully tire them out with constantly rotating between collapsing the paint and guarding the 3 point shooters. Problem is GS Warriors have almost a first team as a bench. Without a trade for Dragic or another wing defender/scorer (taller/younger than Jason Terry).....I hope someone else knocks out the Warriors so we don't have to face them.

Edited by Jatman20, 01 February 2015 - 05:20 PM.