4 replies to this topic

[thejohnnygold]

After beating the Bulls at their own game on Wednesday night with suffocating defense the Rockets welcome the team 90 miles North of Chicago to the Toyota Center.  I am as excited for this Bucks game as I was the Bulls game, but for different reasons.

 

The Bucks have amassed a collection of young talent that makes Sam Hinkie weak in the knees.  Jason Kidd is playing Dr. Moreau and the Bucks are 27-22.  Check out what he has done with Giannis Antetokounmpo so far this season.

 

 

I have heard that he has even spent time at PG, but this chart does not reflect that.

 

In addition to the Greek Freak, the Bucks sport some serious young talent.  My two favorites are Brandon Knight and Khris Middleton.  Middleton caught my eye last season and has improved himself into a potentially elite 3&D role player.  He is shooting 44% from deep and can defend multiple positions.  

 

Brandon Knight is caught in the middle of a major fan debate.  Some see him as the future PG of the franchise and others feel he lacks innate PG play-making abilities and is not fit to receive the high dollar contract many believe he will receive after this season.  Like Middleton, he is 23 years old, and is killing it from deep shooting 41% for the season.

 

Larry Sanders is out with another episode of being Larry Sanders.  The Bucks front court has gotten so thin Jason Kidd had to "phone a friend" and get Kenyon Martin back in the fold.  He can still play some decent defense and I am excited to see him and Josh Smith play down low.

 

After the effort put into Wednesday's game, I expect the Rockets may come out flat against this Buck's team and will have to turn it on in the second half to secure the win.  I do expect a win and I think D-Mo goes off for roughly 20 & 10 against the Bucks front line.

 

Once again, let's hear everyone else's thoughts, feelings, predictions, etc. leading up to the 7 pm tip off on Friday night.

 

[YaoMan]

I can see this as kind of a "trap" game too - I hope they don't take them very lightly at all. Have to close out on their back court shooters and make them take long 2s like the Rox did vs. Chicago.

Do you think Battier has close connections to the Rox still? He didn't stutter in the slightest in stating that James Harden is the leading MVP right now during last night's ESPN broadcast. On that same note Curry did drop 51 vs Dallas and notched a win in a game they were down 20 at the beginning...

[txtdo1411]

I have a feeling that the Rockets are going to come out prepared for this one. I don't expect it to be a blowout either way, but I don't expect us to fall into a deficit and have to work our way back all night long. Then again I wouldn't have thought we would do that against the sixers either, so I guess we will just have to see which Rockets team comes out to start the game.

 

Giannis scares me. He had a pretty good game last time we played them, and if we have a lot of unforced TO's and long rebounds, I could see him killing us in transition. Middleton is another player that can see hurting us. As long as we don't have a bunch TOs, I think we will be alright. I'll predict the Rockets win 101-94 with James posting 29, 7 & 7.  

[TTrainW]

I have mixed feelings about this game. Though H-Town got a win, it was closer than I expected, especially after a terrific start in the first quarter and a good strong lead early in the 1st half. Defense after the 1st quarter (held them to 23 points) was pretty bad. We gave up 111 total, way too many points lost in bad mismatches, where Milwaukee played pick and roll to get a switch, with Beverly guarding Middleton and Giannis in the post or Giannis isolated with a significantly smaller defender. The no-switch rule was a bad defensive tactic in this game IMO, and it's happened a few times in the past, with teams exploiting our mismatches. 

 

When Milwaukee started doubling Harden in the second half, Rox offense struggled and slowed down a lot. It appears we just couldn't get the ball moving, with Harden dribbling slowly, waiting until the double team got close, and then struggling to pass it out. Milwaukee has a lot of long, quick and athletic players, so this tactic worked quite well for them, but it might not be the same for other teams. Overall not impressed with the Rockets 4th quarter offense. Didn't see much of DMo, as the Rockets went with a smaller line-up. We were outscored 29-21. This can't happen when we face playoff teams. 

 

Outside of the bad mismatches, we let them shoot a lot of mid-jumpers, which is the game plan (though some of them uncontested); we defended the 3 well, so even though they made more shots than us (48 - 41), we outscored them from the 3 point line by a very large margin (17 threes to 4). Analytic's favoring efficient threes it seems. 

 

Harden, Ariza and Smith had good games. Smith's 4 threes are more of an anomaly and unsustainable, but we benefited well from his defense and passing. Very close to a triple double. He had a team high 4 TOs though.

 

Houston survives with a win, but we need to be more sustainable on both ends of the floor; still, only a regular season game where the team can go back, watch film, learn from mistakes, and get better. Looking forward to the Blazers game - that will be a real test.  

[TTrainW]

The no-switch rule was a bad defensive tactic in this game IMO, and it's happened a few times in the past, with teams exploiting our mismatches. 

 

 

Typo, I meant the switch rule.