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@  thenit : (26 February 2016 - 06:24 AM) At least we had a really good 2nd half tonight
@  thejohnnygold : (25 February 2016 - 08:52 PM) More "league sources". It's all conjecture. The only thing Harden said is star players should at least get a say in who they play with, but that management ultimately makes the calls. I think we all presumed that was already the way it worked. Thus, not news.
@  thenit : (25 February 2016 - 08:02 PM) So this is in Harden pushed Rockets to fire Mchale and then pushed for Dwight to get traded at the deadline. This is so bad for the team chemistry if its true. You will pass the ball to Harden more often to stay on his good side and not getting traded
@  txtdo1411 : (24 February 2016 - 06:47 PM) Well they knew he was injured, and had the time to perform a physical. These sort of things happen fairly often.
@  slick shoes : (22 February 2016 - 08:02 PM) How embarrassing for our front office. How many times is Morey laughed off the phone after trying to pull this?
@  thejohnnygold : (22 February 2016 - 07:38 PM) D-Mo's back! (pun intended)
@  thejohnnygold : (21 February 2016 - 11:04 PM) For those who don't know...Pistons have asked for 24 hr. extension to continue evaluating D-Mo's back....
@  thenit : (18 February 2016 - 08:03 PM) Trading DMo will be a trade we will regret in a couple of years
@  Mario Peña : (18 February 2016 - 07:12 PM) Thanks for the link Johnny, I always liked listening to Kevin's interviews. Also, too bad Motiejunas is gone but I guess he wasn't going to be retained.
@  txtdo1411 : (18 February 2016 - 05:53 PM) That trade pretty much sums up this season.
@  slick shoes : (18 February 2016 - 05:47 PM) the jazz folded on the lawson deal. was really hoping that would go through.
@  ale11 : (18 February 2016 - 05:41 PM) With Thornton and we got Joel Anthony and a pick, WTF Morey?????
@  ale11 : (18 February 2016 - 05:41 PM) D-Mo traded to Detroit....NOOOOOOOOOOO!!!!!
@  thejohnnygold : (18 February 2016 - 05:34 PM) Kevin McHale gave a pretty good interview today--talked about being fired, analytics, Dwight Howard, and more. LINK
@  slick shoes : (18 February 2016 - 05:34 PM) Typical that we trade my favorite player on the day of the trade deadline. that's five consecutive years, Morey!
@  slick shoes : (18 February 2016 - 01:34 PM) squad for a bit. good player. shoots a lot of threes and doesn't turn the ball over very much. streaky shooter though.
@  slick shoes : (18 February 2016 - 01:34 PM) i had burke on my fantasy s
@  majik19 : (18 February 2016 - 03:29 AM) i would absolutely trade Lawson for Burke.
@  DenverRocket : (18 February 2016 - 12:04 AM) Latest rumor is Lawson to Utah for Trey Burke and A.N.Other. I like what I've seen of Burke this season - a free gamble given the lack of fit with Lawson.
@  DenverRocket : (18 February 2016 - 12:02 AM) Think you're confusing your MKG's and your MCW's?

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Utah Jazz 117, Houston Rockets 114: At least you tried


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#1 Red94

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    Posted 24 February 2016 - 05:55 AM

    New post: Utah Jazz 117, Houston Rockets 114: At least you tried
    By: Forrest Walker

    Sometimes the best games bring you the worst losses. As David Mitchell tells us, "I really hope my team wins, so it will turn out later, I'm enjoying myself now." As Jason Terry's last hurrah left his hands, as the shot arced toward the rim, we didn't know if it was an awful loss or a great win. In that moment, before it went in and back out again, handing the Utah Jazz the 8th seed and the tiebreaker, it was an exhausting, exciting, and most of all close game. The good and bad, like the score, were teetering on the knife's edge.

     

    In the end, the game tipped over onto the bad side and fell hard.

     

    But, hey, at least they tried.

     

    Maybe it says a lot about this season that a loss with potentially disastrous implications was in many ways a step in the right direction. Maybe it's troubling that nipping at the Jazz's heels is an upgrade for a team with two superstars. But if we're going to enjoy ourselves now, midway through a season destined to end in crushing, miserable defeat, the best thing to do is to fish out the positives and keep them with us. After the weirdest trade deadline in recent memory, the Rockets are back to square one (or maybe square negative four or so) on the season, trying to figure out how to make the same team as last year into the same team as last year. Small blessings like an improved defensive intensity are like an oasis in the desert, and that's where to pitch a tent.

     

    The Rockets actually played good defense (for two thirds of the game)! It didn't end up mattering, because of a large variety of reasons, but it was good to see them rely on their defense to stay in a game they clearly shouldn't be in based on offensive production. There are still breakdowns, but it looks a lot better than it did in the first half of the season. The Rockets are, at this point, on par with the well-coached up-and-coming teams like the Portland Trail Blazers and Utah Jazz. They might even be in the same tier as the Boston Celtics.

     

    Wait, this is getting depressing again. Let's find something else good.

     

    James Harden went ballistic on the court, working with Patrick Beverley to will the team to victory. The will may not have found a way, but Harden did accumulate an eye-popping line of 42 points (16 of 30 shooting), 5 rebounds, 4 assists, 2 steals and 5 turnovers, and the Rockets needed every last bit of that. The starters at large played well, though Trevor Ariza managed to end up with a game-worst +/- of -12 in 41 minutes. Meanwhile, Ty Lawson somehow netted a +2, one of only four Rockets players to be in the positive. This was despite some truly atrocious play.

     

    The bench was a disaster. Ignore Corey Brewer's +11 for now. His 3 steals must account for his entire contribution to that, because his 0-5 shooting sure didn't. Terrence Jones and Ty Lawson combined for 7 points on 7 shots, one rebound (ONE!) and two steals in 28 minutes between them. Combine this with Brewer's non-line and Jason Terry's 1-6 shooting from deep for only 8 points on 9 shots and you get a horrifying stew of failure and despair. The good news here is that the Rockets were able to hang with an impressive young team despite the fact that they effectively didn't have a bench. Even the starters didn't look amazing on offense. If the Rockets can just manage to get a single bench player to be even rotation-quality, they might win a few games.

     

    This is the story of the season, however. Death by a thousand cuts. The Rockets are experiencing an existential worst-case scenario and are still sort of standing. Season-ending injuries to Harden and Howard would be far worse for the players, but at least would give the team real outs for underperforming, and a good reason and opportunity to grab a lottery pick by missing the playoffs. In reality, the Rockets can't even make a trade without it being rescinded. Every player has regressed alarmingly. The chemistry is a shambles, the new guy didn't work out, and nobody has any idea how to get home.

     

    But tonight, at least, they tried. They might have shot poorly from the field (41.4%) and three point range (32.4%), but at least the defense looked good for a while. They might have lost the game, but at least they forced 21 turnovers, which would be a death sentence for any other team in any other game. There's something worth watching here, even if it ended up retroactively being unpleasant. But hey, if we only choose to enjoy the wins, then we're letting that ball decide how we feel. Maybe it doesn't matter if the ball rimmed out later. Maybe we can live in the moment where it's still in the air, instead.


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    #2 Bigtkirk

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      Posted 24 February 2016 - 03:42 PM

      I know it must be frustrating writing about this Rockets team. But that "every player has regressed alarmingly" is simply wrong.

       

      Several have, notably Ariza, Brewer, Jones and Lawson. But Harden and Howard have not, and Capela and Beverley have actually improved.

       

      At this point, I would say coaching is as big a problem as any of the players. Playing Smith, Brewer and Lawson 65 minutes in this game is coaching malpractice.


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      #3 thejohnnygold

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      Posted 24 February 2016 - 04:26 PM

      While I mostly enjoyed this game for us there are a few things that aren't sitting well with me.

       

      First, the chemistry.  I understand it won't happen overnight, but watching Harden "trust" his team mates in this game felt a lot like watching Kobe learn to "trust" back in the day.  It felt forced.  It looked awkward.  It exposed our bland offense for what it is.  Apparently, the Rockets need to do some trust falls.

       

      Trust%20Fall%20Futurama.gif

       

      Patrick Beverley is not James Harden--how the heck is he supposed to operate in this system in any other capacity besides spot up 3 pointers and offensive rebounds (which he is so very good at)?  Ariza can do a bit more, but he is so out of practice he flubs the lay up far too often and has forgotten how to draw contact.  Josh Smith can't be on a short leash.  That's just how it works.  Turn him loose and hope for the best.

       

      Speaking of our PF position...ugh.  We lost due to second chance points, not boxing out, and specifically letting Derrick Favors get not one, but two, off. rebounds near the end of the game (when Dwight got out of position needlessly trying to block a shot that just needed to be altered a little).  I wonder if anyone could have helped with that?  I believe Montrezl Harrell would have been very useful in a game where Utah abandoned Rudy Gobert and rolled with Favors/Booker/Lyles combos instead.

       

      JB decided Corey Brewer could do it.  JB, you're wrong.  Corey Brewer with 40 extra pounds of muscle...maybe.  Brewer--22 minutes.  T-Jones - 12 minutes.  Josh Smith - 19 minutes.  Harrell - 0.

       

      We grabbed 35 rebounds in a game that featured 87 misses.  (<---re-read that) You don't need to be an NBA coach to know that's a problem.  The good news is 11 of those rebounds we got were offensive.  The bad news is that it is mostly because we missed 51 shots.  That's not a typo.  We, a professional basketball team which is paid millions of dollars to perform one main function (put the ball in the hole), shot 36-87 against the 15th rated defense in the league.

       

      Yeah, we've got bad shooters.  Which makes it all the more baffling as to why we insist they keep shooting from those places.  Dwight Howard got an inbounds play designed to get him a shot from the top of the arc.  He took it.  It got blocked.  He just laughed.  If were were up 20 with the game locked up then sure, go ahead and have some fun.  Is this part of their new attempt to bring back the synergy from last year?

       

      It all goes back to McHale's take on analytics: (paraphrased) It's not what shots you take but who's taking them.

       

      Aside from a sweet in-bounds play, JBB was out-coached by Quin Snyder.

       

      James Harden shredded Utah's defense and it would have been far worse if he had not shot 2-7 from deep.  Harden was also 0-6 from mid-range.  (for those counting that means he took 20% of his shots from mid--kind of goes against the Morey Philosophy).

       

      The main difference in the game is probably the 11-34 we shot on 3's vs. the 10-24 Utah shot.  To put that in perspective, Dwight Howard's free throw shooting (7-14) was a more efficient scoring mechanism for us than our team 3 pt. shooting.

       

      Sometimes, this team feels like a big, beautiful, fluffy omelette.  However, it's been filled with sour pickles, bleu cheese, mango, fried chicken livers, and ice cream then topped with marinara.  All good things--they just don't work well together.

       

      44519377.jpg

       

      I think this team gets blown up this Summer.  Harden stays ( :angry:).  Everyone else....well, we'll see.  I can't imagine how Morey brings back more than 1/2 of this roster.


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      #4 bboley24

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        Posted 25 February 2016 - 12:14 AM

        I would like to keep Beverly, DMO, Harden and Smith plus Cap.  Everyone else, take a hike.


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        #5 slick shoes

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        Posted 25 February 2016 - 01:19 PM

        To be honest, I'd like to keep Howard around if we can get him at a reasonable rate. I don't think he's a max player, but if we could get him to take a declining ~17 mil over 4 years with a 4th year team option, I'd take it. 

         

        I also see a lot of posters really down on Ariza. Maybe I give him extra room because of his first stint here in and the expectations placed upon him. He was never a franchise player, just a good player on a championship team. I have a feeling this season was the exception, not the rule, and if the team can get whatever locker room issues sorted out in the off season he should progress back to his usual form. 


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        when you win two games in a row that's called a winning streak.

        trickin' six digits on kicks and still holdin'.

        #6 thejohnnygold

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        Posted 25 February 2016 - 02:16 PM

        To be honest, I'd like to keep Howard around if we can get him at a reasonable rate. I don't think he's a max player, but if we could get him to take a declining ~17 mil over 4 years with a 4th year team option, I'd take it. 

         

        I also see a lot of posters really down on Ariza. Maybe I give him extra room because of his first stint here in and the expectations placed upon him. He was never a franchise player, just a good player on a championship team. I have a feeling this season was the exception, not the rule, and if the team can get whatever locker room issues sorted out in the off season he should progress back to his usual form. 

         

        I wouldn't mind a shorter deal for Dwight in the price range you mention.  2 years guaranteed with a 3rd year team option.  Dwight will never go for that.


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        #7 slick shoes

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        Posted 25 February 2016 - 02:59 PM

        I wouldn't mind a shorter deal for Dwight in the price range you mention.  2 years guaranteed with a 3rd year team option.  Dwight will never go for that.

         

        That's why I went with the 4 year. I feel like he's also going to want something long term and that would be the "middle ground".


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        when you win two games in a row that's called a winning streak.

        trickin' six digits on kicks and still holdin'.

        #8 thejohnnygold

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        Posted 25 February 2016 - 04:15 PM

        That's why I went with the 4 year. I feel like he's also going to want something long term and that would be the "middle ground".

         

        And that's why I am happy to let him walk if he doesn't opt-in for his final year.  I like Dwight just fine, but this team is in shambles and I'd prefer Morey stop pretending it's not.

         

        The reality is we have no shot at the Finals...let alone a realistic chance of getting out of round 1.  Why try to get in so we can be embarrassed and then have to give up our 1st rd. pick?  I'd rather pack it in, let Utah get blown out by GS, and we can draft Valentine : )


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        #9 slick shoes

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        Posted 25 February 2016 - 05:34 PM

        The reality is we have no shot at the Finals...let alone a realistic chance of getting out of round 1.  Why try to get in so we can be embarrassed and then have to give up our 1st rd. pick?  I'd rather pack it in, let Utah get blown out by GS, and we can draft Valentine : )

         

        Glad to see you're finally coming around. I was calling for a full out tank months ago but many of you were a bit too optimistic then (admittedly I wanted to believe, too). It's been clear that something was wrong since we fired McHale. Just a shame that all of this couldn't be addressed in the off season. Two drops in a bucket.....


        Edited by slick shoes, 25 February 2016 - 05:34 PM.

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        when you win two games in a row that's called a winning streak.

        trickin' six digits on kicks and still holdin'.

        #10 thejohnnygold

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        Posted 25 February 2016 - 08:26 PM

        Glad to see you're finally coming around. I was calling for a full out tank months ago but many of you were a bit too optimistic then (admittedly I wanted to believe, too). It's been clear that something was wrong since we fired McHale. Just a shame that all of this couldn't be addressed in the off season. Two drops in a bucket.....

         

        With the increased cap space I think Morey has a chance to recover quickly here.  I am pretty much alone on the desire to trade Harden at season's end, but his value is still very high and would fetch a nice return (even if it is deemed less than his own worth--which I don't believe).

         

        I believe the next couple years are a good time to reboot given that a handful of teams have a stranglehold on the finals right now.  If we move Harden for a couple of good draft picks + 1 good role player and then offer Harrison Barnes a max and a shot to lead and grow his own team I wouldn't fault Morey for choosing that path.

         

        For me, it's all about who the coach is moving forward.  He should determine the personnel we bring in/ship out.


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        #11 clydesmoustache

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          Posted 26 February 2016 - 12:33 AM


          The reality is we have no shot at the Finals...let alone a realistic chance of getting out of round 1. Why try to get in so we can be embarrassed and then have to give up our 1st rd. pick? I'd rather pack it in, let Utah get blown out by GS, and we can draft Valentine : )


          I agree but even after this annoying loss are only two games from 6th place with the 4th and 5th seed having serious injuries to stars. I guess this team has major injuries as well but they are mainly mental.
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          #12 slick shoes

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          Posted 26 February 2016 - 01:05 PM

          I agree but even after this annoying loss are only two games from 6th place with the 4th and 5th seed having serious injuries to stars. I guess this team has major injuries as well but they are mainly mental.

           

          Regardless of where we finish the season, I don't see this group (while preforming at the level they have all season long) making it out of the first round. If you're not going to win the whole thing, what's the point? Accept your fate and look towards the future when you have another chance i.e. a budding young draft pick. 

           

          Ale mentioned a while ago that we should let Harden run the point and bring in another SG that can move without the ball. Definitely worth considering in my opinion.


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          when you win two games in a row that's called a winning streak.

          trickin' six digits on kicks and still holdin'.

          #13 thejohnnygold

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          Posted 26 February 2016 - 03:05 PM

          Regardless of where we finish the season, I don't see this group (while preforming at the level they have all season long) making it out of the first round. If you're not going to win the whole thing, what's the point? Accept your fate and look towards the future when you have another chance i.e. a budding young draft pick. 

           

          Ale mentioned a while ago that we should let Harden run the point and bring in another SG that can move without the ball. Definitely worth considering in my opinion.

           

          I agree with this...partially.  Harden would definitely benefit from a guy like Redick/Korver.  That is, until you remember that Houston does not like to have player movement because it gets in the way of Harden driving to the rim.  That means Redick will stand around with a defender pasted to his chest and be rendered somewhat useless.  Bev is shooting quite well.  May as well stick with him.

           

          My second reason for not liking this is Harden does not have the heart of a pg (in my opinion).  What do I mean by that?

           

          The best rebounders are guys who actually love going after that ball.  They want it.  They feed off of it.  It's desire personified.  You can say the same about a player who loves locking down his man.

           

          When it comes to pg's, I want a guy who sees the team as an extension of himself.  When the team scores, he scores.  Nothing else matters.  I want a guy who enjoys manipulating the defense, watching it bend to his will, and exploiting it's movements for his gain.  I do not think either of these things come naturally to Harden.

           

          Yes, he has trained himself with a small assortment of moves which he has mostly mastered.  These moves can be effective, but because they are rote and not innate they can be studied, predicted, and stifled.

           

          I could go on, but my point is made. (sorry)  I don't think Harden has the mentality nor the heart of a PG which ultimately hurts the team when he is in that role.  The best way to help this team is to bring in a pure PG and have Harden defer to him.  A true PG will feed him plenty because he knows Harden will finish when set up well.  It's mutually beneficial.

           

          I can't help but continue to imagine what the addition of Rondo (bad shooting and all) to this team would look like.  I think Rondo would be able to assert himself over James (on both ends of the floor).  Also, I think Rondo would create great opportunities for everyone.  He is a UFA this off season.... :)


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