After seeing Houston pull away last night to start the fourth, my hypothesis was that the Rockets’ offense is at its best with Corey Brewer in the lineup. I set NBA.com’s parameters to a minimum of 10 games played together, and found that the top Rockets quintet is Ariza/Harden/Motiejunas/Smith/Terry, with an offensive rating of 143 in 23 minutes together. For lineups that have played at least 35 minutes together, the top quintet is Brewer/Harden/Motiejunas/Smith/Terry with an offensive rating of 127 in 36 minutes. The common theme there is that the team seems to be at its best offensively with Motiejunas/Smith/Terry/Harden and a wing.
Strangely, defensively, for lineups that had played at least 35 minutes together, the stingiest unit was Ariza/Brewer/Jones/Smith/Terry with a defensive rating of 72.9 in 40 minutes of shared court time. For lineups that have played 10 games together, the stingiest unit is Ariza/Brewer/Motiejunas/Smith/Terry with a defensive rating of 74.8 in 37 minutes player together.
Interesting to note above the glaring omissions of Patrick Beverley and Dwight Howard. And in Howard’s case, its not that he hasn’t played enough to qualify for the parameters – he can be found in some of the later units.
Obviously, small sample size alert. And a lot is lost in the numbers. But some of the combinations seem to meet the eye test. Once a sufficiently sizable sample accumulates, I’m very curious to see how lineups with Terrence Jones fare in general to the other combinations.
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James Harden might not have dropped a monster game on the Clippers, but he got something even more important: the second win against his hometown Clippers in his tenure with the Rockets. Even as the clock ran down and the Rockets led by double digits, Los Angeles refused to submit, coming back to within four as Houston escaped with a precious victory. The turning point of a close game was a breakout run by the Rockets bench in the fourth quarter, creating a gap that was just too wide for the Clippers to overcome. Even when Harden is struggling, even when Dwight Howard is missing, even against a team that seems to have their number, the Rockets were able to put it together for a national audience.
As heartening as this victory was for the team, there are still causes for concern. The Clippers were also without Blake Griffin, and the Rockets still seem to have no answer for J.J. Redick. Houston was lucky that he only did 15 points worth of damage given that he shot 50% from deep (and overall). Chris Paul will always get his, and DeAndre Jordan’s demolition should be curtailed somewhat when Dwight Howard returns, but Redick is a savvy player without the ball and a ruthless shooter when he does touch it. It’s good to know that the Rockets are physically able to beat the Clippers, but they still would be a tough out in the post season. And, of course, they’re currently slated to be Houston’s first round opponent, because the Western Conference can never stop being ridiculous.
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tagged as: postgame recaps
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It was only a matter of time before Terrence Jones supplanted Joey Dorsey in the Houston starting lineup. Since coming back from the nerve issues which derailed his start to the season, Jones has slowly rounded back into form into the player the Rockets hoped he would become. On the year, he’s now averaging 9.8 points and 6.2 rebounds in just 24 minutes per game. Diving deeper into the numbers, we can see how Jones has done his damage.
While he’s shooting 64% from within less than five feet, Jones astoundingly is just 5 for 33 from the field for 15% on all jump shots. He’s also made just 3 three pointers all season. What’s more, Jones has taken just two corner threes all season, missing both. I’ll have to watch more closely now that I’ve seen these numbers, but it seems the Rockets no longer want to use Jones as a ‘stretch 4’ and are allowing him to play a traditional role, to his strengths. That would make sense: with Dwight Howard sidelined, and Donatas Motiejunas and Josh Smith (sort of) able to provide spacing, there isn’t really that much reason to worry about Jones clogging the paint.
I’ll be curious to see how things play out when Dwight returns. If these trends continue, it might be indicative of a desire to keep Jones inside the paint at all times. That would mean less court time with Dwight.
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Teams: Los Angeles Clippers @ Houston Rockets
Time: 7:00 p.m. CT
Venue: Toyota Center, Houston, TX
Television: ESPN
Notes: Since Dwight Howard joined the Houston Rockets, they have not beaten the LA Clippers in six tries. The primary reason? James Harden. Harden just can’t figure out how to score against the Clips. He’s only averaged 17 PPG, shot just over 30% from the field and only about 10% of his 3’s. In several of those games, JJ Redick has really caused problems for Harden on both ends of the floor. But Harden also struggled when Redick was out, so I’ll be curious to see if it’s the match-ups that have slowed Harden or if it’s something scheme-wise that Doc Rivers is cooking up.
Howard has missed both games against the Clippers this season. In his absence, DeAndre Jordan has given the Rockets fits. He’s averaged a +/- of +17.5, with 15.5 PPG and 70% FG, 16.5 rebs (5 offensive), and 14.5 FTA. Especially in the last game, in which Blake Griffin didn’t play, Jordan’s length and athleticism wreaked havoc on the boards, as he kept multiple possessions alive on offense. And on defense he was downright Russell-ian, with 3 steals and 2 blocks, while keeping Harden and the Rockets out of the paint more than usual. [read more…]
tagged as: previews
in conversations, game coverage
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That’s pretty frightening. I was expecting the figure to be significantly lower, but this seems to be a case where the data backs up the eye test. My guess going in was that the Harden stepback was a creature similar in nature to the Kobe game-winner. We think he’s making most of them because when it happens, we remember it. But this is really happening. If they’re tracking this accurately (I don’t have time to go through all 124 logged attempts), Harden is actually hitting the majority of these types of shots. That’s absolutely incredible. It’s almost mind-boggling. This means James is connecting on the majority of his attempts at the most difficult shot in all of basketball.
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tagged as: James Harden
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