The Rockets Daily – November 11, 2013

  John Eby | November 11, 2013 at 7:00 am

Lessons – In this extensive list at Hardwood Paroxysm of lessons learned from the last week of basketball, just one of those lessons involved the Houston Rockets.

Jared: The Rockets somehow still don’t have a better end-of-game play than “James Harden dribbles a lot and then takes a jumper.”

True. Excuse me while I go relieve some stress.

StatCheck – Through the first seven games, Jeremy Lin is Houston’s best three-point shooter at 43.8 percent. Chandler Parsons is the worst at 23.1 percent. It seems like the whole idea of Lin penetrating and kicking out to shooters like Parsons has been turned on its head. Since Lin only attempts 2.3 threes per game and Parsons is attempting 3.7, it would be nice if The Hair would start connecting.

Coach’s Take – As I wrote about on Sunday, a lot of the team’s recent struggles have had a lot to do with the wings’ inability to throw a stone in the ocean. As Kevin McHale discussed after the game on Saturday, when the Rockets miss shots, everything else falls apart.

“We missed some shots, and then we started doubting it, and then we stopped taking some shots that we need to take. Then we got a lot of turnovers and then we got really passive and we just got nothing going.”

It’s a little tempting to hit the panic button after the three losses to L.A. teams last week. But over and over again after the loss the the Clippers, McHale talked about how it wasn’t just the fact that the team was missing shots, but the way the team reacted to the missed shots that really cost them the game. No doubt there will continue to be calls to shake up the rotation and take Asik out of the starting lineup to free up the offense. In light of McHale’s admonitions to his players to keep playing their game when the shots don’t fall, I don’t think he’ll be changing the lineup in response to missed shots either.

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• 2016Champions says 3 months ago

  Another problem with the offense is assist ratio is 2nd to last only to Utah and Charlotte (Jamal Tinsely, John Lucas, Alec burks is the guard rotation for Utah to put that in perspective) and only Chicago Utah and golden st are worse in turnovers. The ball doesn't seem to be moving enough and when it does it is too often to the other team.

  Good point. Rockets were top 5 in assists last season, and after 7 games this season we're in the bottom 5, this will get better too.

• Cooper says 3 months ago Another problem with the offense is assist ratio is 2nd to last only to Utah and Charlotte (Jamal Tinsely, John Lucas, Alec burks is the guard rotation for Utah to put that in perspective) and only Chicago Utah and golden st are worse in turnovers. The ball doesn't seem to be moving enough and when it does it is too often to the other team.
• 2016Champions says 3 months ago

  The start of the season has made it clear that on offense the Rockets have plays,they don't have a system.
  There's no set structure that when a player or two struggles they can fall back on and get an easy basket or two and perhaps snap them out of their funk.
  In stead they fall back on iso plays,making their individual struggles worse.

  Last year it worked as the team was more committed to running(ie healthier Harden would feast on fast break),Delfino was a more established vet who knew his role(and more athletic and better able to drive than Garcia).
  Then having no structured offense-by design-worked.
  This season w/Dwight and the need to feed him,they need something more structured.

  The Rockets have a system, it's a drive and react offense which is very hard to defend against when the floor is spaced out. There are moments when we go small and it looks like lay-up practice for us out there, I think we will get more consistent once McHale fixes his line-ups and we build a little more rhythm and chemistry.

  For now lets just look at the bright side, I think it's quite promising that despite our offensive lapses we still rank as the 5th best offense in the league. We're going to have some ups and downs throughout the season, give it time, I think we're going to look like a completely different monster 3 months from now--especially if we start playing defense at a top 5 level too which I think we can once everyone understands the defense.

• 2016Champions says 3 months ago

  Lin has improved his shooting, that much is obvious, but that's not the only area he has improved. He is also looking significantly quicker, often blowing past multiple defenders for a lay-up, and this quickness is making defenders respect his drive a lot more which gives him more space to pull-up. It used to be obvious when he was looking to shoot or drive, but now the motion of how he bends his knees for a shot or a drive look exactly the same.

• Stephen says 3 months ago
  
  

  The start of the season has made it clear that on offense the Rockets have plays,they don't have a system.
  There's no set structure that when a player or two struggles they can fall back on and get an easy basket or two and perhaps snap them out of their funk.
  In stead they fall back on iso plays,making their individual struggles worse.

  Last year it worked as the team was more committed to running(ie healthier Harden would feast on fast break),Delfino was a more established vet who knew his role(and more athletic and better able to drive than Garcia).
  Then having no structured offense-by design-worked.
  This season w/Dwight and the need to feed him,they need something more structured.

• timetodienow1234567 says 3 months ago

  Changing the lineup after 3 losses very early in the season seems overkill to me.
  
  But what do I know?

  
  You've changed my mind. 3 games is too few. We should wait until next year to make any changes if necessary.
• rocketrick says 3 months ago

  Changing the lineup after 3 losses very early in the season seems overkill to me.

  But what do I know?

• timetodienow1234567 says 3 months ago I agree. He shouldn't change the lineup due to missed shots. He should, however, change the lineup since it's not winning us any games.