Do you think we will ever pick up the pace? We went from one of the fastest to the slowest team from season end to start. I wasn’t sure how we would come out in the playoffs, but it’s looking like the slower pace game is what we will be sticking with. I’ve read that James and Chris prefer slow, half court offense to fast breaks and what we associate a traditional DAntoni offense. Our elite Playmakers like to see what is available once the defense is set up and then attack whatever they feel is the soft spot. I do agree that with guys like Harden and Paul this makes a lot of sense, but in the playoffs will this style work? Regular season defenses will naturally be more vulnerable in halfcourt sets due to primarily a lack of effort until the end of the game. Not to mention the scouting and prep work from the coaches will be way less in depth since it’s one regular season game as opposed to a best of 7 game playoff series where you play the same team every game. With that in mind, do you think ramping up the pace to where it was earlier in the season will help? Obviously it will make turnovers more likely, and cut back on some of our really nice half court work by harden and Paul. But it might not hurt to step on the gas more frequently in the playoffs. What do you guys think? Keep it slow? Increase pace? Or doesn’t really matter?
The pace definitely matters. Being able to play both will be our key to success. I am sure D'antoni is throwing a fit right now in the locker room. I hope tonight lit a fire in our guys butts because it really looks like the guys have been cruising mentally.
Good point! It's a matter of execution, I believe. Slow pace, old players play smarter. but take away fast-break chances.
Twolves are an overall younger and very athletic team. The last thing we’d want to do is turn this into a run n gun battle. It’d not only tire out our guys for the next round but also raise chance of injury. If this were the Spurs or Jazz you consider, but rn I’ll take the veteran decision making of Paul and Harden breaking down the D of a mediocre TWolves squad.
The Wolves naturally play slow. These halfcourt sets are completely telegraphed. I don't see how they can sustain elite offense playing like this.
If they don’t pick up the pace we won’t get out the second round When we walk the ball up their defense is set They are going to stay home with the shooters Allow harden to go one on one all game especially when he’s struggling When we pick up the pace we have them at our mercy , just like that last stretch when we attempted a comeback we got anything we wanted , but at that point they were rolling and couldn’t stop them
against a weaker defense like the wolves it seems plan was/is to play slower and more efficient on offense. the wolves have a strong offense that we would rather not get into an uptempo match against. if they do that against the jazz or thunder they will lose. i imagine we'll see a faster rockets team in the second round.
so i've seen. playing slow has its advantages. it saves your legs, and usually helps win in the playoffs when gameplay slows down to a grit and grind series. "playing slow for a while now" was preparation for the playoffs. and its worked, what's our record when fully healthy? i still expect a faster series against the jazz or thunder because they can actually defend half court.
If we hit our open shots, pace will not be an issue. When our 3 ball goes down it’s a while different ball game. So far this series we’ve been clanking’em. #StayCalm
Yea, next game, they gotta be more up tempo. If D'antoni must, he should just play fast pace the whole game and make quick substitutions throughout the keep the squad fresh.
If we don’t then MDA has no say over his two stars. It’s obvious the pace is too slow. If we don’t play faster at least some parts of the game then we have to bank on our role players getting hot from 3 - unlikely - and or out stars having a great game.
Houston general manager Daryl Morey’s preference would be that the team plays a little faster, but D’Antoni’s opinion is clear: they’ll play at Harden’s pace. https://www.sbnation.com/2018/4/13/...ghlights-defense-houston-rockets-nba-playoffs In past seasons, you’ve talked a lot about variation. Just the three-point shooting, you felt like that gave you a chance in nearly every series. Has your mindset shifted, in the sense that you feel like you are now the team to beat, and you don’t need to worry about stuff like that anymore? DM: It shifts the other way. When you’re the better team, you actually want lower variance. I don’t like that our pace has gone down (Author’s note: The Rockets rank 26th in pace since theall-star game). That actually hurts us. It would be better to be high paced and doing what we’re doing. https://www.sbnation.com/nba/2018/4...y-interview-houston-rockets-nba-playoffs-2018
Quick passing can reduce the need to run fast. Fast breaks off turnovers can help. The only players who can run are Capela and Green. Half court can work provided if we play solid defense. Rebounding is a problem. I hope Nene can help us out here, maybe Ryan too. Ryan should defend near the basket as a backup 5. Capela needs to defend out of the paint, and also to help with shot blocking. Game 4 is critical for us. Our guys have let them off the hook. Let's go Houston Rockets!
Young and athletic doesn’t equal success in the fast break game, it just helps. And pace doesn’t mean fast break layups, it just means we push up the court and take our first shot quickly.
Basketball is still and always will about the ball going through the net. It doesn't matter how much you run around, dribble, or pass. If the ball doesn't go through the net often enough, you lose.
The only ones that can run a fast break is James Harden and Clint Capela. Chris Paul, Trevor Ariza, P.J Tucker don't know how how to run a fast break, looking really slow and old out there. Luc is really being missed out there, he can run a fast break. Quicker passing on the perimeter is needed. Every possession seemed like one pass instead of 3 passes, to find the open man. James walking the ball up the floor is so annoying to me. 16 seconds on shot clock at half court. James dribbles dribbles passes with 8 seconds left. I wish we had Steve Francis out there running Point Guard. Chris Paul really has become lazy on defense and running the tempo also. The referees the whole series have been terrible. Marc Davis looked like Timberwolves fan out there.
Not to discredit the overall point - the Rockets indeed have turned into one of the slower paced transmission in the league.... But the Wolves shot 50% overall, 56% from three and had 7 turnovers. Not ideal conditions to pick up the pace. Offense and defense are interrelated. Defense was horrible last night. Wolves made shots... but they were open shots. I recall one play in the second half where Teague just casually went by CP3 for an easy layup. One .. wtf? Where’s that CP3 defense? Two, where’s the help.
