40 blown 4th quarter leads under Udokas short time here

It's the double digit 4th quarter leads blown that are alarming. And yes if you were a betting man lol, taking Boston to lose the 4th quarter was money under Ime. That was a thing that he unfortunately brought to the H.

 

Last season, we had a 4th quarter offensive collapse in most games - our defense was so good and so disruptive, we often made the opponent play just as poorly or worse. Last years' team had a LOT of games where the team would go a five minute stretch of the 4th and score zero buckets, but still finished 2nd in the west.

 

I may be in the minority here but I think FVV would have cut this number down by 4 or 5 at least this season and even more overall, especially since he wouldn't be forced to defer to Jalen which was always a nightmare. I know they were trying to give Jalen the experience he needed for the future but that's not exactly the best way to do it.

 

You’re not a minority at all, with Fred we would obviously be much better in surviving such games where opponents strangle our offense in the 4th. The truth is that ANY natural pg would work. Even if Ime played JD Davison more we might get better results in that aspect. It feels like our rotation is directly affected by the players salaries - the higher it is, the more minutes a player gets, no matter how good/bad he is in a given night. That’s why DFS and Reed play similar amount of minutes lately, and why guys like JD Davison and Issiah Crawford, that can contribute a lot as a backup pg and wing, respectively, don’t get any minutes at all.

 

Newsflash….we couldn’t even get Stone to bring in one trade or addition due to money and you all think they are going to fire the highest paid (guaranteed contract) coach in the West???

 

FYI, today's Dunc'd On podcasts begins with Nate & Danny calling out Ime's inability to hold a lead going back to Boston. Other takeaways:
Sengun and KD have to work too hard for their shots;
Amen isn't just an awful 3pt shooter - he's also bad shooting 2s and doesn't get to the rim enough; and
DFS may be washed.

My personal take on Ime is that he coaches like Demeco - get a lead, rely on your defense, run clock. And that often works - look at their records. But the best opponents still find ways to score while you're running four corners.

 

Have to agree. People like to sh*t on FVV but his Assist/TO ratio is VERY good (last season was 3.73, season before was 4.76) He had numerous games last season with 9 assists and zero turnovers. Very low turnover guard, especially considering his usage.

Now, he might have played it safe too much and didn't push pace often enough, but the tradeoff was low turnovers.

There's no question in my mind that 3 or 4 of our close losses this season would change to wins with Fred taking the ball upcourt in the 4th qtr and get the possessions started without all this consecutive turnover nonsense.

 

We can't simultaneously complain about how rule changes constantly favor offense and still only prioritize defense as a team strategy. Face it, offense is more important than defense now. We can't just lean all in one way or another. The Magic have the same team building ethos as us and they look terrible at times too. "Play harder" just isn't enough. We need more playmakers and we need to run more sets.

 

Now do a study on how many blown 4th Q leads for the entire league since gambling was legalized and you'll start to get a better perspective of the big picture . . .

 

The Rockets lead the league in blown 4th quarter leads with 11... and only a handful of teams have more than 4

 

The stats don't bear this out. We were a worse 4th quarter team last year than this year. In fact, for almost all stats other than TO's (1.5 pg more this year) and record (exact same) we are better this year than last year. FVV will have little to negative impact on this team. Ime is the issue.

 

Great coaching

 

As a team we are averaging more assists per game and 1.5 more TO's a game. FVV's average .5 less TO's than Amen and .5 more assists. The team is averaging the exact same PPG, actually is better in the 4th quarter than last year. Team assists are higher than last year. Amen averages more points, more rebounds, about the same assists, more steals, more blocks, slightly more TO's, better FG%, worse 3P% on a lot less attempts. His TS% blows FVV away which was bottom 5 pg's in the league. Add in Reed would also be better than FVV in everything other than defense than FVV. Pg is not the problem. The coach is the problem.

 

But, but, but... "I told Amen and Reed to be more demonstrative to run sets quickly."

Amen and Reed: "What sets? Oh, that tall guy who loves burners!"

 

Last year we had 13 full season, so we should break that record, but 13 sucks as well. Ime is a horrible coach. Not good, not average, horrible.

 

I hear you, and I'm not saying FVF would be a savior - he brings negatives like poor/streaky shooting along with the positives. I don't mean to say that Ime's not to blame, either.

But saying the team is "only" 1.6 TO more than last year- that's a very large difference when averaged over a season.
Last season Rockets were 10th in the league in turnovers. Fewer passes overall (thus fewer assists) and a floor general PG who doesn't turn the ball over.
This season the Rockets are 24th in the league in TO. Some of it is more sets with more passing, more assists (therefore more TO). But an important part of it is there is no one on the roster who is a low turnover ball handler/passer.

Last year's team would choke in the 4th qtr because they would miss shots over and over because the shooting was awful.
This year's team chokes in the 4th because of turnovers. Specifically, bringing the ball across halfcourt and setting up. We've had so many consecutive 4th qtr pick-six turnovers at halfcourt or top of key because Amen, Reed, KD can't handle the blitz as a ball handler. (Actually, Sengun has a better handle than any of them. He should bring it up in the last 5 mins, if it wouldn't tire him out.)

I LOVE Amen. Delighted to have him. His handle is suspect and his turnovers are awful. He will get better, much better. No way in hell would I rather have Fred than Amen. But many of his turnovers are punch-the-wall frustrating; dribbling off his feet, out of bounds, etc.

I love Shepard too. His handle has improved so much since last year. His vision is good. But his turnovers are glaring - terribly telegraphed.

Sheppard, Amen, KD, Sengun - they all turn it over under pressure and doubles in the 4th. Fred doesn't. I'm not saying he's the perfect savior, or it has nothing to do with coaching, but what ails the Rockets in the 4th is turnovers and his greatest skill addresses exactly that problem.

 

11 blown leads this year ranks tied in the 10-12 spots for the most this season. Worth noting the Nuggets (not shabby on offense) have 14 already.

Our 13 last year tied for spots 11-14th. Wolves had 19 and made the conference finals

The previous year we had 13 as well...tied for 11-17th.

These numbers presented alone without context are pretty meaningless, no matter what they "sound" like.

Also worth noting, you have to have a lead to blow it. The more times you have a lead in the 4th quarter, the more likely you're an above average team...and have more opportunities to do so.

 

It’s a lot of work to get the lead with nothing ever really given with our lack of offense, AND the defensive grind. The team just burns out.
A dog catching his tail is one thing holding on to it is another.

 

I mostly agree that I’m becoming more and more disappointed in the coaching.

I actually think it could be a championship caliber program if we were willing to bring in an offensive coordinator.

and even if Fred returns this year or next, we definitely need another piece.

the thing that pisses me off the most is Shepherd, not being in at the end of the games.

for this reason alone I would move on to a different coach next year unless we just have some amazing run in the playoffs. it won’t happen, but Reed is clearly the second best offensive player we have. and I don’t mean that in the Cam Thomas sense.