First off, happy we handled business, Minny might’ve been a 3 seed with Butler healthy, great effort from the team. - Clint played a monster series, people might be talking about the lobs, but what stood out to me was his consistency on the boards against an all star big man. Adams and Gobert aren’t all stars, but they’re more seasoned centers that are much tougher defenders, they’re gonna be physical with him and he needs to fight back against it. CC needs to keep on grinding, stay active always. - CP3 at times during brick streaks felt like he was letting the game come to the team, you can afford to do that against Minny in the first round, but as the playoffs progress and the competition gets harder, he needs to take charge of the team when they go brick mode. Look for the mid range and hit some easy shots.. this will compose the team. We cannot hope that OKC/Utah or mainly GS will miss the shots we’re missing. I’m all for shooting until they fall, but during certain spurts we’re gonna need Chris to call a play and get an easy basket, even of that means deferring from James. - James shooting was streaky as it always is, it’s not something that worries me. Mainly I was proud of his communiaction and defensive effort. It’s been a while since we’ve seen one of those James Harden long court passes that almost always result in turnovers, he’s improving every part of his game, slowly picking his weaknesses and making them strengths. This is why he’s the MVP. The only miniscule gripe I had with James was, he needs to mix it up a bit on the ISO’s, his stepback is lethal, but when he has the big guy on him, 50% of the time i’d like it for him to take it to the basket, the step back served it’s purpose scaring opponents to play off similair to a Tom Brady bullet down the middle to Gronk, now it’s time to take advantage of the play action. - EG needs to play to his natural gift, his shooting hasn’t been stellar, I know defenses are different but he simply cannot keep shooting long 3’s at 18 seconds when he’s 0-4. Other teams will punish that. Another thing, I know it’s part of the offense to find the hot shooter, a shooter is not hot after one make. I cannot count the times on both of my hands, that EG finally swished a 3, next possesion went up and airballed a contested 3... Egod my guy, drive the basketball, your were gifted with that ability, shoot the 3 if it’s open or whatever shoot a contested 3 when you’re hot. It’s pivotal that he gives us points off the bench moving forward, it’s not the regular season anymore. We simply do not have the luxury where Eric Gordon can just keep shooting until he finds his shot.. he needs to drive it more, especially when he’s off. - Ariza, Tuck, Green, Nene were all solid, it’d be nice if Ariza and Tuck shot a little better but hey I get it, it’s not easy shooting a high percentage when you’re out guarding against Jimmy Butler & KAT all game. As long as PJ brings his hustle, Ariza brings his defense, Green brings his energy and Nene brings his physicality. I’m happy. - Ryno’s still coming back into his game, there’ll be matchups where he thrives and matchups where we forget he’s on the team. Ryno simply needs to be active on the offensive boards always, when he decides to put some effort on that part, he helps the team immensely even if he has 2 points. No more games off, they played game 3 like it was a regular season game. If you lose, you lose with blood on your face (batpun intended), no more coasting. OKC and Utah are both going to be tough, if our defense continues to be great, if we keep our turnovers low & our offense smart, it should be WCF in no more than 6. Go Rockets
We definitely gotta be more consistent. We can probably get away with it the first two rounds, but if we shoot like garbage at home again against a healthy GSW, Harden alone won't be able to carry us past them.
-LBM has to take Greens minutes.. i know the love we all have for the Houstonian but his shot selection and defense are both dreadful. Mayabe we can use him like the second game if we need points. And if hes hot he can stay, but he is a liability for sure. -Nene got better as the series went on which is a great sign. Hell be very huge in the 2nd round no matter who we play. This was a nice 4-1 against a good team, should build up more confidence. Stay the course RunAsOne
Not really sure what to make of this series. Rockets didn't play particularly well, but I think that was more of just a boredom thing than an actual struggle. I still have concerns about this team going up against disciplined, well coached defenses. My god Thibs is awful...
Wouldn't take too much from this series to be honest. They didn't really have to try particularly hard to win games & you could tell they didn't take them seriously. 't
I think people are forgetting minny wasn't a true 8th seed. This team was a definite 3rd seed lock who manhandled okc throughout the season. This was a first round test. We passed. Still have work to do. Next round hopefully we actually have above average games. #runasone
Interesting stat from the post season so far is about how we have protected the ball as a team. It's a pretty tight race across the board for many different items (NO had a pretty dominant series though), but we are way ahead in turnover rate. Houston - 7.9 GSW - 12.9 NO - 13 Boston - 12.3 Raptors - 14.4 Cavs - 14.7 Pretty good considering that's not what we would usually be known for.
The Twolves are not your typical 8th seed. The key take-away is that they are a good team and we blew them out 3 times. Jazz/Thunder may not be much more difficult than them as their regular season records suggest.
They looked like a 3rd seed when Butler was healthy. His confidence and energy on both end are the difference betwen Minny being 3rd and 8th seed IMO. He is such a difference maker for these young guys. So we actually didn't play against a hypotethical 3rd seed team. They are a 6-8 seed team with hobbled Butler and that's why we dispatched them so easily.
My takes, which are in line with some of OP's: + Capela rebounding, defense, offensive moves, handles + Harden's overall game + Tucker's defense + Turnovers + CP3's mid-range game + steals and blocks + overall effort on defense - Getting guys easy shots - Our bench - Not using Capela in the post - MDA's adapt abilities - Inconsistent effort and 3pt shooting - Rebounding - FT shooting - Pace and too much iso / late shot clock drives and shots I hope a lot is just not taking the Wolves too seriously, but that's not what a championship team would do since it can carry over into the next round and I definitely saw us struggle to win at least 2 games.
Can't wait until the third quarter to get things going. Defense was good. Just need to hope the Rockets don't start off cold in the first half.
The one and only test is winning the first two against the GSW. We do that and we pass. Until then we need to explore how good we can become defensively and Luc's return will help with that. We coasted through this series and will for some next series. Utah will be a good lesson watching their consistent intensity until the middle of the 3rd last night. Utah uses smart fouls to stop easy penetration in transition (prevents rhythm). Their defense is more successful because they frustrate and stifle the opponent. After the 1st game they play the same game 4 times and OKC couldn't beat it. We need to become a 48 minute team defensively and not rely on a switch and the offensive nuclear barrage will just happen. No more passive transitions that lead to uncontested layups and 3s. Playing defense and attacking the paint will prime our offense. We have the right character on offense. Let the 3s truly come out of the penetration rather than seeking them so quickly. That will create the rhythm for the shots to fall.
Minny might have been 3rd seed worthy but the actual 3rd seed got swept out of the first round. Why do I bring that up? Because we played poorly for long stretches and it had nothing to do with how good Minnesota was. The pelicans played with their hair on fire and they swept the real third seed. I have serious concerns about the effort level and I hope it was just a first round “we got this” thing. I worry they buy into the “hit the switch” idea too much. Kept going down 10 against Minnesota. We were lucky they don’t shoot enough 3s to blow that open but golden state will turn that 10 into 20.
The value of a bonafide first rate play-maker to pair with JH13 is paying dividends. CP3 is taking on some of the immense pressure that Beard is accustomed to, allowing him to chill, get his head and rhythm right. In other words, Beard can have bad quarters of play, insert CP3 and the team does not collapse like a deck of cards. It's brilliant!
-Capela proved his worth to ALL the haters who thought he was just pick & roll center. Capela does alot more than catch lobs. His defense & rim protection has been ELITE -The Rockets don't need James or CP to have crazy statistical games to win. Aslong as we don't turn the ball over & play defense we'll always be in a game. Last year James had to score 40 every night -The series turned when CP started pushing the pace more. I noticed after our loss, CP's been really getting into the offense alot quicker which I think was the turning point in the series. No team can defense us when we push the pace
Need more consistent defensive effort. Playing stingy defense feeds our offense, and we only played like 4 or 5 quarters of great defense the entire series. We won't advance further unless we correct that. Hopefully guys won't shoot bad either which will be huge as well.
Harden - need to stop getting cute trying to ISO everything. Run the pick and roll - Capela is peaking at the right time. Otherwise masterful, even game 2 where he found a way to contribute despite the bad shooting Paul - I think he needs to go with what is comfortable, and that may mean his money midrange shots. Felt like he forced a lot of 3’s. His shot will come back, not worried about the Point God. Ariza - how good has he been the last few games? He was quiet early in the series but is now doing what he needs to for us to win. Capela - keep going to work big guy. Doing it on defense, getting boards, killing the pick and rolls. Tucker - needs to be more consistent. Played well today but has been a total zero on offense for long stretches. Corner 3 has to be on point, and when it’s snuffed out, would like to see him attack more. Gordon - need more consistency. When the shots not falling, attack the rim like he did today. He had a really good game 5 despite not catching fire from 3. Ryno - be more aggressive. He passed so many open shots. Green - earn that green light. Smarter shots (no Curry imitations), more focus on D Nene - just keep it up big guy LMAM - he’s the X factor to our team hitting the next level. Get healthy big guy - we will need you in the WCF if we advance
