ClutchFans Game Thread: Rockets @ Raptors 12/5/2019

RaciSPN refused to do a recap on out victory tonight on their page.
Meanwhile the other games got one.
Media conspiracy

 

You can put Steve Kerr in that list too.

I won’t pretend to know who should be our coach. I don’t have a dream coach either. I just think we have reached the ceiling on what we are going to do with MDA just like we did with McHale. But to be fair, we could definitely do worse though. Finding someone who can put us over the edge is on Tilman and Morey. To their credit, I think they know it too and that’s why they didn’t extend him. He can either prove he’s the man this year or his time is up.

I’ll ask you, would you stick with MDA and if so, for how long? What does he have to do to lose your support?

No coach is going to GUARANTEE a championship though. You know that.

 

Nice that they got the win, and overall they played a good game. End of game wasn't great though, but it looks like they're getting marginally better when Harden gets doubled.

They need to do 4 on 3 drills in practice without Harden.

 

That is right. Harden played so much smarter, and that's the kind of growth I've been waiting for. I was so disgusted when he took 18 3's on a terrible shooting night. He and Russ can play so egocentric and stupid.

If I was the coach last night I would have told Russ not to take one more shot after he took 12. In fact, until he is shooting better he should never take more than that, and certainly not more than 2 or 3 three's a game. Run, pass and rebound, repeat.

I think we can be real contenders with some tweaking, and a whole lot of luck in staying healthy. Risk management is the key down the road.

 

Houston were 13-21 on open threes

 

Impressive win. All the team seem prepared and ready to play without Harden.
We look different when Rivers is assertive and has the timing to go solo.
BenMac shooting the 3 is important more than because of him, just to show Daryl the effect of having a competent 3 pt shooter.
Tucker. he is the freaking heart of this team. Did you see him on the post battling Siakam. Dude has been having it on the league for weeks and there are some Chuck Hayes flashbacks when that dog is on the post. And then he goes to the corner and leads the league in 3 pt shots. Still underrated on this team.
House is really important too, fills in the gaps of our stars pretty well.

We keep having good center less minutes.

Confusing team to evaluate, when we are good, we seem to have at least our 65 win team ceiling. When we are bad we look really really bad.

On the bright side there are a few areas where we just can keep getting better:
Defense
Westbrook shooting can't be worst
Gordon is going to be back
Any pick and Roll partner with Westbrook, he has not found a partner yet to run this and I thinks this opens more of his offensive options.
Harden shooting

 

I'm not married to MDA, but his winning percentage speaks for itself.
I think he's a top tier coach (and again, the numbers speak for themselves)
I've enjoyed getting to celebrate a win 70% of the time (but apparently others don't)
I've also enjoyed watching James turn into a superstar, and Rockets setting NBA records
in 3 pointers, etc. . . It's a fun brand of basketball, AND it's still WINNING basketball.
He has the 2nd best record in the NBA over the past 3 years! (only behind Steve Kerr and the STACKED Warriors)
How does a guy get vilified over THAT kind of success?

I just think he gets bashed for next to nothing by our own fans.
EVEN WHEN WE WIN like last night.

No one is bashing Pops now that the Spurs are a mediocre team.
He somehow gets a free ride.

The reason I ask who you would replace him with that would GUARANTEE a championship
is because that's what our bashers seem to expect of MDA.
We took the 'greatest team ever assembled' to 7 games (even leading the series 3-2 before
the refs and CP's hammy intervened).
If not for having that GSW (Kevin Durant bandwagon) brick wall in the way every year, I believe we would have won it all.

MDA's criteria seems to be: "Anything less than a ring is a punishable offense"

So, we've been AWFULLY close.
That means the NEXT guy needs to GUARANTEE to take us further, and the only next step is that championship.
And if a replacement can't take us all the way, then what have we gained?

We can hope for a change at the helm, but careful what you wish for.
Is a new coach going to mesh with James or rub him the wrong way?
Anybody's guess.

So far, I've heard Jeff Van Gundy and Dave Joerger. LOL
You can't tell me that either of them is a SURE SHOT to take us farther than what D'Antoni has.
I love JVG. But, I don't see it happening. And it's rumored that Joerger alienates his players
and strains relationships. James seems to love MDA and has thrived under his system.

In Texas we have a saying: "If it ain't broke, don't FIX it"

 

How is expecting a coach, who is lauded for his offensive genius, to integrate an all star level player on the OFFENSIVE end unreasonable?

 

WB IS what he IS.
Can't shoot, can't finish.

I don't disagree that coach should try and enhance strengths and limit weaknesses.
But, not easy to change a leopard's spots after 10 years in the league.

I believe MDA was painted into a corner with this WB signing.
Saying 'fix him or start packing your bags' seems unreasonable.
Do we not think that if Russ felt he would benefit greatly from more P&R's that
he would have approached the coach and requested that? Dunno.
But I don't see it as a matter of coach sitting on his hands and rolling the ball out there
and saying 'go get 'em'. I"m sure options have been explored

Coach has a .700 winning percentage with the Rockets.
WE don't. So, firing him from the sofa seems far fetched

 

it's amazing what some people around here unrealistically expect MDA to do with westbrick. all of a sudden people expected him to transform into some efficient jumpshooter just because he stepped foot next to harden in this system. all that was a bunch of bs from the beginning. for the 20th time, if westbrick himself developed a better iq, he could be so much better for this team but unfortunately he is who he is

 

That's literally the only point I was making. Westbrook has many offensive talents. MDA is lauded for his abilites to construct high powered offensives. It isn't unreasonable to expect a seasoned coach, with his offensive track record, to find a way to integrate Westbrook into the system.

If you don't disagree with this, I'm confused as to why you responded in the first place.......

 

I hear you. It's a risk to get rid of MDA because you know what he can bring you. What would have happened if GS stayed the course with Mark Jackson? Maybe they would have had the same level of success. Maybe not. They took a risk though and it clearly paid off.

Compare that to Utah with Jerry Sloan. They stuck with him forever and it never paid off.

There's no easy answers here. That's for sure. Winning championships is extremely hard. Everything has to go just right or it's over.

I will say it's much harder to find a James Harden than a MDA. So from my perspective, there has to be a timeline for the coach to produce a ring or get out.

Even beyond that I would say that MDA has to find a way to integrate Westbrook or get out. It's not going to be easy. He may end up making some people mad (including Westbrook). But he's going to be fired if he doesn't get it done so he might as well make some changes.

 

I noticed an adjustment on the Harden double that could be very very useful going forward.

Previous on the Harden double, it seem the floor was spaced in Rox typical PnR set. Against TOR, they had PJ float between the FT line and top of the key. This allowed a quick pass from Harden to PJ in the center of the floor with multiple passing options while playing 4 v 3. Quick swing and you have guys like McLemore and House with W I D E open looks and that's why they went off and had so many shots.

I like this going forward but would add a wrinkle to have Russ drop in the lane to start the attack. Might get Russ in spaces he is more comfortable with. We'll see how they use it going forward but a nice wrinkle last night nonetheless.

 

Ben McLemore was an incredible find for Morey. It's too bad Anthony Bennett got hurt because I think he could be backing up Tucker as another stretch 4/5.

Definitely want to see more rotations with both House and McLemore in them. You have 2 hot shooters that would benefit Harden or Westbrook. We really don't need Gordon but hopefully he does come back with his shot back.

I just love that a team tried to completely take Harden out of the game and we burned them for it over and over again. You allowed us to take 55 threes, a lot of them open? What kind of defense is that? We got to do exactly what we've always wanted to do.

 

They aren’t indicative of what you think they are.

GS was a bad rebounding team for years and amazing offensively and defensively.

rebounding doesn’t make up for being trash at the entire rest of the game.

I’ve never felt rebounding was a big deal here, even last year. No defense is perfect. We were amazing at making team miss, not fouling(something Westbrook is horrible with), and forcing turnovers last year. Rebounding was a drawback, but our defense was elite for 4 straight months.

Rebounding is not automatic value. Not at all. Though offensive ones usually are.

 

The Warriors were 29th in defensive rebounding in 2017.

1st in opponent EFG%.

8th in opponent TOV%

11th in opponent FTR.


2nd best defensive rating in the NBA.


rEbOUnDInG iS sO iMPoRtAnT.

No it really isn’t.

 

Golden State was more of a middle of the pack rebounding team, never bad, the Rockets last year were terrible. Huge difference being in the middle of the pack and being at the bottom of the league in something.

 

GSW were 1st in Offensive rebounding that year too.

Get the ____ out of here with your cherry picking nonsense man.

 

No Golden State was a terrible defensive rebounding team at their best.

Rebounding is only a vehicle to use possessions. How you use possessions(EFG, FTR, TOV) is much more important. Now, where would Russ rank with his shooting(EFG%), foul drawing and FT making, and TO economy?

Horribly. In both ends. He’s quietly fouling as much as a rookie big man that goes for wild blocks.

 

They were 18th in offensive rebounding.

It’s better to be wrong than petty. Actually use what I have said as away to learn.