As I watch the Rockets fight in game 7 against a mediocre OKC team, can't help but think rockets lineup is a gimmick and can't work in the playoffs.
It is a gimmick and has been tried many times in the past and never worked. Ask Don Nelson. It won't work for the Rockets this year either.....they don't shoot the 3ball well enough. DD
I mean they're in the playoffs and have won 3 games so far using it. Take away some late game boneheaded plays from Westbrook and House this series and the Rockets would already be in the second round. I think for energy conservation especially over the course of a long 82 game season, you probably want a standard lineup with a true center and would want to have a small ball lineup to throw a wrinkle against teams for a quarter instead of for 48 minutes. The Warriors small ball lineup for instance was only played in specific situations throughout the course of a game. They had options if small ball wasn't proving effective whereas we got what we got. I think sometimes you actually want a 7 footer out there to PnR with and clog the paint. At other times you throw a small ball lineup against teams. The more options you have to make in game adjustments IMHO, the better. The Rockets don't got that. The Rockets are the type of Street Fighter player that spams Hadouken and Hurricane Kick over and over again masterfully, but sometimes you need to shake it up.
Nobody has ever made it work for 48 minutes like the rockets are doing, but the warriors best lineups every year they won their championships had no real center. They played non center lineups for 20-30 minutes per game, including closing out almost every game without a true center on the court.
