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Rockets vs Warriors

UDontKnow

By UDontKnow
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Scraps
Scraps

Rockets in 2 1/2

ChickenSandwich
ChickenSandwich

Man. Watching PJ from a freshman animal undersized college post to an undersized NBA monster who wins playoff games is just something fucking else. Dusty in here. Hookem PJ, you beautiful son of a bit

Jebus
Jebus

I didn’t see, is draymond not playing or what?

aggie08

aggie08 21796

Posted
Posted (edited)
24 minutes ago, Patrick Bateman said:

Oh shit..... Iggy doubtful for game 4!

Houston..... you gotta take this game!

Finally gonna see how many small-ball centers a team can put on the court at one time!

Big loss though: Iggy and Klay were nearly perfect on defense last night.

Here's your chance to prove that I've been wrong about you all season, Swaggy.

Edited by aggie08
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Patrick Bateman

Patrick Bateman 3966

Posted
Posted (edited)
31 minutes ago, aggie08 said:

And I'd say that really only 3 teams in the league--Cleveland, Houston, and GS (maybe OKC?)--are currently built to attack those deficiencies so completely.  I mean, it's an obvious strategy: Steph can't guard LeBron or Harden (who can?), and Harden can't guard KD or Steph, they'll wear themselves out and get frustrated trying, and it will impact them on the offensive end whether we score or not.  Duh, sounds so easy.  But other teams don't have the personnel, and/or it would throw off their normal scheme too much to do consistently.

You almost wonder if it's better to give effort (Steph) and still be largely over-matched, or to just play ole defense (Harden), and save the energy.

But, obviously, it's the former.  Even though Dirk was always terrible defensively, it meant something to his teammates when he battled, sweated, and bled on that end later on in his career.  

Those are probably the only teams where it matters..... Celtics would be the other if fully healthy or even if they had one more of their guys.  It's not just that Curry can't handle Harden, he can't really handle CP3, Gordon, or a Tucker if they switched off.  It's mostly Harden b/c he has the ball in his hands most of the time, but Curry can't handle KI or if he had to switch on to pre-broken Hayward, Tatum, Smart, etc, etc.....

Are there are teams that could punish him by bullying him on defense?  Yea, probably but those teams are so incapable of matching up with the Warriors in other spots and don't have the perimeter shooting to keep the Warriors honest, then doesn't really matter much b/c those teams will find themselves down double digits and forced out of their offensive strategy.  But a team like the Bucks could probably force the issue with Greek, Bledsoe, and some of the other wing players attacking the paint vs the Warriors but b/c that team (and others) doesn't have the perimeter shooting the Rockets do, the Warriors can simply play help D and choke off the lane.... A team like the Sixers would get their doors blown off as they have one guy Redick where it matters and the Warriors would just close off the lane vs dribble drives.

Edited by Patrick Bateman
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aggie08

aggie08 21796

Posted
Posted (edited)
1 hour ago, Patrick Bateman said:

Those are probably the only teams where it matters..... Celtics would be the other if fully healthy or even if they had one more of their guys.  It's not just that Curry can't handle Harden, he can't really handle CP3, Gordon, or a Tucker if they switched off.  It's mostly Harden b/c he has the ball in his hands most of the time, but Curry can't handle KI or if he had to switch on to pre-broken Hayward, Tatum, Smart, etc, etc.....

Are there are teams that could punish him by bullying him on defense?  Yea, probably but those teams are so incapable of matching up with the Warriors in other spots and don't have the perimeter shooting to keep the Warriors honest, then doesn't really matter much b/c those teams will find themselves double digits and forced out of their offensive strategy.  But a team like the Bucks could probably force the issue with Greek, Bledsoe, and some of the other wing players attacking the paint vs the Warriors but b/c that team (and others) doesn't have the perimeter shooting the Rockets do, the Warriors can simply play help D and choke off the lane.... A team like the Sixers would get their doors blown off as they have one guy Redick where it matters and the Warriors would just close off the lane vs dribble drives.

Meh, if Houston wants to run their offense through Tucker posting up Steph, or even EG going one-on-one, Golden State will trip over themselves trying to sign up for that.  Or running an offense through Marcus Smart, for that matter.  Harden and LeBron are the guys who really beat him up and wear him down AND have the skills to helm an entire elite offense with that kind of usage. The like-sized guys have their moments, but are far from automatic buckets, and they don't take nearly the physical toll.  It's just a normal match-up of good offensive talent vs. mediocre defender.  As bad as Steph was in the '16 Finals--and he was awful at many points--he was better when guarded by Kyrie than Kyrie was when guarded by him.  (Admittedly, maybe not the best point to make considering Kyrie's proclivity for defensive lapses).  The same thing was true last year as well, and Steph was huge defensively at the end of Game 3 when Cleveland was trying to hunt him down.

Boston, I will agree with you, could be the future and the first team to beat GS at their own game, and give Steph absolutely nowhere to rest/hide. I mean, just looking at the match-ups:

Steph > Kyrie

Klay = Gordon (hard to say with the injury; Klay is the better shooter, about even defensively, and knows his role...but Gordon is/was the better overall player)

KD >> Tatum

Draymond > Horford

Iggy (or, whatever's left of him) <<< Brown

One clear advantage (before getting to the benches, which clearly favor Boston) doesn't sound like much, but it's more than most teams have. 

Edited by aggie08
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Patrick Bateman

Patrick Bateman 3966

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57 minutes ago, aggie08 said:

Meh, if Houston wants to run their offense through Tucker posting up Steph, or even EG going one-on-one, Golden State will trip over themselves trying to sign up for that.  Or running an offense through Marcus Smart, for that matter.  Harden and LeBron are the guys who really beat him up and wear him down AND have the skills to helm an entire elite offense with that kind of usage. The like-sized guys have their moments, but are far from automatic buckets, and they don't take nearly the physical toll.  It's just a normal match-up of good offensive talent vs. mediocre defender.  As bad as Steph was in the '16 Finals--and he was awful at many points--he was better when guarded by Kyrie than Kyrie was when guarded by him.  (Admittedly, maybe not the best point to make considering Kyrie's proclivity for defensive lapses).  The same thing was true last year as well, and Steph was huge defensively at the end of Game 3 when Cleveland was trying to hunt him down.

Boston, I will agree with you, could be the future and the first team to beat GS at their own game, and give Steph absolutely nowhere to rest/hide. I mean, just looking at the match-ups:

Steph > Kyrie

Klay = Gordon (hard to say with the injury; Klay is the better shooter, about even defensively, and knows his role...but Gordon is/was the better overall player)

KD >> Tatum

Draymond > Horford

Iggy (or, whatever's left of him) <<< Brown

One clear advantage (before getting to the benches, which clearly favor Boston) doesn't sound like much, but it's more than most teams have. 

You misunderstand, I'm not advocating running thru Tucker or Gordon, etc.  The short point is it's become quite obvious.... Curry is a liability on defense.  He has to make it up by being elite on offense and thus far he's going a good job but he's been exploited in the playoffs on D.

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aggie08

aggie08 21796

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Posted (edited)
1 hour ago, Patrick Bateman said:

You misunderstand, I'm not advocating running thru Tucker or Gordon, etc.  The short point is it's become quite obvious.... Curry is a liability on defense.  He has to make it up by being elite on offense and thus far he's going a good job but he's been exploited in the playoffs on D.

I agree that he is...in this series.  But you're overstating how ineffective he is when he's not on Harden. I don't confuse Ariza blowing by him twice in the first quarter as Steph being unable to guard Ariza; it's a product of him anticipating, overthinking, and overcommitting to fight off the switch onto Harden. That indecision wouldn't exist against 27 other teams. No one on New Orleans lit him up the way they did CJ and Dame.

Game 2 was probably one of the worst defensive games I've ever seen from Curry--just completely lost--and Houston went 7-15 against him (conversely, GS was 7-11 going at Harden last night). Granted, I'm certain that Houston scored more points than that from guys having to help off their man one pass away on a Harden blow by, but he's providing resistance.

Game 1 I thought he played about as well as he could have defensively, but Harden just made tough shots. He was just fine last night after some opening lapses, and was matched up against EG for prolonged periods. They don't fear him on anyone except Harden, including CP3. CP embarrassed him a couple times on Wednesday (bringing the tally to 2 to 963 in Steph's favor), but what else has he done so far? He'll get torched a few more times this series--or someone will just get hot and make shots in his face (like EG in Game 2)--but that's no different than any other so-so defensive guard against elite offense. Everyone not in the conversation for an all-defense team is a defensive liability against Houston. Shit, they made a liability out of the likely DPOY.

But they're hunting him so relentlessly not only because he's obviously the weak link with four 6'7"+ All-Defense caliber players sharing the floor, but because his energy is so important to their offense, so it's seen as the only way to possibly beat Golden State. It is NOT a guarantee of effective offense, or even what's best for their offense, as Games 1 and 3 prove.

Edited by aggie08
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Tylerocks

Tylerocks 2603

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Posted

It's amazing that a team as good as the Rockets, can look as bad as they did last night, and to some extent Game 1 as well.  They couldn't have beaten the Suns playing the way they did.

 

It's frustrating to see.

Golden State has the ability to completely demoralize a team, which they did last night.

The Rockets HAVE to get back to what got them here.  You can't miss 50 layups and turn the ball over 50 times against anybody, much less the best team in the history of forever.  They can bounce back though.  Everyone wrote them off after Game 1 too.

 

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aggie08

aggie08 21796

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Looks like the "he played so bad, he must be hurt" needle has moved over to CP3. Seems to be a popular topic today. He's going up play regardless--he's been waiting his whole life for this moment--but I hope it's nothing serious.

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aggie08

aggie08 21796

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In a series about hunting out the opponents' weak link, here is the damage so far:

Curry has allowed 44% shooting (23% from 3) on 43 shot attempts and 0.88 points per play with him as the primary defender.

Harden has allowed 55% shooting (50% from 3) on 51 shot attempts and 1.08 points per play as the primary defender.

I expect Harden to go nuts in Game 4 without all that wasted effort (kidding, but not really).

Edited by aggie08
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Slacks

Slacks 7057

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You had me until right here. This opinion is bad, and you should feel bad.
Klay is much more the modern day Reggie Miller, but Klay's a better defender and an even better shooter.
Curry is a better shooter.
Kkay is the better defender.

Neither of them have had to carry a team with scoring. Neither of them had to play against Jordan, Pippen, Kobe... with the old rules of defense. Curry wouldn't get the layups he gets now. He'd be handchecked to death.

Do you also think Curry and Klay are better scorers than Iverson was?

And let me be clear, I think Curry is going to be the greatest shooter in NBA history. I think Thompson is a top 5 wing player when you consider his shooting and defense.

my bad for making a cross-era comparison.

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Slacks

Slacks 7057

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Posted
To win the series, the Rockets need Gordon, Paul, and Harden to all play like All-Stars, simple as that.
I told my wife, "GSW has two MVPs, a defensive MVP, and an all star. Houston has one MVP and one all star."

Houston has to play up.
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