No counter for the KD blitz

Crazy idea, and call me a loose cannon BUT

Why didnt we try having someone else dribble the ball over halfway?

We could have put Durant on the elbow and got him the ball there??

 

That’s just not true. This is where actual coaching strategy and preparedness comes into play, not just telling guys to be “tougher”. Our admitted lack of depth at guard is no excuse for spamming the same approach that obviously isnt working. There are absolutely things that can be done to make things easier for us.

1) instruct the correct players to be “one pass away”. KDs release valves were Tari and DFS for so many of those traps. Neither of those guys are capable of turning the subsequent 4-on-3 into anything. Reed and Bari were on the court. Either of those guys would be better options. At least they are threatening enough to deserve a proper close out.

2) Let Reed or Amen initiate. Even if you want it to eventually get to KD, take the ball handling responsibility off of his plate. (a) Have Amen or Bari set an off ball screen for KD. With all the attention on KD there will be opportunities for the screener if the Lakers over-commit to denying KD the ball. (b) Matchup hunt. Send whoever Luka/Reeves is guarding to the ball as a screener to force a switch.

 

This entire group, including the coaching staff, needs to get in a film room and watch some March Madness or EuroLeague footage. Even high school film might be helpful. Thousands of games have been played by teams with less-than-ideal PGs. It has happened in the history of basketball. Make an adjustment, please!

The Rockets have adopted a pass-and-stare style offense: everyone walks to their spot, someone saunters up to set a pick and roll, let's see what the defense does. It's pathetic and perhaps the hardest way to play basketball.

Let's make it super easy for the defense to game plan by having one play.

For most European teams and many NCAA teams, when the ball crosses half-court, there is at least one (or maybe two or three) player who meets the ball for a pass. Then--and I know this is a shocker for Rocket players who are being paid millions--one or two players make sharp cuts to new spots, either to receive a pass or position themselves to set up a teammate. They could even set a screen for another teammate, who is moving into position.

The current pass-and-stare approach, with stationary offensive players camped outside the 3-point line, hoping for a 6'11 guy to channel PG vibes and beat double teams, is pretty foolish. And it's compounded because the Rockets have no-dead-eye shooters. They are all worn down and wildly streaky.

So when that isn't working, do something else. There are options.

Another straightforward option is to give Davison playing time. Going smaller isn't what Ime wants to do, but having lumbering forwards trying to stay in front of guards doesn't work on D. They get tricked into ticky-tack fouls by vets (see Austin Reaves, for example) on both ends of the court.

Playing another guard would force the other team to shift one of their quicker defenders AWAY from Durant.

Davison would infuse so much more quickness into the rotation. We might even get a couple of cheap fast breaks. By the way, it was a huge mistake by the organization not to trade for another shooting guard/player with a handle after dealing Jalen and Brooks (but that's for another rant).

I'm not really sure why Durant would try to beat Austin Reaves off the dribble 25-feet from the basket. Aren't you almost 7-foot tall? Can we put someone in the lineup who can make a post-entry pass? Can't we run a play with a couple of screens to force the other team to switch? I think Durant has a couple of moves on the block and the FT-line extended.

Does this mean that we can't play all our B-rated forwards at the same time? Yes. If you play another guard, Tari or Jabari might have to sit. Durant might have to swallow his pride and play minutes at the PF position. Amen might have to shift over to the SF position (where he would be awesome). Then you could rotate guys and keep them fresh.

Just because it's cringeworthy: let's think back to the John Stockton Karl Malone days. Imagine Stockton going down. Do you think the Jazz would think: you know, we should move Karl over to PG and play big? We've got Mark Eaton. Let's just play super tall and bring in another forward. No, they would play another guard, whoever was the next man up.

 

They should of had Holiday bring the ball up, and let Durant move screens as well as Jabari and Eason.

 

They need to soon move away from this Durant hero ball. It is obvious stupid move, and if they do it in the playoffs they are going to get cooked.

 

Nobody else outside of Reed can shoot. Not hard to defend.

 

Fify

 

I’ve never seen anyone give up as easily as KD does when he gets doubled. He legit does and doesn’t even try to beat it.

 

Well here’s a counter, don’t wait for them to surround you to pass out of the double,,,wow, what a novel thought.

 

they were already guarding cupcake with reaves lol. He was getting locked up

I dont know what you guys are expecting with reed or amen. Reed is the only other option I would consider. He is a good passer and has good vision but his handles and decision making are pretty comparable to kd

This is what we are getting if amen "initiates"

 

Amen can definitely initiate early offense of off missed shots. Neither team could buy a bucket last night in the 4th. We kept walking it up instead of trying to get easy transition buckets. That’s an adjustment that could have been made to combat the trap KD at all costs strategy.

I’m not advocating for Amen to be a full time bus driver or anything. I mentioned him or Reed as better options than KD for initiation and I stand by that. In the half court Amen should be the screener for Reed to operate in the short roll; or he can lurk along the baseline to get behind the defense.

 

Amen has the best assist to turnover ratio of the ball handlers. Sengun included.

Ime is just a fraud. Now that he's being required to figure **** out and not say "Tatum Brown go do stuff" he's getting exposed. FVV going schizo mode a lot last year saved his bacon as well.

Durant compounds the problem. He needs to go. Ime needs to go. Stone needs to go.

 

This has always been a weakness of him, even before the injury. Stone wasn't wrong when he said he wouldn't have traded for KD if he knew FVV would be out for the year. Because KD needs a PG unlike LeBron or Harden. The problem was that for whatever reason, Stone banked on only having FVV as the PG of this team and made sure the success of the season rested on a 31yr old 5-11 PG coming off his worst season. And made sure there was no Plan B.

 

Lol so you are just looking at the stat sheet and not the game. Same logic as patrick and stone saying kd is our shooting guard because he scores a lot

Its obvious that teams have figured amen out. It doesnt matter what his counting stats say when teams are playing him differently every time in the 4th quarter of close games

 

We are seeing exactly that. When the game slows down and there arent transitions opportunities to be had he is useless

Yes you can maybe try to force transition baskets by playing faster anyways… but thats probably going to be about as effective as what we are doing now

 

No he doesn't Reed does.

DD

 

He is fine through quarters 1-3, he would be fine in quarter 4 if given the chance. He is the only player on our team that can consistently beat people off the dribble and get into the lane.

 

It’s not by much and Reed is very sporadic at his ability to beat people off the dribble. Right now he is FVV with a better shot and worse defense. Still think he or Amen should initiate the offense every time down the court.

 

Teams arent guarding him like that in the first 3 quarters not because they cant but because it gives us an opportunity to counter it as the game goes on (not that anyone should expect ime to do so, but that is besides the point). It is a calculated game plan they have going into the game

 

Nope.

Reed : 1.6 to 3.2 for 2.00 assists for 1 turnover.

Amen: 2.5 to 5.3 for 2.12 assists for 1 turnover.