#1 James Harden does not play well after rest days. The numbers are striking and he has said as much, it effects his shot. Couple that with heavy minutes the night before and travel, it isn't surprising that they lost. With normal Harden and Gordon there is a good chance they win that game. Capela is banged up as well. Also the Thunder have been a good team this year. #2 The Rockets don't run a gimmick defense and it isn't to keep Harden from being exposed. Also Harden has been a better defender than the starting PG and SF. The Rockets are 7-3 in their last 10. Better than the Lakers and Nuggets and Clippers and Mavericks. Better than everyone in the West except the 8-2 Jazz AND the 8-2 Thunder. The Rockets are 1 game from the #2 seed. I had the Rockets pegged for 48-50 wins and so far they are above that pace. They have been playing better and Gordon is back.... they will make a move for rotation help at the deadline so lets see what happens.
c'mon now his kind of thing that we need to stop. Yesterday was a shameful effort by the team. Its a time for accountability not jumping off the bridge. There is some discontent and lack of discipline and focus on our team. All of this is correctable and by the way every team has challenges this is ours. The guys need to look in the mirror and fix it
You are right, but it's not hard to understand the critics. Between injuries and load management, we don't really know what team we are and our set rotation. We just waived a guy that played minutes 2 weeks ago. Sometimes BenMac is playing as the 6th man, earlier this year was Austin. Defence is worse than bad, yesterday we were a joke from 1 to 5. And the real bad part yesterday was not even the point differential, but the quality of play. Ferguson did an amazing job on Harden and we don't have any other option. James and D'Antoni reluctance to have a traditional playbook, even small for nights like this it's hard to even explain after so many years of losing this way Rockets have became so Harden centric, we have accepted a System that helps him to reach an historic level while hurting development and opportunities for others. We don't have a plan B for nights like this. And let's also talk about the lack of chemistry development between Russ and the rest of the team. Again, you may be right in the big picture, but let's not act like these feedback comes out of nowhere because it does not. There are reasons to be worried and if you look at the contenders, there are even reasons to be sad and convinced we are living the last year of an era.
The most concerning aspect you two didn't mention is discipline. They can't or won't play 4 quarters equally well, they normally play 2 good quarters, one mediocre and one bad one. They let one of the worst team, the Hawks come back within striking distance. They also had problems against Nola, GSW, the Nets, Detroit, Sacramento, Spurs, Mavs, Washington and even young Memphis when they weren't that hot. And now OKC. They played the Clips well, I give them that. One of the most confounding, inconsistent, undisciplined contenders out there.
That is the case with the NBA in general. It isn’t unique to the Rockets. Also when you are an average defensive team inconsistency happens. Improve the defensive personnel and you will see more consistency.
I love my Rockets like I love my son whose dream is to get paid to make Mukbang videos on YouTube. :/
In 2017-2018 the discipline was much better, Chris, Luc and those guys ensured it. So dun give me that, give me just better personnel. Those were special, smart players you cannot just get on the market every year. For some of those players, it were their last years of relevance, Chris has just declined a little bit, got more injury prone than ever. Special timing I guess.
A major fear of fatherhood for me is having my son/daughter tell me that they want to be a youtuber or a twitch streamer. How would you feel if he succeeds? What if he wants to drop out of school because he's making your annual salary every month by recording himself eating the entire menu from Taco Bell in one sitting? These are strange times. The internet was a mistake.
You got to lossen up Harold, and give thanks if that ever happens. Just make sure he goes to the gym regularly and enjoy the extra cheddar.
