I really hate the narrative that's emerging that the Rockets can be beat if you just contain Harden and Westbrook and force the other guys to score. Barkley had this take a couple of weeks ago when he basically said that the Rockets have no one other than Harden and Westbrook. Shannon Sharpe said this morning that the Rockets are winning because Harden and WB are scoring 30 and that all teams need to do in the playoffs is force other guys to beat you. This is a BS narrative that is HIGHLY disrespectful to the Rockets other players. I looked at the box scores from the Memphis game - Rivers 23 McLemore 11 Green 11 Tucker 11 Covington 10 House, Carroll, Caboclo 11 Harden and WB scored 63. They got 77 points from everyone else (even without Ego playing). Rivers was absolutely dominant and its clear that he's benefiting from the same 5 out scheme that is rejuvenating Brodie. In the Knicks game (with WB on the bench) - McLemore 17 Gordon 16 Rivers 14 Covington 11 House 10 Green 9 Carroll 7 Every single player on the Rockets can go for 10+ on any given night. And if you take away Harden or Westbrook, In the Lakers game, the Lakers focused on limiting Harden (14 points on only 10 shots). Here's how the Rockets "other players that Charles Barkley wants to force to beat you" responded against the Lakers vaunted defense - Gordon 15 Convington 14 House 13 Tucker 11 Rivers 8 And focusing on Harden let WB go off for 41. There is a trend here - if you contain Harden or Westbrook, the other one can pick up the slack. But there are almost always 5 to 7 guys in the rotation who are going to average 10 - 15 points outside of Harden / Brodie. If I'm Gordon, Convington, Tucker, Rivers, House, McLemore or Green, I'm sending Barkley and Sharpe a paper bag with a surprise in it for suggesting that teams don't have to worry about anyone beyond Harden / WB. These guys are professional players who are great at what they do and should be given credit for being a part of the Rockets success, not overlooked as a weak spot that other teams can exploit.
Next up 3 games in 6 days. among those 3, either 1 matchup in Boston or host clippers at home, the two elite teams are gonna all in finding a way out pulling away from our small ball 'slaughter' system. (both team ready n go w/ full-fledged lineup, can also play small) But, once we defeated them, morey n tilman would be busy with all sorts of interviews, media and their critics would chant song of praise while scrambling jump on the bandwagon kissing our ass. Just stay cool, cuz we dunt give a **** what media / critics tweeting or beeping, like what jvg commented:
Aight with the media narrative BS. You complain about the media narrative but then only mention the TV personalities aimed at casual fans. If you want rational NBA discussion listen to Lowe or Golliver or Duncan, you know people who actually watch games. The guys you mentioned are just entertainers, they don't actually know what they're saying so stop wasting energy trying to counter their points.
If our “other” players knock down shots in the playoffs I think they will get some respect. Harden and Westbrook are our only players that really distribute the ball, and they take the most shots. So, I can understand people focusing on Harden and Westbrook. Harden and Westbrook do need to play well for us to go far in the playoffs.
What? Yes, they do need to play well. To win championships, players have to play well. The star players and the role players.
exactly. that's what this thread and posts are alluding to. it's seemingly a rockets only problem referenced above, when every other team with legitimate championship aspirations need to have their their best players playing well to go deep
Well, that theory is predicted on that WB and Harden are the engines for this team, and if teams can take them out of the game, Rockets are just fizzled out. It's not like WB and Harden can be slowed down easily - especially Russ. It takes quite a bit of effort if it is even achievable, which will for sure take away defensive focus from other Rockets. That's the beauty of the small ball. I think the battle for us will be how many points we will allow the opponent to score on us and limiting our turnovers. The games left in the regular season are giving us practices to exert scoring pressure onto the opponent all the time in-game.
I brought this up in a NBA Dish Game Thread after Mitchell had an awesome game in a blowout loss. Lillard has this problem, too. NBA Game Action : 2/24/2020 Mitchell's big, efficient game in a huge loss must be one of the reasons Barkley, et al, say teams should stop doubling Harden and guard everyone else. Mitchell scored 38 pts on >50% FG%, making 6 threes. Games like this tell ppl this is a strategy for Harden, because Utah got smoked. Ha! Rockets are 10-0 this year when Harden has a game like Mitchell Rest of league is 21-16, when they have a star have a game like Mitchell (Lillard is 3-3 in such games) ...see, looks like a strategy Barkley would use
Well, I do think some of the other teams may have more talent on their bench. I can see why some of the talking heads think we are a little top heavy. But, we have been playing very well in recent weeks. I’m guessing come playoff time other teams will try to contain Harden and Westbrook and make our role players make shots. Not sure it will work if we have good ball movement and can knock down shots. We will see what happens. Things are looking good for us right now. But, the game does change a little in the playoffs.
sure other teams have talent but you never hear oh lebron/AD both have to play well to win. Or Gobert/Mitchell. kawhi/pg13. or giannis/middleton or jokic/whoever etc. its the barkley lazy narrative takes of harden/wb both need to play well for them to win. It was the same thing with harden/cp3.
I like what I'm seeing from our bench as well. My only concern is when the playoffs arrive and the game slows down and pressure builds, can our other players perform like the regular season. We are shooting lights out and history tells us that the playoffs are significantly tougher. I have faith in the "OTHERS" because we have so many others now... EGo, Rivers, Bmore, Green, and Carroll... Caboclo looks like a young Giannis, he needs to get in that weigh room like Giannis.
Rivers is the most underrated player and its crazy he is playing on minimum, huge asset for us. How the heck did we get him..
Mclemore and House just have to maintain a decent 3 point percentage, I have confidence in Gordon and Rivers as secondary ball handlers which is more than we had the 2017-18 season (Harden, CP3, and Gordon). Covington equals or even exceeds Ariza right now as a direct replacement. Luc Mbah Moute shouldn't be in post season discussions as he was a non factor for playoffs (injured). Clint was a non factor in the playoffs when it mattered, his limited offense was contained and he got dominated by the one team that stood in the way. I think this team as constructed is more balanced and more dangerous than even our best record 2018 playoff team. Exciting times are coming. Media is trying to sell the narrative that "big" teams will dominate us in the paint, the truth is we are going to run their bigs right off the court and our Tasmanian Westbeast is dominating their paint. He is leading the league in points in the paint since we went small ball and its not even close (21.1 vs Giannis 16.7). Now Harden and Westbrook are the leading scorers in the league both averaging around to 33 PPG.
So the argument is that the Rockets are beatable if you stop Harden and Westbrook? Okay... The Lakers are beatable if you stop James and Davis. The Clippers are beatable if you stop Leonard and George. The Bucks are beatable if you stop Giannis. The best team that I have ever personally seen, was beatable if you stopped Jordan and Pippen. The statement means nothing from Barkley...
