Jones move well enough off the ball and has handles where he doesn't need people to bite on his pump fake. I do agree that his ability or inability to defend LMA in the post is a key to the series. As long as he can keep LMA off the line and keep shooting fadeaways, the Rockets will be golden. If LMA keeps pushing him deep and getting layups, that's when the Rockets D will suffer. Because we'd either have to switch Howard on LMA, or double team him which opens up their shooters.
List of worries for Rockets fans- 1. James Harden (will he dominate) 2. Dwight Howard (will he dominate) 3. Getting killed on transition defense 4. Ineffectively guarding the 3's (Batum, Matthews, and Lillard) 5. Keeping LMA in check (will get his, but making sure it doesn't get out of control) 6. Keeping Lillard out of the lane 7. Team defense schemes 8. moving the ball and executing on offense 9. Pushing the tempo 10. Parsons & Lin providing offense when Harden & Dwight can't create within offense 11. Asik shoring up paint with bench crew 12. Bench play 13. Coaching X's and O's outside of normal sets 14. Coaching adjustments ...... ...... ..... 95. Terrence Jones knocking down 3's Folks.... the Rockets are either going to win or they are going to lose, but they are going to win or lose within team concepts that aren't relied on Jones to hit 3's. They can go small if they want, or they can simply let him do his job if he's making Portland pay for not guarding him. However the Rockets are not going to live and die by Jones' shot from 3 point land nor should they. Jones is the 4th or 5th option offensively but has been a huge plus this season. If he's a plus in the postseason than great. But if he's not a plus than it should be nothing that the Rockets aren't prepared for. The team's success rests on the shoulders of other players and personnel long before it trickles down to Terrence Jones. If people are using Jones as their crystal ball scapegoat, they need to drink a warm healthy glass of realism, and see that how far the Rockets go lies first and foremost on the shoulders of James Harden and Dwight Howard. All else is secondary.
Really? 10 posts in a 60 post thread belong to you. All harping on TJones. It's pretty obvious you don't like the guy, so stop pretending like you are offering an objective opinion.
This thread is about whether or not Jones is good enough in the playoffs. All 60 posts in it should have been about that subject. Instead you (and others) have decided to go off-topic and make it about me. I don't like or dislike Terrence Jones. He's a Rocket. So I'm rooting for him. I hope I'm wrong here. All I'm doing is commenting on his ability to help us win a championship or lose a playoff series. All I have said about him is he's not good enough to help us win a championship playing major minutes. He's the weak link in the starting lineup. What is interesting is the level of denial about this and instead of talking about the topic at hand some of you all insist that I'm a Jones hater. It's like all the Lin threads have polarized you into not seeing reality. I've made similar statements about DMo. He ain't good enough either....especially playing the 4 now that Asik is going to be playing all the 5 minutes that Dwight isn't in there. And it should be obvious to you that McHale and Morey know this as well..witness the Powell signing and now the conisderation of putting Daniels in the rotation. **By the way, just for the record, there are only 2 players in Rockets history that I have hated to see on the court. That is Rafer Alston and Juwan Howard. I hated both their games. Liked them off the court just fine. Both guys were nice guys. But I hated their games. I don't hate Jones and DMo like that. They're both only 2nd year guys. Rafer and Juwan were old vets that had no possibility of morphing into better players. But I do know both Jones and DMo aren't good enough to help us win except to steal minutes when the opponent's first unit is resting and the second units are in.
I'm certainly not denying the short comings of jones. I am simply saying that I feel your opinion is very one sided as you harp on him without mentioning the positives he brings to the table. The fact is that this team won 50 plus games with Jones as a starter. Jones has built good chemistry with the starters and gives us much needed athleticism at the four position. The signing of a Journey man 4 and the somewhat emergence of a undersized shooting guard are not threats to Jones's minutes. And it is silly to assume that McHale will all of a sudden limit Jones's minutes.
The Rockets will not be able to guard Aldridge or Lillard effectively. Jones has been a nice player but he has been overmatched by the really good PFs and Aldridge is a top 3 PF this year. Lillard got to his numbers in 3 of 4 games against the Rockets this season (and the one game he didn't was ironically the one game that the Blazers won). Lillard seems especially motivated to go right at Beverley right now, and his team has been prepping the officials to watch for Beverley's aggressive tactics. Westbrook went after Beverley hard in their last matchup by design and got the officials to call fouls and make it easy for him to dominate. Portland will not likely be able to guard Howard and Harden either, so it will come down to the other players like Parsons/Lin, Matthews/Batum and others.
Jones can defend Lopez at times and Dwight can get on LMA. Also, you will see 6'10 Parson on LMA and Casspi/Hamilton/Troy in the game if things don't go well with Jones in the Game. Playoff really do change the intensity so we shall see, maybe Jones plays inspired D. He isn't a motor guy nor a speed guy so that usually doesn't translate well to defense.
Im pretty sure McHale will even start the game with Howard on LMA and Jones on Lopez, and I'm pretty sure the coaches will be putting Jones through some heavy rebounding drills in practice tomorrow and Saturday. Probably match him up with Asik and put Howard on D-Mo to prep. 2nd possessions off of offensive rebounds (mostly from long rebounds from missed 3's) killed the Rockets in previous games against Portland. I think it would be naive to think that the Rockets wouldn't prepare for this in practice the next couple days. But yes, Jones & D-Mo will be matched up with Lopez on the defensive end for most of the game I'm assuming. Rebounding by ALL FOUR other players not named Dwight or Omer will be a big key.
Jones doesn't have any positive to discuss in his performances against the Trailblazers this season. I have been very, very clear about what his positives are in many previous discussions. )))))))))))His positives are he is very athletic, he can get up and down the floor, and he has a terrific handle for a power forward. He can take the ball end-to-end and finsh. And he's a good finisher.(((((((((((((((((((((((( Now I hope I've been clear about his positives. However, this is not about Jones nor does every thread have to be about what Jones talent is and what his potential is. That's the same old tired place posters go when they don't want to deal with the reality of where this team is at as a team and how they can possibly win a championship this year. When I talk about what it's going to take...too many of you guys torque the conversation into what Terrence Jones could possibly becomes, what his potential is, and how young he is. Great. All that is possibly true. But that's not where we are at today. We are fixing to go into the playoffs with expectations of going very far in the playoffs and with hopes and dreams of winning a championship. I have chosen to keep things in perspective and in reality and not view this team nor it's players in light of next year and the year after. With that objectivity and perspective it is obvious to me that our weak link is at the PF spot. And the OP here is appropriately focused on that weakness. It just so happens that the player that starts the game and has played the majority of the minutes is named Terrence Jones. However if that player's name were Donatas Motiejunas my personal commentary would be no different. He isn't good enough to help us win a championship either playing major minutes at PF. He gets in foul trouble and he can't shoot from anywhere on the floor very well except for in the paint area where Howard and Harden need to operate. And he jacks way too many open jumpers that he misses far more than he hits. The OP is properly focused on the weak link. The weak link is really what we should be discussing in this run through the playoffs since our playoff opponents all know what it is and are getting ready to exploit it. Watch it unfold and watch how McHale counters our opponent attacking our weak link.
I'll be very, very surprised if we start out with Howard on LaMarcus and Jones on Lopez. I think that's suicide. Dwight is not long enough to check Lamarcus without getting right up into him and when Dwight gets up into him, LaMarcus can beat him on the floor going to the rim. At that same time, Jones cannot hold Lopez down low. All LaMarcus has to do is throw the ball at the rim and let Lopez gobble it up if it falls out. We've seen that act in the previous games. McHale will most likely start the game with Jones on LaMarcus and he is going to ask Jones to be very aggressive and guard LaMarcus tight. I think McHale would rather see Jones faceguard Lamarcus and LaMarcus put the ball on the floor and then deal with Dwight at the rim then he would be for Jones to play back and give up the jumper to LaMarcus. The coaches can put Jones through all the drills they want to but there is no drill that will add 25 lbs and 5 inches to his frame. No drills for that. You're not being realistic here. Jones is too small to contain Lopez down low.....period. As far as DMo....if Jones can't cover Lopez....perhaps DMo gets a shot. But the most likely outcome is Dwight covers Lopez and either Asik or Harden wind up on LaMarcus.
You know how I got the wild idea that Howard would start out on LMA?.... um... because that's what they did the last 3 or 4 times they played them. Thats how Lopez ended up killing the Rockets with offensive rebounds in the first place. Not saying its the most brilliant basketball move ever, but its what McHale has done before so.... argue away all you guys want. If they go back to this defensive scheme, Jones and the other 3 guys have to do better on the boards. Jones has gotten better, and with 3 days to prepare for this matchup, they shouldn't have any excuses..... IF they go back to Howard on LMA. Oh and there is a reason why they have called Dwight Howard Superman..... cause he's really, really, long and athletic. If he & Asik can't check LMA I don't know who can.... and that's probably why him and Dirk are the two most difficult covers in the NBA with the mid to high post jump shot, and why I said earlier that he's just going to get his in this series. Its the other guys I'm more worried about especially from the 3 point line.
My concern about Terrence Jones in the playoffs is that he will dial it in to the next level; thus allowing us to send him to minny in a trade for Kevin Love.
Given this --- "Terrence Jones was a minus 45 in 49 minutes. No other Rocket had a negative plus-minus against the Blazers." TJones need to bring it to sit.
I think you all spend too much time worrying about Aldridge. Sometimes, there's just not a response. He's going to get his and you have to live with it. What you can do, is put him in a position where he may have to work for it a bit harder and then force the other Blazers to beat you. I think that's what we're doing with you. Howard and Harden are going to have huge numbers against us. Okay, so that's 50-60 points right there. The question is, where do the other 40-60 points come from? How do you stop them? To me, the keys to the series are guys like Lin, Parsons, Beverley, Batum, Matthews and Mo Williams. It should be a pretty good one.
Hey, I said it was a concern of mine, not THE concern of the series. As far as I have known, you're only good as your weakest link on offense in basketball. If they want to leave Jones to double team and make him shoot jumpers, they can, and he will have to make them pay somehow.
He's an asset when playing against small-ball teams or teams with weak rim D. If the Rockets get to the finals and play a team like Miami, T Jones is critical to their success.
