Playoffs 2017: WC First Round - Houston Rockets (3) vs Oklahoma City Thunder (6)

[jambalaya]

How good is the bench? Based on regular season net efficiency for bench players per 48 minutes, it was bottom third overall. But against west, against playoff level teams, western playoff teams and on the road it was bottom 5 in all these cases.

[bondom34]

A small part of me wants to vent but I'm not going to. Because they sucked as a team yesterday but this series is not a referendum on the MVP, and no, this team is not nearly as good as Houston. And if Harden magically "makes his teammates better" he sure wasn't doing it last year when he got his coach canned and led a team to a .500 record.

This team lost Kevin Durant and only dropped 8 games in the standings. That's incredible. They need some things this offseason. But man reading some places you'd swear it's like this team is full of fantastic players. I'm even off the Adams bandwagon (not as a person, or favorite player, but my judging his ability has changed dramatically).

[ThunderBolt]

A small part of me wants to vent but I'm not going to. Because they sucked as a team yesterday but this series is not a referendum on the MVP, and no, this team is not nearly as good as Houston. And if Harden magically "makes his teammates better" he sure wasn't doing it last year when he got his coach canned and led a team to a .500 record.

This team lost Kevin Durant and only dropped 8 games in the standings. That's incredible. They need some things this offseason. But man reading some places you'd swear it's like this team is full of fantastic players. I'm even off the Adams bandwagon (not as a person, or favorite player, but my judging his ability has changed dramatically).

It's funny because I'm not upset with Russ, our record or our seed. How we have gotten to all three of those places is where the frustration lies. Russ has superceeded expectations. Everyone else has underachieved to the point where even if Presti makes the right decision to move on from Adams, Kanter and Vic, their performances and contracts have made it every difficult to think we can realistically improve this team. Then there is the whole salary cap issue.

[bondom34]

A small part of me wants to vent but I'm not going to. Because they sucked as a team yesterday but this series is not a referendum on the MVP, and no, this team is not nearly as good as Houston. And if Harden magically "makes his teammates better" he sure wasn't doing it last year when he got his coach canned and led a team to a .500 record.

This team lost Kevin Durant and only dropped 8 games in the standings. That's incredible. They need some things this offseason. But man reading some places you'd swear it's like this team is full of fantastic players. I'm even off the Adams bandwagon (not as a person, or favorite player, but my judging his ability has changed dramatically).

It's funny because I'm not upset with Russ, our record or our seed. How we have gotten to all three of those places is where the frustration lies. Russ has superceeded expectations. Everyone else has underachieved to the point where even if Presti makes the right decision to move on from Adams, Kanter and Vic, their performances and contracts have made it every difficult to think we can realistically improve this team. Then there is the whole salary cap issue.

Yep. Apparently the Down to Dunk podcast expects Kanter gone too. I'm just more annoyed (and I don't even like to say it) at the really incredibly salty couple of Rockets fans still pimping Harden as having a better year. Sorry, he didn't. And sorry, but this team isn't built right and isn't that good. It got overrated last offseason by me too. This offseason I want a backup PG and hopefully wing. Preferably try to keep Taj. Get rid of Doug too.

[spearsy23]

Read on Twitter

Read on Twitter

And btw: This is exactly why Donovan not giving a rat's ass about our 2nd unit is hurting is now. It's game 83 and we still have no idea what we're gonna do once our starters are off the floor.

PS: Safe for the last couple of minutes, the Rockets never had less than two starters on the floor at the same time. Donovan of course went 10 deep right from the start.

Tbf it's not just the second unit be doesn't coach.

[Old Man Game]

Read on Twitter

Read on Twitter

And btw: This is exactly why Donovan not giving a rat's ass about our 2nd unit is hurting is now. It's game 83 and we still have no idea what we're gonna do once our starters are off the floor.

PS: Safe for the last couple of minutes, the Rockets never had less than two starters on the floor at the same time. Donovan of course went 10 deep right from the start.

Suddenly dusting off Cole to play rotation minutes was absurd.

[spearsy23]

Read on Twitter

Read on Twitter

And btw: This is exactly why Donovan not giving a rat's ass about our 2nd unit is hurting is now. It's game 83 and we still have no idea what we're gonna do once our starters are off the floor.

PS: Safe for the last couple of minutes, the Rockets never had less than two starters on the floor at the same time. Donovan of course went 10 deep right from the start.

Suddenly dusting off Cole to play rotation minutes was absurd.

For real though, I don't even see what the logic behind it was. This is the guy you decided should backup semaj christon, literally the worst NBA player in a rotation, what could possibly be the reason for throwing him into a playoff game?

[Old Man Game]

And btw: This is exactly why Donovan not giving a rat's ass about our 2nd unit is hurting is now. It's game 83 and we still have no idea what we're gonna do once our starters are off the floor.

PS: Safe for the last couple of minutes, the Rockets never had less than two starters on the floor at the same time. Donovan of course went 10 deep right from the start.

Suddenly dusting off Cole to play rotation minutes was absurd.

For real though, I don't even see what the logic behind it was. This is the guy you decided should backup semaj christon, literally the worst NBA player in a rotation, what could possibly be the reason for throwing him into a playoff game?

Supposedly it was to counter their three guard lineup but it seems like no counter at all realistically.

[Pillendreher]

And btw: This is exactly why Donovan not giving a rat's ass about our 2nd unit is hurting is now. It's game 83 and we still have no idea what we're gonna do once our starters are off the floor.

PS: Safe for the last couple of minutes, the Rockets never had less than two starters on the floor at the same time. Donovan of course went 10 deep right from the start.

Suddenly dusting off Cole to play rotation minutes was absurd.

For real though, I don't even see what the logic behind it was. This is the guy you decided should backup semaj christon, literally the worst NBA player in a rotation, what could possibly be the reason for throwing him into a playoff game?

You gotta pay attention man. Every time we have trouble containing drives to the hoop, Donovan elects to go small with one of the backup PGs.

[spearsy23]

Suddenly dusting off Cole to play rotation minutes was absurd.

For real though, I don't even see what the logic behind it was. This is the guy you decided should backup semaj christon, literally the worst NBA player in a rotation, what could possibly be the reason for throwing him into a playoff game?

You gotta pay attention man. Every time we have trouble containing drives to the hoop, Donovan elects to go small with one of the backup PGs.

Wasn't it both of them at the time?

[Pillendreher]

For real though, I don't even see what the logic behind it was. This is the guy you decided should backup semaj christon, literally the worst NBA player in a rotation, what could possibly be the reason for throwing him into a playoff game?

You gotta pay attention man. Every time we have trouble containing drives to the hoop, Donovan elects to go small with one of the backup PGs.

Wasn't it both of them at the time?

Yeah. That's our lineup for getting extra good defensively!

[Old Man Game]

You gotta pay attention man. Every time we have trouble containing drives to the hoop, Donovan elects to go small with one of the backup PGs.

Wasn't it both of them at the time?

Yeah. That's our lineup for getting extra good defensively!

Wow. That illustrates how fuct this roster is as well as anything.

We've just absolutely positively got to address these issues this offseason.

[Pillendreher]

Wasn't it both of them at the time?

Yeah. That's our lineup for getting extra good defensively!

Wow. That illustrates how fuct this roster is as well as anything.

We've just absolutely positively got to address these issues this offseason.

But what does it say about a HC that he thinks this will work? I get that we don't have a wing defender coming off the bench, but throwing **** like that out there...maybe it's not just Presti who lusts after terrible players, but Donovan. Foye fits the same mold. Remember how the OKC media was trying to push the 'Randy Foye plays very good defense' narrative? Donovan seems to have a hard-on for those guys. They act active, but are actually bad defenders.

[Old Man Game]

Yeah. That's our lineup for getting extra good defensively!

Wow. That illustrates how fuct this roster is as well as anything.

We've just absolutely positively got to address these issues this offseason.

But what does it say about a HC that he thinks this will work? I get that we don't have a wing defender coming off the bench, but throwing **** like that out there...maybe it's not just Presti who lusts after terrible players, but Donovan. Foye fits the same mold. Remember how the OKC media was trying to push the 'Randy Foye plays very good defense' narrative? Donovan seems to have a hard-on for those guys. They act active, but are actually bad defenders.

I don't know if its the whole coming from college recently or what, but Dono tries stuff that most pro coaches would never try. reminds me of him playing Kyle for forever well past when it was obvious the guy sucked.

[Pillendreher]

http://dailythunder.com/wake-up-call-pick-roll-defense-needs-change/

While the Rockets were continually searching for mismatches for Harden, the Thunder looked as if it had the same game plan as any Tuesday night regular season game in January.

In other words: One team was ready, the other one wasn't.

In order to stop the onslaught of the Harden PnR, perhaps the Thunder should consider double-teaming and trapping him? While it’s risky and could result in Houston getting open looks from behind the arc, it will at the very least get the ball out of Harden’s hands and make other players beat them

We could give it a try. Force the ball out of Harden's hands and let the rest of the team beat you.

[bondom34]

Nah, it's Russ. He needs to make his teammates better like Harden does.

[Pillendreher]

Nah, it's Russ. He needs to make his teammates better like Harden does.

Russ has to play his part on the defensive end tho. There can be no more lazy defense by him.

[bondom34]

Nah, it's Russ. He needs to make his teammates better like Harden does.

Russ has to play his part on the defensive end tho. There can be no more lazy defense by him.

That's not even anything from him, if Harden's getting switched onto Adams every play Russ doesn't matter. They can try to change schemes but it still leaves Kanter worthless and likely just confuses everyone more. Either way now I expect a full on blow out, followed by Houston fans brigading the league because Harden wins and Westbrook is a big phony stat padder blah blah blah.

[Pillendreher]

Nah, it's Russ. He needs to make his teammates better like Harden does.

Russ has to play his part on the defensive end tho. There can be no more lazy defense by him.

That's not even anything from him, if Harden's getting switched onto Adams every play Russ doesn't matter. They can try to change schemes but it still leaves Kanter worthless and likely just confuses everyone more. Either way now I expect a full on blow out, followed by Houston fans brigading the league because Harden wins and Westbrook is a big phony stat padder blah blah blah.

I predict a close game and us coming up with a win in game 2. I can't see this team sucking like this two times in a row.

[spearsy23]

Russ has to play his part on the defensive end tho. There can be no more lazy defense by him.

That's not even anything from him, if Harden's getting switched onto Adams every play Russ doesn't matter. They can try to change schemes but it still leaves Kanter worthless and likely just confuses everyone more. Either way now I expect a full on blow out, followed by Houston fans brigading the league because Harden wins and Westbrook is a big phony stat padder blah blah blah.

I predict a close game and us coming up with a win in game 2. I can't see this team sucking like this two times in a row.

Seriously? Sucking for 5 games in a row has been this team's MO all year.