Something I don't understand about these things: I get that the Clippers want to trade him rather than losing him for nothing, but why would Houston agree to this instead of getting him for nothing? Personally I think Hayward or George would have made a lot more sense for Houston. A big wing who adds defensive value against opposing swingmen (they already had defensive value against pure guards thanks to Beverly), and can score without needing to be ball-dominant every possession.
http://www.espn.com/.../steins-coach-of-the-year-mike... "At Mike D'Antoni's behest, James Harden became a full-time point guard for the first time and quickly morphed into the best James Harden we've ever seen, hiking his assist rate on his teammates' buckets from last season's 35 percent to better than 50 percent this season." Hmmmmm... I remember reading another article about D'Antoni giving Harden the ball and now he'll probably go back to off-guard. Maybe it will be fine with Paul. It's not like Houston had a point guard before. I hope DeAndre Jordan learned a lesson about life on this one. They are not your friends. They duped you into breaking your word to the Mavs. Oh well, you got paid and I guess that's all that matters. I'm a Mavs fan and I admit that chapped my ***...
If you follow the NBA on twitter, you might find this interesting We now have analytics on "Woj bombs"
Houston and GS both make opponents defend the whole half court. Houston does it by shooting from anywhere (after loading their team with shooters). GS does it with ball movement. It will be fun to see them in the playoffs. Teams will more actively defend the Rockets’ threes in the playoffs, and GS’ weakness is turnovers off all the passing (they can’t pass as much against better defensive teams). It will be fun. Chris Paul is 33. D’Antoni is 67. This year is it for them, their best chance. Going to be fun.
Sure they do. But not from as far as Houston (well, Curry will, but he’s the greatest shooter ever). The Warriors pass the ball a whole lot more than Houston. Both offenses recognize that the post 2001 rules on defense made the old iso-heavy offenses obsolete. Back in the ‘90s (and before), an ability to beat a guy off he dribble (for a 1-3) or to post a guy up (for a 4-5) was necessary, because every offensive player had a defender on him- by rule. Now, there is more help defense, so teams have to figure out how to score when defended by long and fast defenders helping each other. GS has one way and the Rockets have another.
I thought this article (and its graphics) did a good job of contrasting the GS and Houston schemes- https://www.goldenstateofmind.com/2...-top-five-offenses-statistics-houston-rockets
I'd opine that some question exists as to whether SA even finishes in the top 8. They could well be home watching the first round from a sports bar...
Right, but it's the combination of having 4-5 guys who can quick-trigger three points and make a high percentage, plus 3-5 guys who can score in a variety of other ways, that forces opponents to react in such a way as to set up all the passing.
Theyve won 4 in a row Maybe Kwahi will decide to play at end of season and they take GSW 7 games? This is my great hope
But they are still only one game up on Minnesota (who sits in 8th) and three up on the Clippers and Nuggets (both two games out of the playoffs). Thus you have six teams all with a realistic shot at the last four spots. With the Lakers next and 7 games behind Clippers/Nuggets, it is safe to say they are out with only 12 games to go... Utah is on a run with a nine-game streak (and Portland has won 13 in a row while climbing to the 3 seed). SA has six games remaining against teams either locked in or in the running for the last few spots. A few of those are against teams that might take the opportunity to rest some players, to include Houston. Thus it will be interesting to see who gets accused of tanking for the sake of impacting seeding even though one can legitimately argue that resting starters ahead of a grueling playoff month is worthwhile even when it comes with the risk of an L in the standings... At this moment, first round would be SA and OKC (the 4 and 5 seeds) while GS would get New Orleans.
LOL...too late in the season for that. Mavs are so far out that, even winning out, they would miss the playoffs for the other conference as well... Rockets win last night over Portland was impressive. Would have been easy to just mail it in. Instead, they pulled the win out late and snapped the Blazers' streak. 23 of the last 24 now for the Rockets... Even more impressive when you look at the record is they had that stretch in late December/early January where they lost something like seven out of nine games. That puts them at 55-7 for the rest of the season.
GS is taking a risk, resting guys on the assumption that they can get back to competitive game speed in the playoffs. Did they learn the right lesson two years ago, when they set the regular season win record and went into the playoffs not as healthy as they could have been?
I bet it has more to do with Houston, Cleveland/Toronto than it does past performance. I think they are more concerned about their opponents this year. They have the same "super subs" who just aren't as super as they used to be. GSW needs to be as rested as possible this year. I know they are still the favorite in Vegas
