Series Thread: 2nd Round: LA Lakers vs Houston Rockets

[bksballer89]

Harden took just 3 FGA's in the final quarter while RW was trying to help the Rockets win the game.

Russ was trying to win the game? Yeah because when Harden was being doubled, RUSS is the player they left open. Holy shit you're really dumb

 

[DJ]

It is fine. Once again if the ball is always in your hands, you're going to have roughly 4-5 turnovers. Not a surprise there.

Lebron is avg 5.1 turnovers per game in the playoffs.

Go look at the stats. A lot of the league best are around 4-5 turnovers per game. This is nothing new if you know about basketball....which you don't

And James is averaging over 10 assists a game.....basically a 2-1 assist-TO ratio.....still nothing special, but way better than Harden.

 

[DJ]

Name calling when you get triggered and get schooled.....pretty typical.

 

[DJ]

Ballhandling efficiency doesn't matter......LOL.

 

[Wamu]

Name calling when you get triggered and get schooled.....pretty typical.

 

[bksballer89]

And James is averaging over 10 assists a game.....basically a 2-1 assist-TO ratio.....still nothing special, but way better than Harden.

Lebron is avg under 10 assist per game in the playoffs and is avg over 5 turnovers per game. Not a 2-1 ratio

 

[bksballer89]

People are saying Harden played a bad game when he shot 50% from the field, 50% from 3, made the right basketball plays, and had his normal amount of turnovers.....

 

[Black Adam]

People are saying Harden played a bad game when he shot 50% from the field, 50% from 3, made the right basketball plays, and had his normal amount of turnovers.....

who said that...?

I'd say it wasn't his best game, though...

 

[trojanfan12]

He didn't take over in the 4th like a star should. He basically disappeared like a ghost.

It's not like he disappeared voluntarily.

This wasn't Lebron's 4th quarter disappearances vs. the Mavs when he was in Miami and was deferring to D-Wade way too much.

This was the Lakers using their defense to force the ball out of Harden's hands to make someone else beat them, those players missing shots and the Rockets coaching staff not making adjustments to get Harden open.

The Rockets were able to overcome the Lakers 21 point lead because Harden kept making the right basketball plays and his teammates (other than Westbrook) kept hitting shots. In the 4th quarter, those shots stopped falling.

 

[bksballer89]

who said that...?

I'd say it wasn't his best game, though...

Go back and read the last 2 or 3 pages and you'll see who.

I agree it wasn't his best game but he played well enough

 

[bksballer89]

It's not that he disappeared voluntarily.

This wasn't Lebron's 4th quarter disappearances vs. the Mavs when he was in Miami and was deferring to D-Wade way too much.

This was the Lakers using their defense to force the ball out of Harden's hands to make someone else beat them, those players missing shots and the Rockets coaching staff not making adjustments to get Harden open

This is why it helps to actually watch the game lol instead of coming on here with a ridiculous comment. Those who watched the game saw exactly what the Lakers were doing to him.

 

[trojanfan12]

I agree it wasn't his best game but he played well enough

All things considered, he probably played just well enough for the Rockets to win if they got a decent game from Westbrook and Tucker, Gordon, etc. didn't go cold in the 4th quarter.

 

[trojanfan12]

This is why it helps to actually watch the game lol instead of coming on here with a ridiculous comment. Those who watched the game saw exactly what the Lakers were doing to him.

Yeah, the Lakers have come up with a great scheme that worked against Dame and last night at least, worked against Harden. It actually worked for most of game 1 as well, but their offense sucked too bad to take advantage.

They seem to have come up with a defense that has been able to do a good job of neutralizing the speed and shooting advantages that the Blazers and Rockets have over them.

But, a lot of people don't like Harden, so it's easy to default to criticizing him, when what should be happening is praising the Lakers defense and criticizing his teammates for going cold and the coaching staff for not coming up with adjustments.

 

[DJ]

Lebron is avg under 10 assist per game in the playoffs and is avg over 5 turnovers per game. Not a 2-1 ratio

Okay, Mr Technicality.....9.6apg tp 5.1 TO's (1.9)....he was until last night.

 

[tlance]

An average assist to TO ratio is 2-to-1.....an elite ballhandler's assist to TO ratio is 2.5-to 1.

And he had about 20 hockey assists.

80% of the open shots Houston got were created by the Lakers doubling Harden.

 

[tlance]

Houston has more guys than you think you can sag off of. Houston shoots a TON of 3s, but they aren't actually a particularly good shooting team. They get their points thru sheer volume. I think they lead the league in attempts but are actually a bottom third team percentage wise. PJ Tucker can't hit shit outside of the corner 3. There's no need to stay tight on him if he's anywhere else other than the corner. Eric Gordon is a surprisingly poor 3 point shooter (31%) and Covington isn't any better. House and Rivers are average but are more prone to put the ball on the floor and drive than they are to shoot. Any feint of pressure and they will pull it down and dribble. Houston needs wide open shots to hit. Anything else and they don't shoot well at all. You don't don't even need tight pressure either. Just enough space to close off any drives but enough to where you can rotate over with a light contest (hand in the face, etc) of the shooter and their percentage goes way down. They need wide open shots and get those shots with Harden and Westbrook driving into the lane and banking that you'll blow a rotation. But if you take away the drives, they can't generate any of those wide open looks. Everything breaks down and its just iso ball. The Lakers strategy with their centers has been poor because they are pulling them too far out of the paint either showing too high on screens or they are a step too close to some of those poor shooters to get back and close off the lane on drives. It allowed Houston to start its sequence of extra passes until it finds an open person.

Sure,

bit unless the Lakers go with some type of zone so they can keep the center near the paint, and/or they find a way to get them dunks offensively, they do more harm than good on the court.

The Rockets others are good enough to hit at least 35% if you are leaving them unguarded.

 

[mr.hockey4242]

Rockets were also +8 with Harden on the floor.

I think he played within the game just fine. Westbrook was just ass.

 

[bksballer89]

Rockets were also +8 with Harden on the floor.

I think he played within the game just fine. Westbrook was just ass.

Yep really nothing to see here. Obvious that Harden played fine. Just 2 people that don't know basketball talking out of their ass

 

[trojanfan12]

The Rockets others are good enough to hit at least 35% if you are leaving them unguarded.

Heck, they hit 41% last night.

Not sure what you take away from this game if you're the Rockets.

On the one hand, you got dominated in the first half, but were able to completely erase a 21 point lead and take the lead yourself.

On the other hand, you hit 22 threes, hitting 41% from that range and lost.

 

[Shaqdaddy11]

Yep really nothing to see here. Obvious that Harden played fine. Just 2 people that don't know basketball talking out of their ass

How come that every time someone disagrees with you, they always “don’t know anything about basketball”?