Official Game Thread: Rockets at Hawks

[lethalweapon3]

Let’s sing it, James! “Don’t Be Tardy for The Party… oh-oh-oh-ohhh-oh-oh…”

 

You won’t get much zippy commentary on here about the “Real” “House” “wives” “of” “Atlanta”, as the divas grace the Atlanta Hawks and the visiting Houston Rockets (7:30 PM Eastern, Fox Sports Southeast and 92.9 FM in ATL, AT&T SportsNet Southwest in HOU) with their presence at Philips Arena today. I zoned out on that show for keeps years ago, back when the recently-ousted Phaedra, Kenya, and frenemies couldn’t figure out for themselves how much of a creep Apollo was. Or maybe before that, when Porsha intimated that the Underground Railroad had to have room for tracks.

While RHOA is here to promote this weekend’s kickoff of Season 10 of the franchise, Hawks fans understand as well as anybody when a near-decade run of something grows a little stale. But so long as they don’t stage a(nother) one of their catfights, having to get separated by Harry and leaving behind weave remnants to get swept up off the floor, I’m cool with it.

What I will delve into is how short-sighted I have been about Mike D’Antoni.

Remember how we all cackled when his Phoenix Suns went all-in with their zany but successful Seven Seconds or Less offense? Well, guess who his boss was back then? Steve Kerr. It takes two to tango on the floor, and these days, Kerr, D’Antoni and Hawks coach Mike Budenholzer are advocates for an overall pace of play that, today, leaves even that Steve Nash-led team in the dust.

As noted recently by Kevin Arnovitz, the 2004-05 Phoenix team that won 62 games, led the Western Conference and reached the conference finals before succumbing to Coach Bud’s and Coach Pop’s Spurs in five games, led the NBA with a 95.9 pace. With more teams going smaller and pushing the rock, the ’05 Suns’ tempo (opponents included) would rank 26^th in the league as of today.

D'Antoniball would be panned by many, including yours truly, over the later years, but it was not designed to accommodate wholesale dysfunction, as was the case with the Melo-Amar’e Knicks and the Kobe-Dwight Lakers. But most NBA coaches and players have since bought in. Thanks to gung-ho GM Daryl Morey, D’Antoni’s Rockets (6-3) are balancing that need-for-speed with former halfcourt heavyweights James Harden, Eric Gordon and Chris Paul (the latter out for another week or so with a bruised knee) directing traffic.

D’Antoni has implemented a style that compels opposing defenses to pick between two evils and think fast. “Everything that [opponents] preach defensively,” the Rockets coach told Basketball Insiders, “we try to do opposite, or try and get to a spot they don’t want to be in.”

Pringles isn’t wasting time running plays, and he’s certainly not wasting time with what he perceives to be inefficient shots. Houston has taken just 5.0 mid-range two-point shot attempts per game, and the next-lowest team, Memphis, has been hoisting nearly twice as many (9.5). As with Kerr’s Warriors, if you, as a shooter, are going to settle at this range, you had better make it, and Houston leads the way with a 48.9 FG% in this zone.

The gameplan is the same for many Atlanta opponents. Build up a lead by drowning the Hawks in three-point buckets in the first half (17.4 first-half opponent 3FGAs per game, 3^rd in NBA), shift inside and let the Hawks wear themselves out trying to claw back in front, then put them away with daggers in the second-half, once the wing defenders are too tired to keep up and overcompensating for the shorthanded presence in the middle. D’Antoni’s Rockets (NBA-high 54.1 three-point attempt rate) seem to be built to do just that.

While it’s not a problem tonight, the design of an offense that turns a good chunk of the floor into a vacuum could pose challenges for the Rockets’ most significant off-season acquisition. Paul’s mid-range runners and spot-ups were a bread-and-butter of his offense for years, but he began to fully expand his range in earnest during his final season with the Clippers, taking 5.0 three-point shots per game and hitting a career-best 41.1 3FG%.

Harden (26.6 PPG, 6^th in NBA; 9.2 APG, 3^rd in NBA) of course dominates the playmaking (35.0 usage%, 2^nd in NBA), at least until CP3 returns to the fold, and how effortlessly the pair share the ball when on-court together remains to be seen. But either of them will need castmates that can hit more successfully from long-range.

Reigning Sixth Man of the Year Award winner Eric Gordon’s career-high 23.9 PPG sounds nice, until one recognizes he has lofted 11.8 attempts per game from three-point territory alone (31.9 3FG%). Despite the added three-point shot volumes, forwards Ryan Anderson (37.3 3FG%) and P.J. Tucker (35.0 3FG%) and swingman Trevor Ariza (25.0 3FG%) are all shooting at-or-below their career averages.

If wings Taurean Prince and Kent Bazemore are doing their letter-best, switching onto Harden and canvassing the three-point line, then Dennis Schröder (probable, despite his sprained ankle; career-low 6.5 D-Reb%) and the Hawks’ remnant guards would do well to help their foul-prone bigs secure the rebounds produced by the many clunkers veering from the rim. Any Hawks player trying to D-up a Rocket standing around the mid-range two-point area, or even in the paint outside the restricted area, risks wasting precious time and falling into D’Antoni’s traps.

The Hawks (1-7) could turn the tables anytime Houston turns a blind-eye toward the perimeter. The Rockets have allowed first-quarter opponents to hit an NBA-high 50.8 3FG% in the opening frame, the sole team to have allowed foes to sink over half of those shots.

The Rockets do have defenders, like Trevor Ariza, Luc Richard Mbah a Moute, Tucker, and Clint Capela (NBA-high 37.8 D-Reb% and 70.7 FG%). But those players would rather be occupied trying to stem forays by Schröder (one of 11 NBA players with 45/35/90 shooting split, min. 100 minutes played) into the lane, access that should be more unfettered without CP3 around.

Atlanta will need Marco Belinelli (48.9 3FG%), Luke Babbitt (season-high 16 points @ PHI on Wednesday, 2-for-4 3FGs), and Prince (48.1 3FG%) to get early perimeter touches, allowing the Hawks to play their opponent even or in front, rather than scrambling from behind later. If everyone does their tasks for the Hawks well tonight, from the outset, the only “Atlantans” scratching and clawing on the court could be the ones aiming for a boost in tweets and TV ratings.

Let’s Go Hawks!

~lw3

 

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[Sothron]

Excellent write up. One question though...

Will this be the first game day thread that won't dissolve into another pointless tanking diatribe by one poster who for someone can't be called a word that rhymes with mole?

 

 

[lethalweapon3]

Just ignore any and all T-word arguments/diatribes in here for now. I'm off to dinner and will shift any in here to the Tank Thread upon my return, if (hopefully un)necessary.

~lw3

[LamarHampton]

39 minutes ago, Sothron said:

Excellent write up. One question though...

Will this be the first game day thread that won't dissolve into another pointless tanking diatribe by one poster who for someone can't be called a word that rhymes with mole?

 

 

Praying we can avoid a tank vs. anti-tank discussion. Dear Lawd I'm sick of hearing about it! Let's go Hawks and actual on-the-court bball talk!

Ps-great write up yo!

[benhillboy]

I’m expecting this one to get ugly real quick.  Our only chance is controlling the glass with an emphasis on those long caroms that turn into 50/50 balls.  They Rockets are a mid-pack offensive rebounding team but any they get is surely going up from 3.  When they drop they’re so damn demoralizing, especially them clowns shooting from 27 feet out.

Edited November 3, 2017 by benhillboy

[StephenHawking]

Praying to avoid talks about praying to avoid tanking discussions

[DBac]

This one should be a little more peaceful for john collins. Fast pace and Houston's bigs dont really impose themselves on offense outside of lobs.b

[StephenHawking]

And there we have them again. Dennis starting to pile up those turnovers to come up for the first few games. 

[TheNorthCydeRises]

I like Taylor's willingness to play defense.  He at least tries to fight through screens and doesn't have any problem getting up on his man.  He's a little wild with the ball, but that's just about everyone on the team.

[TheNorthCydeRises]

15 minutes ago, StephenHawking said:

And there we have them again. Dennis starting to pile up those turnovers to come up for the first few games. 

I'm honestly shocked that Dennis isn't one of the league leaders in turnovers, considering the lack of offensive firepower on this team.  I would've thought he'd constantly try to do too much, but he doesn't.  Abnormal turnover game for him tonight, but still efficient shooting wise.

[TheNorthCydeRises]

Dennis rising up to the challenge of trying to match these superstar players.  I'm proud that he's trying to sustain the level of play that he showed during the playoffs.

[lethalweapon3]

Good job shaking loose of that Kardashian Kurse, James! (looks over at Tristan)

~lw3

[TheNorthCydeRises]

Great convo between Nique and Stinger about shooting 3s vs taking midrange jumpers to develop their shot.  These NBA coaches ruin some of these young players by pretty much forcing them to take 25 foot jumpers, when they may not be strong enough to make that shot at a consistent rate.   Most college kids who are good 3 point shooters, are good 22 foot shooters . . . not good 25 foot shooters.

[StephenHawking]

Man Harden is in MVP mode tonight. Crazy. All those Rockets shooters clicking tonight. 

Man I miss Bembry he would've limited Harden. 

& can someone explain me why we switch Muscala on Harden every time? They don't even force us to do so.

Edited November 4, 2017 by StephenHawking

[TheNorthCydeRises]

Just now, StephenHawking said:

Man Harden is on MVP mode tonight. Crazy. All those Rockets shooters clicking tonight. 

Man I miss Bembry he would've limited Harden. 

& can someone explain me why we switch Muscala on Harden every time? They don't even force us to do so.

Because that is the defense.  We even collapse the paint on guys who are no threat to score on the inside, which is why we leave so many 3 point shooters open.

[DBac]

I saw Isaiah Taylor make a play that I wish Dennis would make more often. Rockets scored, IT got the inbound and just turned on the jets and got a layup right back. Dennis is very content with jogging up the court and setting up his first step, but he's fast.. not just first step fast.

[noble]

7 minutes ago, DBac said:

I saw Isaiah Taylor make a play that I wish Dennis would make more often. Rockets scored, IT got the inbound and just turned on the jets and got a layup right back. Dennis is very content with jogging up the court and setting up his first step, but he's fast.. not just first step fast.

Yeah I think that is probably a coaching thing. Not sure why though.

[DBac]

Just now, noble said:

Yeah I think that is probably a coaching thing. Not sure why though.

You may be right. It's frustrating, looking around at the fast PGs in the league they use their speed to their advantage in the fastbreak, but we're too often content with trying to create in the halfcourt with limited players (especially this year).

[noble]

12 minutes ago, DBac said:

You may be right. It's frustrating, looking around at the fast PGs in the league they use their speed to their advantage in the fastbreak, but we're too often content with trying to create in the halfcourt with limited players (especially this year).

My guess is with a limited roster Bud doesn't want to get into a track meet type game. Slow it down and try to control the clock a little bit. But they are taking it to an extreme.

[TheNorthCydeRises]

Moose is useless all of a sudden.  Just start Collins and get it over with.