NBA's King of Talking

Chapter 549 Defending Against the Rockets' Pick and Roll

Harden didn't have much comfortable offensive space against Jia Fei's defense. Facing one of the league's best perimeter defenders, if it were really that easy to play one-on-one, then his Defensive Player of the Year award would be a huge understatement.

It's worth noting that in the NBA, the Defensive Player of the Year award is rarely given to perimeter players. Previously, this award was mostly won by inside players, especially centers.

The Rockets' offense still revolves around pick-and-rolls with Cardiff. The Clippers' strategy is for Gallinari, who is responsible for guarding PJ Tucker, to drop back to the basket to help defend and cut off either 58 or Harden's pick-and-roll with Cardiff.

This might leave Tucker open for a corner three-pointer, but that's defensive strategy; you always have to make trade-offs. If you don't want to give up anything, you might end up defending nothing at all.

Tucker's three-pointers are inaccurate, but his corner threes are consistently decent. However, the Clippers aren't completely giving up on him; they will rotate players. They're just giving him opportunities at this point, so it's up to you how many you can capitalize on.

Tucker got his chance, but he missed a three-pointer!

Jia Fei grabbed the rebound, brought the ball over, faced the defense of the second-best player, faked a crossover, suddenly gathered the ball, and launched a three-pointer...

The ball went in perfectly!

That's a three-pointer!

The crowd erupted in cheers. The Clippers took an early lead, 0-5, with all 5 points scored by Jia Fei.

58 brought the ball over and passed it to Harden.

Harden has the ball, faces Jia Fei, and passes to Tucker in the corner after using the screen from the card!

Tucker didn't dare to shoot this time, and the ball was passed back to the round-faced Deng.

The round-faced guy drove hard past Paul George and made a layup, drawing a foul from the latter!

I have to say, although Round Face Deng is short, he's really strong! Those muscular thighs, that plump, round buttocks, that head without a neck, this...

This is a man!

The round-faced guy stepped up to the free-throw line and made both shots!

2-5, the Rockets have scored!

Jia Fei really likes Harden with his round face. He thinks that although this player is only 193cm tall, his strength is really, really strong. If it weren't for injuries, this player, who was used as trade bait in the 58 trade, wouldn't have been sent from the Clippers to the Hornets.

Round-faced Deng can play with or without the ball, and can defend three positions. He is tough, strong, and resilient. This kind of tough guy is someone Jia Fei has always liked.

The Clippers countered the Rockets' pick-and-roll by leaving Tucker open. In fact, their pick-and-roll was not complicated at all; it was just a matter of constantly having the ball handler and setting a screen for the player, who would then roll to the basket.

Their strength lies in their excellent offensive spacing, Card's outstanding ability to finish plays, and the ball handler's ability to drive and shoot, along with his wide passing vision, which maximizes the power of this simple and direct pick-and-roll.

However, there has always been a problem with this pick-and-roll: although Card is unbeatable at getting easy baskets, there aren't many variations of the pick-and-roll.

Card can only roll to the basket because he lacks shooting ability and cannot pop out after a pick-and-roll like some big men. When Card receives the ball on a roll and encounters help defense, his ball-handling skills are poor, meaning even if he passes the ball out, the opportunity is lost. Besides ball-handling, Card's one-on-one ability is also mediocre when facing well-positioned defense after a pick-and-roll; he can't even score against opposing forwards. Last season in the playoffs against the Warriors' switch-everything defense, he couldn't handle Klay Thompson or Andre Iguodala, and ultimately D'Antoni simply stopped using him.

The Rockets encountered offensive problems tonight, mainly because their strongest perimeter trio faced the Clippers, who have the league's best perimeter defense, making one-on-one situations uncomfortable. When running pick-and-rolls, the Clippers left Tucker open to help defend the paint, but crucially, Tucker wasn't shooting well tonight.

Defensively, things were alright, but having Harden guard Jia Fei one-on-one proved ineffective as Jia Fei's jump shot didn't pose much of a problem. Tucker was quite good at guarding Paul George, but that couldn't compensate for his offensive shortcomings.

Jia Fei scored 15 points in the first quarter, while PJ Tucker went 0-for-4 from three-point range...

Rockets head coach Mike D'Antoni shook his head helplessly. His classic offensive strategy involves a V-shaped formation, wing play, and high pick-and-rolls to initiate the offense. Many other tactics are derived from this. However, against teams with switch-heavy defenses and excellent perimeter defense, this approach has a weakness: Clippers can no longer dominate like they did in the regular season.

Both teams entered their rotation phase, with the Rockets primarily using an 8-man rotation, a characteristic of D'Antoni's style – a short rotation. For their second unit, they used Nene, House, and Shumpert.

The Rockets' decline in performance this season is largely due to the loss of Trevor Ariza. Ariza has proven unsuitable as a star player, but he has proven exceptionally well-suited as a 3-and-D player. During the Rockets' best seasons, Ariza was a regular starting small forward.

With Tieza gone, Roundface has moved into the starting lineup to play the small forward position. Putting aside the fact that a 193cm player like him faces a lot of defensive pressure at the small forward position, just looking at the second unit, with Roundface in the starting lineup, the team's second unit will inevitably lack offensive firepower.

If Tizzi were still there, and he guarded Jafi, and Tucker guarded Paul George, the Rockets wouldn't be at such a disadvantage in defensive matchups.

However, the Rockets' salary cap space couldn't hold up, and they couldn't offer Teza a satisfactory contract.

This is a major reason why many strong teams can't maintain their competitiveness—salary cap issues. The Warriors' problem is smaller because several of their core players signed contracts before the salary cap increased significantly, and Curry was still on a rookie contract. Otherwise, they wouldn't have been able to acquire Durant in free agency. Of course, the Warriors' owner's willingness to spend money is also a crucial factor; he has consistently stated that he "has plenty of money" and can sign large sums of checks whenever the team needs them.

The Clippers, on the other hand, took a different approach. They essentially avoided the luxury tax, relying on the refined roster crafted by Jia Fei and Logo. Utilizing Jia Fei's keen insight and Logo's strategic maneuvering, they ensured their roster had no bad or overvalued contracts, and effectively capitalized on their rookie advantage.

The Rockets' main problem is that they don't have any rookie bonuses to take advantage of. Strong teams inevitably lead to inflated contracts for role players, and without rookie bonuses to offset this, the salary cap space simply can't hold up.

The second unit of both sides went back and forth, with neither gaining a clear advantage. The Rockets' second unit was indeed mediocre. Nene, once known as the "one-ball superman," is no longer the player he once was. The reason he can still play in the rotation for the Rockets is not because he is particularly strong, but because he is cheap. House looks impressive, but he is also inconsistent. When he is on fire, you think he is a potential 3-and-D player, but when he is not, he is just a minimum-salary player. Shumpert was almost finished during his time with the Cavaliers. He always boasted about how good his defense was, but his defensive performance was about the same as JR Smith's. His offense was a mess. He had no ball-handling skills and no three-point shooting ability.