My wife was nice enough to suggest going to a Rockets game the other night; have to take advantage of that. So we sat first-row, upper-deck to watch the Mavs take on the Rockets. Here's the link to the ESPN Game Summary: https://www.espn.in/nba/game?gameId=401161364
First off, we were really close to the Second Spectrum cameras so had about that corner view. Second off, sadly Luka Doncic was out with an ankle injury so didn't get to see the league's best up-and-coming player.
But we did get to see the likes of James Harden, Russell Westbrook, and Kristaps Porzingis.
Big takeaways from the game were the following:
James Harden did the starting tip. Yup, you read that right. He did the jump ball against Porzinigis to start the game. That's how small the Rockets play. He's technically a SG; he's only 6'5". Shout out to PJ Tucker who is the same height and guarded KP most the night.
The Rockets took, and made, a LOT of threes. It felt like every possession was in the paint or a three. In fact, 45% of their shots were threes. By the way, they shot 47% from downtown so hence a big night for them. There were actually only 15/98 field goals that were 2's not attempted by Harden or Russ; that's insane.
As an analytics guy, I'm not a fan of Russell Westbrook as a scorer. He's wildly inefficient. But I think Houston is finally developing a system where he can succeed. They do a lot of clear out isolations for him where he can back down smaller guards and get to the rim. I like that. Just run iso's for him like Harden, but in a way he succeeds. He had 32.
James Harden is so good. The dude just nails threes or gets fouled. But the Mavs had the best way I've seen anyone deal with the beard; just double team him. From the second he gets up the court, put to guys on him. Make him pass. There was a LOT of double teams and I think that's one place we haven't seen the game change enough because I think the double team is efficient when done properly. He had a nearly effortless 35.
KP is a prime example of the stretch five. The dude had an awesome double pump fake three-pointer where he looks like a wing shooting it, and he's also 7'2" and can outbound a tiny Houston team. He put up 35.
The combo of Gordon, House, Tucker, Rivers, and McLemore is pretty impressive, but I sense streakiness.
ESPN game report says the stadium was full, and it felt like it was 3/4's full, maybe all tickets sold but there were empty seats everywhere.
My wife had me explain what NBA Analysts look at and had me explain the NBA shot revolution and the death of the midrange. That was so fun to explain to her as it is something I'm so passionate about. By the end she was saying, "that's a bad shot" when it was a mid-range jumper. :') I trained her so well.