Houston Rockets Unexpected Playoff STAR

Houston Rockets Unexpected Playoff STAR

Steven Adams has been the most important player for the Rockets in this series. With him on the court in 129 minutes, they have a plus 19.4 net rating. They are winning his minutes by 53 points. Everything starts to go downhill when he’s off the court. 159 minutes in this series without him. -2.5 net rating. They are a -39 in those minutes. They dominate the glass in his minutes obviously. 63.5 rebounding percentage with him on the court. 46.3 without him. 79.3 defensive rebounding percentage with him. 69.3% without him. And lastly, 45.6 offensive rebounding percentage. That is insane with him on the court. Just 22.6% without him. Overall, he’s just too big for the Warriors who love playing small ball. They can’t push him around as you can see on this play. Just too big. But he’s also using this advantage to help out his teammates. Fred Van Fleet beats his initial defender off to the dribble. And look at Adams. As that’s happening, he’s sealing off the help defender. Now Fred has a clean layup. That’s one of the reasons why the Rockets are shooting better with him on the floor. 58 true shooting percentage with him out there goes down to 53% without him. The Warriors 24/7 need a body on him or they are giving up an offensive rebound. And when they don’t, Adams is seeking out someone looking to get physical with them. And it turns out on the court, Houston is shooting 42.6% from three. And without him, it drops down to 34.8%. How could that be? How is that possible? He doesn’t shoot three-pointers. Well, plays like this is exactly why. He basically has the whole entire Warriors team near him trying to gather in a rebound, which means the opposite side is butt booty naked open and Jabari Smith knocks it down and makes the Warriors pay. The Warriors have to send multiple bodies to box him out just when he’s out there. So imagine what’s going to happen when Steven Adams and ShenGun are on the floor together. If the Warriors don’t gather in a rebound, guess what? Someone’s open on the perimeter. This time it opens up Fred Van Fleet 43. That double combination has played 75 minutes together. 117.4 offensive rating, 89.8 defensive rating, plus 27.6 six net rating. In their three victories, that duo is plus 24 in their minutes. And even in losses, they still have a positive plus minus plus 15. The Warriors overall so far have zero answers for this duo. And defensively, my goodness, he’s been a difference maker for them. 102.9 defensive rating with him on the court. it skyrockets up to 120.5 when he’s resting on the bench. And you saw yesterday, he’s just a smart defender. He doesn’t bail the Warriors out. He’s not sending them to the foul line very consistently. Right here, Fred gets blown by. Moody trying to finish over Adams. He goes straight up and then eventually he goes down, but he gets all ball to avoid the foul call and that’s a block and that’s a shot clock violation. And then right here, I mean, this is just spectacular stuff. He’s switched on to Jimmy Butler. He’s been switched on to Steph Curry at times, and he’s holding his own in these situations. I mean, Jimmy Butler is trying to grift this foul. He wants to get Stephen Adams in a situation where he creates contact and he can get to the foul line because that’s his bread and butter. And instead of that happening, Stephen Adams just absolutely denies him and stuffs his at the rim. I mean, that’s just unbelievable. Any other center in that situation outside of the Rocket Centers, Jimmy Butler is taking advantage with his weak, embarrassing playoff whistle. Yeah, I’m not going to lie. I’m sick of his whistle. So, yeah, the Warriors have a big problem to solve heading into game seven. What on earth do we do in the minutes with Stephen Adams? Their only solution thus far has been to send him to the free throw line, hope he misses two free throws and his coach takes him out of the game. But I’m pretty sure the Rockets are just going to stick with him even if he’s missing free throws. He’s been that much of an impact. The Warriors are just too small and there’s really no answer for the center position outside of Quinton Post and Draymond Green. And that’s not going to get it done versus the double big lineup. Now, my question to you guys is, who do you have winning game seven, the Warriors or the Rockets? Let me know your thoughts below in the comments section.

Houston Rockets Breakdown & News

Social Media
Twitter- https://twitter.com/OfficialRomp