ClutchFans Game Thread: Rockets @ Thunder 4/9/2019

And now they're going to magically all love each other now that the playoffs start? Nah, their internal discord is real.

Some of those guys just don't like the others. In the past few years, this was a well-oiled machine. This year's version is rusty and creaky. They still might win it all because they have the best talent by far, but we've all seen great teams crash and burn when something was affecting them in their own locker room.

 

Really good stuff here @Nook. Totally agree.

 

I'll give you that one. They might be pretty tough. I can't imagine them winning, though.

 

I think some people take a perverse pride in being the one who was "right" about how bad we are.

When we lose, they're rewarded for their "we suck" mentality.

When we win, they just keep quiet.

 

If you think Harden lost the MVP after the OKC loss you are naive. Anything short of an 81pt game and Giannis has that award locked down.

Giannis had it locked down for a while now.

 

It is very disturbing that we couldn’t close it out in the 4th. We could have had a number 2 seed and possibly given Golden State in the first round.
Instead we’re probably going to play the toughest first round opponent.

They brought a lot of Rockets fans down. Hopefully they are still as confident as ever.

 

I'm really interested to see how GSW will perform once adversity hits in the playoffs. Sure you can go through adversity over a long 82-game season. But now, it's the playoffs where just about every game, every possession counts.

 

I also think he summed up the loss very well, @Deuce. It's a really excellent post from @Nook, and better than any other I've seen on how we lost the game and what led to it. What I want to know today is, how do we overcome the mistakes we made? Mistakes we've made before during this season, as he pointed out? Can we overcome them? While we can't get back the games we lost earlier that we had in our hands and gave away, leading to last night being as important as it was, can we still get it together? I tend to be an optimist when it comes to the Rockets. Always have been, which has led numerous knocks on my optimistic head. What do you think, Deuce? Will we get to the WC Finals? I still think we can. Am I being crazy?

 

Just looking at the game.

The Thunder got lucky at the end of the game.

Multiple missed open shots by the Rockets and the Thunder struggling to find good looks and hitting them.

Execution is the name of the game.

Houston is the better team and will dismantle OKC quickly in the playoffs.

 

Two consecutive losses to OKC after blowing up huge leads tells me OKC is executing much better than the Rockets in the pivotal 4th quarter. In other words. We ain't getting done in "winning time". While it's true that players play, I going to lay the blame on the coaching staff here.

 

The ball needs to be in Chris Paul's hands late in games.

He has shown in the past that when the game is on the line, he knows how to finish teams.

Spurs in GM 7, Jazz in GM5, Warriors in GM 4/5. I would much prefer him over Harden in those scenarios.

 

It's about match ups and OKC can switch every thing and even if Steven Adams gets Mis match, they're quick enough with help defense!

 

Totally agree with Paul controlling the games in the 4th quarter. It's up to MDA to talk to both Harden and CP3 and explain what's needed to close out games, especially in instances when the Rockets have a big lead.

Minimize the possibilities of choking goes a long way to winning these games.

 

Chris also needs to be out there early in 4th quarter imo, yesterday OKC had all their starting 5 on the court and we were matching up with Rivers and House with Chris on the bench until the last 4/5 minutes, meanwhile the meltdown was already underway, James was struggling, Gordon was completely lost...i just think we should have all our best players out there when the game in on the line or the moment requires it.

 

The rebound edge for OKC was huge especially since they got 14 more rebounds. It's tough to talk about rebounds when harden got double double as did capaela.

 

This.

We need give the damn ball to CP3 in clutch time.

 

yeah the difference in a 1point game can be as simple as the fact that PG13 played 5 more min than JH13 and broadie played a few min more than CP3. but this is just one drop in the bucket of piss for bzdelik's clusterfuk of a coaching performance last nite

 

Going out sad

 

Hate the feeling that your seed controlled by other teams.

 

Lesson of this game:

When you have 3pts lead late of game, give the damn ball to CP3.