ClutchFans Game Thread: Rockets @ Timberwolves 12/26/2012

Didn't he tie the game to take it to overtime?

 

Just a bad night to start out...the coaches did good by bringing him back in the middle of 4th to close out the game. Harden was money in the 4th, but it goes like this for the win...Harden basket, Lin steal, and Harden basket. Can't take anything away from Asik or the other players...but proud of the back court again!

 

Yes, the whole game is his show. That's why I said he costed himself the game. But if his foot was not on the line for twice, all other things equal, the game would have been won, also by himself.

 

An ugly win, with a lot of grinding, several missed shots, off night from our starters.. but we were able to keep fighting through the pain and also we were lucky that Minnesota had an equally ugly game, and Love was off. The merit of this win was us overcoming the struggles and knowing how to close it in crunch time. I bet this is a game that contributed a lot to the team's growth and will impact our mindset positively.

The bads:

- Shooting: none of our starters was hitting the 3's, the jumpers or even the layups. Several misses from our side made the Minnesota also come to us with a transition game. Since they missed also a lot of shots, the game was pretty much even and low scoring. Not due to good defenses, but due to offensive inefficiency

- Starters up to the 3rd quarter: aside Asik, the rest of our starters were not efficient, and seemed off. Lin had a struggling night, Morris didn't hit his open looks, Parsons and Harden were quiet, no scoring much. On D, sometimes it seemed Asik was the only one to hold up the candle there.

- Boxing out: they've outrebounded us offensively and it was because, aside Asik, our players were not boxing out properly. That's something that our coaches have to point out to Morris, Smith.

- Halfcourt game: tonight, since our transition game was not efficient, when we had to focus on a halfcourt game, we were not able to pull it out. Love and Pekovic made it hard to penetrate, and Kirilenko is a good defender that disturbs the pick'n roll attempts. That was also one of the reasons for our drive and dish game to not come up in the first half. Since our shooting was not ok tonight, it made it easier for them to lock the paint. Good to see that, by the end of the game, Harden started to find his way through.

The goods:


Bench: our bench really kept us alive tonight. They closed the gap from 14 to 3, and even if neither TDouglas nor Delfino had an overall outstanding game, the team ball from the bench really put an end to all the frenetic and erratic plays. TDouglas, Delfino, Parsons, Morris and Smith/Asik really conducted us in the 3rd and beginning of the 4th, and also gave a useful long rest to Harden and Lin. We would not have won if it was not for the bench tonight. Delfino missed a lot of shots, but hit 5 crucial points at the right time.

- Crunch time play: When it came down to crunch time, our starters finally took over and some good plays were made and saved us tonight. Lin drawing an offensive foul, hitting that jumper and his defense on Barea. Asik cleaning the boards, not letting them have second chances, and our backcourt+Parsons defending the perimeter. And, of course, the clutch plays from Harden that won us the game.

- Rotation: props to our coaches for keeping the bench for a long time, when they were fighting back, and for putting back the starters, and trusting them, by the end. The timing was perfect, and the starters came back fresh and were able to put the final effort to close the game.

Players:

- Lin: Off night for him He was struggling all night with his shot, and missed several drives with only 1 assist. His defensive plays by the end, and a tying game jumper, however, saved his night, or at least, made it end on a high note.

- Harden: he was having a quiet night until he took over in the 4th. Several clutch plays, lot of confidence and a star performance. He stepped up when most needed.

- Parsons: good overall game, putting some points, rebounds and assists. With all the frenetic transition/miss play happening, his defense was not a huge factor tonight, but he was able to keep a consistent performance amidst all that frenzy.

- Morris: not his night. Missed his open looks, shooting 3-9 (0-3 from 3-point). He was not able to stop Love, and the bad performance from Love is mainly due to an off night than from a good defense.

- Asik: very good night. He won the rebound battle with Love, and kept Pekovic under control. Defensively, he was huge, holding his own and covering the whole team. Offensively, competent, but it was a hard night, we all knew, against their bigs. If he can continue developing a post play, he can really excel.

- TDouglas: quiet night, not very effective as a scorer, but contributed to move the ball and organize the mess in order to close the gap.

- Delfino: despite several bad plays, his good plays came just in the right time. Good defense, and some energy and confidence, that influenced the other players, as a veteran is supposed to do. His playmaking is not something I want to see more, nor the low FG%, but the spirit and the right plays at the right time were really a catalyst to our win tonight.

- GSmith: Nice screens, good movement off ball and great to go hard for the dunk. I was also very pleased with the time he and Asik shared on court.

- McHale: not his fault if the players were not shooting. However, we cannot come so winded in a back to back. The lack of stamina tonight was also because we played our starters a little bit to much yesterday. Ou running game need fresh legs, and in order to do so, we have to include more players into the rotation. An 8-man rotation is good for most of the teams, but not for a high paced offense as ours. In the game, he made right decisions, and I liked how he managed the rotation and put a lot of confidence on our starters by the end.

Overall I'm very pleased with this win. There is plenty to learn from, and I really think it's the kind of game that can make our players mature and grow as contenders. Knowing how to win ugly is a common asset of all great teams, and it was more than time for the Rockets to learn that.

 

Wow, what an incredible game! I'm so used to the Rockes losing games like that. Ever since Tmac/Yao, we didn't have that "go-to" guy to bail us out in the 4th quarter. It was so great to see that even though we played horrible most of the game, we still pulled it out. Harden was absolutely huge at the end of the game.

And nice to see us getting some defensive stops at the end of the game, but man they were playing terrible as well, lol. Oh well, glad we came out on top!

Now on to a tough game against San Antonio.

 

rockets playing very well.. gritty win tonight, great finish by harden...

I love the way they are finding ways to win, even when their offense struggles at times..

good win.

 

harden leads the league in beard blocked shots.

 

This game (and this week) make me continue to love the fact that Harden is here. Just remember how you felt 2 weeks before the season about this team.

 

Are there any great shooters in this league who put up as much arc on their shots as Lin does ? He should work on making his shot flatter.

 

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shuh, - always good to see your takes. Thanks for posting.

 

jlin has always been a good shooter high arc and all. he lifted a lot of weights to get stronger this summer and that always screws up a jump shot.

he is learning to get his shot back but it will take time, he just needs to stay mid range and the occasional 3 and he'll be ok.

 

Thanks steady! Now I hope we will have a lot of nice things to point out in the next 2 games. I'm especially eager for the OKC one.

 

Asik, he totally dominated the paint, that's why i was confident we could win this game eventhough wolves lead by 14. He could have easily got 18 if he had not fumbled the passes. but check this out his 9 points = Love's and pekovic's combined points.
He could have blocked wolves' lay ups , but he mysteriously didn't react. In hindsight i am he didn't in this game.

Lin, His to's are not entirely his fault, but he failed layups many times. Fortunately he really stepped up in 4quarter if not, there would have been lin bashing.

Harden, He proved that he is for real, he didn't need to go to the free throw lines to score 30. His performance in clutch time won us the game.
Parson, definitely not one of hist best performances, but it was kinda expected due to his knee problem.

Delfino, bad shooting night, but he makes it up with his steals

Greg Smith, his offensive slump is kinda expected because he could no longer sneak in behind defenders. But his dunking was what shook wolves's defense in the 3qr. His defense was decent, and i have to applaud his ability to stop wolvees from doing lay ups. He showed us tonight that he and asik could be very potent defensive duo. what he needs to do is to acquire steady jumpers .

notes
Our perimeter defense is very poor, opponents can jack up 3's uncontested. First it was nate Robinson, now it was JJ barea. Perhaps our main concern now is to get a scoring power forward who could protect the perimeters

Asik mysteriously didn't try to contest twolves lay up attempts, he was just watching as Barea or shevd drove to the line, iam confused, can anyone please offer an explaination?

 

Ugh, that was one of the most one sided officiated first halves I've seen in a while!
I'm sure Coach McHale or someone must've given the refs an earful during the halftime because they finally pulled their whistles out of their asses on the second half.

Anyways, damn what a win.
Lin had an ugly off night but Im not worried at all cuz he was still being aggressive and confident (big jumper at the end) just wasn't as focused as he was the last few games.
Harden also had a tough first half but gotdamn did the beard come big at the end.
Bench didn't look as sharp either but still kept us in the game.


So proud of the guys, they got through a tough road game on a back2back with refs against them. It was a good test they'll learn from as they prepare to face more of the same throughout the tough schedule from January.

 

7 turnovers? I missed this game - what the f happened?

 

What I would do to have been able to watch this game. I left Houston for Austin at 6:30, I had listened to the first 3 minutes then remembered I could dvr it from my phone. So I turned off the game on the radio, drove to Austin, stopped at Taco Bell, parked, got all my crap out of the car, went to open the door and BAM! My house is flooded. AGAIN. Hot water was spewing out of the kitchen ceiling and my entire place was a steam bath. I was like wtf, did I leave the shower on for 4 days?! All of my crap had dew on it.

I think it was worth it for another W though.

 

He had a bad start, half of the TO were on BS call from referees and Asick not catching the ball. Luckily, he came back in the last few plays. Harden was fantastic as usual. Luckily, Harden was there.

 

Two passes to Asik in consecutive possessions that Asik couldn't handle, 2 TO.

BS offensive foul call when Barea was the one who held Lin, 1 TO.

Lin gets the rebound off a Twolve miss, SHved mauls Lin doesn't even touch the ball but refs call a jump ball. Houston loses the jump ball because of Asik holding, counts as a Lin TO! 1 TO.

So that was 4 TOs right there...