ClutchFans Game Thread: Rockets @ Thunder 3/11/2014

Lin actually defended Westbrook pretty well last night. Looked like Russell was so used to a man up in his grill that he didn't know what to do when Lin stood back and guarded against drives to the hoop.

 

Agreed. This is the ideal scenario. Unfortunately everything is just so tight right now that we have to still hope for every win we can get.

 

1. We need to improve our free throw efficiency!
2. Chandler Parsons needs to hit his open shots and stop all of the pump fake drive to the middle of the lane and kick out bs. Those fakes freeze the offense.
3. Cisco needs to do exactly what he did last night.
4. DHo needs to take his inside game to the next level against elite defenders.
5. JLin needs to have better court awareness.

Other than that, we just got beat by a team who is better than us right now and refs who will make sure of it.

 

Yes, Lin had good and intelligent defense in this game.

 

I am one of the few here that believe this team has what it takes.

This game was very winnable.

Westbrook and Durant had extremely efficient games tonight.

Howard had his worst in two months, and watching James Harden play, you can honestly say that he has taken the legit step in to superstardom.

The Rockets are going to be elite for the next 5 to 7 years minimum.

 

I agree. Rox broadcasters said the same thing during the game.

There was a rivalry brewing but now it's in full effect & the OKC Thunder seem to be winning so far

 

You have to win a few games in the series in order for it to be a rivalry.
As of right now it's just a good ole fashioned, one sided butt kicking from OKC

 

One question: what's up with everybody, even Garcia, being p*****s in this game? Beverley is the only one with some balls!!

 

More like Bev's antics costed the team big time.

 

I would still love to know what Scott Brooks said to Harden.

 

I did not realize phoneix get drop out of playoff......i think they are playing well...well...it's wild west..

 

You do know we won 2 games in the playoffs against okc last year right?

 

Disappointing. I'm in Europe right now and since the game started at like 1am I only watched the first quarter.

Saw some highlights after and here are my thoughts:

-Harden is really, really good. Carried us in the 2nd half after a rough shooting first quarter.

-Dwight laid an egg. He's been in a funk recently from the post, he seems to be rushing his shots. He's definitely pressing right no and even his free throws are off. Funny how earlier in the year the Rockets would never look to Dwight even though he was playing well, but now that he's in a slump it seems like we are force feeding him. He's got to relax and get in a rhythm these next few games. The Rockets should still establish him on the post because usually good things happen if he can limit his turnovers. Even though he was awful tonight, he still got great looks. I'll live with that. But if he's so blatantly off like he was tonight, we gotta get him the ball on the move more and look for other ways to score.

-After a great first few games, Hamilton is looking mediocre.

-Jones was invisible, he gets eaten alive when we play teams with a strong power forward. We might need to upgrade that spot in the offseason.

-Lots of missed layups from everyone which is annoying.

We just never seem to be able to win against OKC or LAC. Considering the fact that to get to the finals we will have to go through one if not both of these teams, the Rockets better figure out how to beat these guys.

 

TBH I'm not sure why people are upset, at this point in the season and with this team wins and losses don't really mean anything anymore, the Rox are on lock with a date with OKC in the playoffs.

It doesn't matter if we lose to them 0-4 in the regular season, what's important is OKC keeps the team's ego in check and expose our weaknesses to enable us to be better prepared in the playoffs. Right now looking at the game Harden is pissed, he did his best and the team still lost. Howard has got to be humiliated, he has a rookie guarding him all night and he shot 4-12 and let the team down. Pat Bev just got abused and shown up by WB. Mchale was furious and repeatedly called the team "soft" after the game. These are good things, the Rox will now look at the tape, break down where they went wrong and fix it.

On the other hand, what will OKC learn from this? Not a damn thing, offensively challenged Thabo and Perkins weren't in the game and these guys will be their starters in the playoffs. KD and WB had extremely good efficient games, this is something they can't count on every night. And even with them blowing up and Howard laying a goose egg, the Rox still competed and didn't get blown out. Compare this to last season where we needed everyone to play their A game just not to get stomped on.

Honestly I think our last meeting and the playoffs will be a different story. This is a classic case of losing the battle in order to have a better chance of winning the war.

 

Claps to Bev on his attempted trolling of Westbrook. Going to be an awesome series in the playoffs if/when they meet.

 

Yeah we're not going to win if Harden AND Howard aren't factors in the game. Because outside of those two, we don't have anyone else that can create their own shot on a consistent basis.

 

Have you been under a rock these couple of months? Parsons and Lin create their own shot on a consistent basis. It's just that they've been playing timid and through pain.

 

I really think we could have won if we didn't give them that 3 points at the end. Westbrooke was going to brick that and our bigs had the position to get the rebound. if we scored in the following possession then it would have been a 1 possession game.

 

This was a weird game. I give credit to the OKC defense; but the Rockets were also not playing very well, and I thought the coaches were slow to make adjustments. When they are shooting as badly from the perimeter as they were in this game, the Rockets need to go to small ball earlier, to open up the inside to give more room for Dwight and our driving guards to operate. They need to be more focused on defense.

 

I didn't see much confidence from the Rockets most of the game until late.

Bad games from a lot of players. Are we scared of OKC? We played like it.