[ClutchFans] Rockets vs. Spurs: Breaking Down the Game 1 Beatdown

thank you. slow work day so i needed this. Good read. the gifs are very choppy for me, but that could be my crappy work computer and internet.

 

Good points, but yeah the pick and roll was killing the Spurs. I see them trapping Harden, but I feel our shooters got it good versus the slower Spurs. OKC athleticism was the main key to keep us off the line.

 

Love it, @GBRocket. One small fix: The possessive is "its."

 

Good read. The Rockets offense and shooting were very good, but part of the problem is the Spurs' defensive intensity was lacking. It was almost like a rehearsed scrimmage out there sometimes. I'm still not sure why the Spurs didn't come out strong in the 3rd quarter. Rockets were more than willing to give up part of the lead.

On defense, the Rockets were fundamentally sound clogging the paint, bluffing the double-team of LMA and the Spurs were lifeless besides Kawhi. LMA must step up and give them 20/10.

Not to downplay the Rockets in game 1 because they were awesome, but the reason for the massive blowout was the Spurs laid down and did not legitimately compete most of the time.

My 2 cents.

 

My iPad doesn't seem to want to play the gifs. Are they huge? Even tried loading just one in a single tab, and the wifi activity is just spinning like its forever downloading. Probably fine on desktop

Will streamable.com convert gifs to video?

Also, minor stat question. I assume 14 assists is Harden playoff record, reads

"James Harden’s 14 assists were a career high for him."

 

Thanks! Beverley gets my respect over & over. He's the first player's jersey I've bought with this era team (my last was Yao!). I'll get a Harden away and black alt too, but damn Beverley comes from a long line of junk yard dogs: Mad Max/Mario.

 

Great read.

 

This. Their rotation help was slow and wrong guy (which pissed off Pops with early timeouts), and transition d was horrible, and why they tried to match our pace sometimes was odd.

I suspect a lot of yelling by Pops, with possibly not too much scheme changes vs better defensive execution mandates from Pops. What he really needs to work on is that offense. Moar Ginobody trying to drive please...as LMA disappears.

 

What the fudge, that was good. Good read, and even better performance by the Rockets. What seems to not be lauded by the national media is the Rocket's defense. I mean, we held the Spurs to 99, even with a 4th quarter scrubfest. The rockets did everything right last night, but in the future they just have to do a couple of those things right and still win. If they hustle like they did on D, get scoring, they won't be stopped.

Edited for inability to spell.

 

I like it!

 

Did you notice Pop stopped yelling at his players mid/late 2nd quarter? In the 2nd half, he almost seemed content with what was happening.

I don't expect much more yelling in game 2. He will just substitute quicker and play whoever has the most energy, guys like Dedmon.

 

Awesome read. the playoffs are all about matchups. The rockets are a terrible matchup for the spurs period at this stage of their overall team. keep this run going. #rocketsin6

 

"the spurs don't have any offensive threats other than Leonard..."

"the thunder don't have any offensive threats other than Westbrook..."

"the warriors don't have any offensive threats other than McGee..."

they're always gonna make an excuse

 

I keep reading Spurs fans say Kawaii needs to guard Harden all game. How feasible is this? I know in the regular season he only guarded him in the 4th. I don't see how he could possibly guard him all game unless we just played as poorly as the Spurs last night.

 

I meant yelling in practice today, vs discussing major changes to scheme.

 

he looked really gassed last night. Not sure adding to his load is the right way to go.

Also, I dont think Danny Green's defense was an issue. LMA, Lee, and Gasol's defense is what allows Harden to go off.

 

There was D

Spoiler

 

yeah when your down by 37 points Spurs might as well take a nap

 

Got the GIFs to run on desktop. mighty big.