ClutchFans Game Thread: Rockets @ Pelicans 11/11/2019

kevin cutler is one incompetent ass zebra

 

Of course, because every team is blowing out Peli's by 30. Let's see if Clips blow out common team by 30 on Thursday. Ridiculous.

 

I am impressed that dantoni is impressed by a player any player so by definition maclemore impresses me

 

no i like it this way so that analytics guys stay deluded by the stats

 

plus the refs, never forget game 1 rigg job that even all the haters from the media admitted( and the refs)
that series ended 3:3 as per basketball on the floor, only refs and silver have transformed it into 4:2 by means of biased officating

 

He does the intangibles, which is why his +/- is always high

 

No different than how this message board talks about the team. How many pages would this thread have gone if they got stomped by a Zion-less Pelicans team?

(No shade meant towards you, @Clutch; it's directed at the posters, including me.)

Good win, if only because Gordon's shot seems to be coming back. WB took a bunch of long 2s, but it looks like he actually made most of them. Next game's going to be fun.

 

Would be nice if Westbrook kept driving to the hoop instead of shooting long 2's. When he drives to the rim, good things happen.

 

Harden looked good with that floater and shots from close range, keep that up and he's unstoppable. Capela with another strong rebounding performance and Westbrook solid again. Gordon finally a decent game. Real test comes now though.

 

I missed this game....darnit.....does anyone here know anyone who records the games and uploads an MP4 somewhere?

 

It must be that mini me MDA mentality naked to the eye analytics stuff. I mean he is 6' 3, doesn't rebound, doesn't score much, doesn't even have a good FG %, isn't a defensive threat, but plays well with others and is liked by the coach. Man I miss Ariza and Harrell.

 

Another win, another warm up game for the Clippers. I hope Clint continues his dominance on the boards. I still hate hate hate that we gave up Bev, Lou, and Trez in that CP3 trade.

 

heres one of the places
https://www.nbafullhd.com/

if that doesnt work you can always google nba hd replay...
theres always somewhere where the game is available

 

sounds like he’s gonna be ok but they’ll hold him out Wednesday

 

Happy with the win, but I want to see how the Rockets compete against good teams. 4 wins against really bad teams should be expected.

 

Spoiler

NEW ORLEANS — Takeaways from the Rockets' 122-116 win against the New Orleans Pelicans on Monday night:

SPORTS // TSN - ROCKETS
3-pointers: Takeaways from Rockets' win over Pelicans

Jonathan Feigen , Houston ChronicleNov. 11, 2019

Comments

James Harden's ability to get to the basket was pivotal in helping push the Rockets past the Pelicans on Monday night in New Orleans.
Photo: Gerald Herbert, Associated Press
NEW ORLEANS — Takeaways from the Rockets' 122-116 win against the New Orleans Pelicans on Monday night:

The Rockets never seemed threatened, which has become the norm as they marched through a soft part of the early season schedule. At this point, they might be well-served to feel some, as Mike D’Antoni has put it, “appropriate fear.”

Win tickets to a Rockets home game

The shots were off. They were sloppy. Danuel House Jr. took a nasty fall during the first quarter and did not return for the second half because of a bruise to his lower back that D’Antoni said could keep him out Wednesday against the Clippers.

The Rockets continued to show signs of progress. The defense has improved in ways that go beyond playing struggling, shorthanded teams. But it has become time to see how that improvement stands up to better competition. The Rockets took care of business Monday. They were ready to pursue wins that would be considerably more satisfying.

1. James Harden takes more 3s than anyone in the NBA. That’s been a given since he developed his step-back 3-pointer under Mike D’Antoni’s bright, green light.

He takes more free throws in the league, more through 10 games to start this season (151) than anyone since Wilt Chamberlain was trying everything to hit some. But he’s been taking more free throws than anyone in the NBA since 2013-14 when Kevin Durant was still with the Thunder and attempted .8 more than Harden.

Yet, as Harden has gone from prolific scorer to become one of the greatest offensive players in NBA history, a part of his game has been oddly overlooked.

No one drives to the basket more than Harden. No one did last season, either. Only Russell Westbrook did the year before.


As much as Harden does seem to fall in love with his step-back 3, affection that was unrequited through most of Monday’s game, he has an ability to get to the rim in his bag, ready for use as needed.

He needed it Monday. It turned the game around. It even seemed to get his 3-pointer going.

With the Pelicans still hanging around within four in the fourth quarter, Harden said he decided it was “go time.” He twice finished drives before he nailed consecutive 3s, adding a free throw after the second of those 3-pointers. With another drive sending him to the line, he had a 13-0 run to take over the game, finishing with 39 points on a night he made just 3 of 11 3-pointers.

Inside the 3-point line, Harden make 10 of 14 shots with most of those at the rim or floaters he took in the lane while heading in that direction.

The 14.1 3-pointers Harden puts up per game might sometimes seem excessive. Monday was one of those times. But he often starts slowly and then catches a wave of hot shooting, as he did against the Bulls on Saturday when he made 1 of 5 to start before sinking 8 of 14 the rest of the way. There needs to be a balance between continuing to shoot with confidence and “settling” as Harden said he did Monday.


That might have made his takeover of the game the best-case scenario. He kept shooting, as he often should, but he also knew he had become too “passive.”

He had been averaging 15.1 points per game on drives going into Monday’s game. When the game was too tight for too long, Harden offered a reminder that he can take over at the rim. Most important, he reminded himself.

2. Pelicans fans booed Eric Gordon again, largely because at this point, it is just something they do. In his fourth season since he left town, few might even recall what they were mad about.

Gordon’s time in New Orleans was not entirely satisfying, but he averaged 15.3 points, making 39 percent of his 3s which was a better percentage than he made with the Clippers before he got to New Orleans or has made with the Rockets since. And as he pointed out, the Pelicans had as many postseason appearances with him as they since have had without.


When he returned to New Orleans for the 2017 All-Star weekend, however, Gordon said "There was a little bit of dysfunction. It's always been a little dysfunctional, not just for me (for) ... everybody."


Of all the things that Gordon could have said about his time with the Pelicans, that did not seem particularly harsh. But the next night in the 3-point contest, New Orleans fans booed him relentlessly.

It did not work. Gordon won the 3-point contest that night.

All this time later, with Gordon just beginning to step out of his early season slump, they booed him again. It worked no better Monday.


After missing his first three shots, much to the delight of the New Orleans crowd, Gordon got going with a few drives and then began sinking 3s. He made 4 of his 7 shots from deep, scoring a season-high 17 points and then laughed last.

“You know, I still try to understand,” Gordon said. “You know, when I was here, there was hardly nobody left, and we drafted AD (Anthony Davis) and we’ve been to the playoffs. I’ve been here when it was rock-bottom and gave them a chance to go to the playoffs and we had a solid team. So, it doesn’t make sense. I think they’ve only been to the playoffs once since then so I — you know — I don’t know. I’m not their problem.”

After he left with his best game in his slow start to the season, however, they might have been his solution.

3. Mike D’Antoni was not happy.

The Rockets had won, their fourth consecutive win since the Nov. 3 no-show in Miami. They have led by double digits in nine of 10 games. Through 10 games, they are a half-game out of the top spot in the Western Conference, which at this point doesn’t mean much, but it does mean that they have not dug a hole with their often-ragged start to the season.


Yet, by now, D’Antoni had lost patience with the defensive breakdowns, with sloppy turnovers and slow transition defense.

He had been remarkably patient during the first six games, though perhaps a bit perturbed by the loss in Miami. He even said that he might have been wrong to have been hard on Clint Capela for not being in good enough shape to start the season since he had not pushed the Rockets hard through the preseason.

After Monday’s win, however, D’Antoni said winning was not good enough.

“We've got to close games out,” he said. “We've got to play better. We've got to play smart. Tonight, I didn’t think we did. Good enough to win. OK. But that’s not where we want to be.”

It’s not enough because the Rockets’ schedule is about to turn much tougher. The four opponents in the Rockets’ winning streak are 10-30. They played without Stephen Curry, Klay Thompson, Draymond Green, D’Angelo Russell, Kevon Looney, Otto Porter, Lonzo Ball, Zion Williamson and Brandon Ingram. Put those guys together and you’d have a contender. Without them, the Rockets rolled.

On Wednesday, the Rockets begin playing teams that win more often than they lose. The Clippers will be the first Western Conference contender the Rockets will face this season. The Rockets will go from that to a back-to-back against the Pacers and Timberwolves. After returning home for the Trail Blazers, they go back on the road to face the Nuggets and Clippers.

Having played so few winning teams in the first 10 games, they were bound to start facing them eventually. D’Antoni likely did not need even a glance at the schedule to have a good idea not just that the competition will get much tougher, but that the Rockets will have to play “smarter” and “better.”

He let it slide for a while, at least publicly. He did not Monday, launching into his critique in an answer about James Harden effectively driving to the rim in the fourth quarter. If it was on his mind as an answer to an unrelated first question, it seems certain it was said minutes earlier behind closed doors.

The Rockets had reached the point in the schedule things will get considerably more interesting. That might be a good thing, what they need to become the sort team they expect to be. It was clear Monday they remain a work in progress.

 

Agree a 100%. The Rockets really gave up an entire team to get CP3. That was a huge mistake.

 

I think Reddick would be great on this team because all we f*cking do is shoot 3s & he's a god damn 3pt specialist.
It's cool that he stucked in mediocre for rejecting the Rockets offer.
Why did he reject us? He went w/ 6ers instead of us when cp3 tried to recruit him but forgot what the real reason is, but it would be nice to have this f*cker on our squad.