ClutchFans Game Thread: Mavericks @ Rockets 4/28/2015 (Playoffs Round 1, Game 5)

That was a foul, but on the Ellis play, he had a heal in the restricted zone.

 

I remember seeing that play when Ellis got shoved and thinking, "Oh man, we got away with that one!" And then ESPN goes out of their way to show all the "missed" contact under the rim from Howard.
However, you gotta put it all in perspective. Howard was called for 3 offensive fouls in the second quarter alone by the embellishment of Dirk/Ellis/Barrea--really chintzy stuff. Carlisle was fined for a calculated comment on the physicality of the series, specifically referencing Howard. Cuban also was voicing his displeasure to Silver. Do you think it's possible that the Mavs had it in their strategy to render Howard ineffective by getting him into foul trouble by any means possible, ESPECIALLY acting on the defensive side of the ball? They had no other answer for his dominance.
What I'm saying here is that AT LEAST the refs owed Howard some benefit of the doubt. Don't punish a guy cause he's stronger than everybody else who's trying to get rebounds.

 

Referees tend not to call fouls when they know the other team is done and they take it upon themselves to say they are just not going to call things like the rest of the game. I would be pissed as a Mavs fan, because it's completely subjective. For people who truly believe referees do not decide the outcome of games, think again. I like to believe they were make-up calls for those horrendous calls against Dwight to favour the Mavs earlier in the game though.

 

Im surprised nobody on the Mavs bench were going crazy

 

ellis isn't even boxing out so that's not a foul. if he actually was in the position of boxing out then he may have gotten the call.

 

What was Ellis doing? Certainly that's not boxing out. Good no-call.

 

That's a flop by Ellis, just like the flops by Chandler and Dirk in the first half that did get calls against Dwight.

Dwight needs to learn how to flop. If he acted like he got hit instead of just playing right through the contact, his foul problems would disappear.

 

Congratulations to the Rockets! They survived shooting themselve in the foot with their record turnover rate in the first half. Unfortunately, it's who they've been most of the season. Most of their turnovers are from being careless, whether it is a bad pass or just not taking better care of the ball. For a game that was really big for preventing a momentum shift in the series, being so careless is really inexcusable.

Their other problem -- FT's -- is even harder to correct. That is one "analytic" that Morey had a blind spot on. Well, maybe not a blind spot, since it was a choice of taking the good which was sorely needed and accepting the bad that came with it.

I had a feeling yesterday that the Spurs would win in LA. They are definitely poised to win in 6 at home.

If the Spurs are up next for the Rockets, there is no way they can survive the turnover rate in this game, along with poor FT shooting to win a series against them. These 2 weaknesses, if not corrected, will eventually be their undoing in these playoffs. The Spurs are too disciplined and good. Mistakes against them will not be as easily overcome as it was against the Mavs. And it wasn't really easy against the Mavs.

It would also be nice if Jones could show up for the whole game and not need heroics in the last few minutes.

But. hey, advancing past the first round is huge for the franchise. I just hope the Rockets can really take to heart McHale's exhortation of settling for a few singles rather than a home run. Even if they get past the 2nd round, I don't see them getting to the Finals. They just don't seem to matchup well with GS. And Memphis is certainly playing very well now. I will be very happy to be wrong. It just seems unrealistic, given their history of turnovers and the bigs inability to shoot FT's at a high enough clip, to expect they can keep dodging those bullets.

 

Are you referring to a charge or blocking foul situation meaning he had one foot outside the circle and one inside the circle? I think that can only occur if the offensive player has a ball to dribble. I think this is a loose ball foul situation potentially as a rebound is involved. That may also explain why Harden didn't get a charge call on Ellis on the other play. Harden had passed the ball well before the contact was made with Ellis. He was no longer dribbler of the ball.

I could be wrong on my interpretation of the rules.

 

lets be realistic, we played like ****, but the Mavs played worse.

I didn't like the game last night at all, seemed like a continuation of game 4

We played much better in first 2-3 games. I am a bit worried

 

im referring to the play that were talking about. ellis is in no position of a box out. thats not a foul on dwight whatsoever.

 

My bad...yea...he wasn't in a "boxing out" position with his back turned. I think Ellis was more concerned with getting plowed over. Otherwise, he should have been facing the basket looking for the rebound. lol

 

Defense was better, ball movement was good, and the Rockets closed them out.

Looked fine to me.

 

Ellis' strategy on both of those plays was to wait for contact, and then launch himself backward like he was being shot out of a cannon. I am happy the refs didn't fall for it, for a change.

 

So we didn't play our best basketball last night. But guess what we advanced and that's all that matters. RT

 

I don't like how we match up against CP3 and the Clips. The Spurs only chance in the series is for them to employ the hack strategy(and for it to work) I think it's a much easier series versus the spurs where I think we can win in five games where as versus the Clippers I think it would be a tossup going to seven games.

I'll take the Spurs

 

There's a lot of things the Rockets need to clean up and get better if they want a chance of advancing past the second round.

 

I'm confident the Rockets can beat either one of the Clips/Spurs next round, but I am not confident they will take the Spurs in 5 games. Spurs just will not let that happen. They are a "machine"...and that just can't be emphasized enough. Home court advantage also means a whole lot more to the Rockets, than the Spurs (although the Rockets are a pretty darn great road team).

As far as the Clippers go, not worried. They have the flash and athleticism and of course Crawford and some PG named Chris who is pretty darn good. But I just like our chances.

Maybe there is a bit of HOMERISM in my optimism against Spurs/Clippers, but I just have this feeling that getting past the First Round was a proverbial "monkey off the back" that stigmatized the Rockets for almost 2 decades. Granted the rotation players of the current squad were not a part of that history, but they did it...and in convincingly 4-1 fashion against a Mavs team that was better than I gave them credit for.

As a fan, I still believe the Rockets are good enough now to win it all. But objectively, I am less "tense" about this 2nd Round as I was the First Round when the Rockets were the heavy favorites. I just can't emphasize how HUGE of an achievement it is for the Rockets to get past the First Round.

The First Round in some ways, is the "toughest" round to get past for the Rockets. Not the toughest opponent by any means..but the toughest round. Does that make sense?

 

Rockets were in the semi-finals in 2009, taking the Lakers to seven games after Yao Ming was injured.

 

And I believe to this day that had Yao not gone down in game 3 of that series, Lakers would have been done and it would have been the Rockets in the Finals....objectivity there.