ClutchFans Game Thread: Rockets @ Warriors 5/27/2015 (Western Conference Finals, Game 5)

We're not here without Harden, but man oh man, THIRTEEN TOs in an elimination game along with 2-11 from the field!!!

 

Great point, we need someone else at the PG position that can set up everyone else including Harden. We also need Hardent to move the ball and not do a Steve Francis dribble out the shot clock.

I'm hopeful we draft the PG from Notre Dame, but our championship aspirations don't rest on a rookie.

 

You are a wise man. Harden has come a long ways, but he has a long journey ahead. He needs help, but he will need to show greater leadership in order to become a NBA champion.

Go James Harden! Go Houston Rockets!

 

James Harden is a fantastic player, sadly I think the team put way too much on his plate by having him be a hybrid PG and SG that has to make his own shot and that of others. I mean in the starting line up he is usually the only one that can create his own shot consistently throughout the year. There have been times when Josh Smith, Donatas Motiejunas and Terrance Jones could work around the basket but without Brewer we likely would have ran Josh Smith into the ground this season. Jason Terry has been really good in some games of the playoffs as has Prigioni but even if we bring Beverly back we need better guys back there that can score. The turnovers are bad, but as a team we need to give him more backcourt depth so that it isn't all him and he doesn't seem so worn down in the playoffs. We finally have depth in the front court even if Josh Smith leaves if Howard stays healthy, Capealla continues to develop and we keep both DMO and T Jones but Morey if he is really worth his salt and McHale, who I still dislike but will admit had a really good season as a coach, is capable of judging weakness.

 

BTW, someone asked earlier in this thread if there had been another performance this bad in the postseason. It finally hit me this morning. John Starks in Game 7 in the 1994 Finals. I'm not sure how I forgot about that one. He didn't have 13 TOs, but he did go 2-18 from the field. Oddly enough, it came on the heels of a brilliant performance in the previous game much like Harden.

 

Peterkingx is a troll from China. You know what that means; he loves him some McGrady! And he's been shi tting on the Rockets and Harden for a LONG time. Look at all his posts: https://www.google.com/webhp?sourceid=chrome-instant&rlz=1C1CHFX_enUS493US493&ion=1&espv=2&ie=UTF-8#q=site%3Aclutchfans.net%20peterkingx

 

Exit interviews soon, mediation thereafter and friendships may be hurt. This team is like G.O.O.D. Music...cliques everywhere.

GS was its own family.

We had too many personalities that couldn't be managed with anything more than clapping.

 

Plenty of championship teams have players with different personalities. If Dream could co-exist with Mad Max and Jordan could co-exist with Dennis Rodman, don't tell me James Harden and Dwight Howard can't make it work.

 

There are many T-Mac fans on this board and doesn't mean we are trolls from China. T-Mac was a special specimen with his build and height. Should have been one of the greatest wings to play this game.....

 

Well, the Rockets are plenty good but not quite good enough. That's okay - it would have been a miracle to win a championship with only one guy who run an offense.

I thought the Rockets played very tight last night despite their circumstances. Harden obviously had a nightmare game but the whole team didn't play with any of the chemistry or flow that had made them stronger during their playoff run. So many offensive possessions seemed to consist of "Rockets player dribbles a few seconds, drives in, misses shot/loses ball". Just too much 1 against 5 stuff. The whole team was like that. Too many missed rebounds. Too many open shots, especially 3's, passed over to force up a tougher shot that missed. The Rockets needed to play nearly perfect basketball to match up with the Warriors and they didn't come close to that except in game 4.

Oh well. Proud of the guys for getting this far. Now to patch up the holes and make an even better run next year.

 

Last night I felt they had a chance even when down by just 9 points with minutes left in the 4th, and the guys on the court felt the same... Too bad they went for homerun plays instead of making easier passes; Dwight, James, Terry, Brewer all forced some action. But it's ok, they got invaluable experience

I think I know a few things about this team:

1) The Rockets have put together an incredible season, overcoming many obstacles
2) With Harden and Howard there's always going to be some tensions/behind the scenes drama, but it doesn't matter
3) McHale can lead us to the Finals with a talented enough team
4) Our talent level is the highest it's been in 6 years
5) 2-3 reliable ball handlers are needed on a championship competing team (we covered that with Harden, Prigioni & Terry)
6) The Rockets need at least 2 guys who can create their own shot or draw 2+ defenders to create a shot for others (lacking)
7) Defensive improvement requires discipline and roster consistency/familiarity
8) Dwight is a defensive beast and that is his best fitting role; he almost returned to the Finals this season just being great on defense and foregoing his post touches
9) Regular season minutes must be limited to 35 minutes for all players to preserve health; try to maintain a long rotation and keep everyone's minutes down - dependent on roster talent level
10) Regular season wins should not be won on talent and effort alone; we need more motion in our offense and our positional defense has to be practiced & tight.

All in all, a great campaign this year with an extraordinarily talented bunch. Harden, Dwight, Josh Smith, DMo, Ariza, TJones - Rockets were oozing talent this year and I hope we Morey can continue to consolidate all our talent

 

You are correct.

It's deeper than that, allegedly.

There's been a blame game going on for awhile.

I will say this: Jet wants back. He revitalized his career here.

Josh Smith.... Is brotherhood enough to come off of the bench? I don't know.

I can't believe I'm saying this, but i'm rocking with the Cavs now. I want LeBron to eat the whole Oracle arena up, and I can't wait for Shumpert to show out.

Steve Kerr is going to show us that he is here because of a great pass from MJ.

David Blatt has coached. Kerr has managed, but he inherited Mark Jackson's team, IMO.

 

I pretty much knew it was "over" when Terry complained about no help defense when Donkey Green posted him up...

 

I'm more of a fan of LBJ, Mozgov, JR Smith, Shumpert so let it be known who I'm cheering for in the FINALS... Lebron with his 3rd Ring!!!!!

 

I think it's clear that Smoove is leaving for a starting gig and more $$. You can tell by the words he chooses.

Lakers will get Smoove + Rondo and draft Towns or Okafor, and fighting for relevance.

It should be interesting to see who we acquire this off-season. I'd love a Draymond Green, Gasol, LMA or Millsap at PF and a Dragic or Llull at PG but I feel those are all pipe dreams, and last season taught us that sometimes dreams don't come to fruition, despite how close it may seem. Maybe we clear cap by letting everyone walk (except matching Bev) and then use the cap to sign a Lou Williams, Carrol or Danny Green and utilize the MLE to bring back Brewer/MCD? That gives us freedom to package Jones + #18 for a starting PG or a sharpshooter off the bench.

 

Normally, I would bow out of watching the playoffs since the Rockets have now lost out. But, this storyline with Lebron taking Cleveland to the finals in his first season back there...and the SMUG Warriors who have been irrelevant for 40 years prior now dominating the league...make for an exciting match-up. It's better than watching that same old Spurs in finals BS...which came to be almost a lock every year for so long. I definitely wouldn't watch it if Spurs were in it.

 

Blame game for a while? Like how long? They won 2 playoff series and lost to a 67-win team. I could understand players blaming each other a year ago when they underachieved, but there's no reason for the team to fall apart right now. Some guys didn't step up when needed, but that's why the roster still needs some work. Obviously there's no way they return next season with the exact same players.

I hope Terry returns. Unless he gets a bigger offer elsewhere(Cuban?) and chases the money, I don't see why he wouldn't come back. Clearly he needs to have a reduced role though. Ideally he'd be the 3rd PG and get a handful of minutes at the 2 if the team goes small. Basically 10 minutes a game.

Smith has no future with the Rockets if he's not willing to be a bench guy. McHale started him out of desperation against the Clippers and it did work in that series, but that says more about how utterly useless T-Jones was vs how well Smith played. It's easy to forget now after the loss to the Warriors, but he really was a terrific reserve for the Rockets this season. We do not win the division without him.

 

they are re-airing the game on nba tv right now.

man its hard to watch. i turned it off after the first quarter.

 

What words did he say? If Smith gets a big offer and takes it, more power to him. But if he goes someplace else so he can start, he's not serious about winning. No respectable title contender would have him as their starting PF. The only reason he wound up in that situation with the Rockets is D-Mo's injury and T-Jones' ineffectiveness.

 

I like most of the guys on the team right now. The only one I'm hoping will be gone is Jones. Seriously, I thank him for the important contributions he's made but he's tantalized everyone for too long and the Rockets can't afford to wait any longer for him to turn into a major contributor.

But I'm great with most everyone else coming back, assuming they don't want an insane pay raise through free agency. The big thing is that the injuries to Beverly and Donuts heavily distorted the lineup, forcing guys like Terry and Prigioni to play a lot more than they were supposed to, making Josh Smith a starter instead of an anchor for the bench. I'd be happy for Smith, Terry, and Brewer to come back if they want, but the Rockets have to be able to make the moves needed to improve the team, too.