[ClutchFans] Game 2 Podcast: Are you only the legend or are you the truth?

Rapaport?

Spoiler

Leave me out of this, man.

 

As great as their LMA was, he was not the sole reason why we lost this game.

Starters: Rockets 92 pts, Blazers 82 pts. We beat them by 10pts.

Bench: Rockets 13 pts, Blazer 30 pts. Their bench +17pts.

We lost the game by 7.

Wright scored 15pts on 3-4 from 3 pts and 4-4 FT. Williams scored 15 pts on 2-4 from 3pts and 3-3 ft. That was the game.


This tell me
- as bad as Harden is playing, as soon as he becomes his usual self, we can come back and win (just much harder now on their home court as you expect them to play better - yeap, better).
- It also said that we might want to go deepen into our bench and consider putting Lin into more PnR situation to open up the court
- Our defense looks bad, but we actually did a much better job overall on their starters as a unit (however, we didn't defend their bench well). Lillard, Matthews and Batum combined for 10-36 (27%), 3-12 from 3.


TLDR - still comes down to Harden.

 

Really. What's the worst that can happen with Dmo on him? LMA scores? He's already scoring anyway on everybody else guarding him. Give another guy a shot at shutting him down.

 

You should be given a lot of credit for fearing how badly the team had limped into the end of the regular season and how well Portland finished theirs. Guess you were right all along.

 

Not really sure how much that means seeing as how they've only lost by a combined 9 points. Portland isn't just owning them start to finish, it's really just Harden and the rest of the wings not stepping up. We win both games easily if Harden shows up, even with Aldridge going crazy, and that's part of the reason I think the Rockets still have an outside shot.

 

I understand all of that, but being down 0-2, just about everything has to be nearly perfect for the Rockets to pull a small miracle. Everything considering how well the Blazers are playing.