ClutchFans Game Thread: Blazers @ Rockets 1/15/2020

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Michael D'Antoni Show:

https://sportstalk790.iheart.com/fe...id=socialflow&Pname=local_social&Sc=editorial

We got some guys trying to get back on track. Eric's trying to get back in form after missing six weeks. PJ with the stinger the other night. Danuel House gotta get back on track. Clint dealing with his foot gotta get back on track though still pretty good last night. James has been up & down the last few games. We have individual issues that collectively we'll get over them if we understand the urgency and everyone puts a little more pep in their step & get it done.

Danuel has fallen off. What's going on with him?

You never know exactly because if you knew, you'd just go fix it. It's a process that he has to go through. Not really worried about it. He's thinking about it a little too much. Let me just do the simple things, play as hard as I can play, make the simple play until I get my confidence rolling again & then get over the hump. He's on this journey. He'll figure it out & work through it. We just need to win games. He's playing hard, he's trying but right now it's not totally clicking. He'll get over this & find his way.

You mentioned Tucker coming back from the stinger. 38 minutes last night, only one shot. Is he battling through it?

He's always battling through it. Didn't want to play him 38 minutes last night but Jaren Jackson Jr. at the 5, that was a tough match up for our bigs so PJ had to log some five minutes that extended him more than I wanted to. We'll see tonight & when he gets to the arena. I expect him to play because he doesn't miss game but at the same time, got to get him well & feeling good.

How are you going about balancing the minutes in your rotation?

We're not too far off from what we want to be. PJ's played too many minutes. One reason I'm starting Ben and Danuel goes to the four is to try & get his minutes down. I wasn't expecting to go smaller but Jaren Jackson created a problem so it seemed like we had to. A little unexpected he went up to 38 minutes. We need to get him down to 28-30 and think we can do that with Danuel at the four. Tonight we should be more or less full strength and then we'll see what the rotation looks like normally and go from there.

To PJ and his toughness, put him in other company of guys you've coached.

The one pops into mind real quick is Raja Bell. He wasn't the most gifted player out there but made himself a player. Raja was one of the best competitors I've ever coached and you knew he'd bring it every night. PJ is the same way. He will find a way to get the team win or in position to win. That's all you can ask. I always appreciate what he brings every day.

[...]

Do you envision keeping Eric in that sixth man role on nights Russ doesn't play?

Yeah, I think so. I wanted to keep Eric at 30-31 minutes. If you start him, he'll be up to 36-37 minutes. He did play 31. That keeps him in that box of 28-32 minutes we want to keep him at.

Isaiah Hartenstein, where is he from when you first saw him, what you asked of him, and where he is in that process to gain the confidence of you to see playing time on a regular basis.

Right now, depending on match ups, he's kinda earned the backup spot to Clint. Then he'll have nights that it's a feel because he doesn't have a whole lot of rope. Let's put it that way. Last night, all the intention of playing but Jaren Jackson Jr. is a real tough match up for any center and Valanciunas is a load. We kinda want Clint to mirror the first string center and then Isaiah will do the second? guy. That's kinda the plan going into a game but at the same time, Isaiah has played well. He'll have ups and downs. He does have a sense of how to play offensive basketball. He's really good at what he does. I expect as time goes on, he'll keep getting better & more confidence in himself.

Getting rid of picking up quick fouls.

... One real important stat people don't look at is how quick you get into the bonus in any quarter, especially the 4th. Start of the 4th, Clint will be resting. We have a habit of doing that & we did last night and Isaiah wasn't in there so not his fault but we have a habit of getting in the bonus early, like 2-3 minutes into the quarter and that kills you coming down the stretch trying to win a game. A lot of guys have that problem and he's working on that. It'll come with experience. Right now for us, every game is do or die. We need to come in 1st or 2nd in the division. We've thrown some games away & had some injuries. We gotta get on our horse real quick. He'll learn along the way.

Do you labor more on the 'bad losses' or savior the ones that are really good?

We know as a group, we know we can be the best team in the league. We know that. We have a lot of talent. We know other teams are real good. We don't fear them. We know they're really good. We just gotta get it together. You have to set yourself up & be able to withstand everything. If you're not having the appropriate fear or understanding the importance, what happens is like last year, one game where we had to go down to OKC to win & get 2nd place. Instead we lost at the buzzer and get 4th/5th place, whatever we got. Those are the signs we put up. Come on guys, understand our goals & the situation. Sure there will be bad losses but should be less than anyone else in the league. There's still time but at the same time, we need that appropriate fear where we don't want to get into what happened last year.

Right now can you gauge what effect of Russ sitting out back to backs will have on this team?

No. Otherwise it'd be easy, right? You cannot gauge it at all. Russell had some surgeries this summer. It's nothing to do with rest. He's rested. It's preserving his physical ability to compete every night & not risk injury. He's in that category where the medical staff thinks it's better he doesn't play back to backs.

[...]

Thoughts on Gary Clark's time with you?

I think Gary can play. A lot of factors go into it. Not just whether he can play or not. Gary was great. Very professional. A good guy and has talent. One of the main forces of letting him go was that it opens up the possibility of making it easier for Daryl's team to impact a trade. I don't get into that. I don't know. That's probably the thinking behind it. Whether it happens or not, who knows. I'm not looking for that. Daryl & them have their way they think is best. We hate to lose Gary. He was good for us. Who knows, might get him back. He's on a 10-day with Orlando if I'm not mistaken. We'd be open to getting him back here. We'll see how it goes & wish him luck in the meantime. He could be a very good basketball player.

 

Pretty much has to be a guaranteed win here. Harden is an all-time great and this is a great opportunity for a bounce back game against a really bad team.

 

Rockets getting ready for the Lakers on Saturday

 

Expectations for myself are now proper. I used to expect that we would win against sub-.500 teams except for the occasional outliers.

Now, it just means it could go either way, because we never put our foot to the pedal on them.

We could very well lose tonight, and I will no longer be surprised. It wasnt 1, or 2, or even a few games that did this. Its that we do it constantly, and give up double-digit leads every single game, in that case no matter who we play.

I really want to believe in the Rockets, but theres no sense of urgency, and we always play to our competition. Right now we'll probably win 50-55 games and lose within the first 2 rounds. I hope something changes. Not having confidence against the worst teams in the league makes me sad.

 

Dont rest Gordon

 

frustrating tbh and boring w/o Russ, team has become a One man iso. We are 3-3 without Russ and without Harden scoring 40+ just doesn't seem like they can get over the top of average teams. Not horrible but when I look at that game vs NO without Russ/Harden/Capela, team looked reasonably capable but requires confidence/involvement from the stars. Looking at the Lakers, have given the whole lot of confidence to Pope, Dwight, Bradley, Green. Rn House, Tucker, Hartenstein, Rivers are not cutting it and yea they definitely are slumping but coach has got to find ways to limit Harden having games where he is shooting 37 attempts and becomes more of a playmaker for others. Will help the defense as well

 

As long as it takes him 25-30 shots to get there, I am fine with that.

 

stats over winning

 

Blowout loss

 

Wouldn’t be surprised if Melo misses 15 shots or goes for 30 over our weak forwards.

 

Game starts at 830

 

Game starts at 8:30 pm, I guess.

 

What channel is on ?

Rocket River

 

Trying to understand how this team is coached is simply impossible.

 

Espn

 

At 8:30.

So MDA had no explanation (that made any sense at all) for why Hartenstein didn't play last night. Got it.

 

Moved to tomorrow.

 

So Eric Gordon is available tonight. F sitting out back to backs

 

certainly won't miss the braids

 

game starts 8:30