ClutchFans Game Thread: Thunder @ Rockets 4/16/2017 (Playoffs Round 1, Game 1)

I agree. The question of "do the Rockets have another gear" was answered last night. They apparently CAN play defense when they want to.

 

The Thunder looked like a team that spent 82 games trying to get Russ triple doubles and are now being asked to make winning the priority.

Like watching a newborn giraffe learn how to walk.

 

Is it possible the thunder didn't rebound well because all they know how to do is box out and NOT get rebounds......where was Russ? Those are all his free rebounds

 

That was Sports Illustrated, not ESPN.

 

Thunder bigs not grabbing rebounds to let Russ get them is one thing.
But Russ challenging less jumpshots than centers is quite a detrimental to winning basketball.

 

You guys, I'm still so bored.

 

Hidden video of Donovan's closed practice last Friday trying to encourage Sabonis to play.



Teaching Kanter a defensive stance.



Oladipo working on his rusty First Step



Adams trying to relearn how to crash the defensive boards

 

Underrated stat of the game:

Harden resurrected the cooking celebration.

 

Harden coasted the back end of the season. Dude came out and balled all over OKC. Looked to be on a complete other level than Westbrook.

 

That's not how you take care of Spalding, Bro_ie.

More proof that this "friendship" is one-sided.

 

I was talking to my uncle the other day and he Boldly told me the Rockets were gonna get "Swept" by OKC... Sorry Unc!!!!!

 

Great game, just love Beverley, our bigs and Harden. Ryno at least rebounded, but our shooters need to hit their shots. Cannot believe by watching Ego and Lou lately that they are 15-17ppg and sixth men candidates..they are playing pretty mediocre. Beverley was the clear MVP, his defense and intensity just amazing. Some1 definitely needs to make the super saiyan gif of that Bev celebration. For those saying Harden played some good defense, yes for a bit, but I saw some embarrassing instances where he basically let WB get past him or he did not bother to pick him or another player attacking the basket when he was the closest person to him. He has to do better, though can't complain too much with the rest of his game. Only 2 TOs, almost 40 points, on attacks to the basket and lots of assists + blowout win.

 

Lol!!! But he does step up when it's needed.

 

Here is the link to the playoff intro.

http://www.nba.com/rockets/video/teams/rockets/2017/04/17/1492406953410-playoff-intro-1372932/

 

Was I the only one hoping Russel got another assist so that he could get a triple double and help prove how meaningless that stat is? If he had another turnover+assist, would have been even better with a quadruple double.

 

No offense, but I hope your brains came from the other side of your family!

 

Okc didnt leave shooters open. Thats what spread them out and allowed us to get to the paint and get rebounds. We arent easy to guard.

Donovan will see that strategy didnt work so he wont have adams and co hugging the 3 point line in game 2. That is the game for us to hit 3s. We were hardly open for 3 in game 1.

Theyre aggression in guarding the 3 point line in game 1 backfired. It led to harden layups and anderson rebounds lol

 

100 pages!!! Bless Clutchfans.

 

OKC did their usual thing where they box out for Westbrook to grab all the rebounds, except that just let us crush them on the glass.

Bingo. Harden was uncontested on his way to the rim because they stayed on the shooters so hard. I don't know what the adjustment will be for them because I doubt they want our role players to get hot. They did a much better job defensively during the regular season and probably will for game 2. They can't get any worse, that's for sure.

And I'm kind of glad EGo, Lou, and Ryno didn't shoot the ball well for game 1. We didn't need them to to blow out OKC by 30+ points. If they did shoot the lights out we would have won by 50 and it would have been a wasted effort. They better be on for game 2.