Ahh you cleared it up for me, I thought Mathlocker was going off at the OP and was totally confused. One thing I really hope for: Ryan Anderson keeping hot..
It looks like the Spurs 2nd highest scorer will be out the next game. Rockets just need Ariza to make his 3's and Williams coming off the bench to make shots
Winded from what? He had extra rest after the Thunder series. He only played 31 minutes in game 1. He played 34 in game 2. He decided it was a good idea to rest to begin the 4th quarter when the team was only down 5 when most of his teammates were off. This is where he lacks that killer instinct/by any means necessary attitude. He should refuse to sit and rest ... instead play the whole 4th quarter. Especially when you're a superstar and your teammates struggled all night and you're off too you should try to make it right by giving it all you have in the 4th when you're within striking distance.
Continues to let paul gasol as starter. I am surprise there is no foul for kawaii. Houston should win their home match to secure win the series
I think everyone is overthinking it. We need to do one thing better, and that's be more assertive/stronger when we are at the rim. They gave us the 3 ball in the first game and we took it. This time there were more opportunities inside, but these guys were expecting a bouquet of flowers at the rim. Instead they got their shots blocked, deflected, stolen. They didn't go up strong, otherwise we would have had 10 more trips to the line. If the Spurs weren't good at guarding the perimeter and basket at the same time, they wouldn't be the #1 defensive team in the league. When they're favoring one or the other, we have to shoot with confidence or drive with power. The cakewalk in game 1 didn't happen in the first round, and it won't happen again in the playoffs. Our guys stayed poised for 3 quarters against the #2 team and the best defensive team who were using every ounce of thought and energy they had and with the crowd spurring them on, no pun intended. We were within 1 quarter (5 points) of taking two wins on their court and that is incredible. Just have to keep doing what they did and make a tweak or two. If we play the exact same way but learn about what kind of shots are available at the rim, we will win both in Houston.
Game 1s against the Thunder and the Spurs were sort of a surprise, the cat fight continued from there.
This is it and if we get 10 to 15 points from the small forward the game is ours. Open up the rotation and finding the hot hand is the key. Make Kawhi play on both ends --> Opens up the game for our hero ( anyone ) to take over at the end for the win. Last nights game was winnable if just one player would have gone off in the fourth.
Forget about offense, this is about defense and rebounding. They scored 98 in the first 3 quarters. If we get more stops and rebounds we will get more transition plays and we'll be fine offensively. First, Ariza gotta do a much better job on Kawhi, he missed 3 shots, he looked so confortable. You're the defensive specialist, he can score 30 but you're supposed to make things harder for him, that's your role on this team. Also D'Antoni can't put Gordon on him a single minute, the size difference is too big. Put Harden on him, or Dekker/Troy, if Ariza is not on the court (he should be). After game 3 we'll see if we have to do something different with Leonard, if Ariza can't do it better. (Like trapping or putting Harden on him) Our centers had together 2 defensive rebounds. Pau grabbed 6 offensive ones only by himself. Rebounding is a key. The game was also a wake up call for all of our roster. Lou, Eric, James... Manu is going for the rebounds too. And they are going to move their bodies, you can't miss a matchup. Good news is this was supposed to happen in game 1. We now know them going 1-1 to Houston.
It's supposed to be a six or seven game series. Rockets will lose at least two games. I don't think anyone expected them to sweep the Spurs. This reminds me of the Spurs Clippers series a few playoffs ago where it was just blowout after blowout until the last two games were super close then Timmy retired. Maybe the Rockets will make Tony retire this year.
I felt for the most part, the Rockets showed up. They were poised from the tip and didn't get rattled at all by the Spurs energy, crowd, hot shooting etc. Rockets were focused defensively as well....the Spurs were just executing like no other (credit to them). Having said all that, the Rockets simply shot themselves in the foot with all the missed layups. Even with the biased officiating last night, the Rockets could have helped their case tremendously by converting their layups at a decent clip (like they normally have). Harden had a not so great game, but that was further exacerbated by not getting a single call at the rim. NOT ONE! Banged up or not.....he needs to (and will I believe) get those calls because he draws contact as a part of his game. The way he plays, officials have no choice BUT to call fouls for Harden, so I expect that to regress to the norm. Also, 50-50 balls. Rockets need to put in the Huffort to get those. Rockets had some great defensive stops but their inability to get ANY of the 50-50 balls or rebounds leading to 2nd, 3rd or 4th chance points just killed them and those were particularly deflating....also contributing to the eventual blow out in the 4th. Last night was the "Spur's Night". It was as if the script was written for the Spurs to win last night no matter what. Rockets ultimately achieved what they needed to do which was win 1 of the first 2. Coming back home, their 3s might be subpar but the layups, aggression, defensive focus and Huffort can and will be fixed. This team has answered the bell just about every time this season. I can certainly appreciate how difficult it is for them to win both games in SA. We all wanted it, but they are human. The conditions last night just did not favor them at all.
to be fair, harden did play a bad game last night, did you see how efficient Kwi was? How inefficient and turnover prone harden is? i almost envy the spurs. In my mind, harden will never reach the next level playing like this, he is too inefficient too often and if your team's no.1 option is like that, you will never get anywhere, forget about championships if harden can't elevate his game in the playoffs
It's a 5 game series now and we have home court... need to start fresh for game 3. Rebounding is key. We can't give them 2nd chances
The rockets seriously need to consider getting pics of Tony brothers with a stripper. With him gone, only a Ken Mauer could screw this game up for them.
