ClutchFans Game Thread: Rockets @ Lakers 4/17/2013

fixed. Sorry but allstar level is hardens limit until his game improves. Living at the FT line depending on the refs for 50% of your points isn't the sign of a true franchise player. He needs to develop just like every other rookie because he plays like a damn robot on offense.

 

Harden was taking it to the rack but Howard was beasting defensively down low.

 

fair enough, I went to bed after that and am glad I did.

 

In Harden's defense, far more often than not, a mid-air collision under the basket results in freethrows. And Howard hacked the crap out of him in the final 5 minutes, when it mattered most. Howard played good D the entire game up to that point, but Harden really need to stop playing to get fouled and instead play to make the bucket.

 

Those weren't bad no calls. To be fair, I thought Howard stood straight up and down and Harden was trying to force the contact.

Tough loss though, we had plenty of chances to put it away.

 

after a night of sulking in my own disgust over that lost, i am grateful that our team fought all year to get into the playoffs. Is this the best that we envisioned them? probably not, but hey, at least they're still fighting and growing as a team. I think as fans, we naturally want our teams to succeed as soon as possible, without looking at what's real.

Houston is still the youngest team in this playoffs and it's a big part of the learning curve. i'm going all in and i'm excited to see how our team does against one of the best teams. If we were to ever consider ourselves 'championship contenders,' we are going to have to come to a point to where we feel confident in beating, anyone.

For now, let's enjoy this ride and be grateful for our team's successes and failures.

 

They did, Harden hammered, no call.

 

LOFs:
Jeremy dribbles the ball off his knee out of bounds - it's McHales fault!
Jeremy misses free throw - its McHales fault
Jeremy misses wide open shot - it's McHales fault



The sad thing is all the whinny b**** LOFs that make it so hard to cheer for Jeremy because I think he has a chance to be a top notch point guard and really hope he succeeds. But guess what?!!! Sometimes it's the players fault and not the coaches fault.

 

Being 'Content' is dangerous in the NBA.
A decade of meritocracy and irrelevancy can follow.

 

Sorry guys, this is a foul EVERY SINGLE TIME.

 

We got outrebounded by 11, which basically turned into 11 extra possessions for the Lakers. We should've played Dmo with Asik.

 

dmo is so hesitant these days. he knows one mistake will lead him to the bench. tjones was like that earlier, but i think mchale told him the minutes are his

 

Is Dmo a better rebounder than TJones or Greg Smith?

 

sadly, a lot of those extra rebounds were offensive, due to LAL missing some shots badly hard off the rim... and somehow their guards were at the right place, right time. Yes I was yelling "Seriously? Get the ball!" but sometimes it just bounces your way. Yes, their bigs outrebounded us, but when Steve Blake has 7 rebounds, you know there's some sht flying back out... and then LAL gets a 3...

 

People like you that starts XOF/XOH thing is outdated, and are annoying.

 

for the most part Howard jumped straight up and that's not supposed to be a foul.

 

we lost the game ourselves this time, not the refs.

 

Fans: Geez why isnt Lin in 5 mins earlier?
Delusional LOH: Lin sucks! He missed open shots!

Fans: This is some of the worst coaching I've ever seen.
LOH: It's coach's fault that Lin sucked! ROFLOLMAO

Fans: I hate ISO ball, it rarely works.
LOH: Who you want Harden to pass it to? Lin? He sucks!

You guys are just as delusional.

 

Clutchfans isn't even discussions about the Rockets anymore....

It's just an eternal whining of Lin vs. Harden vs. Mchale...what a shame....

 

Sorry, my fellow Rockets fans, Having read some more comments about our dear Mchale, I will have to say a few more things here. BTW everyone is entitled to their own opinions and there is no need to agree with what I am gonna say.

We all know, except some superstars like Kobe, Lebron and a few more, all players(not just in NBA) always have to listen to and follow coaches instructions and game plans to play their games. No players can or dare to make their own calls on the court regardless of how they may not agree with their coaches. Do you remember the game the Knicks playing against the Raptors in last season? Lin took a look back at D'antoni for getting a permission to make his own call. Eventually Lin did play ISO and hit the game-winning shot. Again no players would make his own call on the court without their coaches consent.

Let's just talk about last few Rockets games, it was obvious that the 'only' game plan Mchale had was to instruct Harden to play ISO one after another one. If Harden was hot, he would probably hit all those shots and got us some wins. Unfortunately that wasn't the case. This is somewhat pointless to blame it all on Harden. As I said, Harden is not yet big enough (maybe in the future) to call his own play on the court, then please let us know who would be the one to design those "ISOs" especially in the 4th quarter that is usually the most critical moment in a game. Yep, that's right, none other than Dear Mchale.

How often have we seen a scenario like this? Lin seemed to be playing well and helping the Rockets in the 3rd quarter in a game, the he was benched starting around 3-4 minutes left until he was put back again with 4-6 minutes left in the 4th quarter. Lin is a momemtum type of player who goes off and keeps running until end of a game. It is like you start off an engine and it seems to be running smooth, then you turn it off and restart it later again. What do you expect, especially this is a new engine? That was how he played and was played in the Knicks under D'antoni. In the Rockets, when he was playing well in the 3rd quarter (often the Rockets was leading) and then was benched for no obvious reasons. He would then be put back late in the 4th quarter (often the Rockets was from leading to losing). Don't take my word, the season has been played and you can find plenty of those games in the internet to review. For god's sake, he is only 24 and not a 40 years old PG. Can Mchale ever once try to make some playing time adjustments for letting Lin play through the 3rd quarter into the 4th quarter when the team is leading or he is playing well? (Yes, He may have done a couple of time). What I mean here is to make it regularly and consistently.

Trolling will not be called 'trolling' if it doesn't come with negativity. Objectively speaking, Harden and Lin have done their duties fairly enough and have led the Rockets into the playoffs. They both had ups and downs but did do their share. Personally I don't mind or care you are LOF, LOH, HOF, HOH or whatever, I can live with that. It is understable that why there are fans who hate LOF, LOH, HOF and HOH. It is just among fans. Please bear in mind that what fans say will have absolutely no impact on how players play their games. If they had to keep checking how their fans say about their games, they might as well quit their NBA for good. Trolling is always part of the game and is existing not just in the Rockets fan forums but elsewhere as well. We just don't pay attention to others as it may not concern us. I started watching NBA when Patrick Ewing was drafted by the Knicks, when the Rockets won those 2 championships with Olajuwon. However I have never joined any NBA forums or whatsoever until this season of NBA. Even I was a big fan of Yao's, I still didn't join the clutchfan forum. All I did was just reading comments from it. This season it would be interesting to watch Harden and Lin with the Rockets, so i am decided to join the forum. Sometimes label those members who join the forum this season as LOF etc may not be as correct as people think. Trolling is always around the corner regardless. Therefore just remember no argument is a strong argument without proven or substential facts. In NBA games, there are more things to be taken into consideration when it comes to objective comments. Box score is not the only thing to base on.

I think I have made my point and shouldn't be writing more. You be the judge. BTW, there will be a lot missing points here and there, your understanding is greatly appreciated.

"We didn't have ball movement and sticky"
when your game plan is ISO one after another one?