ClutchFans Game Thread: Thunder @ Rockets 5/3/2013 (Playoffs Round 1, Game 6)

I wonder if those people who wore Texans jerseys to the Rockets game tonight realized how utterly foolish they looked.

 

I'm not even questioning our acquisition of Harden, not even for a second.

I think people are undervaluing Harden's impact on our young guys' growth, especially Parsons and Asik.

Our young guys are not getting the opportunities to utilize their strengths without Harden as the focal point.

We are where we are because of our best player, we may be bummed by the results, but there is no way in hell that we'd be better off if we didn't acquire Harden.

We now have legitimate aspirations, instead of just having a bunch of jumbled pieces scrounged together--finishing outside of the playoffs.

We have bright days ahead.

 

What you said is true... but problems remain to be solved

ISO stuff, weak in closing out 4th quarters, too reliant on 3 pointers,
digging holes of 10+ or 20 points early in first halves

 

Have you read this board? People are blaming Harden for our poor improvement in job growth numbers.

Harden had one bad game in this series and it's all him for not leading an 8-seed to a series win over a 1-seed.

Give me a break. Harden goes for 26 pts, 5 ast., 7 rebs a game, but it's all on him for the team's failure, but Lin gets no blame?

Again, we will end this series with Lin averaging 4 pts, 2 assists and 2 rebounds a game. Why are we making excuses for him again?

I just don't get it. He shoulder wasn't out of socket or seriously damaged. He can play. He can veto the doctors and staff and play. I'm sure Harden wasn't cleared with Strep throat, but he played.

This is a league of free will. You want to play, no one is going to stop you. It's up to you how bad you want to play. Lin didn't want to play for 2 games. That's fine. It's up to him. Again, I'll take the guys who don't give a sh#t about the flu, strep throat, sprained shoulders, sore knees, etc.

When you bring home millions, you can make the call. Jeremy didn't make that call. That is a fact. I won't ignore it while others played through much worse during these playoffs.l

 

Harden is our franchise player, he did not play consistently at an elite level--so he should shoulder most of the blame.

As for Lin, the verdict is still out on his toughness. He didn't play in the playoffs for the Knicks at "85%" when he didn't have a contract.

And he missed multiple games even though he secured a 24 million dollar contract with the Rockets.

I can't blame people for questioning Lin's toughness or competitive fire, especially when Beverley played with all that fire--throughout most of the series

 

Harden can handle running the offense just fine back when he had Lin to get the entire defense moving first. He did. We saw an entire stretch of games of it in the regular season and we looked nearly invincible doing it, but we stopped doing it inexplicably. We only saw a single instance of it this game. We need more. Harden needs more. That's how we get easy shots consistently. Harden is not doing himself any favors being "the guy."

When we go full Harden, we are far too dependent on the outside shot. Most of Harden's drives are met with triple/quadruple/quintuple team in the paint. The one time this game Lin started the drive and the entire defense reacted, he handed it to Harden and Harden had the easiest drive for a layup he had the whole game. That's what we need to go back to, not Harden trying to attack a set defense then "facilitate" to his teammates after getting a quintuple team in the paint. That mostly creates outside shots and TOs. That's a fool's game. Players don't "faciliate" well with five guys on them.

As you can see from this series after Westbrook went down, even Durant struggles to run the offense when he is the only player who can move the entire defense. As adept offensively as Reggie Jackson is, he can't move the entire defense; he doesn't require the attention and movement Westbrook requires. Jackson can beat one defender occasionally for an easy basket, but not enough for the entire defense to kneejerk when he starts a drive. Sure, it works alright when the outside shots are falling, but they are never going to fall as consistently as the easy shots Durant creates for everybody when he has Westbrook to move the entire defense for him first. Without Westbrook OKC is just like us going full Harden: Good, but not elite; very mortal and overly dependent on outside shots falling.

 

I doubt he could have played last year. Just look at how long it took for him to get back into game shape this season.

My memory's fuzzy, but I believe I also read he wasn't even cleared by doctors.

If by multiple games you mean he missed 2 with a chest contusion, then yeah he's missed multiple games.

 

Before the series I said I would be happy if we even made it to 6. And we did. Before the season I said I would be happy if we just made the playoffs. And we did. Around this time last year, we were all just dreaming about having a nice team and look at us now... The youngest team in the league with a budding superstar, major cap room, and a mastermind GM. We're putting notches on our belt the same way OKC did, and in a few years (maybe even sooner), we are going to be one dangerous team. I just wish more fans could appreciate that (looking at you lower bowl seats) instead of all this drama about Lin, McHale, and Harden.

 

Even when Westbrook has one of those nights when he can't throw a rock into the ocean--he opens the floor up for everyone on that team.

He's just so freaking fast and athletic that he commands everyone's attention. Durant is great, but he's not nearly as great, without Westbrook.

The guy just wreaks havoc

 

Good perspective, very mature.

I agree with you on many levels, this playoff series has been critical to Harden's, Parsons', Asik's and Beverley's growth.

Lin barely played, so I'm not even sure if he got anything out of this bout.

Asik, Parsons, and Beverley were bright spots. We need to pencil them in to our teams' future.

 

Trade Chandler Parson while his value is still high for LaMarcus Adridge. Sign Dwight Howard. Sign either Corey Brewer, Kyle Corver, JJ Reddick or Iguadala.

Get rid of Greg Smith...keep Terrence Jones...keep Lin...keep Beverley....keep Delfino....keep Brooks....get rid of Garcia...don't let the Playoffs fool you, this guy have deficiency in his game, he can't attack the basket and not athletic. Basically a spot up shooter and thrive in the Rockets offense because well, anybody can thrive in this type of offense. Great defender but the price is not worth to keep him.

 

Um, you do realize that Lin is an employee of the Rockets? On a contract that specifically states that it's up to the Rockets when he is on the court, or even on the Roster for the night?

He's not Kobe or Lebron. He doesn't get to tell McHale, Morey or Alexander when he wants to play and gets minutes or is on the Roster.

And being sick is completely different than being injured. Just as there are all types of injuries.

Teams aren't stupid. They have well defined rules in terms of when they allow a player to play or not. They have millions of dollars tied up in those players as investments.

Teams aren't going to be reckless with Player health unless there's a huge potential upside or very small downside.

Harden playing with strep isn't going to make the strep worse, especially when he's on antibiotics.

If you don't think teams can tell you to sit your butt down regardless of you wanting to play or not then I don't know what to say...

 

I wouldn't say 26/6/7 is "stinking it up." He was our best player throughout the series and had one bad game out of 6. That's phenomenal production from a guy who hasn't had any experience leading a team in the playoffs. He'll cut down on his boneheaded plays as he gets older.

 

Durant just averaged 36-9-6 on 51% shooting in 4 games without Westbrook. He elevated his game. He may be even greater without Westbrook. It's the team that's not nearly as great without Russ. Durant's still phenomenal.

 

if you want to let the numbers blind you, go right ahead. I prefer the eye test to gauge a players' performance.

Harden made many ill-advised plays in critical junctures of the game. Our leader is supposed to be better than that, especially when we're defending our home turf.

Harden is young, but that doesn't give him a pass. He is our franchise player, and the brunt of the blame rests on his shoulders.

We go as Harden goes, and despite the numbers you are enamored by, he did not have a superstar performance.

Harden only had 1 game--where he looked like his superstar self, and that was in game 5.

 

Durant is #2 in MVP voting for a reason. He's obviously great at what he does. Just you wait til Durant faces the Memphis Grizzlies and Tony Allen, Durant's reliance on Westbrook's game is going to be magnified, that much more.

 

I'm still having a difficult time fathoming how Derek Fisher became an X-factor in this series.


smh......

 

I think we are all not giving credit to their starting PG, Westbrook's backup.

 

the team i think overachieved. lin honestly i believe would be an excellent 6th man like harden was in OKC. we really need to go out to get an experienced PG he could learn from or if he goes to a team we can get a serious PF.

also somehow we have to get rid of Royce White, enough is enough, potential or not.

 

Sorry, clutch, just ain't going to read this one. Looks too damn depressing...