ClutchFans Game Thread: Rockets @ Spurs 11/30/2013

His biggest play of the game was when he made Parker change his shot near the end in the 4th quarter. That was huge for us.

 

Dwight's biggest play was that offensive rebound that led to Harden's game-tying 3. I love Omer, but no way in hell does he get that board a year ago.

And BTW, he also deserves props for making his final 3 free throws during the Hack-a-Dwight segment of the 4th quarter.

 

How are the Clippers still seeded ahead of us? Sorry if someone already answered this.

 

they are leading in the loss column.

 

They're winning their division.

 

Division champs

 

Ah, okay... thanks. That sucks.

 

I stand corrected then.
I missed that sequence which lead to Harden tying the 3. Only got back to see the replay.

I posted this in the Fire McHale Thread but i'll post it here too:

There are observations which just an average fan can observe - I want to know why our coaching staff aren't noticing the same things.

1) This travels back to last season as well.
When the going gets tough in the 4th quarter our offense stops and we launch away from downtown to try to get back in the game.
Sometimes it works, other times it doesn't. And for a few minute stretch in the 4th we produce next to nothing offensively because we just fire away from downtown to try to reduce the deficit in a hurry.
Meanwhile we play defense, stop the opponents lead from ballooning, and eventually start attacking the rim again and generating buckets.
If that few minute stretch of horrible shot attempts is eradicated and we just continue plugging away at the rim - we continue to score and reduce the lead setting us up for a better chance to win the game.

2) We heard before the season started that the team was more focused on stopping the corner 3 ball.
Tonight, and in previous games our defensive ideology has been to pack the paint on a lot of the penetration and leave players on islands outside. It resulted in a couple of Spurs' 3 pointers tonight.
Why are we leaving Belinelli wide open. Why are we leaving Bonner wide open. Why are we doubling/triple/quadruple teaming a penetrating Ginobili when often times Asik/Dwight is capable of changing the play (I know the Spurs had a few dump offs to the big man when Asik/Dwight double the penetrator but our help defenders weren't leaving their man to stop that - they were leaving their man to stop the ball handler)

3) WHY FOR THE LOVE OF GOD did we continue time and time again to push up on Tony Parker in the Spurs' half court offense.
He had a feast on simply driving past his man when this happened.
Brooks had a couple of plays where he sagged off a little and Parker eventually took the jumper - and missed. Amazing.

4) Garcia and Asik ran a beautiful 2 man play yesterday when Garcia drove in from the corner and attracted Asik's big man - once he could see the help coming made a beautiful bounce pass to Asik for an easy dunk.
We NEED a play drawn up where Harden and Howard are the only Rockets players on one side of the court and run this play to death either letting Harden penetrate one on one or feeding Howard for the lob or an easy finish like Garcia created for Asik.
It's almost 20 games into the season and we still don't have a stock standard play we can go to and generate an easy bucket out of.
(this would also alleviate the problem mentioned in example 1)
There are so many variations they could make from this play as well that it quite frankly leaves me dumbfounded that we aren't exploited our two best players' best talents offensively.

 

forget what i said.

 

They lead their division, and that automatically gets them the 4 seed.

 

They lead their division regardless of record.

They will hold their 4th position until the Rockets can come up with a better record than OKC or the Blazers we are stuck behind them.

 

Division winner is guaranteed no lower than the 4th seed, although they will not have home court advantage against the 5th seed if their record is worse.

 

Okay, so am I understanding this correctly? If playoffs were tomorrow, SAS and Portland would automatically get the top 2 slots b/c they're leading their divisions and have the best records, and OKC would bump Clips to automatic 4th because their record is better? Then everybody else is seeded solely by record?

 

^^ Yeesh, that sounds poorly worded. Hopefully someone can interpret lol.

 

Dragic was already a Rocket.
Where was he when we needed his production during the 6-7 game losing streak at the end of the season two years ago?

 

Don't worry guys, Blazers are dropping. Top 4 teams in the West are OKC, LAC, HOU, and SAS. They will be jockeying for position all season long.

 

Not exactly. The second and third place are up for grabs depending on record. Just the 4th place is taken by the lowest division leader.

 

Basically, yes. Division leaders get a top 4 seed, but it still goes by record.

Kind of a weird system, notice how Toronto is 4th place in the East even though they have a 6-9 record.

It's the NBA's way of making divisions matter.

 

The top 4 seeds in each conference are awarded to the 3 division winners and the team with the best 2nd place division record. For example if playoffs started today:

1. San Antonio(SW division leader, best overall record)
2. Portland(NW Division leader)
3. OKC(Best record among 2nd place teams)
4. LA Clippers(Pacific division leader)

Seeds 5-8 are determined by best record

 

That was an incredible game tonight. When we were up by 23, I knew we were going to give up the lead. When we were down 90-85, I thought for sure we were gonna lose. The Dallas game all over again.

But we should heart and resiliency. I am very impressed with this team, and how good they have gotten in such a short time. And to think we will continue to get better as the season goes along.

James Harden was fantastic tonight. Dwight Howard was sensational on the defensive end, and even had a couple nice jams.

Patrick Beverly with the clutch tip! And I hope Parsons is okay, we really need that guy. Our 3rd best player; he started off slow this year but damn is he good.

Great team win by everyone, haven't been this excited about the Rockets in awhile, if ever.