ClutchFans Game Thread: Clippers @ Rockets 3/29/2014

I actually think it was a good match up. Now if only if the Rox could trap him more often than not. Having a smaller help defender would have been very effective. But you have to do so wisely as Paul is good enough to draw the foul when he's about to get trapped.

 

*yawn* The posts in this thread are SO predictable.

The Clippers are just a bad match up due to athleticism, speed down the floor and top shelf shot blocking in the paint. Toss in Doc Rivers' defensive schemes and adjustments and really not THAT much was surprising.

Parsons on CP3 makes perfect sense. If you have to guard BOTH Collison AND CP3, you put the smaller player (Lin) on Collison since Collison is WAY too fast for Parsons or Harden, and especially since CP3 has sometimes had issues in the past with longer players guarding him.

Lin didn't shoot well, but he was aggressive and got to the line some. Not a good performance by any means, but it wasn't due to lack of aggression.

For reference...

Lin - 10 points, 1/9 shooting, 2 TO
Collison 11 points, 4/14 shooting

Add that all up and given his assignment, Lin and Collison basically cancelled each other out.

So in terms of defensive assignments, he didn't do badly at all.

He got 2 shots blocked, but not surprising considering the Clippers' roster. Given the Clippers' shot blocking and athleticism, to be expected to some degree. The others were just cold shooting. It happens.

What killed us the most was the unnecessary turnovers. Lin had 1 bad TO, the 2nd TO was passing to the corner (which SHOULD have been filled with someone). Parsons was out of position on that play, so there was clearly a miscommunication.

Harden was very good offensively. Defensively he struggled most of the night. He was out of position multiple times and failed to contest more than once. His TO's however were definitely badly timed. 6 TO's is a LOT, even for Harden.

Parsons was also very good offensively, but he was out of his depth against CP3. Parsons basically had NO hope of defending CP3, especially considering the number of calls that CP3 gets AND that CP3 was red hot from the perimeter. If CP3 is hitting his 3's, he's basically unguardable.

Honestly, I don't think there's anyone on the team that would give CP3 a "hard time". CP3 is just too smart. Beverley can *barely* stay out of foul trouble against above average guards. CP3 would have him on the bench so fast his head would be spinning. No knock against Beverley, but there's literally nobody in the NBA that's managed to guard Chris Paul effectively. That's why he's considered the *best* PG in the NBA by many.

Complaining about us not being able to slow down Chris Paul is like complaining that you can't guard Harden, Melo or KD. He's going to get his, and not much you can do about it.

Asik was okay in the paint, but he was out of position more than a few times. Sometimes due to being forced to rotate to cover missed assignments (mostly CP3), other times in scramble situations off rebounds.

TJones was a complete no show tonight. Partially due to foul trouble, partially due to his inability to score in the paint against Deandre Jordan. 2 points, 1/4, 5 rebounds, 4 fouls. -20 in 19 minutes of play is by far the worst stat on the team.

Canaan scored (good) 14 points. He was aggressive going to the paint and shot well from the perimeter. Defensively he struggled even against the Clippers' bench. And giving up 4 TO's was NOT a good first outing. He needs a lot of work in terms of timing and chemistry, but it's to be expected considering his short time with the team and playing at NBA speed.

The Clippers have blown out the Rockets in every meeting. And this was actually our 2nd best performance in terms of point differential this season. And it wasn't all because of Blake Griffin + CP3. The Clippers are super fast and athletic all the way down the roster. They're playing under Doc Rivers. They also have WAY more experience playing together as a unit. AND they're playing their best basketball all season.

They were already a bad match up WITH Dwight. Without Dwight they're basically a nightmare for us to play, with or without Griffin.

I seriously wonder what people were actually expecting this game. They play directly into our weaknesses (scoring off turnovers, shot blocking, athletic speed to prevent transition buckets, high foot speed allowing them to close out and rotate quickly). And we were missing Howard so we didn't even have the benefit of being able to force a mismatch and play an inside-out game against them.

They also have a FAR superior bench to ours. Even WITH their injuries, the guys they did have (Big Baby, Jordan Crawford and Hedo Turkoglu) were substantially better than our bench right now (Canaan, Casspi, Garcia, Dmo). This showed in that the game was basically lost by the Bench at the end of the 3rd and the beginning of the 4th when an otherwise close game was run up to a 10 point lead by the Clippers.

Asik sets great screens, but he's not nearly the same PnR scoring threat that Dwight is. Dwight's post ups can make you wince, but the threat of his scoring creates a LOT of opportunities for other players on the roster.

On top of all that DeAndre Jordan was making his FT's against us. It was just that sort of night. They shot lights out, we didn't. Toss in everything else and it was pretty much expected.

Anyway, 4th seed. Dwight got rest. I'm sure the team would have liked to get a win against the Clippers, however now the Clippers are locked into OKC's bracket. And in my view that's a very, very good thing.

We're good enough to *possibly* get past OKC or the Clippers with some luck, but there's just NO way I see us getting through BOTH of them. This way we only have to beat ONE of them assuming we get through SAS, and it would be in the Finals.

And given that we're STILL 3 games ahead of Portland WITH the Tie breaker and only 8 games left to go, I'll take that result all day, every day and twice on Sunday.

Anyway, enough said. Back to the knee jerking. Enjoy your evening all....

 

I agree partly, but why didn't you want to comment on JLin? Harden played 42 min and was only -2. In other words, the rest of the deficit occured when Harden was not on the court (= 6 min). Motiejunas had +3 and Casspi +6, but all the rest had bigger - than Harden. The Rockets scored 107 against the Clippers, which is OK, but the Clippers were able to score more (and without Griffin). There is a problem in D. Also, I didn't understand the Garcia comment. He hit 50% of his 3PT shots and so did Canaan. If the starters had hit the 3PT shots at the "regular" 37% (intead of 21%), it would have been a 2 point game, which could have gone either way.

 

I agree that we needed someone more his size and who could match his quickness, i.e. Patrick Beverly. Chris Paul is a premier talent for a reason, though. There's only so much we can do, especially when shorthanded.

 

Harden had 6, but don't let facts get in the way of a Lin bashing.

 

One of the funnier things to read on the board is when Lin fans don't recognize fellow Lin fans being sarcastic.

 

It's because you focus too much on him. Try watching the rest of the team.

 

You're the biggest Lin fan out there. Always talking about your idol. Get a life and stop focusing on Lin so much. I know deep down you wish you were Lin.

 

Great post as always from the best poster on clutchfans, no surprise there. I hope this team can gel before the playoffs start with their current starting lineup. I think Asik hasn't hit last years level quite yet because of his long hiatus, I hope this team can get hot at the right time, I can't wait for the playoffs!

 

True, Jlin had only 3 TOs, while Harden had 6 and Canaan 4. In fact the Rockets had 19 TOs and the Clippers 9. It is strange that this is such a difficult thing for the Rockets to overcome.

 

I actually think that the JLin fans are ruining his game. Let the guy alone and let him play his game. You put so much expectations on him that his nerves can't take it.

 

Actually, I think Deandre Jordan and other elite shot blockers are more at fault for ruining his game. He needs to trust his midrange game more, but on this team, he is not really encouraged to take the midrange J.

 

We lost to the Clippers with Both Dwight & Bev out...I wish it was a win (pretty peeved that it wasn't a W), but this was a 50/50 game that went the Clippers way.

With 2 starters out & a cold shooting night, not to mention the turnovers..., we did well to be that close.

I just hope & pray that everyone is healthy come Playoff time.

 

Honestly, it's not.

We play at a high pace = more TO's
We push transition = more TO's (High risk, high reward)
We drive to the basket a ton = more TO's, especially when we don't get whistles

Our style of play generates a disproportionately high number of TO's.

For example...

Here are the top 5 teams in TO's per game... http://www.teamrankings.com/nba/stat/turnovers-per-game

1) Philadelphia
2) Houston
3) Denver
4) OKC
5) Phoenix

Now here are the top 5 teams in Fastbreak points per game.... http://www.teamrankings.com/nba/stat/fastbreak-points-per-game

1) Phoenix
2) Clippers
3) Houston
4) Detroit
5) Philadelphia

Basically, as long as we push the ball and play a fast pace, we're going to have more TO's. As long as we drive into the paint often, we're going to get more TO's, *especially* if we're not getting a lot of foul calls (contact) or disadvantageous calls (offensive fouls).

Are there silly TO's by the team? Sure. However, some of them are truly silly TO's, others are 50/50 calls, and others are miscommunication due to this being the first year together with several major line up changes and a major piece in Dwight.

And then there are the TO's generated by Dwight who adds 3.3 TO's per game by himself.

While annoying and sometimes costly, I suspect a good part of the TO's are simply the cost of the way we do business. Kind of like a hidden possession tax for playing so fast and so aggressively in the open court and the driving lanes.

In the end, it can't be ALL bad since we're still on track for 55ish wins...

 

I wonder where Lin's floater went? There was no chance in scoring from layups - the clippers d packed the paint so that no one could drive against them. ball should have moved more. such a frustrating team for the rockets to play against. and cp3 is so gangster lol

 

Finally some smart analysis! Completely agree with what you said and more so with the analysis on all the players and just focusing on one player.

 

Huh? A LOF deflecting blame to Harden, what a shocker.

The whole team was trash defensively, Harden didn't make anymore defensive mistakes than Lin or anyone else.

 

CF needs to be a little more united, especially when its obvious the other team is flat out better, our players tried hard, we lost, lets move on

 

Even Lin was frustrated at his play. Why can't you admit it? When given the chance to step up, he failed.

Even our rookie PG played more fearless than he did. Sure, Canaan committed TOs, but he also did many good things.