1. Welcome! Please take a few seconds to create your free account to post threads, make some friends, remove a few ads while surfing and much more. ClutchFans has been bringing fans together to talk Houston Sports since 1996. Join us!

Some random thoughts b/w game days

Discussion in 'Houston Rockets: Game Action & Roster Moves' started by ibm, May 20, 2015.

  1. ibm

    ibm Member

    Joined:
    Dec 18, 2007
    Messages:
    8,600
    Likes Received:
    60
    i am not working right now (waiting on sth.), so i'd like to share some thoughts with fellow clutch fans.

    1) we shall not whine too much about the refs.
    i know last night the calls were clearly in the home team's favor. what upset me werent those moving screens by gsw or green's antics. all teams do moving screens and its almost impossible for them to call every single one of them. what upset me were those clear fouls on harden's drives that werent called. though this also reflects the over-reliance of the refs calls in harden's game, its not his fault. but nba refs suck, and more so than say those in football and baseball. its been a longstanding reality. so make peace with it. i understand our anger is reasonable and inevitable, but good teams find ways to win bball games despite all hurdles.

    2) dwight's injury.
    had dwight not been injured, the way the game went would've been different for sure. but it would not necessarily translate into a win for us. like mchale said, we lost not because dwight's injury. we lost because we didnt get to enough loose balls, and we finished poorly at the rim (26 for 51 at the rim iirc). we can do better. and once we do, we can win against this gsw team, no matter how good they are - home or away. we've been plagued by injuries all year long, but i believe at some point our luck will turn for the better b4 its too late.

    3) the oracle crowd.
    the oracle arena crowd is so overrated. when we're ahead by 10+, notice how quiet it was. lol.

    4) clutch city reborn?
    is this truly a special year for us and we will win it all? i am not sure. my heart wants to believe what kenny smith said ("it's happening"), but my head isnt totally convinced.

    5) curry & the mvp story, etc.
    i have no problem of him winning the mvp (sorry, james harden). he's amazing to watch. but he's one of these weaker mvp's. no question about that either. i've watched many of his games. i observe his demeanor. i've watched his mvp speech on youtube. while he acts like a perfect kid, i am not totally convinced. somehow his "coolness" feels unreal to me. him bringing his baby daughter (a adorable baby) to the podium last night was more politician-like. this kind of packaged coolness feels somewhat fake to me, because it comes w/ an excessive amount of sense of entitlement. and i am not just talking about curry here. many next-generation nba stars seem to have this issue. but at meantime i also doubt maybe i am just showing my age and its a generation gap type of thing.

    (just picked up a phone call and the rest of my thoughts are gone. dont wanna undo or redo my typing, so i just post it here. mod feel free to delete or merge as you see fit.)
     
  2. basketballholic

    Joined:
    Feb 5, 2013
    Messages:
    17,516
    Likes Received:
    4,170
    1. Yes, agree.

    2. Yes, agree.

    3. Yes, noticed this too. Very easy to shut them down.

    4. I hope so. But for it to happen, Howard is going to have to be good and come back ok from this ding. And Smith is going to have to play great for extended games. Ariza is going to have to continue to do what he's doing. We're going to have to continue to get great run out of Pablo and Brewer and Terry. And Harden is obviously going to have to stay healthy.

    5. Don't agree. That baby-faced assassin is tough as nails.
     
  3. basketballholic

    Joined:
    Feb 5, 2013
    Messages:
    17,516
    Likes Received:
    4,170
    My one random thought:


    We have beaten teams all season by playing defense, getting steals, forcing bad shots, and getting out in transition. Now we're playing the Warriors and it was obvious early that McHale is going to attempt to win this series by going big and slowing the pace down when the Warriors go small. He isn't going to try to run with them. But rather he's going to try to slow it down and muscle them out of their small-ball lineup.

    Sure hope it works. It is thinking out of the box.
     
  4. Rocket River

    Rocket River Member

    Joined:
    Oct 5, 1999
    Messages:
    61,162
    Likes Received:
    28,677
    OverReliance. . . . Since he cannot rely on the Refs. . . what are his options
    1. Don't Drive - cause they won't call fouls
    2. Only Take Jumpers

    So cut of 50% of his offensive game . . make it even easier on the defense?


    Rocket River
     
  5. ipaman

    ipaman Contributing Member

    Joined:
    Nov 23, 2002
    Messages:
    13,020
    Likes Received:
    7,784
    #1, don't tell me what to do.

    #2-5, I agree.
     
  6. Ziggy

    Ziggy QUEEN ANON

    Joined:
    Jun 11, 1999
    Messages:
    36,721
    Likes Received:
    13,113
    I do not agree on 3. All NBA crowds go silent during that situation. They still have a top 3 home court.
     
  7. SemisolidSnake

    Joined:
    Jul 12, 2013
    Messages:
    4,921
    Likes Received:
    5,803
    I'd say we lost because we kept Dwight in too long when he was clearly hobbled in the second quarter, and that hurt that group on the floor and partially allowed the Warriors to get back in it.

    Not finishing at the rim really is the killer. I thought it would be free throws, but we missed waaaaay more than 3 easy layups or putbacks, and that would won us the game. If McHale recognizes this, he needs to sit Jones, who is the number one offender in this regard.

    Now, I've been on Jones all day, but what's been driving me insane the whole playoffs is him getting the ball right next to the basket and putting it on the floor instead of going straight up with it. Over and over and over. This guarantees he's getting swatted, forcing up a now-difficult shot, or getting fouled. This is Asik all over again, except without the huge body on defense or the rebounding. Capela keeps the ball high, plays tall and long, and shot better at the line than Jones last night. I don't care what role Jones fills at any second in the game; he's a drag on the team when he plays like this and just shouldn't be out there.
     

Share This Page