Capela Game 1: +27 Game 2: -4 Game 3: -15 Game 4: -25 Total: -17 Nene Game 1: +3 Game 2: +8 Game 3: +7 Game 4: +24 Total: +42 Is it really any mystery why OKC has won the 1Q in this series? MDA has got to figure something out for this guy. He is absolutely clueless out there, especially after Game 1.
Nene needs to star tover Capela Ego needs to start over Rhyno Move Ariza to small ball 4 Result: Rockets blowout win in game 5
To be fair, it was pretty obvious this was going to happen. There were signs pointing to Clint being too soft all season. He seemed to figure it out there near the end of the season. But the playoffs are an entirely different beast. This is Capela's first playoffs as a starting center. He had Dwight to shoulder the blame before. He'll be fine. He just needs to continue growing and improving from his mistakes. He'll eventually come up big for us. Until then, be thankful Morey got us Nene. What an acquisition this year.
MDA won't do it but he should. Capela against 2nd unit will be crucial, since Adams, Taj, Gasol, LMA and all the other possible centers and forwards will eat him alive.
Game 1 OKC wasn't prepared for how good Harden was downhill with Capela pick and roll. From there on Billy D made a concerted effort to take it away and when Clint isn't catching lobs he just clogs up the paint and becomes useless on offense. And he's too weak to handle Kanter/Adams defensively and on the boards. There are two options the way I see it: 1. Nene starts and Clint only plays in limited stints - only vs Kanter or when Gibson is the primary big. Gibson may back him down but Clint's length can affect him for sure. TBH I don't even think he needs to play against Kanter. From what I saw, Ryno can hold his own 1v1 vs Kanter in the post. Which really leads us to option 2. 2. Nene starts and Clint never sees another damn minute in the game. Trez takes his spot.
It's not Capela's fault I DO NOT WANT CAPELA IN THE GAME it's because all Harden and Lou try to do is force it in to him. They aren't setting him up, they are telegraphing it every single time and it's leading to turnover after turnover after turnover. It's embarrassing to watch.. it's like little league sh/t. They are not good passes, he is not open and they telegraph it so far ahead of time OKC can be set up for it. It's laughably bad. Capela is an awesome player and it's unfortunate we can't have him on the court, because what Harden and Lou do when they are on the court with him, make our team suck The roll and lob and all that is efficient with Capela, but not when you don't set it up and not when you telegraph it so far ahead of time.. that you're going to force it no matter what.
That's the thing. Obviously you can't play Nene for 48 minutes, but maybe MDA can switch things up to where we're not playing from behind the entire game. It is highly advantageous to have Westbrook trying to heroball OKC back into a game from behind. He has been able to play under control for the most part in Games 3 and 4 because OKC has had a constant cushion. Look, MDA made two great adjustments today. 1, he limited Capela's 2H minutes and pulled the plug very quickly. 2, he employed hack-a-Roberson at the most high leverage point of this series and let Donovan hang himself by leaving Roberson in. MDA's next adjustment should be to start Nene, and give Trez some minutes. Capela should get a very short leash in Game 5.
You guys are forgetting that Clint has to play with Ryan . He had 4 blocks last game along with 10 boards. Yes he is limited offensively , but Ryan should be able to provide spacing ... Anderson playing like a huge p***y has hurt Clint's looks a lot. Look , Clint hasn't been great, but up until this game Ariza and Ryan having pathetic nights hurt us worse , especially considering they are vet players. Clint will figure it out .
22 year old rookie essentially. The home crowd will help him immensely. (But I would take a long look at playing Montrezl If Clint can't finish off those bounce passes)
Nope. Clint has hurt Anderson. They're defending our pick and roll with no help. They're able to blanket Anderson and still thwart our pick and roll. Clint can't even get the pick set. He's the source of the offensive stagnation. Which is forcing Anderson to have to come in and offensive rebound just to give us a chance. I'm not a big Anderson fan. He's limited. But he's not the source of our problems. It's Capela. It's been Capela all season. Then in the defensive end he's useless. Only thing he can do is work blindside and try to catch the drivers unawares. But post defense? They're eating him alive. And looking for the matchup to burn us with it.
It's OK. OKC bigs are just too big too physical for Clint. But look ahead, both Spurs or Warriors doesn't have too much of physical bigs to throw at us. Aldridge might be, but I think Clint will do a much better job after this round.
We are 3-1 in this series and owned the 4th quarter. I don't mind Capela starting the game as our system works late in the game and the 2nd quarter. If we move Nene to the starting lineup, then OKC could get on a roll later in the game when he sits. Plus we need to keep Nene rested and not over play him. He is vital for our team to succeed as we pointed out earlier in the year where the Rockets consistently lost games when he sat for rest. The most important thing we need to do is get Roberson off of James. We did very well in the 1st game with the switches but that ain't working now. And our 3-pt shooting has been sluggish and timid. Game #5- if we get off to a slow start then foul Roberson a few times to keep it close in the first quarter. OKC will be forced to take him out or play him differently. This should free up Harden again to look for open spot up shooters.
Clint reminds me some of Tyson Chandler. Few people remember his years with the Bulls, the team that drafted him. He was just too skinny, refused to gain weight and was nothing but frustration to them. After reaching his late 20s, Chandler was heavy enough to compete every night, not get pushed around like a stick figure and anchor championship level defenses. Clint is a slow project and he can't be sped up. One of these years he will be very good on another team. Not sure the Rockets can wait for him to grow up on Harden's watch. He's signed for next season but in the summer of 2018, some team will offer him a big contract and the Rockets will have a difficult decision to make.
