ClutchFans Game Thread: Blazers @ Rockets 4/20/2014 (Playoffs Round 1, Game 1)

Yeah, I think we lost both of those games.

 

Home court advantage ain't 5hyt... How in day hell do you go an entire half without going to the line.

I don't see the refs being so lopsided with their officiating going forward (hopefully). Too much national attention is being brought to it.

I definitely don't see Harden playing the way he did last night going forward either.

 

It was 4/20 i guess the blazers were meant to win

 

We will win next four no doubt

 

Put asik on aldridge
Howard on lopez
Bev was on lillard good until he got his 5th foul

 

Parson is not quick enough to defend shooting guard let alone point guard. Every point guard that Parson guard just totally destroy him off the dribble. McHale is a terrible coach for not seeing this. For all the love that Beverly get defensively, he gets repeatedly beaten off the dribble (without any pick-n-roll) by Lillard.

 

good point.

 

As long as we take game 2, I am alright with where things are. There is a lot to take from last nights game in order to make adjustments.

I dont see Lilliard & LMA getting 77 pts again in this series either.

 

I keep reading this but temper my thoughts with, "but we keep offering opposing players ample opportunities to have historic nights". And we sure as hell do.

Should we have won? I'd asked, "given our history, are we worthy?"

As their fan, I want them to win...very much so.

But this is the playoffs and this requires more "D" and less "3". And I haven't seen great defense...and that Harden video destroyed any hopes I have of him getting "it".

 

I've now read this entire thread. I've seen it touched on, but only by a minority. Is it so hard to acknowledge that for this game, the Blazers simply outplayed the Rockets? It wasn't the refs' fault (I can point to atrocious calls against the Blazers as well), it wasn't that we got lucky, it was that night we just executed our game plan better.

It may not happen again, we may lose the next four games, but all the analysis seems to be based on what the Rockets didn't do, rather than what the Blazers did do. Why do you think Harden's shot was off? Could it be that we ran him on defense? Why did LA get 46 and 18? He wasn't particularly efficient, we simply gave you a choice: Try to cover him one on one, or rotate over and leave an open man.

From a Blazer perspective, we live and die by the three. At one point, we were 1-12. Even though we ended up at 33%, it's unlikely we'll shoot the three that badly again. We only shot 35% for the first half. And our foul shooting--the best in the league--was awful, with 10 misses. Finally, our bench sucks, but it doesn't suck as much as it did last night. My point is you're focused on all the things that went right for us, without acknowledging how much went wrong.

Fandom comes from the heart. My heart wants to believe the Blazers are the better team. However, my head tells me otherwise. That being said, the Blazers had the superior plan going into last night's game and frankly worked a bit harder than the Rockets. There's no shame in giving credit to the Blazers for that one game and figuring out how to respond rather than complaining how the refs screwed you or your players didn't step up.

Anyway, it should be a great series. I still think for my Blazers to win the series, they're going to have to win at least one more in Houston. I really do hope that Beverley's knee is okay, because I want both teams at full strength. And whichever one of us advances to the next round, can we at least agree that we hate the Spurs and the Mavs? I know if Houston wins, I'll pull on my old Clutch City t-shirt (from the Clyde days) and root for the Rockets.

Cheers, and here's to a great series!

 

How long did it take you? And kudos for doing this on a forum that is about a team your team is playing.

 

I'd stick with the same game plan defensively, just hopefully not have Asik/Howard get into foul trouble. It will be a lot easier to play LMA 1-1 with both of them in the game.

 

**** beverley he is not a starting caliber point guard okay he brings to tremendous effort to this team and good rebounder also smart player but Here are the facts selfish player,3-point shot is not good,awful free throw shooter,no court vision and most important things is he doesn't know pick and roll.im not a big fan of jeremy lin but lin should start.

 

From a Blazer perspective, I really hope in real life you're Kevin McHale. Beverley gives my team fits and saps Lillard's energy much more than Lin does.

 

Disagree, Rockets were NOT outplayed.

 

The Blazers did outplay the Rockets. There was some luck involved, but isn't there always? Luck isn't the issue, and neither are the refs, the issue was teh Blazers were better.

This is a Rockets board.

Partially. But more just Harden looked at least a "little" nervous. These Rockets players are definitely feeling the pressure of the playoffs. You can tell by how they get TOO pumped up. Beverly, Parsons, Harden... they actually need to turn it down a notch, and focus a bit more on defense, and they'd be better.

What? LMA was an efficiency machine. 17-31. 10-13 from the line. He hit a clock running down, Dwight Howard in your face, slight fall away 3 pointer. 2-2 on his threes by the way... for a guy who was otherwise 3-15 on the season.

Yes, LMA always destroys the Rockets. It's a mental thing at this point. But also, YES... INDEED, LMA was on auto last night. Can he keep that up all series?

This I definitely agree with. I don't suspect some of the good things to go the Blazers way like they did last night. Refs (say what you want, for the Rockets to go 0-0 in the first half is crazy... evened out a bit in the second half, but the refs were bad for both teams, though on the whole favoring the Blazers... a lot. Consider instead of fouling out Dwight should have been shooting free throws to put the Rockets in the lead at the end there.). LMA going off.

But as you noted, a lot of things went "bad" for the Blazers, too. Batum played solid, but everyone else pretty much played average or below. 33% threes wasn't good. And FT % wasn't great... though I think that's a function of who was fouled. LMA and Lillard and Wes Matthews all shot their FTs great.

Your focusing too much on plan. the idea that Harden having to guard some early Wes Matthews post-ups, or the Rockets single-covering LMA was the key to the game seems dubious to me. The Rockets were up 10 with 4 minutes to go. Their game plan worked, until they choked (something Houston fan has seen time and time and time again)

The keys do indeed boil down to for all the things the Blazers could improve upon, their two stars played out of their mind, while the Rockets better players didn't. Want to talk about 3 point shooting, for example? The Rockets were 8-35. 8 for freaking 35. James Harden was 8-28. He is a league leader in efficiency. Howard was 9-21... he's a league leader in FG%.

Harden was missing bunnies. Shots at the rim. Free-throw line wide open jumpers. Howard just struggled struggled with his shot first half.

When it's said and done, Rockets fan, or Blazers fan... there is more room for the Rockets to improve and the Blazers to revert than there is otherwise.

That said, as you note...

I AGREE. It should be a great series. And definitely, the rockets may still continue to underpeform, and LMA may still continue to shine. He has it in him, for sure, especially against the Rockets. I can see the Blazers taking this 4-0 for all that I've typed above. Or I can see the Rockets taking it 4-1. That's the type of matchup it is.

 

Agree with what you said. Another thing that needs to be touched on is that the Blazer bench didn't produce at all. One can argue that there were not enough ball to go around, but you can also argue if Lillard & Aldridge don't go off like yesterday, there bench can go off and we would still be in trouble. If we don't fix our team defense, I see us being outed in 6, I hope this is not the case.

 

I didnt ignore the fact as much as the Rockets have to work on there is plenty for the Blazers as well.

The quick and early fouls on both Dwight and Asik sealed their fate when it came to defense so they couldn't put either of them on LA - which leaves the Rockets really thin up front. Either Jones or Motiejunas (though I wish D-Mo was given a chance). LA played almost as many minutes as Dwight and Asik did combined - and thats primarily due to both of them having to sit on the bench due to fouls. Now some of those fouls they can prevent but there were some bad offensive fouls called on Asik - and the last 3 on dwight were bad calls.

I dont expect either team to shoot so poorly from 3 - both teams had some wide open looks and shot poorly - that most likely will change. Harden's shot was off from the get go - as much as Blazers fan can say Matthews wore him down by trying to attack him in the post - watch the first quarter Harden missed 4-5 WIDE open 3s. Very unlike him - and at least in that juncture of the game there would be no way Matthews would have worn him down (late in the game I can totally accept that but not in the first quarter)

Even though LA went off - if Dwight and Asik can stay on the floor and not get some of the ticky tack calls that they got (which is my biggest issue last night the refs were wildly inconsistent either call ticky tack both ways or not call it at all - it changed in the third when the Blazers got called for some ticky tack - just ridiculous either call it the entire game both ways or just let it go) -- I feel better with our chances against LA with either of those guys guarding him the majority of the game. My bigger fear is Lillard torching the back court - Beverley is going to be limited but someone else needs to step up to that challenge. Portland has 2 good perimeter defenders in Batum and Matthews which gives them the ability to switch and pick up in transition better. The Rockets do not have that - Parsons' defense has regressed since his rookie year (thankfully he has more than made up for it by become a versatile offensive player) but in reality we need Parsons to go back to becoming that good defensive player he once was and expending the majority of his energy on defense. The Rockets scored 106 points in regulation with the team having a pretty poor game offensively - I think if the team as a whole plays like they normally do the huge first half Parsons had wouldnt be as needed and he can focus in defensively.

 

Nice to hear an outside perspective here.

Do the Blazers have a bunch of "MOFs" (Mo Williams only Fans) arguing that he should be starting and talking about how terrible Damian Lillard is? That's basically what we have on this board.

 

What?!

Where does he show selfishness?

His 3pt shooting is .361 @ the end of the season, not great, but descent and he has made several crucial ones in games. I'm fine with his 3pt shots.

Awful FT? @ .814, he is terrible???!!!

"No court vision & no pick & roll." They are not looking for that from him, the assists is Harden's job. They need him to play excellent defense, which he does and spot up shooting, which he does "ok".

I was for Lin to start at the beginning of the season, but I see the value of Beverley starting and also see the value of Lin coming off the bench to give us a boost. This is not reason why we lost. Our team defense sucks and we don't have anyone that can stop Aldrige.