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

Beverley takes less shots per minute than Lin.... so don't see how he is selfish.

Beverley has a higher three point field goal percentage than Lin.

Beverley and Lin have an almost identical free throw percentage.

Looks to me like you don't know what you are talking about.

 

The way I saw it, Portland had nearly the perfect storm and the game still came down to the Rockets giving it away.

Outside of Parsons' hot first half, nothing went right for the Rockets and the refs absolutely tied one arm behind their back with the early foul calls on our bigs.

I still see this as the Rockets' series to lose. Rockets in 6.

 

I missed it, when did Mosanity happened? Stop stirring the fire, both sides are over the top. Just root for Rockets to win and stop these nonsense.

 

you know damn well Lin is not only better than Williams, but is under utilized offensively.

 

What happened to Parson in the 2nd half? He should shoulder some blame for disappearing.

 

It'd be nice if Parsons could make an open 3.

 

This account should be banned. It's fairly obvious this poster is a LOFH posing as a delusional LOF trying to incite strife. Next.

 

This is not there 1st playoff series and it is not there 2nd or 3rd for both Harden & Howard. This excuse is not acceptable. Just say they had bad games, I live with that, but not because they have playoff jitters when they (Harden & Howard) are seasoned playoff participants.

And Parson had an excellent 1st half, where did he go in the 2nd half? Can't blame that on nervousness.

 

Game 1 in a nutshell:

 

#1 Why was Harden's shot off?
Simple, his shot was just off.... in fact over the last 4 games of the season he was 22 for 61 from the floor. Harden, like every other player in the league goes through dry spells.
Harden averaged over 30 points a game against the Blazers this season... there is nothing that the Blazers did "special" to stop him. His shots just didn't fall.

#2 Was it the refs fault?
No, I don't think so. The lack of a SINGLE free throw in the first half was insane, but the Rockets went to the line plenty of times in the second half.

#3 Why did LMA get 46/18?
Because the Rockets are willing to give him deep mid range jumpers over open three point shots. The Blazers didn't do ANYTHING different than they usually do, the Rockets made the strategic decision to let LMA beat them and not a huge number of 3's. LMA got almost 25 shots a game this year against the Rockets.

#4 The Blazers are unlikely to shoot 33% from the three point line again?Possibly true... but the Blazers are not the only team to live and die by the 3. Which is more likely to happen? The Blazers shoot 33% from 3 or the Rockets shoot 23%?

#5 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. ?
Right...the Blazers shot 75% from the free throw line and the Rockets shot 65%.

#6 My point is you're focused on all the things that went right for us, without acknowledging how much went wrong?
No team has everything go their way, but to say that a large majority of events didn't go the Blazers way is foolish.


The Blazers never gave up and they won a very close game, they deserve credit. However, the Rockets played abnormally poorly, and most of that had little to do with the Blazers strategy and more to do with poor execution by the Rockets. The Rockets got lots of open threes and missed them. Harden was able to get to the basket and missed. The Rockets missed their free throws and did not play with poise.

 

No, but there are other ways they can win. What if Batum's feeling and drops 25 one game? Then people around here will be saying "ohhh he wont score 25 again!!!"

then you're down 2-0 with 2 excuses.

 

exactly, some people on this board call it optimism, but it is simply delusion at this point. You do what it takes to win, simple as that.

I can't even tell whats worse at this point, the deluded stat justifiers trying to cherry pick stats to prove a fallacy, or the optimists that don't have the courage to admit the faults of this team.

 

Right... we'll just stop using the guy that jump started us in the 2nd quarter and scored almost half our points in OT.

Interesting how in the regular season the one game in which he wasn't effective was the one we lost to you guys.

 

If we can stop Aldridge to some degree, that would make things easier. If Jones can't guard or block out Aldridge, I would even throw DMo at him at this point for some minutes. At least he's tall enough to be a vertical obstacle.

 

Every time the Rockets built a lead, they started to celebrate like the series was as good as won. Have to put the pedal to the metal.

 

Yeah, that's what kept bugging me about the game. The Blazers kept their poise, stuck to their gameplan, and put Aldridge back in the game whenever things went badly for them. The Rockets clearly let up on the Blazers whenever they started doing well, slacking off on the defense and rebounding and jacking up quick 3's. They need to learn to stop doing that and making it easy for opponents to close big deficits.

 

Where did I say to not play Lin? I just said that Beverley is more effective on Lillard than Lin. If PB could play and you decided to start Lin instead, I think the Blazers would be thrilled.

 

Hack-A-Dwight. Fuhhhhhhhhhhhhhge

 

http://espn.go.com/nba/playoffs/201...-140421-openingweekend/opening-weekend-rewind

 

This game is just ruining my day. Can't stop thinking about how bad we choked. Hate that we have to wait till Wednesday, and I'll be nervous as can be, because a loss on Wednesday would likely be the end of the season. Must win.