ClutchFans Game Thread: Bobcats @ Rockets 10/30/2013

You right Omer deserves a lot of praise, he played damn good.

 

Does Howard have any finesse to his post-up shots at all? His shots look like he is laying bricks out there. I'm hoping that will come but those post-up hook shots and the like were ugly man. It doesn't look like he has a feel for the shot. It looks like an over-muscled prayer he is throwing up there. I'll admit...I haven't watched Howard much in the past so I don't know what his strengths are in shooting. It looks like he needs more than Hakeem's help when it comes to post-up shooting. His best shot looks like the alley oop or spin moves right near the basket where he can lay it in off the glass. If he's just shooting from a few feet out with either the hook or turnaround, then it looks really bad from what I was seeing and doesn't seem like a high percentage shot for him. I understand it's way early but he can truly be great if he ever figures out the offensive side of his game cause it looks like an inconsistent mess. Making his free throws more consistently and making those post-up shots from a few feet out...and he will be a monster on both ends.

 

Yesterday confirmed that Twin Tower does not work. Greasy haired McRoberts killed Howard with threes. Our defense looked good with Twin Towers, but other team adjusted by spreading the floor with spread power forward. We were finally able to play better when we stopped Twin Tower and matched McRoberts with either Casspi or Cisco.

Also, yesterday's game is clear example of why you need more than one shot creator as your starter. Harden had a terrible first three quarters while Jlin/Cisco carried our offense.

Our best lineup to close the game should be Jlin/Harden/Parons/Cisco/Howard.

 

I agree, twin tower does not work unless one of them can shoot mid range. To be honest, do you really want two bigs that can not shoot free throws in 4Qs? To me it makes more sense to bench Asik than Lin.

 

Garcia and Lin delievered last night. They should be both appreciated. Jason Friedman did a good job in the story. http://www.nba.com/rockets/news/opening-statement

"Just as everyone predicted pregame, tonight’s offensive star was … Francisco Garcia?!? With Harden hurting and Houston turning the ball over at a rapid rate, the team needed someone to step forward and provide a boost, and the irrepressible Garcia was only too happy to fill that role, scoring 19 points off the bench. Rockets fans are plenty familiar with ‘Cisco’s blend of big-time shot-making and guile, and it’s not a stretch to suggest he may well have saved his club’s bacon with his scoring exploits tonight."
"Houston also got a solid night off the bench from Jeremy Lin, whose productivity was even more vital than usual given the injury to Beverley. J-Lin didn’t show off the passing chops that littered many a preseason highlight reel, but he attacked the rim and steadied the ship on more than one occasion with a well-timed bucket while the tighter-than-expected game still very much hung in the balance. Lin’s 16 points and 2 assists came in 31 minutes of play."

 

Asik man-handled Al Jefferson.

 

damn after one game lol. Can we wait until at least 20 games played before making a statement like that.

 

wouldnt compare him to jordan and kobe and they had a phil jackson triangle offense not mchale's run and gun system, and lebron is far from a ISO player he scores alot on fast breaks and quick drive dunks. But doe to his size and speed its a clear advantage to size someone up off a iso and drive. He usually leads his team in assist everynight, reason he was MVP

 

Yup, he blocked Al twice I think lol, Omer is pretty good at defense despite him being slow moving and not being able to finish. Rebounds well too.

 

I agree. You have to be patient. Hopefully, Howard can adjust so he can guard better a stretch 4. I would use Lin as starting pg though. With TT starting, you don't need to worry about defense and rebounding. But you do need to create additional space for it to work. The best ways to create space are fast-breaking, ball movement and player movement (especially pick-n-roll). All these three things Lin does much better than PB at this point of their career. Hopefully, PB can improve all these areas while Lin can improve off-ball.

From watching NBA games for so many yrs, the teams starting fast usually have the higher chance to win in the end. You don't want to dig a hole and then hope to climb out of it with sparks from the bench.

 

Plus he can play alittle defense too. Novak would not be an upgrade.

 

what I am worry about is, harden's ability is far from Jordan and he try to play young Jordan's way. if he went the right way at the first place that would save a lot of effort on correcting back right, and the time and effort can be used to improve his play and decision making that make him a real winner, now he is on the other way and there is a risk that he cant correct it and become one of those many shooting stars without a ring. and there is another constrain, that we actually dont have the luxury of time here: Dwright's contract is 4 years and if he cant get the ring on the first 3, he may ask for a trade in the 4th.

 

Asik looked good. Howard looked good. The Asik+Howard combo, though, didn't look as good.

The functioning of the Asik+Howard frontline is likely the most important thing (other than, of course health-- a player can contribute if he's not on the floor) to watch in the early part of the season. This team can really get on a whole other level if it works out.

 

chandler was right in his post game comment about selfish plays - everyone was looking to get theirs.

the pace has slowed down compared to last season, and players need to know and accept the fact that their numbers are going to go down a tick, all the way from harden, dwight, and on down (except garcia ).

you have bunch of young guys looking to prove themselves so this is inevitable. but mchale needs to do a better job of managing this - and it's just about the ball getting "sticky".

it was like this for a time last year in december as well, until p pat spoke out and things turned for the better but p pat is no longer here.

 

<blockquote class="twitter-tweet"><p>Asik &amp; Howard put up impressive lines in <a href="https://twitter.com/search?q=%23Rockets&amp;src=hash">#Rockets</a> win, but Houston was outscored by 4 points during the 13 minutes they played together.</p>&mdash; Bradford Doolittle (@bbdoolittle) <a href="https://twitter.com/bbdoolittle/statuses/395893788763095041">October 31, 2013</a></blockquote>
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<blockquote class="twitter-tweet"><p>That said, with better shooting, it easily would have been a wash, which would be worth it if it keeps Asik happy.</p>&mdash; Bradford Doolittle (@bbdoolittle) <a href="https://twitter.com/bbdoolittle/statuses/395894135795621888">October 31, 2013</a></blockquote>
<script async src="//platform.twitter.com/widgets.js" charset="utf-8"></script>

 

Howard going for the Barkley type rebounding effort and looked solid. Asik was good, Lin and Garcia did well off the bench. Other then that, it was just ugly and guys seemed out of sorts. I'm sure we will do better against the Mavs. Things we didn't do well: rotate on defense, pass, move the ball a lot of times, take shots that were wide open and involve Howard.

 

He and Harden were the biggest offenders. With Harden I've learned to accept that since he's the star of the team, but Parsons?? No idea what he was thinking, and I believe Garcia chewed him out during the game for that. Hopefully it was just opening night jitters or something instead of him buying into his own hype. That said, I expect a much better performance from him tomorrow.

 

Rightfully so....Parsons had a 2 on 1 fast break and decided to pull out the behind the back dribble for some reason. Of course it went off the defender's foot and they got the ball back but still, just silly.

 

I agree with you!

 

Parsons talks about wanting to bring out more of the playmaking side of his game. That's not the kind of player I see him as being, and he didn't look very good doing it here. He's the ultimate team first glue guy, and if he trys to change that then his value drops. In my opinion, anyway.

The other guy has to step up there as well to be able to make a play. I think that will come together, especially with Howard, Parsons, Garcia and maybe Caspi all working on it too.

I don't think you have to be a pure scorer to be a sixth man; a play creator is good too.