ClutchFans Game Thread: Rockets @ Celtics 2/29/2020

But whining every time after a 'win' is not really insight.
It's just annoying

 

And ROCKETS WIN anyway!!!

 

Aww I'm sorry I annoyed you with negativity.

I'm honestly down for a "cheerlead" sub forum where it's just positive posting and positive vibes and any negative criticisms are deleted. Probably would be good for the mental health of some posters who seem to get upset when someone has a pessimistic take.

This isn't me being sarcastic. I genuinely think a "positive vibes" subforum would help a lot.

 

@BasketMAD wants MDA fired immediately

 

There is no premise.

You are one of some Rockets fans who despise James Harden.

Your denial of this and denial that you consistently spam post inaccurate negatively slanted Harden takes is childish and everyone sees through it.

Again there is no premise. This is the reality of the situation.

For some reason you don’t like people to recognize it and call you out on it.

Just own it and stop trying to act objective and act like you are some victim.

 

Rockets play a different game to stifle Celtics, send message to rest of league

The Celtics just can’t get around these damn linebackers.

The way this recalibrated Houston Rockets team is defending when it’s locked in, it’s really as if they are playing another sport. That once again proved to be a serious problem for the Celtics, who will finish the season with Houston being the only likely playoff team they have not vanquished after falling 111-110 in overtime in a Saturday night showcase classic.

The Celtics controlled most of the game until Houston took over in the fourth. Boston then somehow made it to overtime off an insane Marcus Smart 3, and then the rare missed free throw buzzer-beater that happens once in every 100 tries.

But the big takeaway from this game is how Houston’s defense — one that Brad Stevens repeatedly has warned the world about — took Boston out of its game plan, forcing them to take on the Rockets’ identity to try to survive. Houston’s defense turned every attempted pick-and-roll into an isolation play in which they were calling the shots, figuratively and often literally.

This is significant because the Celtics aren’t just any other pick-and-roll offense. They rank second in efficiency in the playtype at 1.001 points per possession, (ppp) per Synergy, trailing only Luka Doncic’s Dallas Mavericks by one one-thousandth of a ppp. These are the two highest figures every recorded in Synergy’s 16-year history. While data isn’t available for the 1980s when scoring was at a comparable level, the dawning of the 3-point age in enhancing points per possession in offenses overall means it is highly likely that these are the highest figures in NBA history.

So to suffocate the historically great Celtics’ system in a network television prime time game is going to send reverberations throughout the league that the Rockets are a real contender and this prodigious Celtics offense is going to be pushed way out of its comfort zone in the playoffs. It’s no surprise then that Brad Stevens said “the right team won” multiple times after the game.

“We got stagnant because they were imposing their will on the game, and they can do that,” Stevens said. “It’s not a knock on our guys necessarily by any means. It’s just that that’s their strength of their team.”

They were physical both during cuts and at the point of attack, forcing Boston to play further back than they wanted and making it rare for anyone to get downhill and anywhere near the rim. A repeated scene, particularly in overtime, would be the Celtics sending players one after another cutting across the top of the key to set a slip screen on whoever was defending the ballhandler up top, typically Jayson Tatum.

The surprising part is that while Tatum was clearly off in this game, he still managed to get to 32 points, 13 rebounds, five assists and a pair of both blocks and steals, one of his best stat lines of the year. But he shot 9-for-27 from the field and simply looked off. He has been controlling defenses with his ramped-up physicality and impeccably controlled pace, but Houston didn’t give him the leeway or time to get to his spots or create separation.

“That’s just one of their advantages,” Tatum said. “They’ve got a bunch of guys that are around the same size, kind of big and strong. It was just a physical game both ways. The refs were letting us play at both ends, so we was just going at it.”

One of the surprising aspects of Boston’s game plan was that they were slipping most of the screens in the second half and overtime. The main reason to slip a screen is to either prevent a switch you don’t want, or to increase the speed of the offense and turn those screeners into cutters while the defense is briefly trying to negotiate how to defend the screen. But Houston, with their big burly wings and P.J. Tucker continuing to play all-NBA defense as a hybrid five, the slip screen rarely was effective in creating offensive flow.

“First of all, they switch every screen so they push your catches out,” Stevens said. “They’re one of very few teams that switches that’s hard to slip against, because they put their body in front of the slip and you can’t run them over.”

This created a lot of the isolation play, as the slip screeners were mostly flaring out to the 3-point line and not providing any passing options to advance the play. Houston was getting physical whenever a Celtics teammate would pass by the ball and it would get in the way of Boston’s execution just enough to hamper everything.

“Their speed, just driving lanes were closing, their physicality on rebounds getting second shots, and how they were switching just gave us more trouble than we planned on,” Brown said.

“The physicality really affected us in both of these games against Houston. Like, it really affected us,” Stevens said. “We have to become a little bit better holding our ground. Part of it is just the brute strength and part of it is picking your spots a little bit better, getting angles a little bit better.”

And this was exactly what Houston wanted to do. Russell Westbrook — who is making a late-season run at MVP runner-up — was the tone-setter at each end. He was flying everywhere on defense, soaring for clutch rebounds and getting to the rim any time he felt like it. On a night where the Celtics did a great job taking James Harden out of his game, Westbrook’s energy near the ball on defense played a big role in keeping Boston from attacking comfortably.

“They have a lot of sets, a lot of plays, and they’re very well-coached,” Westbrook said. “I thought we did a good job disrupting them at the start of the second half, it kind of helped us change the game plan a little bit and that helped us out.”

While the game was so close that Daniel Theis actually hit a game-winner just a second late, this game was being directed by ground control in Houston, with a few Celtics miracles in there to keep them alive much longer than they deserved. Jaylen Brown called it a game of chess, as it really felt like two dueling strategies clashing rather than a bunch of individually executed plays. It was sloppy, physical, and oftentimes, unbelievable. It was playoff basketball at its finest, which should be a bit alarming for the Celtics.

“The intensity was high. The intensity was very high,” Brown said. “We still have another level we can go to. Tonight we fell short, but it’s another good learning lesson, another great game for us to build off of and learn and things like that.”

 

I don't care if you think I "despise Harden". In more reffering to the hundreds of posts labeling a LOF and not a real Rocket fan.

 

This is a Rockets fan site. Homer fanboys is, you know, the target audience. If people on Clutchfans *like the Rockets too much* for your feelings, piss off.

 

very good interpretation ..
morey should of responded

no you wouldnt be able to type complete sentences if you had jordan bell and klay thompson hitting you on the hands while you type and scott foster staying silent and even deleting the sentences if you somehow manage to type them inspite of the hits

 

Lol...

That was another garbage take from @daywalker02

Also, you will have to cut him a bit of slack regarding Harden. He was a habitual McGrady defender and still tries but there is really not much to defend anymore haha.

You do the math

 

But, again. . .people don't give coach any credit for something like this
although I'm not seeing as many lynching posts as we once had. Wonder WHY??
Same coach, but GM was able to get him more suitable players for his system

 

Dang, I'm eating this up with a spoon!!!!

 

LOL

You are a real attention w****. Look at me, look at me, look at me.

Someone please talk to me.

 

Maybe it's not an obvious prejudice towards Harden.

Maybe he is just plain stupid.

Has no basketball understanding whatsoever.

Either option is quite pathetic.

 

Huge win. Westbrook was all world, and Covington continues to impress. Tucker is a brute. I wonder why Head is in the starting lineup. Harden is playing defense, but his shooting was atrocious. I wish he would drive more when he is not hitting the jumper. And dribble, dribble, dribble doesn't help the cause.

 

Shut up Lukewarm fanboy



Am I doing this right?

 

It's pretty amazing that we came away with the W.

Watching the replay (had to miss last night), and the fact that we were on the road, down 17 early, Harden bad shooting (all those 4th qtr threes late cmon), and Boston with a bunch of clutch plays in the final minute....

We're definitely good enough to win a game like this, no doubt, but the fact that they came back, kept the energy, and ran through that gauntlet is pretty impressive. Wow. I wish WB had made that FT late in the 4th, but Boston had just missed 1 too, and WB was so great otherwise. What a great game.

 

Like I said...

You can play dumb and act like you don't realize what you're doing, but just don't be surprised when the board calls you out. That's all.

Have a good one!