ClutchFans Game Thread: Rockets @ Grizzlies 11/20/2015

The entire team has voted Howard, Harden and Terry the team leaders.

 

I'm trying not to judge this team until D mo gets back but damn, they look so bad it's almost like they're throwing games to get a high drsft pick or something. I mean Ben Simmons is nice but not nice enough to throw away your season. They need to play better

 

"i'd rather have a scrappy re-building team that struggles than a team anchored by a superstar who doesn't care."

this really jumped out at me. and as much as the other guy's 'bring back Lin, Asik, Parsons' comment was a joke, that team was at least fun to watch. This team is just so painful to watch right now.

 

Getting DMo back will help. But there is only one person that can get things turned around. James Harden.

Harden is the most talented player on the team. Everyone looks to him as the leader of the team to set the standard. Everything starts with Harden.

Maybe Harden isn't a natural leader. Maybe he doesn't want that responsibility. Maybe he just doesn't believe in this team anymore. Maybe he just doesn't want to put in the work that it takes to be a champion.

ClutchFans need to stop trying to blame the coaches for this horrible season. McHale and Bickerstaff were the coaches the last few years when we won a lot of games, and were good enough to make it to the Western Conference finals. This is a players problem, not a coaching problem.

When players don't play hard, that's on them, not the coach. The players are highly paid professionals. The players get PAID to play hard. Coaches should never have to ask, or plead, or beg players to give effort.

 

It was another loss but they didn't give up on the defensive end otherwise Memphis would have scored more than 96pts.

The shots are simply not falling.

I was glad JB put KJ in for some energy. McHale would have never done that even if he only had 4 players on the court. JB also hasn't had one practice with the team so lets not go off the plank yet.

 

Yeah JB looks like it is possible to for him to help turn thus around. He needs time with the team though. New York is a must win game.

 

I went to the game in Memphis last night. Seemed like there was no cohesion between the players, like there is tension between everybody. I'm not ready to get on the Harden hate wagon yet but one thing I noticed was after he got pulled at the end of the 4th quarter, him and Ariza were at the end of the bench joking around with each other. That just struck me as....wrong on both their parts but maybe I'm being too sensitive. I'm just as dumbfounded as most of us.

 

I'd say no one has given up or tuned out any one at any point this season. They all want to win but it just isn't happening. This is the same team that was floundering near the playoffs last season if it weren't for Josh Smith. It's that team replacing Smith the declining Lawson of the past two seasons but worse. One bench guy made a difference to the Rockets last season, same for Grizz this season in trading for Chalmers jumpstarting their year. Talent changes what happens on the floor.

<blockquote class="twitter-tweet" lang="en"><p lang="en" dir="ltr"><a href="https://twitter.com/hashtag/Rockets?src=hash">#Rockets</a> set season lows in points (84), FG (28), assists (15) and FG pct (20.7) last night. Obviously, it was Kevin McHale's fault.</p>&mdash; Mike Greenberg (@Espngreeny) <a href="https://twitter.com/Espngreeny/status/668065513155743744">November 21, 2015</a></blockquote>
<script async src="//platform.twitter.com/widgets.js" charset="utf-8"></script>

 

the only ones i saw trying were ariza (and he was doing very well in the 1st half) and t. jones. but they're limited.

in terms of effort level, harden and dwight looked ok. but at this moment, they aint enough, esp. as "leaders" of the team.

jbb still has a tough time.

 

In fact, I think they are there already...

 

Have you watched the games? Give up seem to be pretty prevalent, and it seemed pretty clear they had also tuned out McHale.

This is true, but was Josh Smith really the difference between Western Conference finals, and maybe a bit better than Philly? If so...why hasn't he made that big a difference for the Clippers...or any other team has has ever played for? If losing Josh Smith really is the difference, it STILL boils down to simply being mentally weak. Because he isn't THAT big a difference maker.