ClutchFans Game Thread: Rockets @ Spurs 12/28/2012

Who will win?

Spurs 24.2%
Rockets 75.8%

Total votes: 687

Source: Bleacher Report Poll

 

probably on the Houston Rockets page right?

Bleacher Report needs to stop being used as a source. 90% of the material and "articles" are user-submitted.

 

I'm going to go out on a limb and say that the Rockets will win this one. IIRC, Harden wasn't with the team last time and Lin had a monster game.

 

Does Durant drop 40 on us two nights in a row?!

 

Too soon?

 

Science is based on observation. You can sit there and spew your theories all day long, but the observation here is that when they commit to setting picks for Lin all game, the Rockets dominate; when Asik fumbles a couple of passes on PnR early and McHale kneejerk moves away from it, they struggle to squeeze out a win.

When your theories go contrary to observation, it isn't the observation that needs to be amended.

The point here is setting a lot of picks for Lin has a very strong correlation to the Rockets dominating their opponents this season. Now it's understandable if they make an adjustment in a game to stop setting picks when you have good reasons to do so, but the point here is that Asik fumbling a couple of passes early isn't a good reason to stop doing what has been the most effective for the team all season long. Yet, that's what McHale does.

 

I have a question Clutch. Would it be possible to add a win/lose poll to the game threads?

 

As long as it's these 40s he drops

 

Again, I'll try to make this as simple as possible. Our entire offense that we run in to (not off sets like an in-bound or foul, etc.) is predicated upon the trail big going in to one of 3 "actions". That would be a drag screen, a wide pin down or to stay high and get the swing pass for a weak side action. This doesn't change throughout the game, watch for it tonight. We run corner action, elbow action, wedge action (which the Spurs run to perfection), and pistol action just like every other team. We actually run in to our pistol action quite well for the most part, as long as our spacing is alright.

What does change is our weak side action, lack of ball movement, and lack of body movement. This is entirely commonplace on any young team, because they don't have the savvy of a veteran player in the NBA. From every interview I've seen with McHale, it seems to drive him insane when the players don't move themselves or the ball. You can hear him on the sideline screaming "get off the ball" during home games. You all actually think it drives you nuts to see the stagnant offense? What on Earth do you think it does to professional coaches who know a whole lot more about the game than us?

Seriously, check your premise before you make an assertion regarding what coaches know X's and O's or what a game plan is... If you can tell me 3 screen coverages run in the NBA I just may listen to you. Most teams run 6 or 7. Oh, and going "under" and "over" are not screen coverages, that just describes what the guard does at the exact point of the screen, not leading up to it or on the backside of it. That's what high school kids run, this is not a varsity team.

 

He destroyed those punks only a couple of weeks ago.

If we attempt to play defense this time around & stay true to our philosophy we'll blow them out.

 

Bleacher report is a joke

 

Here's the theory: The Rockets can't set picks for Lin all game because [insert handwaving here].

Here's the observation: They have already done it and they have dominated when they have.

No counter-handwaving is required in such a clear-cut case. It's all perfectly transparent.

 

The Rockets play tonight? Cool! I'll tune in to FSNH at watch the game, I was wondering when the season was gonna start

 

So, you watching the game is science and means you know more than McHale a guy who's been involved with the NBA on some level most of his adult life. Okay you win.

 

So have Jeremy always bring the ball up the court, and always get a drag, step up, mid, or high screen for him? You do know that these plays are a lot like PER... The more you run them or give a person playing time, the lower the numbers extrapolate out to be. Greg Smith would have to be putting up absolutely insane numbers to keep his PER for 40 minutes per game of PT.

Jeremy in the screen game is good for us, but not the exclusive arrow in our quiver. In fact, our best offense is in transition (where no screens are being set). We were before, but I still believe we are #1 in the league in pushing the ball -- off makes and misses. Even if you believe we have no other offense at this point (which is quite frankly not true, just watch the Timberwolves game for the effectiveness of Jeremy vs. James in the screen game), we still have to develop our offensive sets and rhythm with the other guys out there if we want to be a winning team during playoff time.

 

He got hot with his outside shot but the Spurs adjusted and shut him down in the 4th quarter. With a healthy squad Lin likely won't see Nando De Colo, ie exploit his soft defense. So that's going to hurt the Rockets.

The Celtics played a similiar defense to the Spurs 4Q defense and it worked. I'm surprised other teams aren't picking up on it. They either need to right players to execute or their scouts aren't doing their jobs.

It's puzzling in these last few games where Lin has put up nice numbers it's as if they're disregarding Lin's weaknesses to try to force their team's defense concept over it. Good for the Rockets when they do this though.

 

<blockquote class="twitter-tweet"><p><a class="hashtag" action="hash" title="#RedNation">#RedNation</a>: Where do u rank @<a href="https://twitter.com/JHarden13">JHarden13</a> among the league's top 2-guards? Explain! Best tweets get read on TV during the <a class="hashtag" action="hash" title="#Rockets">#Rockets</a> game!</p>&mdash; Howard Chen (@ho_chenCSN) <a href="https://twitter.com/ho_chenCSN/status/284785550572011520" data-datetime="2012-12-28T16:19:00+00:00">December 28, 2012</a></blockquote>
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if i remember right, he spent some time on the bench and still scored 10pts. how's that for being shut down?

 

6 in a row, here we go beetches.

You keep on doubting while I'll keep on Rocketing.

 

You are right we don't get any respect from national media, but I kind of like us flying under the radar, then sneak up on teams without a clue how good we are :grin: