ClutchFans Game Thread: Thunder @ Rockets 4/25/2017 (Playoffs Round 1, Game 5)

Actually that was a very tight game til halfway through the 4th. The officiating was awful in the first half(thank you, Tony Brothers) and the Mavs kept it close til T-Jones of all players helped them pull away in the last few minutes.

 

It wasn't that tight. Rockets looked comfortable ever since they got that 1st Q lead and seemed to be cruising with several gears left.

 

HA! Rope a dope is a perfect description of how Game 2 played out.

 

The Rockets were up 88-85 with less than 5 1/2 minutes to go and up 94-89 with 3 minutes to go. That's a tight game.

 

Per scoreboard. While watching the game, I never felt the Rockets would lose that. Like I said, I always felt they had an extra gear or two if needed to put the Mavs away.

 

I find I don't have a good memory for specifics of each game in the playoffs like this, but can always count on someone on cfnet sharing their recollection, and it being pretty damn accurate.

thx!

 

probably because Howard, Harden and Josh Smith were all having good games ,,, then we didn't even need them to close out, as TJones was able to do the honors as the "extra gear" due to Mavs not paying attention to him.

McHale did outcoach Carlisle that series....must admit

 

I did cheat a little and looked up some highlights. I knew the game was close, but I couldn't remember the exact score at specific junctures of the game. But key plays in the 4th are burned in my memory. The T-Jones 3-point play, the T-Jones corner 3, and the Harden stepback 3 with the shotclock expiring were the difference in that game(and series).

 

Btw, Russ has totally gone 1 vs 5 against the Rockets in the 4th quarter and it has caused OKC. If Rockets get to the 4th, they should just let Russ do his thing and watch OKC collapse

1st Q: 6.3 FGA, 3.8 assists, 48% FG%
2nd Q: 6.5 FGA, 4.5 assists, 38.5% FG%
3rd Q: 7.3 FGA, 2 assists, 34.5% FG%
4th Q: 9.5 FGA, 1 assist, 31.9% FG%

See the trend? In each subsequent Q, Russ takes more shots at lower FG% and efficiency. His assists also taper off. In fact OKC are most dangerous in the 1st Q when Russ is dishing and playing proper team basketball. Also he plays about 10 minutes a quarter, so it's fair to compare each of the quarters..

 

http://www.espn.com/nba/story/_/id/...zlies-spurs-rockets-thunder-west-playoffs-nba

A few quick notes, because 3-1 series aren't as interesting as stalemates ...

• You can bet San Antonio and Memphis have watched Oklahoma City's strange strategy for defending James Harden pick-and-rolls. With some exceptions, the Thunder have invited Harden to drive. When Harden runs it with a center -- Clint Capela, or the suddenly unstoppable Nene Hilario -- the Thunder drop their own centers back into the paint, let Harden dribble at them, and have everyone else stay home on Houston's 3-point shooters. They want to defend the pick-and-roll two-on-two.

Things got wackier for parts of Games 2 and 3 on Harden-Ryan Anderson pick-and-rolls: Gibson hugged Anderson instead of helping at all, and watched Harden drive right by him with Andre Roberson in pursuit -- "Here, James, have a four-on-three." Jeff Van Gundy noted that he had never seen anyone use that strategy.

It has worked on at least some aesthetic level. Houston has attempted seven fewer 3s per game than in the regular season. By the end of Game 4, Harden was walking the ball up and going one-on-one. The league's go-go pick-and-roll machine had lost its identity. Capela and Nene set 26 ball screens for Harden in Game 1, per tracking data from STATS LLC provided to ESPN.com. That number dropped to 16 in Games 2 and 3, and just 12 on Sunday.

But it hasn't actually worked. Houston has scored 111.7 points per 100 possessions, identical to its regular-season mark, and they've compensated for the decline in 3s with more free throws and shots in the restricted area.

• Houston has suffered some embarrassing defensive lapses, mostly in first halves, that can't happen against better teams. Harden has been the culprit on a lot of them. It is time to get serious.

• Anderson's minutes will be interesting to watch going forward. Houston's starting five has hemorrhaged points. Smaller lineups, with Trevor Ariza in Anderson's power forward spot, have been dynamite; such groups featuring both Ariza and Patrick Beverley offer the most two-way potential for Houston. Teams don't change starting lineups when they are up 3-1, and the Rockets shouldn't. But they know the data.

• Billy Donovan has struck a lot of the right chords since Game 1: more shooting around Russell Westbrook, more Taj Gibson at center, less Enes Kanter, no Semaj Christon. The Thunder lost Game 4, and probably their season, by four points. They were outscored by seven points in 2:19 at the end of the first quarter in which both Westbrook and Victor Oladipo were on the bench. How is this still happening?

We'll see if the series is still happening after tonight.

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Officials: Marc Davis (#8) | Bill Kennedy (#55) | Zach Zarba (#15) | David Guthrie (#16)

 

Very worrisome

 

It is great to be ahead 3-1, but we could easily be down 1-3 D'Antoni has said. But we've persevered and earned the right to close out OKC. A few numbers from the other night that stood out to me:

OKC had only 30 uncontested shots for the game. That's pretty good for us, but we could up our intensity and drop this number to 20. If we do, they don't have the shooters to carry the day. Why let them wind up from the perimeter and hit shots?

25 deflections and 18 loose balls recovered by Houston defenders. While sometimes we are beaten physically on the boards, we can step out and take them out of their comfort zone, and compete for loose balls. These are the stats we need to win.​

Shoot a respectable percentage, compete on the glass, and earn some time off. We'll need it for the next round.

I'd like to see a hungry team like I did in game 1.

As far as game planning goes, below is my fantasy list. We are still scoring a ton of points in this series, but it could be so much easier with a few minor adjustments.

Go earlier in the shot clock.
Don't try to squeeze the ball into Nene at the rim, wait for the window to open.
James, back off and pause at the free thow line on the PnR and stretch the defense. You are a good free thow shooter and it is "in the paint."
James, dribble all the way through the paint (ala -- Steve Nash) and loop back in on that drive. . . Hesitate and the waters will part.
Why not drop the ball off to Clint on the block rather than at the rim? The lob is not there. You might actually get a foul called on Adams.
Can we set up Gordon with a screen for a catch & shoot?
Will the real Ryan Anderson please shoot with confidence? (especially when we have a lead)


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No doubt about that. Westbrook is helping and killing his own team's chances of winning in this series. He is great, but he could be sooooo much better.

 

Would be nice if we could not get down 15 points in the 1st half this game

 

I feel that Beverely will be energized at home, hopefully he will knock down some big shots for us. Ariza is doing ok, which is also a good sign for us. Ryan must not go to sleep, or it will be a long night for us. I hope James will play calmly, and with good focus. Nene must start and finish.

OKC has not been a dirty team per se, but Adams can get nasty. My gut feeling is that they will try to hurt Harden, Nene, Bev or anyone else who gets hot out of desperation, if they get in trouble. The refs need to be fair, and they must penalize anyone who is out to hurt their opponents.

Go Houston Rockets! We believe in you!

 

If we start the game with the same urgency like we do in the 3rd/4th quarters we could easily close out OKC. This would put us ahead early on and put Westbrook in "heroball mode" through the rest of the game and we've seen how that's turned out. They play really well when they're playing as a team and getting a lead early on will hopefully lead Westbrook to go "heroball" earlier on.