ClutchFans Game Thread: Timberwolves @ Rockets 4/18/2018 (Playoffs Round 1, Game 2)

They really need to leave him alone. He’s still a very good player but he’s young and still learning. It’s his first time in the playoffs, they need to cut him some slack.

 

They need to put GG in some of those State Farm commercials. That would be badass

 

yeah, have to give the credit where it's due, harden is huge on defense today, very quick and focus.

 

5 sec game summary . . .
Started a little iffy, but righted the ship and took care of business

 

The D was solid, but our defensive rebounding was even better. Inside the numbers:

Minnesota had only 9 offensive boards for the entire game (4 of those were in the 1Q, in which we were flat).
Only 9 second chance points for the entire team (seven were credited to Bjelica and two to Wiggins).
The remaining offensive boards were sporadic: 2 allowed in 2Q, only 1 in 3Q, and 2 by Bjelica after the 4:14 mark of 4Q when we were up by 24.​

We saw tonight that if you keep them off the glass, their offense really falls apart.

 

He reminds me of young Harden. He still doesn't really have a go-to comfort move and he's just trying a lot of ish out.

He doesn't really know his strengths. I think players like him, that are that talented, sometimes just have too many weapons to play with. I do think he should focus more on scoring down low and use his face up game when the match up arises...this match up, he should be banging down low all game and try getting Capela in foul trouble then feasting on our back up 'bigs' but instead he's imitating Dirk..

but it reminds me of young Harden who at times seemed clueless about what shots to take. Those nights where he would do nothing but take threes when he could have easily driven were maddening...and remember all those times he'd dribble out the clock...then pass at the last moment? When is the last time he's even done that? He (Kat) does a lot of wtf things out there but I think he'll get it. Getting this schooling from the Rockets is a necessary part of growing. All young superstars (or most) get this schooling from a top seed within the first 3 years...he'll be thankful for it come next season.

 

Anyone have the full post game interviews with GG at the podium?

 

You mean one step back with three steps?

I kid!

 

https://goo.gl/images/Qgk82g

 

This should be on every green light in the city of Houston

 

Certainly wasn't a thing of beauty, but there are no style points.

 

I would say the win tonight was a lot prettier than the last one. This was more of what a lot of us expected from the Rockets in the first round. Crushing a game, but inferior team, and without it seeming to take a great deal of effort. If Green has a couple of games like this in every series, it sure would help make advancing to where we want to go a heck of a lot easier. His confidence seems to be growing. Hopefully, that's a good thing. Don't get too cocky, Mr. Green! Keep doing what you're doing, which has to be flipping out the opposition.

This is what being a fan of the Rockets is all about, isn't it? Waiting for moments like this, for players like this, for seasons like this. The superstars and the surprises. Too far freakin' out.

 

Sitting somewhere, under the stars...and waiting for the sky to fall

 

Hard to get any prettier than a 20 pt win where everyone stepped up in one way or another after a 3 pt win where only 2 players accounted for more than 60% of the teams points

 

Now that was a great game, the defensive effort was there for almost the entire night lead by Harden with that 1st steal, getting blocks and others followed suit. CP3 was very aggressive on offense and some of those shots and moves were just crazy. This game had a lot of highlight plays and even though we continue to struggle from the field a bit, Harden, Gordon & Ariza today but who knows tomorrow, we had great intensity and all credit to our coaching staff and players for not taking this lightly. You could see we were hustling with the lead at 20+ points, which is why it never got down again aside from T-Wolves mailing it in. This is how you sustain leads, by making a block like Harden did, like playing defense like Tucker & Capela, running back on D by Ariza and then also getting some fast break points to break the opponents' spirit.

Just like I thought another guy would have around 30 in CP3 tonight, but Harden getting only 12 was surprising, but it's fine. He'll be back. Nene and Joe were even solid today! The only concern I have is Gordon, taking shots still from way too deep and just losing the dribble or going up soft. He has to change that, but I'm not worried. Ow yeah and the guy who was key of course, our man Gerald Green. We were so freaking cold that we need something hot to get going and tonight it was Green who came in to give that spark. Just love how we have so many guys who can step up on any given tonight. At some point too our threes should go back to average. Speaking of threes, how about that one by PJ getting fouled. Too bad he couldn't convert. Also the rebounding by Capela again, the defense and the spin move at the end followed by Qi's little euro-step move were just delicious.

 

if we could just hit our open 3's we coulda won by fitty

 

Dwight ruined his own career with nonsense.

 

Harden missed 15 of 17 shots tonight intentionally to make Chris Paul feel better.

 

Many shots at the beginning of the game were off balance 3s with a defender in their face. When they got down it was like they were just hoisting. In game #1 they just plain missed their open shots but this game early they were not taking good ones at all. Suddenly Green came out with 3 in a row and it ignited the offense.

That guy can literally just let it fly so fast that the defense has no time to react. 5-12 in 3s is almost normal for him. Not to mention, the dude had 12 boards off the bench and was +27 for the game.