[ClutchFans] Jeremy Lin, James Harden after 82-78 loss to Grizzlies

My biggest beef on TOs are the ones he forces when trying to draw the foul. On the nights he's not getting the calls he needs to adjust and focus on making the shot, not drawing contact. Refs can be ***holes if they think you're not even trying to make a bucket. Ask Kevin Martin about that. Harden has got to get a better feel for when to force the action and when to go with the flow. Those no calls alone cost him 4-5 turnovers at least.

 

What about the the passes to brick hands Asik? Half of those turnovers were passes on P&R that Asik couldn't hang on to.

 

When you starting backcourt goes 12 for 37 it really hurts your chances.

When the rest of the team goes 11 for 37, you gots no chance of winning.

Total team suckiness on the offensive end is why we lost. Not any single player.

Credit the Grizz defense and the physical play the refs allowed.

 

I disagree. Not even Greg could have caught some of those and Harden should keep in mind who he's passing the ball to.

 

The team, especially harden, since he has the ball in his hands the most in the last few minutes of a game, NEEDS to trust in the system that they've played in all year long, the system that averages over 100 points a game, the one that predicates on ball movement and personnel movement to get open shots.

The team cam play such good, free flowing ball for 43 minutes then all of a sudden goes stagnant for the last 5 when things get close. And I'm talking strictly about harden. You know why hardens shooting percentages are so bad during crunch time? It's because all the focus is on harden and teams make it very tough for him to get a good shot off. There are plenty of open looks for others on the floor - because teams are focusing on one guy. They know he's gonna either take the three or drive left. It's hard to be successful if the other team knows exactly who's gonna take the shot and what kind of shot he's gonna take.

Again, trust the system; move the ball. It will find its way to the best look. Harden is a great, great offensive player. But he needs to trust in the system that has helped him to be such an efficient scorer.

 

The refs did not call it the same on both sides of the floor. If the Grizz are allowed to hack Harden like that, then the Rockets should be allowed to do the same to Gasol, Randolph, Conley, etc. Instead, they were getting FT's whenever there was contact with a Rocket's shadow.

If they want to call it a physical game, they should let it go both ways.

 

Except that tonight the Rockets offense could not function under the suffocating physical defense of the Grizz. Only reason we rallied was Harden took over the game in the 3rd, then everyone pitched in on defense.

Lin had already scored 2 3s late in the 4th, one on a brilliant assist by Harden. Maybe Grizz was playing him more tightly and Harden didn't see him open on those last possessions.

 

I don't think that's a baby. I think it's DMo.

 

Harden isn't going to always get the calls. He has to succeed despite that.

 

Harden got 14 free throws last night. We got one more FT as a team. I don't think the refs should be blamed for this loss. We've had plenty of games where the team has shot more free throws than the other team and we never complain about refs then.

 

Everyone know about Asik problem. If you are going to pass it to him, then you should take his weakness into consideration. It is like throw your ball 10 ft in the air and expect whoever you are passing it to catch it.

This game was a great example when refs are not calling. We had seem that ref missed a few obvious calls and not only that, they actually called against the Rockets. This bring up another question, is volume shooting the best strategy for Harden or he should select his shoots? 7 out of 24 shooting is terrible. 5 of 10 are from 3s. That meant he was 2 of 14. I honestly would prefer Harden gets 4 of 8 than 2 of 14. This is another reason why Lin should handle the ball and Harden to pick his shots.

 

Harden isn't finishing 2pt shots because he's trying to draw contact, but even more so I feel he's not finishing the continuation when he gets fouled like he did earlier in the season. I wonder how many and-1 opportunities he's had before and after his injuries.

 

Many Lin fans said the same thing about Asik with regards to Jeremy's assists and TOs....some posters laughed and ridiculed LOFs for those comments.

True but he's getting better. As I've said before, he would eventually get those passes.

I also think that he has better chemistry with Lin on the court.

And I am pretty sure that Asik will work on some of his flaws during the off season.

 

Harden did miss some shots he usually makes but he was the reason we got back in the game none of the blame should be placed on him. Lin while he did have some dumb plus for a stretch in crunch time more than made up for it with the big 3 to tie it. Our backcourt even tho they shot bad played great both sides of the ball. The grizz shot bad also it was just a tough playoff type game. You can't blame the refs harden or Lin or even Machale. We had a chance to win/tie it just didnt happen even lebron and Kobe can't hit every crunch shot.

I really enjoyed this game even though we lost it was prob the best loss we had all year if that makes any sense. One thing we need to do is either give Trob, dmos minutes or not play either because he's a big liability out there. 0-5 shooting with 2 rebounds one being a gimmie plus horrendous defense is just not tolerated. He's played this bad for 10 games now. At least Trob can get some rebounds play good defense and like tjones get 2nd chance opportunities. I haven't seem Trob shoot as bad as dmo has the last 10 games once when giving playing time why he doesn't take dmos minutes is beyond me other than he's been with the team all yr compared to 20 games for robinsons.