Face it, folks, the Clippers are just better at NBA than the Rockets are

And we're not undermanned? We're missing 2 starters. Neither are as valuable as CP3 but doesn't mean they aren't important players to the Rockets.

 

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I mean this is what Daryl Morey would say but you always argued against it.


Are you getting more reasonable?

 

I believe we have not even played close to our best.....

I saw bits of it in the 4th qtr.....hope this win gives us the belief...

I am still confident we have this series

 

There were a lot of bad signs tonight, and everything in the 1st half was horrifying, but that was one of the more gutsy wins in recent memory. Saved their season. Jones/Harden stepped up after slow starts, and Dwight killed it.

Not surprisingly, the Rockets came back because they re-discovered defensive effort. The Rockets are so much better when they muck up the game. Stop trying to go 2014 Rockets. This Rockets team is good because of their defense.

 

Same here. People like to whine for some reason. Ignore them. Rox in 6.

 

Even after the comeback, Carl is right. This series is not about the Rockets. It's about the Clippers. After getting the big lead, they tightened up, lost their motion and ball movement, and missed their shots.

Their best offense against our best defense is stronger than our best offense against their best defense. When they play at their best, they win. I just hope they have a couple of bad games, or Chris Paul can't move well enough on that leg.

 

Rox missed tons of free throws and threes. At some point, those shots are going to fall. Gutted it out tonight when they could have folded. Great win and gives them momentum going to LA.

 

Never under estimate the heart of a champion.

 

I think the clippers are the better team.

But for a night, we played with heart. And that made a difference against a Pauless Clipper team happy to have gotten its split.

 

Thank you, Will. I thought I was the only one seeing this. They are a matchup nightmare for a reason.

I love the Rockets but I cannot watch the Clippers for a reason. Not that I hate them so much but their brand of basketball is a solid one.

I wished Memphis would play them because Memphis is one of the only teams that can toughen them up.

That was even without Paul. The second quarter was the ugliest I have seen in the playoffs

 

The thing is...we can too. The Rockets are supposed to be a defense-first team that wins ugly games. For some reason, the Rockets stopped playing that way ever since Game 3 in Dallas, but in the 4th quarter tonight, they reverted back to what made them good, and not surprisingly, they got the win.

 

The slippery slope of trying to please his Dad while carrying the burden of competing for his Dad's attention over CP3 made him trip and lose that ball

 

I am not being too pessimistic or optimistic or at least trying to be.

I just think it is hard to actually be called a defensive team just playing one season together (with the new players and Howard)

That has never happened. Lebron James wasn't able to win his first one his first year with him having the best starting line up in the league and the easier Eastern Conference.

Remember we were called the best offensive team. And we sure did not play the best offense against the Thunder and Blazers.

This team is shuffling players and changing its identities too fast for my taste.

You cannot pride yourself with offense one year and the next year be the best defensive team in the playoffs. NBA does not work that way.

It is all about consistency and execution.

With that being said I too hope that the Clippers find a way to beat themselves and implode.

 

Clippers certainly finished the season as the better team, playing better basketball. They took out the defending champs in rd 1. Yea I think no one can argue that they aren't the better basketball team right now. That said we didn't bend over, we fought for everything after HT. As the weaker team that's what it's going to take to overcome their superior team. Nothing wrong with that. Real fans can live with that.

 

a lot of our defensive structure was based on trusting beverley to do a lot, maybe even too much but it worked well for the team.

Terry on the other hand can't even guard Austin

 

What bothers me is that both Josh and Howard were slam Dunk champs known to take it to the hoop extremely strong. What happened to those two? Josh Smith should literally be "sucking the gravity out of the building" at almost every play. These two are not even 30 yet and should be able to impose their will. Forget all the finesse. It's time for rim shaking, shot blocking, and just owning that paint. There should be no reason why people call those two guys "p*****ies" when they are that large. Make De Andre and Griffin Hurt! Make them eat and feel those elbows like Mutumbo did.

 

Age and injuries...

When I say age i mean the time in the NBA... For some odd reason, players who come straight out of high school into the nba seem to age faster and their bodies seems to deteriorate faster..

T_Man

 

I have to agree with Carl here. We're not a bad team at all but the Clippers simply are a more complete (albeit thin) team. We have so little offensive talent aside from Harden (who is amazing). The Clippers have Griffin, Paul, Crawford, Redick who are all way, way better than our offensive options besides Harden.

Harden aside, who do we turn to if we try to create shots in a halfcourt set? Terry, Ariza, Jones, Howard? That's inferior to the Clippers, simple as that. We have no choice but to rely on the power of the three-point-shot heavily.