No one is talking about Harden's bad defense at the end of regulation?

That was a dumb decision by Harden. Really dumb. But I am a big believer in the fact that games shouldn't be lost in the last few seconds. Guys were blowing wide open lay ups, offense got stagnant. This game shouldn't have ended the way it did. Can't wait for the re-match.

 

Harden and Lin played hard defense. The mistakes is on the coach. Up 3 points, the team should never give up a 3 point shot period. Sucks to see Mchale sit there and do nothing to help a young team prone to mistakes like this.

 

This was a team loss, i can't just put the blame on 1 person.. We win as a team, we loose as a team, I know we're bigger fans of 1 person more than others, but we should be rockets fans 1st, and it's jus the first loss, can't win em all!!.. they will get better, much better

 

Same thing happened to Lin in the overtime, Lilard got points in the OT.
But I do think Lin should handle the ball a little bit more since Harden was so tired, and he is a better.

 

Ye McHale should have called a TO. I am still laughing that he didn't. Pop calls time outs in end of game situations for his veteran team. Does McHale really think a young team can execute well down the stretch without any guidance?

 

This.

Last minute losses/wins are WAY overrated by fans (and the media).

The fact is, the team as a whole put themselves into that position. They played losing basketball offensively, and to expect Harden OR Lin to bail the team out in the last quarter every game is a recipe for failure.

Sure, Harden and Lin are both capable of coming up with big plays to save the day, but it's not going to happen every game. Relying on it will inevitably result in disaster more often than not.

All we can hope for is they get their collective acts together. Not really surprising considering the youth of this team.

 

I feel the same way. Harden should not double Aldridge. So what if Aldridge made the shot and so what if he's hot....EVEN if he made the shot, we're still up by 1pt w/ limited time to play. I feel that was a mistake right there. But give the Portland credit for making the shot though.

Harden did not play well....only on spurt.....he turnovers at critical time and couldn't made shots....even missing 2 three throws at one time. I don't think he ever miss TWO free throws at once before.

I also feel that McHale rely on Harden way too much...especially when he's struggling. Why not go to Lin and let him do the pick n roll and attack the basket.

Overall, solid game especially defense...but the turnovers is costly. Need to tune down the turnovers. There are soo many missed layups around the baskets. I am talking about even blank layups. Douglas...missing a wide open layup...even Patterson missed a wide open layup but Osik put it back in....so it's just one of those games i guess.

 

no one is talking about it because it's not what we need to focus on. we need to focus on better shooting, less turnovers, better rotations on defense. not harden allowing a three-pointer from wesley matthews.
plus, you said, '" I won't even mention how he thought he could beat Matthews for that last shot", i'm very confident that harden could beat wesley matthews in a one-on-one situation, he did throughout the game last night. in addition to that, wesley matthews fouled him on that last possession.
this loss is not on harden's shoulders, not by a long shot.

 

They're both nails in the coffin I guess, but I thought that because of that Lin play everything else fell apart. We gave away a crucial possession in the final 50 seconds, that changed the game imo (much like how Lin's 3 point play previously was also a game changer if we ended up winning).

 

Bingo.

You're also not going to win many games where you go 5-26 from 3 point land either.

It says a lot for the potential of this team -- Portland's a good team, and that was a game we should have won when we didn't really have a guy go off.

I think McHale may take for granted just how good a shooting team we were last year -- we've lost dead eye shooters like Budinger and Martin, and Lee and Lowry had fantastic years shooting the ball. We're really going to need Delfino to come off the bench and shoot the ball well consistently - we can't expect 5-6 every night, but those 0-5 nights will kill us.

 

Most likely the defensive scheme called for help defense. Even if it wasn't at that moment, after playing over 40 minutes for 3 games in 4 nights, if one still can have a clear mind to think that cleverly, then I'll call him superman.

And why brings this up especially he helps the team to win the first 2 games. To err is human, eh?

 

People are so freaking sensitive here. Read the OP objectively and there's nothing about Lin vs Harden except what you inferred yourself. It's true that it was a mistake to help on Aldridge's 2 and leave Matthews open for the 3 that tied the game. It was more than just that 1 play that went wrong at the end of regulation though.

These are young guys and they're going to make mistakes like this (like Lin's alley-oop attempt). If you're gonna jump down someone's throat for pointing out a game mistake by Harden, than you're a freaking hypocrite for complaining about Lin fan's being oversensitive. Good day.

 

Probably the most sensitive/overreacting one is here.

 

Well, it was the last minute of a back-to-back. Young players could do something stupid when they get tired.

 

quite sad tbh..

 

This is what those butt-hurt Knicksfans want the most...

 

fixed...lol (im a knicks fan but hate the Melo fans, not Melo simply because he still a knick)

 

This is a team game. There are a lot of what ifs in all games, in the end it is team executes and gets some luck in games. Look taking 3s is not a high percentage shot, it does look when it goes in more then not it does not.

 

Agree, but he didn't have to create a thread to point it out. It's over the top. Lin fans need to be less sensitive if there is criticism of Lin, mostly it's just to get a rise out ot Lin fans.

 

Both Harden and Lin deserve some criticism for letting their man go free especially during crucial moments.

I agree, let's not get trolled into turning this forum into a Harden vs. Lin thing.