ClutchFans Game Thread: Nuggets @ Rockets 10/28/2015

that's absolutely hysterical. I love that. :grin:

 

yeah because its lawsons fault the rockets shot 20% from 3's

 

It's just one game. Very disappointing, but just one game. There's no "boding" yet.

 

The Rockets' front court was kind of scrubby. Capela hasn't even played 30 NBA games yet. That was Harrell's first NBA game, and Jones has been looking pretty bad this year so far.

These are inexperienced role players. They need an experienced big man out there with them, otherwise they'll look pretty bad.

 

granted our frontcourt was not strong. but let's not forget DEN was also missing 2 of their top frontcourt players in chandler and nurkic.

more relevant though is the fact that our wings (brewer and ariza) were absolutely terrible on both ends of the court.

from the complete lack of proper rotations on D (both interior and perimeter) to ridiculous insistance on jacking 3's (35 attempts!) even though we couldn't hit to the ocean, etc., etc........dwight and dmo being out is hardly the reason we lost this game.

i really don't see how this team gets up to speed and plugs the dozens of holes in it's game in time for GS/MIA/OKC/LAC/ETC. the next couple weeks may get UGLY

 

A lot of the problems on defense had to do with the big men being lost and inexperienced. It causes the whole defense to break down. With Dwight, it would be a different story.

Last season without Dwight, they at least had D-Mo who was a much more experienced player than Capela or Harrell.

 

It's funny because Ariza shot like 70% from 3 in the preseason, but did terrible last night.

 

Ouch! Ugly! Inept! Effort seemed reasonable, but it seemed to frantic at times.

Enough blame to go around. In defense of McHale, he was visibly concerned the last couple of weeks of preseason that he did not have starters on a consistent basis. Preseason is too short for most teams anyway. But the players and most fans assumed the Rockets could start playing right where they left off last season. Oops!, in a way they did. Too many turnovers and just too many errors across the board. McHale could see the warning signs. Health, or lack thereof, has helped start this season off on the wrong foot -- again.

Don't expect this ship to be righted immediately. We (players and fans) can hope that a better "team" will show up on Friday night against the Warriors, but there are just too many ragged edges, IMO. I do hope like we all do that Friday night will be like waking up from a nightmare. But as we saw in preseason, the Warriors (and the Spurs, too) seem to be clicking well. This wasn't just a Rockets debacle. Denver played well.

Even if we give the Rockets the benefit of the doubt on this one and they show better on Friday night, it is an indictment of inconsistency that shouldn't be for a roster that has most of it's players returning from last season. We will get to see if Howard really does make a huge difference. He might. But he can't make shots for other players and keep them from a bunch of silly turnovers. And when does D-Mo finally get added back into the mix? There are going to be some chemistry issues despite him having played with most of the players before. Rhythm definitely has to be acquired each season. No matter how well each player tries to prepare individually nothing takes the place of playing together again in real games.

No. This had all the earmarks of a group of players who assumed they would pick right up where they left off last post-season. In a way, they did. Down 3-1 to the Clippers was a testament to the inconsistency that does plague this team. I don't know whether it's something in the water or what, but it's almost been a tradition for the Rockets to start a lot of games as if in a fog, fall behind and then try to play catch-up the rest of the game.

The fact that the same basic group of players did do what they did last season is where the hope lies. But can they get it together quickly enough to stave off a poor start to this season? Big question. McHale mentioned in the post-game press conference that the "Bigs" didn't do what they talked about in practice this week. Another sign of players flawed attitude of "it's just one game." What was one game in the playoff seedings in the WC last post-season? The sky isn't falling... yet.

So, Rockets players, go ahead and prove me wrong. There is nothing I would like better. Beat GS on Friday night and we all might be able to slip back into our slumber of complacency.

 

dwight is likely going to sit out ~20 games this season even if he doesn't get injured. so if getting destroyed at home by 20 to a nuggets team without their best player is what we expect to happen when he sits, mchale must have the safest job in the world.

 

To me that's expected. I won't be surprised if he goes nuts against GS though.

 

The rockets are only top team in the NBA to lose the game at home last night. Nuggets have no star players on the roster and the game was in Houston. Yes, it is just one game, but GS, OKC, even Bulls did not lose the home open. The fans should get the ticket refunds from this kind of terrible performance.

 

that's yet to be determined. i doubt he's going to sit out every single back to back they have this season. likely will be played by ear

 

both mchale and a poster here (bigbodymoe?) said he won't be playing both games of any back-to-backs. i too hope that it was just an exaggeration..

 

It's just one game, but the team has looked disjointed throughout all of preseason. I haven't seen any of the identity that we had last year, where our defense was surprisingly good. We're in the west and a good seeding will be impossible if the team takes time to round into form. The difference between us and the 6th seeded Spurs last year was one game.

 

i definitely think it is and will largely be determined based on the season. So we'll see how it goes.

 

The only thing good about this game was maybe it will wake these guys up to the fact that they will have to work their butts off to equal, much less surpass last years progress.

So much of this game, and sports in general is mental. Any thought of taking any team lightly is a sure recipe for doom.

 

Yearghh what was that?! Clearly the chemistry isn't where it needs to be. They'll get there but in the west you can't take too long or you'll be stuck with a ****ty seed and a first round exit. Bad game, move on. Get better. Like battier says, don't get too high don't get too low. Kill the warriors!!

 

The only thing that can make up this loss is a win against GS on Friday.

 

They are also missing Motiejunas.

Last year, even with all of the injuries, they never had Howard, Motiejunas, and Smith all miss the same game. That's essentially what they had last night.

 

All of you constant whiners when we lose, don't deserve to celebrate when we win.