ClutchFans Game Thread: Rockets @ Grizzlies 12/23/2016

But he only plays 25ish minutes a night - we won't miss him much at all.

Signed, not me.

 

Gordon had an off night. Harden wasn't the same driving without Clint. We were still close. That's encouraging.

 

That was actually the most concerning loss in the season together with that Utah loss for me.
We are having problems with good defensive teams and good rim protectors. It's not a fluke that Gordon and Harden couldn't have it going. That was a well executed game plan.
This is the defense we should expect in the Playoffs and so far, we don't really have an answer. Jacking off balance 3's hoping that the gods of statistics will come to the rescue is not a solution.
Time to re-think and reorganize. We still have a lot of time.

 

We lived by the 3 during the McHale and JBB eras, it was an ancient PROBLEM.

 

When it's going good, it was going great.

We still have real flaws.

 

Awful performance, hitting 20 threes and you still lose? Letting them go off and hoisting 50+ again is not the recipe for success. We hit more threes than twos as well. Gordon hoisting it up while Ryan was hot doesn't make sense, give those shots to Ryan and or Ariza. Those 9 TOs by James are not acceptable and his laziness and taking plays off are killing us too, where's his pride??

Our bench needs to step up in general. Dekker is hitting a wall, Brewer has been hitting his head against the same wall since last year, Nene has been hitting that old age wall unfortunately and Gordon struggles against good defense. 4 out of 16 is unacceptable! MDA better rip these guys because this could go south very fast and we are close to the team everybody thought we would be 5-8 seed winning around 50 games.

 

i m not sure if it is because my subjectivity, but we are always close in this awful performance games. i d expect us to be down by at least 20.
just a few remarks,
when denied the three, gordon has to drive or settle with two,
when denied the three, anderson has to pass,
when james see his team struggling, he has to stop screwing around and go to work: take switch of the screen, and drive.
everthing else is as good as it can be.

 

We can't tough it out. Our offensive sucks now that Clint is no longer playing.

 

That's 2 out of 3 games we have lost without Capella. His pic and rolls for Harden, ability to run the court, leap for alley oops, and draw players in to create more open look 3's does make a difference. He opens up lanes for Harden, and we need that. His defense is definitely missed as well.

Yes, we had a bad night, but also had the capability to win, with more effort and less turnovers. Dekker didn't go into the paint as much as he could have, and didn't put enough effort into getting those rebounds, with his 1 rebound for the night. Gordon needs to learn to pass the ball more, especially when his shot is off. Why weren't guys getting the ball to Ariza more? The assists need to keep happening when Harden is off the court, and guys need to keep that ball moving to the open man instead of forcing bad shots. Get to the paint guys! It's just frustrating to watch sometimes, when I know we have guys who are capable.

As for Harden and the ridiculous turnovers, well it's frustrating, but his 17 assists almost doubled the rest of the team combined. It is frustrating when he makes a horrible throw and turns it over, because he can make brilliant passes as well. Of course, the blame always go to the guy who moved, when the ball goes to a spot where nobody in a Rockets jersey is standing.....LOL.

All I know is I miss Clint, and hope we can keep an edge over Memphis and other Conference teams while he is gone.

 

The Clippers just lost to Dallas at home.

I don't feel as bad about this loss.

 

Having Capela would've helped but give credit to Memphis for playing some good, physical defense. They were bodying up and would not give our shooters many open looks. Houston did not get their usual fast break opportunities because Memphis was beating them back down the court.

Memphis is just getting all their players back from various injuries, and they've got a really tough and well-rounded roster. If they stay healthy, they could be the dark horse of the postseason.

 

Newsflash that's the definition of a good defensive team and good rim protector. If nobody is having problems with your defense or rim protection how can you be good?

This Rockets team is just on its first year, apart from Harden, Ariza and Bev everybody is new or taking on new roles which includes Dekker, Capela and Harrell who are just 2 years into the league. We have a young team obviously they're gonna struggle against an experienced Memphis team who probably has the best overall defense in the league, they have one of the best perimeter defenders in Tony Allen and one of the best rim protectors in Marc Gasol and the team specializes in scoring in the paint, its like Memphis was specifically built to counter Houston.

Even with all those factors though the Rockets only lost by 6. That's not exactly cause for concern, 6 pts are just due to breaks of the game if Gordon wasn't ice cold and Bev didn't get called for a technical we would've won this game. Hell Capela probably makes up for that missing 6 pts easily.

 

Embiid has chosen Noel over Okafor. He's not going anywhere

 

No, there are different aspects of good defensive teams.
San Antonio are a very good defensive team but I am not too worried with them as they can't hold us in a series.
Memphis (and so does Utah to a certain degree) have a strong long guards that can contain Harden on One on One situations (Allen, Hill), they have strong rim protectors and very good perimeter defense.
Memphis was in control through out the game, not because of our bad game, it's just a better match up for them and we dont have an answer to that match up.

 

I think the Grizzlies plan was to let everyone but Harden beat them.

17 assist.

 

LOL no team is perfect, maybe you're not afraid of SaS but Memphis sure are SaS have been beating them forever, doesn't mean Memphis will tear their team apart because of one bad match up.

The Rockets aren't even supposed to be in this situation, even the most optimistic posters had us being a run of the mill team this year instead of being one of the top teams in the league. It's a really long shot for the rox to win a ring this year anyway why are you obsessing about bad matchups? The Rox are bound to lose games because they have been on a tear recently, losing a close game to Memphis isn't so bad especially with Clint Capela out. 6 points is a very small lead and doesn't mean Memphis was "in control", it just means Memphis was just a bit better than the Rockets this game and if that's the best the ultimate bad match up for the Rox can do then I'll take it. Losses like these are actually good for the team because it exposes flaws in the game plan and allows the coach and the team to be better at what they do. If it was a 20 pt beat down then, yeah you're right it's time to break it up but 6 measly pts ain't even worth getting worked up about. I'd rather worry about the real contenders in the league like SaS, Cleveland and GSW.

 

Grizzlies might be one of our worst matchups in the league..

just thinking about it, their team has 3 major strengths:

1. Interior scoring
2. Interior Defending
3. Wing defending


if they take away our 3s and clog up the paint that leaves us with........ the mid range game? .. so yeah...

 

Great post!

I was wondering if there were any other logical and knowledgeable basketball fans here in this forum. Almost all I ever read and see are mindless rants and complaints about this player or that player, or unjustified criticisms of the coach and players.

It's nice to finally read a post that speaks about the overall big picture of this Rockets team.
- New coach
- New players
- New system (to some degree)
- New rotations
- only 1/3 into the season... and doing as well as they are.

Hell, even Greg Popovich just told the media that the only team he has watched film on this season, for scouting purposes... is the Rockets. And why is that? Because this is a new team, and he obviously believes this team is dangerous enough to warrant his attention.

Like this great post says, this team is still new, and they're still learning. There will be some bad losses and bad games. That's how teams learn and grow together, and that's how they eventually become the Warriors, the Cavs, the Spurs, Clippers, etc...

What's the common denominator with those teams? Their core team has been together for a few years or more.

That said, of course Harden needs to work on controlling his careless TO's, and yes, the team does need to learn how to still be efficient on offense when their shots aren't falling. And they do need to keep getting better with their defensive cohesiveness. But those things take time, and as long as they care about getting better... which all signs indicate that they do... then there's a lot to look forward to.

 

They had a 21-5 run in early fourth. That was fatal. We came back and almost tied it up from that, so that was encouraging.

Now onto the defense, the strategy is pressuring Harden on the screen. There were a lot of TOs. We don't have a big that we can throw it to and expect things to happen down low. The screen is our bread and butter. As season progresses, Harden will get better at reading those quick double teams and knowing where to pass and the roller needs to get better at slipping so Harden can pass it to when he is trapped.
To me this system is still a work in progress, we have so many pieces that are new. I wouldn't put it as concerning. This is growing pain, which is actually already very reduced.