ClutchFans Game Thread: Cavaliers @ Rockets 3/12/2017

Beverley is MVP(b)

Ryno with some huge rebounds down the stretch but clutchfans.net will hate him forever for the missed layup.

 

I'm saying they're teams we should beat. This team shouldn't be getting excited about beating teams that are pretenders. Memphis and the Clippers are pretenders. Cleveland at their peak is a legit contender, but they've been floundering lately... maybe due to the loss of Love, I don't know. I was happy we played the Spurs well even though we lost. We proved we're on their level easily this season. I was hoping we would beat the Jazz even without Anderson, but I'll give them a pass. I've gotten to the point that you can't be happy beating pretenders. You're supposed to do that.

Spurs, GSW, a healthy Cavs team. If you're a contender, those are the teams you need to beat. That is the tier you need to be on. The rest of them are where the Rockets have been in the past ... almost good enough to cause problems, perennial also-rans, or playoff fodder.

BTW, I'd hate to have to face Miami in the playoffs. They seem to be terrorizing good teams.

 

Warriors and Jazz are the 2 teams that scare me the most in a series.

 

Warriors, Spurs, and then maybe the Jazz... and thank God Miami is in the East. lol.

I think if the Rockets find their shooting stroke and/or the Gordon/Williams find theirs, we'd destroy the Jazz. The other two are legit when they're at full strength. They're going to be tough to beat in a series unless we're hitting shots.

 

I've accepted he can't hit layups. He's still a ******* hustler though.

 

Man this reminds me of the win against Golden State earlier in the season. Displaying the heart of a champion!

 

I can't take this photo as long as Brewer and DMo are still in there. Oh I miss DMo...

 

The Rockets (Harden) executed the actual strategy of 3-pointers and layups. When the three ball doesn't fall, attack the paint. You'll either get a layup, get fouled, or the defense will collapse on you and allow you to kick out for a wide open three. Almost all the time, our guys have the keep shooting mentality. Even when they're missing. Tonight, James didn't settle for the three on an off night. He took it to the rim when it mattered, and that's what got us to turn it around. Cleveland had no answer. I think their game plan was very specific to guarding the three. That's why Harden and Nene feasted in the paint on mismatches.

Harden's defense tonight was awesome. This will go unnoticed in the national media, but oh well. The block on Kyrie and the pounce steal got me hype. This is the effort we need from him every night.

Rebounding. How awesome did it feel to be the team that got 3rd and 4th chance shots on multiple possessions? Great effort.

 

The Rockets are 1-1 against the Warriors, 1-1 against the Cavs and 1-3 against the Spurs. Those are universally considered the top 3 teams. The Spurs record is disappointing but they've had massive leads in 2 of the losses.

I think it's pretty clear that we are likely the best team after that group but have a legitimate shot to knock out any of them, particularly depending on the status of Durant.

 

He said 'win' not 'when'.

 

The rebounding and turnover margins were impressive.. and the difference maker.

Good win

 

Rockets are still a pretender though, if everyone is at full strength there are only 3 contenders (SaS, GSW, Cavs) and the Rox would be the front runner in the 2nd tier of teams (Rox, Utah, Clipps). They are only overachieving because of Harden's greatness and efficiency of 3s and paint, the team by itself is not good enough to compete for a championship they still need 1 more star.

This is something that needs to be stressed because a lot of people get delusions that the Rox should be contenders and then get disappointed when we lose by a couple of pts to real contenders.

I keep making this comparison but when your kid who has been average all his life comes home and says his grades are top 4 in his batch you celebrate his success, you don't berate him for not getting top 1. Rox just went through hell last year and pretty much rebuilt their roster from scratch, you have to give them more than 1 year to rebuild lol.

 

This will MAYBE get a tweet from ESPN Stats and Info. Maybe.

 

Rockets are one victory or one Portland loss from clinching a playoff spot.

DD

 

Meeting over and the Rockets won!! Woohoo, just 5 more hours of this BS then I can go home and watch!

 

I misread your initial post. Still, the total was over what you called by a point wasn't it? I just thought it was weird that you were certain about it not being 7 points higher. Still would say there was nothing certain about it.

 

Westbrook gets his own bottomline segment every single time he posts a triple double.

 

when Ryan Anderson hits at least half of his threes, we are 20-6 this season, he is so important to get going in big games