ClutchFans Game Thread: Rockets @ Warriors 3/31/2017

Ok, and? You keep saying that like it's an argument against them being loud. If you watched 2 minutes of the game, you would know their entire arena was packed, loud, boisterous. Everything the Toyota isn't, and it's embarrassing for the city of Houston.

 

It's just one game.

 

we ran out of legs down the stretch. ANd looks like we need to get turn the corner soon

 

Should of kept DMo.

 

Pretty much.

The Rockets keep getting beat up by more physical front courts.

 

Do would be starting over Capella if he was here ... Jussss sayinnn

 

Houston strategy just 3 point and put the ball inside. Warriors has already had way to block houston. Capela catches and shoot already known by them, 3 warriors are waiting to block him. The stongest defensive player to defense harden to limit and block the assists. One on one to defense in for 3 point. Seems houston still do not have method to deal with it

 

Agreed. It'll take a Dream like performance from Harden to take either of those teams. If everyone is making shots we can beat anyone but I don't see that happening for 4 games against the Warriors.

 

or trade for Ricky Rubio

 

Good for them we should care why?

 

Rockets fans want their arena to be loud as they're rooting on their team. It gives a homecourt advantage. Going on the road in an environment like that is not a net positive. Houston Rockets fans should want the Toyota Center to resemble Oracle. This concept seems lost on you, not sure if it's an intelligence issue, or you're simply not a Houston Rockets fan. I'd go with the former.

 

They also held us to 7 corner 3pt attempts (8+ is our average).

12 of our attempts were tightly guarded (7.6 season avg)
15 open (16.5 avg)
10 wide open (15 avg)

So how were they able to send help into the lane and do a good job guarding our 3pt shooters?

 

Some of you guys just don't read, period.

CF turns everything into: Harden v. Anti-Harden, hurt wrist v. not hurt wrist, If you love Harden then you must hate Westbrook, and it goes on and on....

CF loves to make issues binary, black or white, right or wrong. CF must realize that there is grey area in every issue, and answers almost always belong somewhere in the middle.

I could respond by saying that Harden apologists are trying to "fit a narrative" too. They are using the wrist issue as an excuse to explain away Harden's terrible play in some of the biggest games of the year. They are using the injury as a convenient excuse to shield Harden from any responsibility. I am not going to do that.

As I have said, I am not denying the wrist injury, it is affecting him. The question is, to what extent? According to Harden, It isn't that big of a deal. He quips at reporters, telling them he had a bad game, and he is fine. Also, lets not forget that the wrist can't be used as an excuse for sloppy turnovers and piss poor shot selection.

But let's pretend for a second that he is seriously hurt, to the point that he knows his chances of making threes are significantly less Why continue to take so many then? Why play when you know you are hurting the team? That wouldn't make any sense at all. It would mean that Harden was putting himself above the team, caring more about his desire to look good individually than his team's success. I sure hope this is not the case, and I don't think it is.

Now let's go to the other end of the spectrum and pretend Harden's wrist isn't bothering him at all. As we all know, it's playoff time. The refs are starting to swallow their whistles, and good teams are starting to play good defense. Combine those two things, and CF should see that Harden is starting to feel the effects of playoff basketball, as he has every year around this time since he has been in a Rocket uniform.

Golden State's defense has been excellent these past couple of games, They seemed to leave more shooters open in the second game, but GS's Harden defense has been textbook. The emphasis on keeping their hands away from Harden has been obvious, both on high P&R's, and when he is ISOed 1v1. So much so that it was mentioned on the national broadcast. Granted, Draymond has reached after Harden has penetrated, but he did so in a calculated manner, and like I said before, if teams are more disciplined from this point on in the season and playoffs, the calls are not going to come as often. We see it every year.

So? Which is it?

Harden is struggling because of his wrist, and that is the clear explanation for his poor play?

OR

Harden is being defended a hell of a lot smarter, and teams are forcing him to take shots they want him to take.

The answer is : BOTH

Harden Is going to have to find ways to take better shots when teams execute defensively against him, AND his damn wrist better start feeling good, because it doesn't look like he is going to scale back on the pull up/ISO three ball anytime soon...

A few last points:

He didn't just miss shots last night, he made several poor decisions passing the ball as well, and he played his usual brand of lazy defense. That has to get better in the playoffs, and it can't be blamed on his wrist. ESPECIALLY THE DEFENSE.

Please, don't waste any time in your response talking about how great Harden has been this year. Trust me, I get it.

I may be a Harden hater, but I'm not dumb enough not to realize he's a great offensive basketball player.

 

Well, that's just scratching the surface of what I'm talking about.

btw: I've looked at all these stats already last night, to verify my eye-test that last 2 games featured different defensive priorities for GSW. The game where they didn't send help is a big outlier. (Actually for all 4 of our games it is). But have a look, yourself. Also, have a looksie at the game we Won.​

Last night they did send up in the lane, quite aggressively. Much more so than the previous game. They gave us anything in the lane, prev game. What you're showing is that GSW has great defense vs the league. That wasn't my point. Point is: it wasn't the same defense, and the stats bare that out. Compare both games and also look at the FT/FGA ratio. Plus, look at how many drives we had previous game vs this game. The point is to discuss how open the lane was, equally to how tightly the perimeter defense was.

Also, the Pace between the two games was very different. 105 (no help / giving up the lane) v 99 (help showing, Ice Defense makes Harden more deliberate). So, Pace makes volume numbers different. I suppose you should be looking at per 100.

 

Yeah GSW just have a good defense. I was just curious if the were doing anything in addition to sending help, perhaps sending help a different way, because usually harden destroys defenses with his passing when they do that.

Also I wonder if Durant being our helped their defense? He's rather slow so they are able to cover more ground without him

 

Valiant effort on the 2nd half of a back to back, but our offense has been in the toilet the last few games and that was too much to overcome. For the 3rd game in a row, there were stretches where we were getting stops and had a golden opportunity to get more separation, only to suffer from poor decision making on the offensive end.

Going into the playoffs, this is a concern. We are playing by far our worst offense of the season. Our team is trending the wrong way. Harden and the rest of the team needs to turn it around quick. I hate that we are limping into the playoffs.

 

We are still not at the championship level like the warriors and spurs in the west but we are definitely best or the rest. We will move past the 1st round but lose In the second round this season.

 

I salmon what agree.

They do seem scarier during this stretch without him but he's still there most talented player.

There is something to it when players/coaches/GM said there is only one ball.

When KD plays it def takes away from curry klay fan draymond in this order.

I Like houston chances against them more than any team in the NBA but out chances are no better than 15-20% at most in beating them in a 7 game series imo.

 

Personally and this is my own opinion but I don't think the Spurs are any more contenders than we are.

The rockets have more playoffs wins over the last 2 season heading into this years playoffs than they do. They have not translated there regular season dominance into the postseason.

Imo there already showing holes against the teams with strong guard play.

Imo it's no guarantee they even beat the grizz in the 1st round. That's a tough matchup for them.

Warriors are in a class of that own.

Then houston Spurs and Cavs are pretty even.

 

Draymond. Having someone that disruptive on D, who can guard the perimeter and yet still get back to block shots and wreak havoc in the paint, that's key.

As much as I despise the bad parts of the guy's personality, he's the difference on this Warriors team. Without him, they're just a high-powered offense and a mid-level defense (kind of like us right now).

Maori should be focusing his off-season efforts on identifying and acquiring the most disruptive defender available, preferably one who's a good passer and a decent shot from 3. Tall order? Sure, but that's why Mowrey gets paid the big bux.