ClutchFans Game Thread: Rockets @ Spurs 5/3/2017 (Playoffs Round 2, Game 2)

A blowout loss is never good..did Kahwi guard Harden the whole night? We cannot afford a bad shooting night from our star. He still goes cold on too often for my liking. Game 3 is a must win!!

 

I understand your point but disagree with the comparison. Give me Harden's warts over Westbrook's any game, any season.

 

We took one in San Antonio. That's taking care of business on the road.... Gotta do the same at home.

I'll take the split.

 

Well, bad officiating can change the course of a game on its own. When one team has an obvious advantage with the officials they tend to build momentum while the other team becomes more cautious and less confident in their play. Maybe, those 5 missed calls wouldn't have mattered based on the final score, but maybe the Spurs don't jump out to that score in the first place had the game been officiated more fairly from the beginning which it clearly wasn't.

That said, the Spurs were the home team and there is a thing called "home cooking". So, I don't necessarily have a problem with the Rockets getting hosed tonight by the zebras, however that same "home cooking" better be extended to the Houston Rockets in game's 3 and 4.

 

We all know that Ryan Anderson is not going to show up in Toyota Center in Game 3 & 4.

 

whatever, Tony brother sucks and anytime he officiates a Rockets game I'm going to bet against the Rockets

 

Parker hurt. We r going to 4-1 win over Spurs.

 

We lost the game when Harden rested to start the 4th. Not that he did anything tonight but he looked like he was about to get a little something going midway/end of 3rd. Even though his shot was off his ability to distribute, create and run the offense was clearly missed. Spurs executed to perfection in that 3-4 min stretch to begin the 4th and we completely fell apart.

1-0 series lead heading into the 4th quarter of game 2 down by just 5 with our best player all night being Ryan Anderson? This is when you'd expect it to be Harden time. This is where he's supposed to insist on staying in the game and playing the whole 4th quarter and go down swinging. Where's the killer instinct? This is what separates Kobe from Harden. You think Westbrook would've sat? Not a ****ing chance. Not saying Westbrook would've pulled out a win but at least he would've tried even if he were running in fumes. Key word 'tried'. Instead there's James sitting on the bench looking shellshocked as the Spurs went on a quick run.

Tonight's effort from Harden contradicts everything he said in the postgame interview of game 1. His teammates really stepped up huge in game 1. Tonight was his turn especially when multiple guys were off.

@Will made a thread about missing the bus. We missed the ****ing bus today.

TLDR end of rant.

 

zero chance

 

Terrible start on defense killed us and from then we were on the back foot all night. Hedging off Green and giving him two free 3pt looks was a sample of that. It was horrible. Then you had Kawhi bullying Trevor all night with his size advantage. Capella was terrible as a defensive rebounder and they were getting every loose ball.

Gasol gave them rim protection and we we were a step slow all together. I'm not to worried overall. I think that was the Spurs best shot but I thin k we will gradually wear them down as the series goes down with our speed.

 

Even tony injury, houston cannot win. What does it mean

 

Can you stop spewing this nonsense around in every thread? Every player ever rests at some point, no matter how high the stakes, no matter who. Even if it's Jordan or Westbrook or Kobe or Lebron, whoever it is, they rest for 99.99% of games at a particular time. This wasn't the 0.01% game. The 0.01% game is where the team has been choking to end the 3rd quarter. That did not happen. We cut their lead to 5 in the end of the 3rd. Your boy Westbrook would have wanted to start the 4th and jack up 10 shots to end his team's chances. And it's not that he wants it more, it's just that it's a f*cking stupid way to think. It's not smart basketball, and it's not a good risk to tamper with what has worked so well.

Harden rests at the beginning of the 4th and it was a good time for his to rest because his teammates have demolished the other team's bench for 6 consecutive playoff games and the bench players were playing well to end the 3rd. This allows him to come in at the 9 minute mark and be ready to close it out. And he's historically done it well, and we've done f*cking well with this strategy.

I know we're all irritated but step back for a second and understand that what you are asking for is based on hindsight and you're not taking standard practice of all franchise players into consideration.

 

We lost because we got lazy and thought our 3s would carry us

 

errr, what do you mean? tony was front and center instrumental in our defeat

brothers was clicking on all cylinders last nite

 

They still got Patty Mills. This series is looking like it is going to steer towards 7 games if nothing else happens.

 

You live by the sword. You die by the sword. The Spurs are the first team to counter Hardens drawn shooting fouls by asking the officials if they are going to give them the same call and then creating the action to cause the call and then reminding the official they gotta give then the free throws. Very wise on their part. Pops asked at least two officials if they were going to call that on the other end. I read his lips. That's how you don't get "rooked". You hold the officials up on the floor, ask for the same call the other way, then you make it clear to them that the next time you get bumped on the perimeter you'll be shooting.

I told you Hardens hooks and seeking out contact on the perimeter has already been discussed at the league office between both the thunder and now the Spurs. That's why the officials will stand there and debate the call with Pops. Because Pops is going to do everything in his power to make sure the officiating is even or he's got the advantage.

You guys blaming Tony Brothers and Harden's dings, etc. you're just making excuses. The Spurs did a number on us last night. They defended well. They played up in Hardens grill when he caught the ball and did so very effectively with a small. They also moved the basketball against our defense, wore us down, and they flat lit us up in the paint.

The Spurs exposed our two weaknesses. Their ratched up D exposed our lack of a second playmaker/distributor. Bev, Lou, and Gordon all looked Corey-Brewer-headless-chicken pitiful out there attempting to create when Harden sat. Harden was exposed by being defended by a quicker, smaller player and having to start the offense with his defender already in his shorts. And our paint defense, errr lack thereof, was totally exposed.

 

Because the Spurs rallied after losing Parker. They were desperate in a must win game and probably extra inspired after seeing their teammate go down. But they can't sustain that for the entire series. If Parker is lost to injury, they're severely weakened and the Rockets have to capitalize.

 

6'10" 22 year old Clint Capela had 3 rebounds in 24 minutes. 6'6" 55 year old Manu Ginobli had 5 rebounds in 18 minutes. Jonathon Frickin' Simmons gets called up from AAU at Fonde and scores 14 points, while our MVP candidate scored 13. Don't even get me started on Williams and Ariza.

Still pissed. I may be over-reacting, but against the Spurs, the team can't make dumb mistakes. They can't play like they are going through the motions and expect to win. They can't allow the refs, or what strip club they are going to the next night effect their game. Or we will be complaining about how the Spurs always get the calls against the Warriors...

 

Why is our defensive execution so inconsistent?

Game one we were all over everything, disrupting the passing lanes, helping the helper, getting dirty on the glass, it was beautiful.

Game two was all over the shop. The Spurs got way too many easy buckets.

When will the Rockets collectively understand that they have to bring it every night? Defense wins games, wins championships. That's where it starts.

 

wrong. harden was clearly fouled on too many drives to even remember and at least two 3 attempts -- no calls. not 1 freethrow in the paint for harden. rockets players were shaking their heads and confronting refs all nite. and brothers was front and center orchestrating that rig job. yeah mills got up in harden's grill, and then flopped. brothers called that though..