ClutchFans Game Thread: Grizzlies @ Rockets 10/23/2017

I have to wonder what on earth the NBA is thinking by not rectifying this absolutely silly rule, that if the ball hits an official, he's basically considered out of bounds and it's a change of possession. In today's sporting age, with so many sports updating/improving their rule-books regularly, how on earth is this not something that has been addressed already? Granted, this kind of play doesn't happen often at all, considering most refs don't wander off into the middle of the action for no apparent reason. But yeah, I really think the NBA can do better than simply saying, "Oh, oops. That's out of bounds, you lose the ball!" The fact that this happened in such a crucial moment of the game is pretty damn infuriating.

While I'm at it, I want to bring up instant replay and it's use in the NBA. Seriously, with all of the instant replay capabilities we have, which simply by their existence and use in the game suggest that officials are anything but infallible, why the hell doesn't each coach at the very least get two challenges a game? Maybe not foul calls, but hell, how about at least on out of bounds calls? The NBA already flows better than all of the big major sport leagues in the world with the exception of maybe the NHL, why shouldn't we do everything possible to make sure the proper call can be made in crucial moments?
**** is disheartening.

 

And then how is referee interference a turnover?! No side out, 14 seconds on the shot clock, kick ball style?! I've never seen anything like that, let alone in a close game. Please, please fine or suspend this man. Totally asleep at the wheel...

 

The officiating was bad for both sides and did not cause us to lose. Stop with the excuses. I do not like how they can change everything after going to the replay monitor though, might as well have reviews throughout the game and change calls retroactively for everything.

You know how we lost the game, I'll break it down for you:
- Harden playing lackadaisical again, flirting with plenty of 8 second violations, getting late into our offense and not getting back on defense. When he was, he didn't put up much resistance. Guys blew by him time and time again.
- Shooting threes from way too far out, clanking all the time way down to the parking lot and settling for threes when we had room inside. This is what our dumb strategy will do to our guys.
- Ryan Anderson's non-existent defense and how MDA keeps in the game even though he gets killed
- Our switching defense and how we are so stupid not to force a switch back, leaving small guys on Gasol time and time again
- Our decision not to double team Gasol. The guy was killing us, yet we still decided to play him 1-on-1 against smaller guys. Just stupid!
- The constant whining and complaining, which is how the Warriors lost. Sure we had something to complain about, but so did they. The amount of touch fouls that were called and clear contact that was not called was pretty bad. You have to keep your composure and put the game away.
- Our lack of urgency and hustle. At no point did I see an urgency to blow the game wide open. I saw some flashes it by Gordon and some fighting and hustle for rebounds by Mbah, Ryan and Tucker but that's it. Ariza had his moments but as a team we are still too reliant on offense.
- Our transition defense and team defense at times is still pretty bad.
- MDA's rotations were again a head scratcher, from going small to leaving guys in there who were not producing. Should've played Nene, Gordon, Capela and maybe Harden more. Maybe since he didn't seem motivated and crumbled under pressure again. That short shot that clanked from mid-range was very telling.

 

Black have the weight to well defend the low post move of Gasol and he can box out better than capela. He should be in this physical game.

 

It even itself out in the process and they would have called that in Rox' favor as well.

Do I like it? Nope but that's how things are.

 

Ryan sucked? NO WAY!

 

Listen, there is no shame in losing to the grizzlies. When you have harden guarding Marc Gasol, that might be a problem. And in grizzland we call Mike Conley Majic Money Mike. The guy is a cold-blooded killer. He does it all of the time and he loves that 3 point shot at the right side of the arc.
He will take clutch shots in a half-second.

 

It’s how we lost.

 

How did you lose? By being up 10 in the middle of the 4th quarter? The grizzlies did the same thing to the warriors. Only it was 20 points. One of the grizzlies advantages that nobody seems to credit them for is that they have one of the top half-court offenses in the league. The rockets don't have that. Similarly, the rockets strength is 3 point shooting. The grizzlies aren't half the team the rockets are will three point shooting.

Analytics will tell you 3 point shooting is better than 2 point shots. And that is mostly true, but half-court basketball is winning time basketball. That's why no rockets lead is safe from the comeback.

 

Yeah, and at least one of those two 3s was a complete gift by Harden and Anderson playing zero pick & roll defense, they literally left him wide open without even try to reach/stay with him.

Conley is great though, i know he got a big contract, but i still think he's one of the most underrated players in the league cause reasons...super smart, can do everything on both sides very well, he deserves the money he's getting.

 

Another thing that killed us was MDA not putting Luc back in the game for Anderson. The Grizzlies were switching Conley on Anderson & I saw that trainwreck coming from a mile away. That game was a prime example on why we need CP3. The offense goes thru these droughts where we get very sloppy. Grizzlies defense is good but we were playing stupid

 

They were better than us last night. Maybe we can beat them if Road Anderson shows up at their gym. Hoping CP3 will be a big boost, too, eventually.

 

There is a problem losing to this Grizzly team. If the Rockets and Grizzlies play their best the Rockets would win 10/10 times. It can be infuriating as a fan when your team loses to a team it should beat.

 

Grizzlies are not in the same tier as the rockets period. You hyping them up way 2 much solid team yes. But you making it seem like they are going to finals or something. Calm down and relax on the grizz fan train. We missed our shots Conley hit a big three with poor defense on him and the ref was a extra defender ball game.

 

Why was that ref right there?

 

Truly sorry you had to witness such a violent display of savagery. I have contacted the league and am suggesting that both players be imprisoned for 25 to life

 

Dirty play by Mario Chalmers.

 

I hate post like these. No the officiating isn't the main reason we lost. But it definitely had WAY too much influence on the game, which is still a issue. Since when does a NBA ref walk right into the middle of a play and stand right in front of a player? Since when does a player literally trip another player while he's on the ground, and get rewarded the ball back? They actually reviewed the play and gave Harden the offensive foul which is not even legal after reviewing a flagrant. The officiating was atrocious and contributed to the outcome of the game which is not acceptable

 

is it written in the NBA rule book that if the ball hits a ref and goes out of bonds, it would be change of possession? have been watching NBA for more than 15 years and never saw this kind of play happen.......

 

couldn't let HOU cut the lead to 1