ClutchFans Game Thread: Rockets @ Thunder 10/21/2025

That game was a lot of fun. The OKC fans around us were all nice. I feel like this might be the western conference finals.

These teams are pretty similar. They really grind on D and still have good offenses.

Up close Shepard look terrible the first few minutes he played, he got burnt on D four times in a row, but got into the flow after. I think he'll be alright.

Durant didn't come off as a superstar this game but Sengun did. The OKC fans around were incredulous at his threes and so was I.

Again, great game. We almost ruined their championship celebration.

 

I hate when he shoots a lot of threes. Improved or not, that's NOT his game. It's a bad shot.

 

There are plenty of people smoking on copium but you’re right. We’re in cap purgatory currently. Expect ugly games like this until that changes.

 

I get it, doesn’t make sense to trade every single young player on the team either though just to keep spot filling needs with veterans.

It’s a long ass season. I’m willing to let it play out a bit. That game blew though.

 

toe on the line

 

I like him and they have to play him.

He has been put in a tough situation because Amen was injured, FVV is out, and DFS is out.

20 minutes off the bench regularly isn't going to kill us.

You stunt his growth never playing him.

 

GG

We can beat these guys.

DD

 

Amen wasn’t “off ball” when he was getting to the hoop regularly. He just needs to get more aggressive shooting in the lane and he will go to the line like SGA. If we had anybody other than Sengun who could hit a 3, he would have had 8-10 assists. Durant needs more space to operate. As long as we have to lean on the twin towers because of our lack of guard depth, Durant is going to have a tough time getting free. It’s Reeds first game as a rotation piece. I think he will get more comfortable in the offense if he can play decent enough defense to stay on the court.

 

Everyone needs to realize that Reed and Cam have been cursed by DD. show some compassion he the black widow.

 

A few quick takes on the game:

1). If Sengun’s long range shooting is real I don’t want to hear talk of Sengun for Giannis ever again. We could be witnessing the emergence of our true franchise player.

2). When Amen decides to get to the rim and take over, he can. He needs to do more of that. The mid range game looks improved. Losing him to cramps in OT might have been the difference the the game.

3). KD is obviously really good. Wish our guys had tried to get him the ball a little more. His foul in double OT really hurt and we were lucky the refs didn’t recognize his time out call, or there wouldn’t have been an OT.

4). Reed played like a rookie. Some bad TO’s and forced shots. BBQ chicken on defense. Excited to see him develop this year, but will the chorus of fans demanding he start recognize how wrong they are? He’s ready to contribute but not ready to take on that starting role. Maybe by season’s end.

5). I wanted Bari to be more agressive early but he came on when we needed him. Hit some clutch shots tonight, got some key rebounds, and made some key defensive stops. This is Bari’s leap year. Appears to be a clutch player.

6). Adams looked tired and slow most of the night. Hopefully that’s just an off night.

7). Tari played poorly most of the night. Did some nice things late, but overall a very poor performance. Hopefully he’s more locked in next game.

 

Ime needs to give KD more rest in the first half. It felt like KD played the most minutes in the first half and didn’t have much left in the tank in the 2nd half.

 

We just need him to be Pat Beverley, not Steph.... it's reasonable to think he will get there in a year or two with regular time.

 

Its our first real game with this crew as-is, and ultimately you couldnt ask for a better showing besides a 2pt difference in the ending.

Sadly, the FVV injury really fckd us. Amen doesn't need to lead our offense, and Reed ain't it. I want to believe in him, but he only shows up when the stakes are low. Otherwise, he fumbles, he misses, he fades.

I hope Durant is more aggressive, because the 4th and the OTs..... disappointing.

We had a great first half, but that 4pt play really wrecked momentum going into the half, and ended up meaning more in the end than it did in the moment.

I never feel good after a loss..... not really, but this is about as good as I can feel after one.

There were 2 ways I didn't want to lose. This was a penciled L, but I wanted a good game and knew we COULD win.

The 2 ways?

Don't lose on a last sec shot.
Don't lose on SGA FTs.

Oh well. On to the Pistons.

 

baffling why they didn’t sign paul.

 

Imagine you have a DD in every major city.

 

100% but it was still hard not to feel uncomfortable with how much we struggled to simply advance the ball up the court.

 

Tari was calling it too lol. That sheeeet had me believing they were both blazed out momentarily

 

Fvv ball would have won us the game but would not win us the championship while limiting amen’s and sengun’s roles. If we’re gonna win it, we’ll win it with amen, Sengun and Jabari expanding their games. Yes we need a pg of course but fvv taking so much space was not the solution.

 

At least they didn’t sign Westbrick

 

Oh, didn't realize they called it a 2. So I'm wrong. My bad