Clutchfans Game Thread: Wizards @ Rockets 11/12/2025

Another random thought about last night:

please stop inserting Tate into the game for meaningful minutes. He didn’t even look like an NBA player last night. He was straight up terrible. I’m fine with him being part of the stay ready crew at the end of our bench, but I’m starting to think he’s the worst player on our roster right now. He should not be subbing in ahead guys like Holiday. He was shockingly bad last night.

 

I think Ime is getting ready for a 10 man rotation and Tate is a placeholder for DFS.

DD

 

He's not going to learn what dribbles are unnecessary unless he takes them and fails. Granted, he might learn as my eyes hurt for no reason.

 

Did Tari and Adams end up having a verbal confrontation? I only saw the highlights.

 

One concern: with a little over 3 mins left and the Rockets up by over 20, why was KD still in the game?

He had more minutes than everyone but Amen Thompson. Dude should have been sitting the entire 4th quarter.

 

Jalen will never be a winning player

 

It feels like Tate is a young guy because he hasn't been in the league that long, but the dude is already north of 30 and was already a marginal bench player even at his age 26-28 peak.

 

3 or 4 yrs ago I thought he could be a decent rotational player if he improved his shooting. But last night was the worst I’ve ever seen him play. Could just have been a bad game, but I’m not even sure he gets a minimum contract on another team if he’s gonna play that way. He’s been injured a bunch in recent seasons, maybe those injuries have caught up to him. Still committing stupid fouls.

 

at live i didn't even notice it was a left handed pass by reed. then i saw it on replay and thought that was one helluva pass.

i've never liked 1 handed passes but he had zip on that one let alone left handed.

 

He hitting two consecutive middies dribbling to the middle of the paint was nice. If he can add that to his bag, it'll help him diversify. But I hear you, he did pass up some open spot up shots.

I suspect that he was told to be more aggressive toward the basket if a smaller defender was on him.

 

Some people theorized that maybe Ime wanted to see how Reed would play with all the starters. Maybe Ime is thinking about starting Reed and used the garbage time to experiment.

 

Rockets won the trade just by subtracting Jalen (and his contract). Also, without him (and Scam), the team instantly became more mature, intelligent and less selfish.

Rockets were not going anywhere with Jalen as a key piece. He can "ball" somewhere else for as long as he wants to and the Rockets are better off for it.

 

So many posters underestimated Reed. He looked shaky in his first season, but the skills were there. He just needed time to get comfortable. His ceiling is high.

 

My observations for the game:
Adams is great when playing as a backup Center with Sengun off the floor.
Reed is now proven to be a good rotation piece. He is needed off the bench for instant shooting and running the offense. We don’t have to make a big trade.
Okogie may not be as hot shooting as he was, but his defense is really great, better than FVV and Reed.
Amen had a great game and showed he is improving on his decision making he had 8 assists and I counted six perfect passes to wide open 3 pointer that were missed. I had to quit watching before the 3rd quarter ended.
Sengun continues to improve in all aspects of the game and is the glue that holds the team together.
Durant is still not all the way comfortable in where and how he is getting the ball and is playing to many minutes in blowouts, but has showed how important he is when you are faltering on offense and need a bucket.
Jabari showed how important he is on defense and rebounding. His ball handling is much improved. He needs to be more consistently aggressive.
Tari has become an incredible 3 point shooter and still a plus on the defensive side of the ball.
Capella is in much better shape after only a few games and is a great insurance policy for Adams.
I used to be a Tate fan, but think he is done.
I’m not sure they played the double bigs or zone at all, but may have missed a few minutes of it. That’s a good sign that Ime is being more flexible.

 

Michael Jordan didn't say it, he did it.

 

And we ALREADY won this trade....