Clutchfans Game Thread: Rockets @ Cavaliers 11/19/2025

Hate to be that guy but imagine Reed or Holiday instead of Amen at point with the double big starting lineup….

 

Yeah, looked like Mobley did what he could to push Sengun further from the rim and make him take a tougher shot. Didn't matter though.

And I'm loving that teams are pretty much forced to play a lot of one-on-one defense on Sengun and Durant right now.

What a fantastic win. Bring on the Nuggets!

 

We have been cleaning our mistakes, evolving as a team. Still believe in workin out a few set plays for our main guys, too much freelancing for my taste. But you can't argue with the results.
Injuries have been helping us to stress test the team and most important, there are hierarchies being created with every rep.

Big test on Friday, that is life on the West

 

Actually got to WATCH this game.... Ime doesn't believe in timeouts?? who knew

 

Tate should never play. He’s been awful this year. Even defensively.

 

Reported

 

We are very good.

DD

 

Tate fouls and gets the opposing team in the bonus early in the quarter single-handily.

 

I would rather play JD Davidson over Tate

 

I was really irritated with the lineup out there with Tate but to Ime's credit he did adjust (a little late, but better than never) and started playing smaller with Holiday and Reed.

That's what we're going to need to do until Tari and/or DFS come back. Tate is cooked and Unc is apparently just a locker room guy now. Just going to have to deal with often having a small guard out there and sometimes two.

 

You can't really compare her to Buck since she's doing color and Buck is play by play. Of course her being a woman is part of how people receive her. For awhile she probably got a little more credit than was warranted because she was doing a reasonably solid job in an extremely male dominated field. Now the backlash to her is a lot stronger because she's a woman.

 

Why not just Reed and Okogie? Our defense is operating worse than our offense. Why not play our second best defensive player with a 45.7% shooting 3’s than play one of our worst defensive players in Holiday? Also if you don’t have someone that can drive into the lane, the perimeter defenders will stay home and our spacing will get crushed. Amen and to a much lesser extent Reed are our only 2 guys that are good at creating the space this offense needs. They can play together some, but it is much better for our bench brigade if Reed is in the 6th man role until his defense gets better. Holiday should be used only in those situations where everybody in the regular rotation is bricking. Instant offense type of guy or junk time guard.

 

Well, when Okogie's shot is falling, I think that works. It's a question of how he's shooting the 3 ball any given night, I think. Last night, he clanked his only two shot attempts. I feel like maybe he should have been given a little more of a chance though, you're right.

 

This guy gets it.

Crying some sort of 'ism is not an actual argument. Doris is garbage at her job, but you do you white knight Orem.

 

Much like the Harden years, I am worried our best championship level run is concurrent with yet another dynasty. First Golden State, now OKC.

Tough luck, this must be how all the 90s teams from the East felt.

 

Imagine how many 3 pointers the other team would hit. Basketball is played on 2 sides of the court. Amen and Okogie are great perimeter defenders. It makes up for a lot due to the mediocre defense and lack of blocking out that the zone defense causes. Two bigs was necessary last year, because of our poor outside shooting. We don’t have that weakness this year. Even when the two bigs lineup is not being played we are killing it on the offensive boards. Amen shut down Mitchell in the first half. When Reed and Holiday started guarding him more our lead went from 14 to 1. Reed was struggling to get a good shot in the second half so Holiday became necessary. I think Reed and Holiday should play together zero mins.

I don’t think the Cavs come back if Okogie played Reed’s minutes in the 2nd half. For the record, I think Reed should get 30 mins a night while Tari and DFS are out. He needs to improve his defense to get those mins long term. Both Holiday and Reed need either Amen or Okogie in the game when they are playing. Reed is a great shooter and will be regardless of how many minutes he plays. In order to improve on his weaknesses, he needs more minutes with Amen and/or Okogie on the floor (Okogie can play SF as well). With Tari out it be nice to see all three on the court when Durant or Jabari need a rest.

 

I've never understood the Tate hate...Tate gives a 100% on the court every play and is always ready. Always disruptive.

He's not starter material but every team needs someone like him. Warrior.

Starters and primary reserves got to rest at some point in the game, right?

 

In years past I would have agreed with you. But have you watched him this season? Man his defense has fallen off some and he can’t make a shot outside the paint.