ClutchFans Game Thread: Blazers @ Rockets 11/3/2012

If people would be honest on this site their expectation was for Harden to score more points than he did in ATL. So when that didn't happen, people started scrambling to put the blame on other players on the team. My thoughts was this was on Mchale. We should have never went into OT. As far as the game last night, we found out that Harden does have feet of clay. If people would be honest, Harden was a ball stopper last nite, There was too much ISO play. Lot of the players were standing around watching him. Harden is a good ball handler and distributor, but he does not have the superior court vision that Lin has. Harden was hurt and tired and he should have turned the offense over to Lin, and helped out where he could. That is what a Leader does. I am not hating on Harden, but I think that he felt that he needed to carry the team, which he couldn't do. Hopefully after viewing the film he gets a better perspective on things. The thing about the Rockets is that they are a fun team to watch. Playing ISO ball is not going to cut it. Hopefully, this ISO play is only to wait for Harden to get familiar with the Rockets playbook.

 

I hope he would have figure it out when he went 0-7 last game, not hard to figure out that you need to dunk the ball to make sure it goes in. These should be easy baskets.

 

Some observations from last night:

Batum, Matthews and Lillard torched us from 3-point land. I'd say that Batum hurt us overall as much as anyone on that team. They look hungrier by the end of the game when they finally took the lead, and had more energy for OT.

Lin needs to know that Asik can't take an alley-oop. And when Harden is tired, Lin needs to not hand him the ball every time he crosses the half-court.

Parsons is practically an empty jersey out there when he's not nailing 3-pters.

Harden was winded, and his Kobe ISO imitation is getting predictable, as evidenced on that last play in regulation. Everyone knew he would get the ball and that he wasn't going to pass it, and he was too tired to drive.

Coach needs to call time-out to get a good shot in that situation.

Delfino should not try to create shots - he should stick to spot-up 3's.

Morris needed to play more.

 

I thought it was pretty shameful that there were so many empty seats at the home opener. And then the place was basically cleared out with time still left in OT.

There was a post about how Lin fan club bought out the ~960 seats left, why the heck are there still so many empty seats? Serious question.

 

This such a cool post...I love it..Thank you

 

Good points. Over time they will get a better feel for each others responsibilities, right now it's still muddled with such little time they've had to work together.

 

Off Topic, but what is Kelvin Cato doing right now??? I'm really curious, do they have jobs still??? Or what about Moochie Norris, what do they do if they don't play ball???

 

Agreed in most parts. I'll add:

Toney Douglas can play D. As long as he keeps play D only and nothing else (like shooting) he's our backup PG, at least for now.

 

Yes. And he started a tread. Look for it yourself.

 

The only thing I disagree with is about Parsons. I thought he played some good D. He also was grabbing rebounds which helped the team, and for his size, he handles the ball decently. It would help if he was nailing 3's, but he isn't useless even when he's not.

 

Too bad I liked him.

 

Lin has a nasty habit of giving up 3's. Against good shooters he would run behind the screen instead of in front. Deron Williams burned him this way.

 

Coach should go back to Lin directing the team and not to defer right away to Harden. We have a much better shot at winning...just like the preseason games... just like the two first games.

The last no call on Harden was actually the biggest thing, in my opinion.

This lost might be good for the team, helps us reassess our game plan.

I think coach McHale is too passive.

 

I wouldn't say Lin's court vision is superior to Harden's. Harden has very good court vision. He just went hero mode last night.

 

That's true...I like his confidence though. I think he will learn from this and make some adjustments next time.

But my point about our playing system, if ain't broke, don't fix it...just saying.

 

I don't know much about Lillard's range, does he even have a scouting report on him based on 3 games? As well I did not follow him in division III or whatever school he went to in college so I can't say.

If the point is that Lin should have not doubled up, leaving Lillard free I agree with that but that goes for any player not just Lillard especially in crunch time. Harden did the same thing with Matthews and got burnt as well down the stretch.

As for Lin gambling, sometimes it pays off with steals sometimes it doesn't he's not the only player that does this. Again, I agree that gambling during a crucial moment wasn't the best idea.

 

Spot on.

 

Anyone???

 

Late game execution will be something this team will have to work on. Young team - just doesn't really have it all together yet. Notably on D. Both Harden and Lin failed on D (left Mathews and Lillard open for late 3s). They both tend to cheat off their man to help and can't make it back in time (noted: Aldridge needs to be doubled). Lin's alley-oop was terrible, but so was the decision for Harden to iso for that last possession in regulation (McHale's fault maybe). It will take some time to get this team firing on all cylinders, especially late game.

 

On a positive note, we played like crap and still were in the thick of things to win it. Just imagine if we get our **** together and got the rooks invloved as well