ClutchFans Game Thread: Thunder @ Rockets 12/29/2012

ageed, i think more so than any other sport, stats can be deceptive in basketball...thats why im so happy about the advanced stats "revolution" in basketball right now...and our boy morey is at the head of the pack! let's hope he found another diamond in the roguh in beverly...we sure as hell need some more playmakers

 

I think we only play them one more time in the regular season.

 

Thats the game you really want somebody to show up, not only the players but the coaches.

If you are an old school coach and wanna make everybody on the court accounts for his performance, I am perfectly fine with sitting anybody like Lin on the bench when he performed bad. Thats perfectly justified.

But after a terrible performance last night, Aldrich got his minutes again with significant negative effect to the game AGAIN. 0 points, 0 rebounds, 0 assists, 0 steals, 0 blocks, 3 PF, 4 TOs. But still get 2nd /3 rd chance in the very same match. You may agrue thats no point not playing him in garbage time. But here's the point, HE contributed a lot to the reason we resulted in a blowout AND he's not even in our future plan, why not DMO?or somebody else may deserve more minutes like Smith?

It's the time you questioned the consistency of your coach, it's the time your players questioned themselves with "what have i done to deserve more minutes on the bench than somebody who's obviously didn't have a clue out there". Young players suffered a lot from that.

I just think, McHale is really like a father to the players sometimes, but he's so inexperienced that he just made some questionable rotation decisions that put the team spirit into peril. Come on, we don't want the good chemistry gone due to coaches, our players are inexperienced like white paper, you can write anything on them. You really don't want to ruin them even you are not intentional to.

I'll support McHale IF he's already having 3 full seasons experience+ cause our players only averaging 1.9 years. He's a good character with a father like influence, but he's just too inexperienced. But, if rockets didn't want to push for a playoff spot yet, he'll be just fine.

 

Like almost everyone else here, I didn't expect them to win.
I watched for entertainment with a small hope that the Rockets would win, but since they didn't, well I'm going to take away what I can...like that joke they made about Jeremy Lamb being baaaaaa...d in a few years.
That was pretty funny.

 

This is just one of those games where the Rockets looked tired from a tough back to back, lack of experience and just the fact that this Rockets team is so incredibly young that they will make mistakes.

OKC is just a better team than Houston. OKC is the best team in the West while the Rockets who are the youngest and least experienced team in the NBA that was just coming off a tough night in San Antonio. The thing with a young team like this one is that people need to have some patience because it will take time for the Rockets to grow.

 

Yep, thanks for speaking truth!

 

Just wanted to say your posts are always fun to read keep posting. And yes Lin will play better next time. Needs to fix his shooting. it seems to have gotten worse as the season progressed while his FG% has gotten better. He can't get complacent on it.

it is weird to me, all of our starters played poorly today except for Morris & Asik & yet most of the talk in this thread is Lin this Lin that. Little to no comment on Parsons poor play & very few comments on Morris playing pretty solid. This board is madness. Honestly I expected poor play from everybody second night of a back to back against two top 5 teams. They will be better next time & will learn from this game.

 

If we win that game, it feels like 2 wins...

 

At this start of this 4 game road trip, I figured I'd be happy with 2-2. That's what we got.

OKC would be handful at home with a fully rested roster.

Off a back to back we'd be significant underdogs.

A back to back, the last of 4 in 5 nights... it was pretty much a schedule loss. Remember, Pops rested ALL his starters on the back to back of a 4 in 5 against Miami, and the Spurs are a significantly better and more experienced team than the Rockets.

Our best chance at a win in the last 2 games was the Spurs. Unfortunately, the Spurs shot lights out, Morris was ice cold, and we missed a ton of free throws.

We still took them to 122-116 which is very impressive.

Nothing to take out of this loss other than Aldrich is terrible, and our starters were exhausted. Lin and Harden had trouble from the 3 point line all night. That's just tired legs. Not much more than that.

And getting blocked like crazy happens when you have Ibaka at the rim and you're slow off the dribble due to fatigue.

So seriously, people acting like we should have won this game or even made it close are really expecting a lot from this Roster. We're a very good team for a bunch of 24 year olds. We're NOT a very good team compared to the Elite teams of the NBA ... THIS year.

So really, folks need to stop bashing the Starters. They've done most everything we can reasonably expect. We're still in the 6th seed in the West, and that's a heck of an accomplishment when you look at the teams behind us.

The Lakers, Minnesota, Portland, Denver, Utah, Dallas are all BEHIND this insanely young team. We're performing well considering our age and inexperience.

Did anyone Really think this was an Elite team? In the first 2 months? If you did, I want what you're smoking....

 

Thunder might be...but the Spurs would hate it.
Consecutive running games in a row for that older team would wear them down so bad that even if they beat the Rockets, they would have no legs for the next round...assuming it's not a 4-0 sweep and they get a week off to sleep.

 

Cole Aldrich 0-0-0 with 4 TO and 3 PF in 8 minutes. Still wondering what the hell Coaches are thinking?

 

great comment

 

I was thinking the same thing. I don't understand some of the substitution patterns on this team.

 

thats cause its surprisingly intelligent... you've got to have some perspective and think long term...losing a game in regular season is like allowing a fastbreak point... it doesn't mean much to the outcome of a game:grin:

 

We could use some of that Knicks' veteran leadership on this team to help these guys grow up and maintain their composure. Someone in the mold of a wing defender that can shoot the three, ala Shane Battier.

 

You can't talk bad about Parsons man...he's ridiculously good looking. Off limits.

 

What makes we loose this game
1. We are not ready for kevin martin, he made 2 straight threes
2. Lin tried to answer with his own three, he kept jacking it eventhough it wasn't falling
3. In the second quarter, asik missed shots and fumble passes. He looked pretty upset about it and burdens his mind, he then started to slack off in defense and let westbrick scires easy lay ups. Somebody needs to tell him that we ask from him is his defense
4. Cole aldrich was on the game.
From above points, what makes us different from spurs, is the coaching. Pop never hesitates to punish his players when they make mistakes

 

It's pretty obvious Mchale is playing Aldrich cause he feels sorry for him...

 

I hope eventually coaching can transition away from the non-stop "fast-n-furious" style of play game after game. They can still play uptempo but they need to control the pace and know when to pick up and when to slow down. Otherwise, it just leaves the starters with nothing left in the tank.

Playoffs require better defense and there's alot to improve on in this area. There were multiple times during screens for Westbrook where it seemed that the Houston defenders' spacing was horrible, creating even a larger area for Lin to get around. Both Perkins and Ibaka were setting screens for Westbrook and he took advantage of it all night, no matter who guarded him.

Harden really needs to control his playing making during the game. Just too many forced plays.

No legs left after last night... Parsons, Harden, Lin, 2-15 on 3s.

 

thats because he wants rookies to play together with at least some of the starters...theres no much sense in playing all the rookies at the same time...