ClutchFans Game Thread: Rockets @ Hornets 1/9/2013

Back to back against a physical team. Harden having cold stretches several games now. Bench needs to provide a boost of energy. Can't wait for Beverley to come up. Wondering if Morey will be able to trade for a more potent PF threat

 

Just ignore them. Attributing a game's win and loss to individuals suggests very limited understanding of the basketball game, especially for a team like the Rockets that thrives on team offense and defense. I wish we can see more analysis or highlights individual plays, on off-ball screening. Maybe we should just start a thread for analysis. Leave the main thread for scapegoat or hero election.

BTW: We are not doing much off-ball screening tonight at 4th quarter. Why?

 

They were tired, they turned the ball over and over again like it was going out of style-traveling and bad passes, couldn't get rebounds, Lin, Delfino and Parsons could NOT buy a three, oh and the hornies were fresh from not playing yesterday and roger mason went NUTS - from 2 and 3 pt land, they left vasquez ALL day on 3 pt line reading the label and he drained a 3 -no rocket (yeah, talkin to you parsons) even attempted to close in on him, hornies were rebounding and then scoring on 2nd chance shots, rox were not defending the 3 pt line, nor the paint. Harden was slashing but not getting foul calls.

 

There were like a grand total of 4 shots in the 4th that were really actually open where no defender was within half a second of challenging it (i.e. not hurried). Go back and watch the last like 5 minutes of the 3rd with Asik on the floor how many wide open shots there were. Even the drives reaching the basket the so-called "blown" layups weren't clean because every defender near the basket could concentrate on defending the ball carrrier since they don't have to keep a body on bigs down low, and one defender could easily guard two spot-up shooters because with 4 spot-up shooters on the perimeter the spacing was terrible.

It was blatantly obvious 4 minutes into the 4th, but when McHale called a timeout he still didn't put in a big. Yeah, okay, if he wants to keep Asik down, at least put Smith in. Lin drives to the basket, 2Pat's man sags and there's a path to the basket, 2Pat just stands there. Harden drives to the basket, exact same thing, except 2Pat actually backs up some more. I bet those two were screaming inside WTF2Pat, that would have been a dunk! 2Pat is not a big, he's a pseudo big. I mean, seriously, you want to go 1-big small ball with somebody penetrating, lame, but okay. 0-big small ball with 2Pat? Are you f***ing kidding me? How is there supposed to be any spacing when you are clogging the perimeter? That stupid stuff is so easy to defend a college team could do it.

 

They recently beat the thunder, but other than that...the usual.

 

Not sure why you're so angry with my post. He had a bad game, and it contributed to a bad loss. If he's supposed to be the floor leader and the offense goes down the toilet, then he'll get more of the blame. That's just how it goes, and there's nothing reactionary about that.

I hope he bounces back next game and makes us forget this one.

 

seconded.
this dates back to the CP3 days

 

I think it has to do with the fact that they went small in the 4th quarter. Do not quite understand why Mchale did that. He must have his reasons and I really want to know.

 

He's been going small late in game for a while now, to good success. He likes it because it makes us quicker defensively, faster in transition, and spreads the floor for our penetrators.

 

Mason is the reason they won that game...that fool keep making 3s...too bad our guys couldn't make any tonight. You make some, you missed some....there are nights going to be like that i guess.

 

Ugly game, perhaps our worst game so far. Our offense was out of sync, and, giving credit when it is due, Hornets' defense was very good. They got our number, apparently: good transition defense, getting back fast and locking the paint with Lopez and Davis. And putting some pressure (but not much) on the perimeter, in order to force our 3's a little bit unbalanced. Now, that's when we need a midrange game. Drives going agains a well positioned wall in the post, and three pointers contested leads to low efficiency. Also, they outrebounded the Rockets, especially with offensive ones, which kills our transition and leads to second chance baskets to the Hornets. Put on some tiredness and a bad performance from several players and we have the mix that explains the poor outing.

The bads:

- Lack of midrange game: with the paint locked, and the 3's not falling (they were forcing us to low percentage shots under some pressure), it would be important to have a midrange game, and that was lacking. So, the Rockets run out of options. It's very good to rely on high % shots (layups, FTs and 3's) but when those shots are forced into a low % situations, it is needed to have an alternative strategy.

- Turnovers: several turnovers out of bad passes, especially on transition. The Hornets did a good job getting back on D, and closing the spaces, so the quick transition passes were hitting their hands. Also, in the halfcourt situation, bad cross passes and even lazy passes in perimeter lead to TOs. Several Harden and Lin Tos came from being striped on the way to the basket also.

- Overall offense: we were unable to play our game, and being forced to play a slow halfcourt game under defensive pressure made us commit several mistakes. Also, the ball stopped a lot. Not only because of the iso's, which were the last resource, nut also because the Hornets were closing the passing lanes, and that made our passers to hesitate before passing. Thus, the Hornets D had time to position well all times.

- Small ball didn't work: It just freed the Hornets centers to lock the paint against our penetrations. It was working better when Asik or Smith were holding Lopez and thus opening the lanes to the drives. Also, we were being outrebounded, and the lack of bigs only got it worse.

The goods:

- Not losing for a direct competitor: really, not much to point out on the bright side. OK Harden kept his 25 point streak...

The players:

Lin: 5 TOs, getting shut down on his layup attempts, not doing a good D on Vasquez this time. With the paint locked and the perimeter under some pressure, he had a hard time finding a way out, and he didn't.

Harden: Not a bright game also. Missed several attacks at the beginning and was not getting his fouls. Was not versatile to change his game once the penetrations were not being so effective, and I would liked if he used more his midrange jumper. 7 TOs. He did a good job on defense though.

Parsons: Bad game, not hitting 3's, not being able to drive, and committing 4 TOs.

Morris: Bad game. Not rebounding nor holding David or Aminu. Lost on offense and disappeared under their D.

Asik: despite a rough start, being dominated by Lopez, he started to get better. However, the small ball option prevented him to play more. Average.

TDouglas: with some pressure from the Hornets, his 3's were shut down, and the paint was not welcoming him either.

Delfino: well, he is a shooter, and tonight the shots didn't go in. Bad game in conclusion.

PPat: better than Morris, and was rebounding well (10) but was not able to present himself on offense, and was average.

Smith: bad game, lacking presence and being manhandled in the post.

The coach:

McHale: Bad decisions tonight. Small ball didn't work for the reasons stated above. Using too heavily Lin, Harden and Parsons is tiring them. At some point, we went to the 4th with the advantage and apparent control of the game. Suddenly, the Hornets started to close the gap, and that was due to 3-pointers and jump shots. The defense was not adjusted for Mason and the bleeding never stopped. The defense had to get more to the top, perhaps with almost a 3-2 zone config, leaving the post a little bit. Since they were not making good efficiency out of layups and post plays, for what I've seen. Anyway, he fact is that McHale didn't come with a counter-mesure against what the Hornets were doing on perimeter.

Overall, one of the ugliest games so far from our part. The Hornets came with a good gameplan against us, and forced us to do an offense in a slow heavy guarded situations, on the spots we usually play. Baiting the pressured 3-point play, and locking down the paint. Coming back on transition D fast, and fighting for offensive rebound in order to cut our running. In that kind of situation, a team has to move the ball well, with several screens and unexpected options during the ball flow. This, a team young and new as ours is not able to do.

 

Yeah. I notice that. However I think it didn't work today. NOH just clogged the inside. We only have a single weapon, that makes us easy to defend. I just think we really need someone to make the mid-range jumper. Our big guys can not do it except 2Pat, and our small guys do not do it. But I believe they will develop that in the future.

NOH's big guys can make the mid-range jumper though. It helped them a lot in the PnR situation.

 

Very nice post!

 

I actually used to sports bet as a hobby. My biggest win was putting hundreds on the Marlins to beat the Yankees in that one World Series when they were big underdogs, and then I put even more on the Marlins after they went down 1-2 and got great odds. But I got undiscliplined and eventually blew it all. The last defeat was putting everything on Pau Gasol to score like 20 points one game and he scored like 19. Decided that this game wasn't for me.

 

Rotating to perimeter shooters is quite easy when you have 4 of them camped out there. Just guard two with one, go to the one they kick out to if a kick out happens, plenty of time for the guy in the paint to run back to the other. Notice how in the 3rd when Asik was in the Rockets were getting wide open shots on the perimeter. In the 4th quarter when they played 0-big small ball (Are you f***ing serious? 0-big small ball?) even when they could get an "open" shot off on the perimeter it's actually not that open with the absolutely horrendous 0-big small ball spacing.

 

Lin gets plenty of credit when we win and the offense is clicking. Harden does most of the work on offense, so he should get most of the credit.

 

The coach made no adjustment late in game. People say Jeremy Lin is passive that he drives in the paint, stops, and kicks out to 3-point line, but why? Their men packed the paint and we had no center. Small ball with Patterson at center just did not work. No Asik at center = no rebounds and offensive plays. End of the story.

 

Check out my post at the bottom of page 1 of this thread... said pretty much the same as icono, and I knew Vegas was trolling with that NOH +3 opening line.

 

What can we do then... Let's not talking about getting a new player. I am just curious what we could do in this situation. We are very likely to have the same issue in the playoffs.