ClutchFans Game Thread: Clippers @ Rockets 1/15/2013

God, some of you guys are such knee jerkers. I don't quite understand where all the hate on Jlin is about. He was the top 3 players on the court tonight for the rox and you guys are blaming him? I guess some people have unrealistic expectations on him and expect him to be the 2nd coming of christ and play like a superstar with the contract he has (at a WHOPPING $5 million this year). He had to make adjustments with this new system and new team mates this season. He will improve and be a solid player for the rox. Just don't expect him to walk on water otherwise your life will always be filled with hate.

Tonight some of the clips players just caught fire, not much we could have done other than try to not turnover our possesions as well as keep hitting our shots during that period in the 3rd qtr since we already used our time out. But unfortunately that didnt happen thats why we lost. I still think we played fine in patches. I just hope the team is not too tired for tomm game.

 

Yes... I do not even consider the front court, we are going lose the front court battle 75% of the time. Concerning Asik, living in Chicago I have seen him quite a bit, he is at his best playing 15 minutes of high energy. He has done better starting than I expected. It was a good signing, but I argued with CarlHererra on here about it.

I also saw the post about Harden's defense. I am using an IPhone, was trying to say Harden's defense wasn't any better and had 5 turnovers.

Our team defense is just putrid.

 

Our PF position is quite weak indeed. I don't know if Morey will do anything as recently he said that he likes this young core so who knows.

 

Come on guys...no one outplayed anyone (especially Lin and Harden). Starting guard stats:

Bledsoe:
19 points, 5 assists, 7 rbs, 2 stls, 3 TOs
Lin:
12 points, 10 assists, 1 rbs, 2 stls, 1 TO

Green:
15 points, 0 assist, 1 rbs, 1 stl, 0 TO
Harden:
23 points, 3 assists, 1 rbs, 1 stl, 5 TOs

What killed the Rockets again was charity points (no one is defending you on charity throws) and ugly 23% margin difference in shots behind the arc. These margins are going to get you a L almost all the time.

 

Is he a 99fer?

 

Yep, it's our only hope.

 

Yes, it's not like Clippers are serious contenders this year and have been on a massacre across the league for 30+ games now. You make it sounds like their second unit is filled with bums.

cyclorider, dear please. Literally every post I read of yours gets more dramatic and stupid by the minute. You're at a 10 right now, I need you to bring it down to a 2.

And no Morey will not make a decision because he's not an over dramatic idiot that's panicking because we didn't beat the Clippers

 

You have to play 2 feet off Crawford as he has a dribble drive game. Trying to play him up tight is just asking to get driven by. And elevating to contest is highly ill advised, especially when you already have 3 fouls going into half time.

On a team switch failure, the responsibility is generally on the coaches. It is the coaches' responsibility to make it clear who is supposed to rotate on each switch. When a player does not slide over to cover an uncovered man, then it goes mainly on the players.

At this point we can probably partly blame the coaches, to a lesser degree the players, but for the most part it's youth, inexperience and having a new team.

It is rare that Lin doesn't rotate to contest an uncontested shooter. I did see him on at least one play end up guarding a 2 on 1 with Parsons, however it's hard to judge whether that's an error by Parsons or Lin as we don't really know WHO is supposed to actually rotate on that play. What's clear is there was confusion in the coverage.

The most egregious player when it comes to not rotating to a uncovered man is Harden. After that it's probably Patterson (who seems to also be allergic to rotations). Parsons, Lin and Asik usually do their rotations, though Asik is limited by his mandate to protect the Rim and I'm not really sure WHO is supposed to rotate when Asik is tied down on a player.

In terms of boxing out on rebounds, Harden is also our most egregious defender on the starting unit. Lin is rarely in position to box out, but generally does when he can. Asik is probably the best as boxing out (as he should be). Parsons seems to miss a fair bit when it comes to boxing out.

In terms of cutting off cutters/slashers, I've seen Lin miss his man a few times. Patterson and Harden are once again the worst at this. It's harder to judge Asik as he's usually trying to cover his big and it's hard to tell whether addressing the cutter is his responsibility or another man's. Parsons is probably the best at intercepting cutters.

In terms of defense off the pick it's not really Jeremy's role as he's usually on either the PnR Ball Handler (IE, he's the one being picked), or Lin is on a 2 or 3 and TD is on the PnR Ball Handler. A hedge off a pick would usually fall to the Center (Asik, who does it sometimes) or Patterson. In this case I would think this would fall on the coaches, as hedging a pick too aggressively leaves space in the middle. If we don't see hedging off the pick consistently for the game, then it would tend to point to it being a coaching decision.

As for the decision to go over or under a pick, that is nearly always a coach directive past the first couple of plays and often a coach directive prior to the game. Coaches will often tell their players that for XXX go under the pick and see if they can make their shot, but for YYY fight over the pick and hedge the pick.

 

Clyde: "behind Harden, Douglas is the second most clutch player on the team"

Lol.

TD is a good, quick perimeter defender, and a good but streaky three-point shooter, but second most clutch?

 

^^^^

Lmao. This guy ( before last post) spent 10 minutes typing a long winded page that basicly said: No, Lin wasn't responsible because it was McHale's fault.

See what we're dealing with people!?!

 

I seriously wonder if you're a coach in real life? Your contributions have really taught me a lot about bball. Thanks!

 

Jordon, Paul, Griffin and Harden all together.

 

Lol, it's absolutely unreal.

 

Anyway great game by a lot of guys tonight. Parsons was stellar really aggressive in the half court had some nifty finishes. Very impressed LOL at the people that were counting him out when he was slumping. Lin was solid. Shocked by his 1 TO particularly against Clips who force a lot of them. People keep saying he will get raped by PG X & once again he more than held his own. He needs to take more long 2's & stop bricking threes. Also needs to take more mid range J's. Harden was solid. Not impressed by him chatting it up with the clippers in there huddle when we are getting blown out. Patt was pretty awful tonight. Moris was on in terms of his shooting which was needed. I am alot more patient with Morris than I am with patt. patt just bothers me. Greg deserves more burn & Asik was his usual self. Although that outlet pass was kind of head scratching. Love the agression though by him.

 

He's a good player. Speaking of backup players he's the perfect back up center...but the thing holding him back IMO from being a bonafide starting center is that you can't pass to him.

He's played better than expected though, if the guy can improve his catching then I think he's a really quality starting center...but it's hard to have a big man that can't catch...

Then our other big men can't do much but shoot jumpers...

 

The fact is, Bledsoe and Crawford are the Clippers second unit guards who normally come off the bench. And they totally dominated the Rockets starters Lin and Harden.

Rockets simply cannot win if both Lin and Harden are outplayed by some PG and SG on the other team.

Rockets aren't going to win very many games in the frontcourt. That's why the backcourt performance of Lin and Harden is sooooo important.

 

You have some kind crystal ball? If bench increase minutes is anyone sure Rocket couldn't be competitive? Have check minutes play by rookies on Houston vs rest NBA teams?

I contending at least that decreasing minutes for our top 3 scorers could lead increase efficiency. I'm also concerned about injuries.

Rockets still have half a season to play and Harden, Parsons, Lin are playing very heavy minutes.
Lin already double minutes he played in the NBA.
Parsons already play 75% last year minutes in 37 games vs 63.
Harden 4th in minutes played after average 31 minutes last year as 6th man.

I know when I have tried leg first thing that goes is defensive intensity.

 

LMAO the two of you are something else.

 

Lol, I was laughing at that as well. I like TD, don't get me wrong but Bill & Clyde are drooling over TD whenever he drives, makes a shot.

 

Crawford was just exceptionally hot tonight. He scored with Parsons, Lin, Douglas or whoever was on him. The guy is very good, but tonight is not an average Jamal Crawford night.