ClutchFans Game Thread: Rockets @ Bobcats 1/21/2013

I completely agree with unceremoniously!

Mr. D

 

Harden 5-20 !!! Man this is getting horrible

 

Beat me to it. I exhaled sharply though my nose when I read that.

 

Not after 3 games

 

They played well....

However Harden was the player of the game.

The Rockets are only as good as James Harden.

 

Hey it's good to have a win, but to have to fight this hard against the worst team in the league? This team is still in serious trouble.

 

Mook, I agree. Parsons, simply because he is not as flashy as Beverly, so I guess people are rather more impressed by Beverley although Parsons did better.

 

I'm a big rockets fan. Gotta stay true to my color! If it's really that annoying, I'll stop the red color. Lemme know!

Mr. D

 

I am not hating, I was responding to a hater. I think the +/- stat has some use. If you disagree, that's fine with me. You are entitled to your opinion.

 

Also nice to see Morris getting his shot going again. Him and Delfino hit some key 3's

 

Finally got a win, phew, it's over. Not really satisfied with the team's performance, I feel like against most teams we would have lost this game again.

Anyway, a win's a win. Harden with a clutch performance in the fourth quarter to offset his poor shooting night. Morris played spectacular, if we could get that more consistantly from him, we'd ge golden. I'm impressed with Beverely, he played well especially in the fourth quarter.

Hopefully we can build on this and win a few in a row.

 

Agreed. Parsons and Morris won the game for the Rockets tonight...would have not been close if these two weren't efficient. 19-21 at the FT is pretty damn good, but 5-20 shooting is just horrible as horrible as Lin's 1-5 shooting. Lin and Harden needs to stop slacking....:grin:

 

Honestly, there wasn't any real difference in terms of individual defensive play between Lin and Beverly. Kemba got nearly all his looks and drives coming off the Pick. His drives off isolation was actually very limited. The difference in the 2nd half was the help defense coming off the pick.

I saw a lot more aggressive hedging off the pick from help defenders, and more organized switching (though there was still plenty of lapses). Asik's defensive choices in terms of playing the Pick was a TON better in the 2nd half. And Harden actually made efforts to hedge off the pick (though he STILL would play too aggressively on Help defense on the perimeter, leaving his man WIDE open for the pass).

Another significant factor was the evening of the whistles in the 4th quarter. The Bobcats were literally getting every touch foul while the Rockets were getting hammered for no-calls and bad calls during the first 3 quarters.

It's a LOT harder to play good defense when you're getting called on touch fouls, ghost fouls, miscalled blocking fouls (Delfino's first charge treated as a block), and kicking fouls from the offensive shooter while the other side gets to hammer your guys repeatedly.

Then suddenly in the 4th quarter they started giving us foul calls again, including the make up call on Delfino's 2nd charge (which actually was a blocking foul as he was moving, on one foot, and his body was angled).

It's also really frustrating to see the complete inconsistency in travel calls. I see so many players get away with tons of minor travel calls, but lately we've been getting hammered even when there is extremely minor shuffling.

I saw something similar in yesterday's Denver vs OKC game. Denver was getting hammered, and the Denver defenders couldn't even breathe on Durant without drawing a foul.

The bizarre part about tonight is that we were playing the Bobcats, NOT OKC or Miami and we were still getting shafted on calls for 3 quarters.

The reffing in the NBA is SO frustrating.

 

Actually plenty of good, big point guards didn't have elite handles. Magic and Kidd had good but not elite handles. It's harder for taller point guards to have elite handles for obvious reasons. Deron Williams probably does have elite handles though.
Not saying Lin is in that league, obviously. But you can be good with competent handles. Best ball handlers I've ever seen are Chris Paul and Isaiah Thomas.

 

Too bad Lin doesn't get to play the Knicks once every 2 weeks to remind him that he needs to stay aggressive.

 

Sometimes your posts are good. This one, not so much. It does show that Beverly has a better three point shot, and harden probably shouldn't be out pg.

 

Still Harden wasn't the best player out there though he was huge for us from the FT line though. He didn't have that great of a game. Parsons was exceptional tonight & so was Mook.

 

They should have defended this way from the first quater every single game. Why does the game start sloppily every game?

 

Kobe entered the league when he was 17, and yes, he probably had better handles than Lin already at that age, I could be wrong because I didnt watch that many games in Kobe's rookie season, but 17 is still significantly younger than 22 when Lin entered the league.

I agree Lin will likely improve the handle, the problem is by how much. If you are expecting dramtic improvements, then there's a great chance you will be dissappointed.

 

Our lack of PFs doing anything is the #1 reason IMO why the Rockets were sliding. People focused all the blame on Harden/Lin/Parson/Asik, but the Rockets were 4v5 for the past 2 weeks.

Harden had a great day from the line but was 5-19. Morris was the reason why we started coming back in the 3rd. We don't need him to score 20+ every game. We just need one of our PFs to contribute (box out, set picks, get rebounds, stop fouling, don't turnover the ball) and not be a drag on the team.