ClutchFans Game Thread: Rockets @ Suns 3/9/2013

Where are you when Lin had good games, Sir?

 

I was at the game, and from my perspective, the loss came from inattention to detail.

There were so many opportunities for the Rockets to score on numerous possessions and either Jeremy or James held the ball without enough intention. Also, shot selection wasn't the best. I saw too many jumpers that were ill-advised and some of the new guys playing outside of what has made them successful in previous games. I have been a HUGE Francisco Garcia fan since we got him, but he played terribly. Believe me, I have followed his game for years. He can be a beast on defense and a lights out shooter on offense.

Chemistry: When you're up close and personal at these games, and especially during timeouts, you're able to see how players communicate with one another. Last night was the first time I saw James Harden with an "Ego." The way he sometimes talks to Chandler and the other guys seemed more abrasive than constructive. Their responses said as much. Hopefully, it's just a way of James establishing leadership, but it looks like it's rubbing off on a few guys, in terms of the way they react towards the mistakes of their teammates.

Officiating: Joey Crawford blew it so many times. Hence, I was the guy who yelled "JOEY, YOU SUCK!!!!" into the homes of my fellow Rockets fans. I hope you all heard it, because the looks I got from Phoenix fans made me think that I was jeopardizing my life. :grin:


Fatigue: During breaks/timeouts, so many of our guys looked DEAD. Omer was so slow up and down the court and even James wasn't at his best. That's crazy when you see he scored 38 on a mediocre effort.

Coaching: (You all know how much I love McHale ) I tried to watch him as an observer during the game. Really, the guy only stands up if the Rockets are about to give up the lead. If they do, he sits.

For many, I guess, this doesn't seem to matter, but I disagree. If you've coached, you understand that the proximity that a coach has to his/her players does have an effect on what they do. It's almost a silent statement saying, "I'm concerned and we can be doing better." From my eyes, guys like Lin, Beverly, TRob and Omer seem to play "harder" when they see coach Mac on the side.


All in all, we should have had this game, but I knew it would be a difficult one. It's a trap game. Phoenix has nothing to lose and everything to prove. Officiating was geared towards Home Cooking and Joey C gave no fu** about our coaching staff.

At least we received a blessing from the basketball gods with the GS loss.

Gotta love our Rockets , regardless of a nasty defeat. We're so close to that playoff berth...so close...

 

Too busy with all my AA hoes

Lin has had some good games, but look at his overall body of work. Stats don't tell the whole story. Coaches don't play him when it matters, he is not converting on PnR opportunities, getting to the line etc All quantitative measures show he is overrated. Nothing wrong with being overpaid though. My assertion is that he is more of a marketing tool than a real team asset. If you poll his most fervent fans in Asia I'm sure they'd also agree that he's overrated and a tool of Les to increase revenue.

 

Dude, you express your opinions well, but was this comment (and others like it) really necessary?

 

Today's game is nothing different from Denver's game back to 1/23
Harden took the main guard work and lin back to the spot up jumper.

J. Harden G 39:09 8-17 2-6 5-5 -16 0 3 3 7 3 1 7 0 1 23
J. Lin G 24:13 3-7 0-1 3-3 -14 0 1 1 3 2 1 2 0 1 9

And the league had already learned that under this condition, double guarding harden and pushing pressure on Lin will be effective.

You should just cool down. It is Mchale should figure out a way to solve it,
not just repeat it.

 

Converting on PnR opportunities...This is hilarious.

 

Because the Rockets play fast break basketball the second game of a back-to-back is probably more difficult for them than teams that don't fast break often. I don't have stats to back this up but I wouldn't be surprised if we had a below average record on bck-to-backs. Playing more people and the starters less would help. Against GS Harden and Parsons played 42 minutes, Asik 39 and Lin 37. Of course if they played less we might have lost the game - tough decision.

 

Lin finished his 82 full season games, he is inconsistant, are you surprised? Overpaid? Les will say no. I know a few more PGs paid more than him, but played at the same level. I will say overrated a bit because of his story, this guy has lots of potential, he is still young, are you agree? He will learn from his mistakes for sure.

If Harden does better on defense side and Lin improves his Jumper, Rockets could be a hot team next season. I am waitting for that. This season, already surprised lots of teams, already suceeded.

 

This is Lin's first bad game in quite a while so I'm sure the haters are happy. (He was playing great against the mavs when he got benched btw). last night he played like chyt in the second half and deserves criticism. but dont get it twisted. He's under a microscope so when he effs up its magnified. He's young and human. He's still a great young player.

 

Buddy. You're waaaay over the line. And it's quite obvious that you're a kid but you're not gonna go far in life if you harbor close-minded thoughts like this. I know you think you're just playing but you won't be the last one laughing sometime in the near future. Life is funny like that and not so forgiving just cuz you're late to mature. Good luck with that.

 

For most teams (not the Rockets) their PG has the ball the majority of the time. Lin had to chase Curry all over the court (and he shut him down in the fourth Q) and still lead the fastbreak. Then the next night he was chasing Dragic all night. So basically he has to run more than any other Rocket. Maybe that has something to do with poor performances on back-to-backs?

BTW he wasn't the only Rocket who played below par yesterday.

 

lol ridiculous excuse. Dragic wasn't even doing much till the 4th qtr. Lin only played 30mins and Drag 29.

 

And why exactly do you think Dragic wasn't doing much? Could it perhaps be because he was well guarded until his defender ran out of gas?

 

No Dragic just wasn't looking to shoot or attack for most of the game, wasn't because of Lin's defense.

 

We got Pheonix on Wednesday so Lin gets to see Dragic again. I'm one that was really down on Lin in the beginning of the season then I did see progress. Hopefully he keeps progressing but I don't expect him to outplay Dragic I just expect the rockets to win and not Lin to play a big part in causing us to lose.

 

Yesterday, when I was listening to the Phoenix commentators, they said the Rockets were 5-12 on the second game of a b2b, so I guess after the loss, they're 5-13.

 

If so, then what was Gragic doing there if he wasn't looking to shoot or attack? He was looking to assist? He only got 1 assist the whole game.

 

Coasting.

 

Rockets played good D on Dragic. Apart from his 4 fts, most of the points he scored were bad long jumpers. He just made them.