ClutchFans Game Thread: Thunder @ Rockets 5/3/2013 (Playoffs Round 1, Game 6)

Still proud of this team and looking forward to next season. Just got to add Lamarcus Aldridge... errr, i mean a reliable 4...

Oh, and I really hate Derek fisher.

 

Yep me too.

 

Be happy. Overachieved and broke all expectations.

We played well. We did well.

Every player is going to improve in the offseason, and I trust Morey has already started to get some trades going. Chasing Dwight / another star as we speak.

It's going to be a great season next season. I think we'll make the WCF like OKC did in their second year since making the playoffs.

Jeremy Lin will improve. Look at his post-interview - the kid looks crushed, but he'll fight on. Apparently he's "more motivated than [he] has ever been in is whole life".
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5CjJBvTWj6Q

Its a win regardless.

Here's to a great season!

Relax from ClutchFans just a bit. Everyone should grant themselves a little bit of a holiday from these boards.

 

flops + wide open 3s. can't guard everyone...

 

People have said all season, the Rockets overachieved and I never really bought into that argument based on the talent I've seen the team display.

We DID overachieve this playoff series. Before last night's game (or more accurately Garcia getting into foul trouble in the 3rd) we have been playing the best defense in this playoffs that the team has played all season. There were still some individual weaknesses but all in all two games is the best we could have hoped for Westbrook or no. A fine series that turned out much better then we could have expected. Hopefully, Morey will be able to keep this core group intact for next season.

 

Reggie Jackson played well.

But Fisher forced our best player,(Harden) into making costly mistakes in the most important parts of the game.

 

It's funny. At the beginning of the playoffs on ESPN, all of the analysts picked the Thunder in 5. One guy picked them in 6, I said to my wife "I would take that". After the way things played out, I wanted so much more but now that I can look back on it all I'm satisfied.

Besides the starters, we need to keep Garcia, Delfino, and Bev (obviously). We need to find a star PF and also at least one veteran big man. Someone who can come in during the playoffs and give quality minutes.

 

Not to mention the big shots he hit when we doubled Durant.

 

i like what Harden said, about the Sky being the limit for this team--in the post game interview.

What i don't like is him not putting the onus on himself, and taking accountability.

I'm starting to wonder whether Harden is really a good leader. He has the talent and the skill-set, yes, but the prowess of a leader? i'm not so sure

When he played horribly in the finals in OKC, against Miami, he took offense when people questioned his performance.

His numbers look good across the board this series, but those numbers are very misleading.

up til game 4, his FG% was in the 30 percents, that's putrid.

He didn't have a break out game until game 5, and then in game 6, he laid an egg by allowing Derek Fisher to render him--a liability.

I mean, Derek Fisher is good, but he's OLD. How is our best player going to get shut down by Derek Fisher? just can't happen, especially at home.

So like i said, i didn't hear Harden taking any accountability for his 5 horrible games out of 6.

A leader shows great humility in defeat, but a leader also takes accountability for his shortcomings and puts the onus on himself, especially when it is obvious that he was the primary reason as to why we stunk it up for most of the series.

James Harden is our franchise star. As he goes, we go.
IF he really is who we hope he is, maybe he'll start showing that he cares enough to put this team on his shoulders and admit when he falters. I mean, he can be optimistic and say all these positive things, but the truth is, he didn't get it done. He did not play at a superstar level.

so just take accountability. that is all

 

those shots were huge. i was beyond livid.

those 3s sucked the air out of my balloon, metaphorically speaking.

 

Fisher may be old but he's still a very good positional defender. He played very good defense the whole game and I think there was even a sequence wherein even Aaron Brooks could get past his corpse.

 

As for the highlights of this series, i gotta give it up for

Chandler Parsons and Omar Asik. These 2 young studs really showed the world how good they really are, and they're only getting started.

They did not falter when the lights got their brightest, they played above and beyond--what we expected from them, and i could not be more thrilled for them.

A silver lining for this series has to go to Patrick Beverley and Francisco Garcia. Patrick Beverley came in and played tenacious D on Westbrook in games 1 and 2. It is unfortunate that Westbrook got hurt, but Patrick Beverley showed to us that he was unafraid of anyone. I've never seen anyone guard Westbrook as well as Beverley did, and that's saying a lot. I LOVED his poise and his fire, he did not play well--every game, but he did prove that he is capable of playing at the point guard position for this team in the future.

Garcia is taking a lot of heat for his performance, but where did he come from? he wasn't even supposed to be a factor in this series. He was professional and he made game winning plays in those 2 games we won. Garcia is best suited to come off the bench, but i'm glad we got to see that he still has something left in the tank. He guarded Durant well for a few games of the series, i'm just grateful that he helped us as much as he did.

Highlight of the series, Carlos Delfino.

He clean picks Kevin Martin, runs down the court with Kevin Durant looking to contest him, 1 on 1, and he goes down the lane with fearlessness and DUNKS IN DURANT'S FACE, AND ONE.

I Love Delfino, that play could have very well have been the highlight of his career.

Jeremy Lin, what can be said? he didn't have enough playing minutes in this series to really have an impact. He didn't gain the playoff experience that our other young guys attained. He came back a few games after injury, and didn't really contribute anything to the team in game 6. Jeremy Lin is kind of in Limbo, right now. If anything, Jeremy Lin hurt his stock more than he helped it, his injury allowed the world to see that there is a viable replacement--who is more than capable of taking over his role--at a discounted price, in Patrick Beverley. It's not Lin's fault that he got hurt, but he sure did not do himself any favors this series.

Overall, good season for our young guys, proud of our young guys' progress.

--RED NATION

 

lol @ corpse.

we aren't supposed to lose to the undead.

The zombie made our best player look brainless.

if that's not irony, i don't know what is

 

Why is everyone saying Harden got shut down?

26/6/7 and 4TO is almost spot on his season average.

even the 7 of 22 shooting is typical of Harden's second half of the season.
Harden played a typical game.

We lost for other reasons.

 

watch the damn game.

Even if you say that is his season average, he did not rise to the occasion and make the plays to put our team in a position to win the game.

stop looking at the numbers, James Harden had one Superstar level game, and that was in game 5.

We needed more than 1 of those games from him, he is our superstar and he's proven that he is capable of playing at that level.

He just didn't do it enough, this series. that's all there is to it

 

Am I the only one listening to this today?

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QHe23fEHxJ8

 

Westbrook was out.

Harden had an opportunity to impose his will on this series with it just being himself and Durant as the best players in this series.

Harden may have added experience as 'the man' in this series, but he did not exceed anyone's expectations of him. He played below what people believe him to be, and that is a superstar.

Even if you are outmatched, you still go down in a blaze of glory.
Harden just went down in a blaze.

 

gotta go down with the ship, right?

The Iceman, Durant, sank us.

 

I guess I was a little too deadpan in my sarcasm.

You're spot. When I wrote 7/22 is typical season average, anyone with half a basketball brain knows that's COMPLETELY FRICKEN UNACCEPTABLE! but has happened way too many times since the AllStar break and every game bar game 5 in the playoffs.

Harden was sick though.
He's not the only reason but a huge reason we lost.

Averaging FG30% whilst hogging the ball and taking so many shots in the playoffs is atrocious.

 

there are a lot of people on this board who look at the numbers and justify a players play, by that standard. i mistook you for one of them. sarcasm doesn't work well through words alone, btw.


Harden cannot be our primary ball handler if we expect our team to go further. If we could nab Chris Paul, i would be oh so happy.

I do not want to give our team to Dwight Freaking Howard. I do not want to change the character of our team by bringing in that Diva.

Dwight Howard and our team is like what Oil is to water.

Give me CP3, baby.