ClutchFans Game Thread: Rockets @ Clippers 11/4/2013

If I was Mchale I would put Harden on 3s rather than 2s, he is better when he isn't like chasing guys around the court

 

In one non-call Deandre Jordan tackled Lin going up for a layup, in another non-call Blake Griffin shoved Parsons from behind, causing a turnover. No foul calls on the Clippers ... play on.

 

lol

 

OK, perhaps not like garbage...
But the ream was -27 with Lin on court!
(That's the worst +/- stat in the team tonight)
And anyway - a PG should be held more accountable than other players for the way a team plays.

 

Yeah they get the ball and are flying down the court...problem is if they miss the shot the Clippers are flying right back down the court for a 3 or a oop. Reminds me of all those Denver games last year, they are just better at it than us.

I really wish we had a team that could slow it down, bring it up the court, and run a offense...really think that is what is best for this set of players. Also just pushing it up the court here and there and not all game.

 

Look at most of the past championship teams. Jordan played great defense. Dream played great defense. Ducan/Ginobili played great defense. Lebron/wade played great defense. They are all the true Superstars. I will say it again. If JH does not play defense, don't kid ourselves that Rockets will win a championship. It'd simply be a pipe dream. Period.

 

Lin is the only starter that almost did not get play time against the bench.... I would say that is the reason he got the worst +/-. But I agree that Lin only played a OK game.

 

You can get away with starting Bev if you start a 4 with some offense like Casspi.

Honestly I think McHale is getting pressure from upper management to start the twin towers.

 

Home cooking, man.

 

yup exactly why miami always blame Chalmers when they loose...

 

I don't disagree with you at all.

 

Say... what??

Casspi was the main match up against Griffin tonight!
Actually I thought Omri made him look bad on defense.
Did you watch the game at all?

 

Really, the game was pretty straight forward tonight in terms of why we lost.

-Rockets on 3rd game in 4 nights. Clippers playing at home with 3 days rest.
-Short at the PG position with Beverley out.
-Harden shooting poorly (0/7 from the 3 point line, 15 points on 16 shots)
-Dwight in foul trouble early, playing only 7 minutes in the first half.
-Lots of home cooking foul calls mixed with superstar calls for CP3 and Blake
-Clippers shooting very well from the perimeter

Aside from that there were execution issues in general.

Our PnR defense was terrible. I saw virtually no shading off of picks or screens. So players would go over the Pick or screen, but nobody would be there to shade the other side making it easy for the ball handler to turn the corner and find room.

Rotations were terrible. Multiple plays I saw players lose their man or miss player rotations, especially on the 2nd pass. And when they didn't lose their man they didn't close to contest. I saw multiple shots where Harden and Parsons didn't even bother trying to close to the perimeter, or where multiple players didn't even try to close when a ball was kicked to the corners.

Dwight and Asik staying in the paint. Multiple times the Clippers would place men on the elbows after a rotation with the only close player being Dwight or Asik, but neither of them would leave the paint to contest the 3. This could only be by design as closing to contest would only be a few steps. Yes, it would have left the paint more vulnerable but the Clippers are a 3 point shooting team with their new 3 point snipers. Leaving Dwight and Asik in the paint was the WORST defensive choice.

Lazy transition defense. Lots of plays where players didn't get back fast on defense, or when they did they lost their men entirely leaving completely open 3 pointers or drives to the basket. This resulted in players being forced to foul in transition instead of having at least one player back to take a defensive position.

Complete lack of defensive communication. When players were back picking or back screening, nobody would warn the defenders which side they were coming up or whether they were coming up at all. This left defenders often at a poor angle to the screen/pick, making it that much harder to fight over the picks/screens and recover their positions.

On the bright side our offense was quite good, despite Howard's terrible post ups, Harden's no show, and the numerous missed gimmes. We were still well over 100 points even before garbage time.

Harden's going to have off nights in terms of shooting, so not too worried about that.

Dwight's post ups on the other hand should probably be thrown out except against 2nd units. Let him work on them there before they are regular bread and butter plays.

We shouldn't use the TT against most high scoring teams. Perimeter shooting teams like the Clippers (and possibly GSW) are bad choices to use the TT, since if you run into a deficit it's really, really hard to shoot your way out of it.

All in all, some good things, some terrible things, but not a bad showing considering that the Clippers were more rested, playing at home, and considerably more experienced as players and as a team.

Hopefully the team works some of the kinks out for Saturday's game.

 

I'd add the first foul Lin committed on Griffin was the worst one. Just let Griffin dunk, there's no way he could block or strip the ball off from him. Those 3 fouls are the ones that he shouldn't have made.

The tripping foul was when he over helped on top of the key and had to recover on CP3 at the corner.

 

not excusing Harden's defense but most of the players you mentioned did not play defense early on, like Wade he started playing defense much later into his career.

 

at least Minnesota and Philly lost tonight, so we weren't the only 3-0 team with a loss. lol

Indiana is the only undefeated team left.

 

Arena perspective. Rockets played slower than last year.

I was there.

 

That -27 was Lin focused on facilitating. There was not a candle to be lit.

 

They did not win championship earlier on either. The sooner JH realizes this, the better chance we have to win championship.

 

No post-game interviews?