ClutchFans Game Thread: Rockets @ Pistons 12/21/2013

<blockquote class="twitter-tweet" lang="en"><p>ABrooks on Howard: &quot;It felt like playing with Yao. He was creating shots for everybody. And when the big man is rolling, give him the ball.”</p>&mdash; Jonathan Feigen (@Jonathan_Feigen) <a href="https://twitter.com/Jonathan_Feigen/statuses/414612710848876544">December 22, 2013</a></blockquote>
<script async src="//platform.twitter.com/widgets.js" charset="utf-8"></script>

 

My point wasn't to criticize the number of shots Harden makes. It was that leaving too little shots for role players hurts the overall play of the team.

 

Dwigth really growing into his role as the leader of this team. Well done, Morey! I love Asik but there is no comparison.

 

I totally got this vibe as well. Felt like the 07-08 team

 

One thing I love to do is eat crow, seriously. Nothing makes me happier than the Rockets proving me wrong when I predict a loss. Howard's been on another level recently (Kings game as the exception).

Hope Bev gets better soon, thank god it's december.

 

I'm quite confident that if Dwight was playing alone, the game against the Pacers would of been closer. Harden is important when the Rockets need a scoring help and clutch shots, but the main engine is Dwight. I want to see more Dwight only games.

 

Harden is an elite SG but he is not an elite PG. When he tries to play both as SG and as PG his efficiency suffers and ball movement on the team does also.

We need a PG the coaches trust to force Harden to play the role he is elite in rather than trying to do too much himself.

 

The problem is more that Harden has been playing injured the whole season, and it's clearly detracting from his game. Get him a good couple weeks of rest to heal up and he'll be able to focus better on what he needs to do.

 

Good insights, thanks.

 

difference is in standing reach though. They may look similar physically, but he's got a good 5-6 inches more in standing reach.

 

From Bev- most definitely. I don't think he should be taking more than 5 shots a game max. I would be happy to take shots away from T Jones too considering how he has been shooting it lately. The thing is that they don't take nearly as many shots as Harden. Ultimately I would rather take a few shots away from all of them and give Dwight a few more looks. Give it to a guy who shoots over 58% from the field vs 44% or less? Sounds like a good plan to me.

 

Perhaps, but that game was odd as Houston wasn't making any shots from the perimeter. Harden wasn't the only factor in that game as 4/22 shooting from the arc is going to be tough to win any games.

 

Dwight just barely reached 11 shot attempts per game (that's after 3 games in a row where he shot 14,16 and 18). Hakeem was taking over 21 shots a game during our championship run. Clyde took a little less than 15 shots a game. If you play inside out, it makes the game a lot easier for everyone and creates more spacing for your shooters.

 

And it's not like Harden just gets the ball and shoots. He often takes 15-20 sec off the clock and when he decides to pass to someone else, there isn't much time for them to do anything with it.

 

lol that stat has nothing to do with individual defense. If Beverley is on his man, an James Harden is asleep and the opposing SG gets a back door lay up, EVERYONE'S defensive rating goes up when it's the fault of one man.

 

Did you read this?

http://www.nba.com/rockets/news/game-day-rockets-pistons

When I read it, I got the feeling that Jason Friedman saw some other game compared the one the people are writing about here. It is very clear that Dwight just showed what it takes to become the Rockets starter. He makes it look soooo easy.

By the way 6 of Dwight's buckets were assisted. Parsons made 2 assists to Dwight, Brooks 3 and Casspi 1. I.e., 4 of the assists came from the bench. The team (other than Dwight) scored 79 points, which is a solid number by itself. I would say that the team ball mode was very effective in this game.

 

It's his decision making that made me rofl