ClutchFans Game Thread: Rockets @ Thunder 12/29/2013

If McHale stays, then what can the team do? Is there enough leadership with the likes of Howard and then guys like Parsons and Harden and I guess Lin and Beverley to turn the team around and have them become more cohesive and trust one another? There are young guys like T Jones depending on it and there still is the Asik distraction.

 

Morey should trade Asik & DMo & Cassip & Brewer for some players who can play

 

The amount of panic is pretty hilarious

How many do they have to win before a schedule loss to a top team doesn't twist tampons into figure eights?

 

Great post by Torocan this morning.

 

Those teams can shake it off, because they've been to the top and have battled in the playoffs and know exactly what needs to be adjusted in the next game.

Let's not put the Rockets in that category yet. If they're a "young team that still needs to build chemistry", then you definitely cannot dismiss these types of losses where it was more than just tired legs.

These guys literally looked confused as heck when taken out of their element, and this isn't first time either.

No one is arguing that they were tired, but that just doesn't matter when it comes down to grinding out games when it matters in the end.

Instead of thinking "oh we were just victims of the schedule", how about trying to find way to squeeze out that extra amount of effort when the going gets tough.

 

First off fans are going to fans whether they played the game or not. Did you hear what Scott said before and after the game. Why didn't they talk about how fatigued the Rockets players were.

Secondly the Rockets brought this on themselves. The other night they waited until the 4th quarter to play some ball. Blow them jokers out its a good chance your legs are fresh for that b2b game.

Injury bug has hit us hard this year so far and we are still 21-12. Pretty good to me.

 

Asik needs to go too, I just don't see him buying in. Aside from our starting five plus Lin and brooks, everyone else including coaching staff needs to be shown the door. Mike Miller and other veterans can probably be had for cheap, he is shooting 40% from 3 and just won a couple of rings.

 

Just take our lumps and gear up for the next game.

 

Love MM, but his back! Another guy with a bad back.

 

Its not panic, if you read the threads in the forum, people have been saying these same things for awhile. MCHALE, CASSPI, GARCIA Need to go.

 

He wont be playing lots of minutes though.

 

Pimp exactly, we have aways to go before we reach that level of play. Maybe next season we will be ready.

 

They were synergistic 21 times this season. Unsynergistic 12 times.

Synergisticismness looking synergitactistical so far.

 

We need a defensive minded coach that has a pretty good offensive mind as well. I like Mike Miller but his time is coming to an end. Wished we could have gotten him when we had Tracy n Yao.

 

One interesting thing I noticed tonight, and during other Rockets losses as well -

Teams celebrate like they just won the championship whenever they beat the Rockets. It's like a milestone acheivement for them.

I think this speaks well for our team. Nobody celebrates after beating Atlanta.

 

*yawn*

Pretty bad blow out, but I was pretty much expecting it. Everything was completely in favor of OKC. The impact of 0 days rest is pretty well documented, as is the impact of 4 in 5's.

Toss in heavy minutes at our high pace and it's not really surprising at all.

As for McHale saying "no excuses", what the heck is he supposed to say? That the schedule is a joke? That it sets some teams up to fail?

Consider the following...

4 in 5's
Houston - 3
OKC - 1

B2B's
Houston - 20
OKC - 15

B2B's on the Road
Houston - 16
OKC - 12

Games played prior to tonight
Houston - 32
OKC - 29

B2B's played so far this season
Houston - 9
OKC - 3

Average distance traveled per game
Parsons - 2.7 miles
Dwight Howard - 2.2 miles
James Harden - 2.4 miles
Jeremy Lin - 2.1 miles
Terrence Jones - 1.8 miles

Anyone who thinks that playing a ton of B2B's isn't going to kill player speed, mental reaction times, shooting accuracy and mental judgement hasn't played competitive sports. Either that or they're trolling for no reason other than to stir the pot.

As I said much earlier today, this type of scheduling basically makes it ridiculously hard to win. If Gregg Popovich was coaching the Rockets, there's a good chance that Harden, Lin, Howard and Parsons wouldn't have played a single minute. And if Pops said what he *really* feels about these schedules, he'd list it as DNP - FU Stern.

Pops is smart enough to know a lost cause when he sees one. Safer to preserve your players, get them rest, and avoid the increased chance of injury due to fatigue.

 

4 games in 5 nights over xmas? Not really that surprising in retrospect..

 

BE CAREFUL! You are getting too close to the truth and the Management just can't take it! Y

 

I'll take the 2 wins against Memphis and NOLA over one win over OKC, PERIOD.

 

You cannot negate the experience of both OKC and Spurs and you cannot deny Portland's efficiency and execution

You just can't add one Dwight and expect us to jump to No.1.
It takes time and moderate expectations.
Yes. We could play harder but this time losing 20 or 30 does not matter much.

In the long run if there is no hope to get back into the game on the road... you mail it and go to the next game and preserve energy.