ClutchFans Game Thread: Clippers @ Rockets 3/29/2014

a torn Meniscus? i don't think so. I'd like Bev to get healthy too, but he' needs to rest and get surgery

 

was i dreaming but weren't we up quite a bit of points, the team looked great early on.....

then the wheels fell off.

 

Exactly. This is was Lin's chance to show he could man up and give the fanbase some confidence in the playoffs but he totally blew it. We were already down on Bev's injury and this just makes us much worse. I wasn't expecting to put up crazy stats but at least an average game to ease our frustrations?

 

the announcer was saying he played through it. i hope he doesn't but bev is hardheaded and i bet he is back on the court in about 2 or 3 games.

 

This game was a n

 

finally for me i agree lin is a good guy and i think people want to see him do well and when it looks like he turns the corner strings some games together it's like a switch comes on to self destruct so he doesn't get the linsanity fame again, he may self consciously be doing that don't know but people aren' t trying to hate on him just frustrated when he misses shots and drives and loses ball or plays just plain timid or scared and defers to harden when he should sometimes say screw this i'm taking over and make the shot.

 

James was the primary ball handler then. Dont know why they switched it up all of a sudden. maybe they're saving it for Playoffs.

 

This game was a nightmare for Lin and the Rockets. They blow a lead early, Lin plays very poorly.. Paul is dominant and Canaan plays well. Not what the Rockets wanted to deal with... Now have further questions on what to do at point guard.

 

I was pretty upset about the lost and Lin's performance until I realize that this team hasn't beat the Clipper's all season no matter who started. Looks like the team as a whole need to find a way to counter the match up problems against the Clippers. They have a good pair with Jordan and Griffin that takes away the inside game and they can focus more on stopping the 3pt shots. The Rockets cannot beat Clippers with 3s and layups. They have to mix up the mid and 3 shots to get better spacing.

 

Big part I notice was Paul drives, 2 guys open for 3, Lin tries to cover both guys, harden just stands there

Biggest problem was no one other than lin can cover Collision, last game Collision scored the last 8 points for LA with harden on him

All the clippers did

Give it to Paul = abuse parsons

Give it to anyone guarded by harden= layup


And once Lin got blocked, dude got scared to drive into the paint= all 3 TOs were jump passes instead of shooting the ball

 

Is tonight really more of an "occasion" than any other game? The team apparently didn't think enough of it to play Dwight Howard instead of resting him. Yeah, they want to win, and it matters in the standings (they probably don't mind staying in the opposite bracket to OKC and LAC, but certainly don't want to home field advantage), but in the end it's just another game out of 82.

Lin missed a bunch of shots and had a few TOs (as did everyone else on the team), but for the most played his role-- got to the basket on drives, got the FT line a few times, did fine defensively (he guarded Collison mostly, the team had Parsons starting on Chris Paul, but switched every pick and roll so a bunch of guys got a turn on him).

He didn't "take over the offense" but wasn't really asked to tonight-- Harden and Parsons had it going and were tasked with the job.

 

Any guys out there the Rox can sign to 10 day contracts just to see what happens? Don't have to be a pg, just any type of 1,2 or 3, 4,5 that can provide impact defensively or offensively, it don't matter. Hamilton was so good the first 3 games. It's like he was with the team the entire season prior but what happened?

 

Watching the Rockets play the Clippers is like Apollo Creed getting destroyed by Drago. "Okay, little fella, I let you have a few shots. Now it's business so I'm just going to calmly take your head off."

I liked some of what Canaan did, and I guess Parsons played okay. Everyone else seemed to shrink. Even Harden had about the quietest 32 points I can remember seeing. As bad as Lin played, I don't think Beverly would have made a big difference. The Rockets just don't have any answers for Paul.

 

Ugh

No... Parsons hasn't defended in a long time and Lin was mediocre defensively.. Won't call it "bad" because Chris Paul is the best point guard since Magic.

 

The tipping point was when McHale rested the Parsons, Harden and Lin at the beginning of the 4th quarter. Jamal Crawford proceeded to stick a big one up against the bench players.

 

Terrence Jones was the main reason why we lost, the guy got Xposed on the block. cant grab a rebound to save his life against premiere teams

 

Lin sucked but the young bigs definitely killed us tonight as well no doubt. Tjones and Dmo were extremely disappointing.

 

I love the Rockets and wish it weren't true, but this year....

We are good but not good enough to win a title.

So lets get some valuable playoff experience this year, win a round or 2 and this off season dump the crap off this team and get a real PG and bench to fill out the lineup.

 

I think the relevant worry that people should take from this game is whether the team can effectively defend guys like Chris Paul and Russell Westbrook without Patrick Beverley. Sure, elite PGs also have had good nights vs. Beverley (that's why they are elite PGs), but Beverley does make them work hard for their points. Tonight, it seems everything was too comfortable for Chris Paul.

The team had Parsons on him, then switched everything, but it seems that CP was always playing under control. Maybe a part of it is a super hot shooting night, and even CP3 won't have this 4 to 7 straight games in a playoff series, but it's a legitimate question to ask.

 

i miss patrick patterson and Marcus morris.