ClutchFans Game Thread: Rockets @ Warriors 1/21/2015

Harden's "selfishness" is a result of McHale's "scheme".

 

Still 3 to 1. Westbrook and Durant played in 3 of those games. Durant and Westbrook had to go video game mode to beat the Warriors. Since you want to bring up injuries, How many times have OKC beaten the Warriors with Bogut, Lee and Igoudala or their full squad? 0.

 

also Harden might me more selfish but it's because his teammates are worse and his coach is inept.

 

There was a stat earlier (when the D was good) saying that opponents are just missing open shots that they usually make and Roclets were lucky or something along those lines

Now after a bigger sample size, it seems tha the Rockets defense does suck

 

I think it's primarily a personnel issue at this point. McHale says all the time that we ask Harden to do way too much, but who else is capable of getting his own shot or shots for others?

I sure as hell hope they had a Plan B to Dragic.

 

<blockquote class="twitter-tweet" lang="en"><p>Andre Iguodala on Houston's physical play: &quot;Ain't never seen the Boston Celtics play in the '80s? Look who the (Rockets') coach is.&quot; <a href="https://twitter.com/hashtag/McHale?src=hash">#McHale</a></p>&mdash; Diamond Leung (@diamond83) <a href="https://twitter.com/diamond83/status/558157392148299776">January 22, 2015</a></blockquote>
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Mchale is simply doing his best to take advantage of his best player's skills.

The problem is when he goes out to rest, the offense falls apart because we have NO ONE who can do any of the things Harden does to run the offense. This is why we DESPERATELY need another playmaker.

 

Do you like Hardens D this year?

 

Not only that but I'm quite sure that gap in assists would drastically close if Harden had Klay Thompson, Green, Barnes and Lee surrounding him. I mean how many eventual assists turn out to be bricks with Ariza the dead eye bricker?

 

There's people here that believe harden is our pg when on reality he's really a sg. But they don't see a problem in that. He handles the ball so much because our pgs can't run an offense

 

I was listing to the Rocketscast the other day and I thought they hit nail on one thing. They said that Harden and Howard are great individual player but they have not become a great duo. Too often, we never see Harden and Howard play great at the same time, which is the biggest reason we lost to Portland last year. To me, while the players do deserve some of the blame (specifically Howard), that is a coaching issue. To me, that is the biggest issue with this team along with a lack of a secondary ball handler.

 

You were justified in feeling that way. I felt the same.

The Rockets had an identity for a while, and really embraced what they were good at, which is what all good teams do, and it lead to a great record with some great wins.

For some reason they abandoned it and the mediocre performances are piling up.

Kinda reminds me how Dwight Howard is a God in the pick and roll but actively goes against it and insists on doing what isn't working.

 

Alright Harden can have those players BUT he still gotta be coached by McHale.

 

I don't know... that might be part of it, but the defense was *visibly* different then. Absolutely smothering at times w/ how crisp the rotations were. I went back & looked at parts of November games and it doesn't even look like the same team. Crazy.

 

GSW vs OKC please. PLEASEE!!!!

 

The Rockets had one of the easiest schedule early on. Thats why.

 

Knowing you, this is probably a double entendre <_<

 

with the way we hv been playing and sticking to the same coach, its more likely we will be facing GSW in the first round...

 

That's part of it. But they managed to destroy OKC last week in their 3rd game in 4 nights. And the Thunder were at full strength and have been playing well lately. So the effort can be there even when facing a great opponent. It just isn't on many nights(like at Orlando and New Orleans for example) and that falls on the Rockets, not the schedule.

 

No.

Game 1. Westbrook and Durant out. Thunder lose.
Game 2. Durant plays only 19 minutes after spraining his ankle. Thunder lose.
Game 3. Both play and Thunder lose.
Game 4. Both play and Thunder win.

In other words, in games when both Durant and Westbrook played the entire game, the season series is 1-1.