ClutchFans Game Thread: Rockets @ Blazers 3/11/2015

Yep. Beverly said he (himself) was partying too much this season and had to get serious. But he said that weeks ago and maybe hasn't followed his own advice.

I think this team loses its edge with too much time off. I do hope Harden won't regress to his off-day habits from a season ago. You don't see too many of those bleary-eyed, slow-reaction-time games anymore; let that continue.

 

Especially since Morey didn't get him any help, saving the cap space for that elusive star player and trading instead for....what's his name again? Oh, yeah: Roster Flexibility.

Here's hoping we can at least make the second round this year, and that Morey in the offseason actually gets someone to take the burden off Harden.

 

Come on, Surfguy. The Cavs threw everything but the kitchen sink at James and he stepped up. What happened to Smith?

 

That's on the players not the coach. These players should know how to execute a fast break. They've been doing it since probably pop warner.

 

Harden literally dropped 45 twice this season on Portland.

The overreaction to this one game is strong.

 

Harden was not the same after he got, tagged in the nuts.

 

we need dwight big time. (ya think)

 

I will admit to being the kind of fan I usually hate -- I stopped watching right before the Corey explosion. Just couldn't take it anymore lol. Seemed like everybody missed a ton of shots they would normally make, which I guess will happen.... but being outrebounded at such an alarming rate just got hard to watch. (Another) one of those games where you realize exactly how much we miss/need Dwight. For what little DMo/Smoove were offering offensively last night, I wouldn't have minded seeing Joey get more minutes. He seems to 100% understand that his job is to crash the boards, and he's good at it.

 

I could've used some more Prigioni, when it got the point where Bev was 1-9, put the other guy in there and see if he can knock them down. We have a deep, beautiful bench, that's what it's for.

 

Joey should have gotten more minutes last night.

He swallows up boards and he actually looked competent offensively in the few minutes he played.

Every time the ball bricked off the rim for Portland, Lopez or Aldridge were collapsing the lane pushing our players under the rim.

Dwight sure would have helped last night.

Another thing that bugged me was Portland's hot shooting every time the Rockets would go on a decent run.

They were on fire last night.

 

I'm not a passionate McHale hater like some, but his biggest problem or me is his stubbornness on the rotations and his inability to make adjustments, whether they happen too late or just don't happen at all.

DMo had no business playing in the 4th. Beverley had no business playing in the 4th. Pablo had no business not playing at all when Bev was atrocious all night. Dorsey, as you said, had no business barely getting minutes when toughness and rebounding down low was exactly what we needed. The list goes on...

It's frustrating watching things that clearly aren't working getting extended run because McHale refuses to make a change. It really doesn't require too much thinking.

 

It's weird because McHale did a little interview JUST last week where he said he was going to try finding more minutes for Joey down the stretch and in the playoff rotation because he'd been such an effective rebounder.

Couldn't have told me in November that I'd be calling for more Joey Dorsey. LOL.

 

I thought the Blazers played very physical against the Rockets last night but it didn't seem like the Rockets responded in kind. I blame part of that on the refs when they allow the other team to hack the crap out of the rockets, yet call ticky-tack touch fouls against the rockets on the other end of the floor... its demoralizing, momentum changing, and I think it eventually got in the rockets player's heads. The other part I blame on the Rockets themselves for not matching their opponent's physical play which would (hopefully) force the refs to either call it on both ends or just let them play. Instead, this team hesitates and becomes passive (dare I say soft) until it gets to the point where one player must go into hero mode in order to stay in the game.

 

Good News Rockets Fans!

According to Kurt Helin of Pro Basketball Talk: D12 will be back soon!
https://twitter.com/basketballtalk/status/576032033362710529

:grin:

 

Same here QT, I kept pointing that out last night, just how badly we were out-rebounded the entire game, I thought -14 in the 1st half was painful enough, but -20 overall once it was Final, made me cringe. I know the FT shooting was horrible (Brewer and D-Mo went combined 2-9), but the rebounding story CLEARLY decided the game.

 

I think the one bright spot in last night's game is that Harden saw that he wasn't going to get the calls and he made a consistent effort to draw defenders and then make the pass. That's maturity. Unfortunately, last night his teammates couldn't make the buckets.

 

I am making a note of how well these small ball lineups have helped to get us back into the Memphis and Portland games -- two games against good teams that were getting away from us and which looked hopeless, but where the small ball lineup put us in a position to win at the end of the game.

I think this could be an effective strategy in the playoffs if we are in a similar situation -- especially when the one big we have out there is Dwight, who will do a much better job protecting the rim and grabbing rebounds than TJones, Smith or Donatas can when they are the lone big.

I think you have to give McHale credit for going unconventional like this since it has had some success.

 

It is bizarre I just think Portland went way or of their way to contain him. I would watch Harden when he didn't have the ball and they would be poaching the passing lane to Harden while another player just stuck to him like glue.

ALSO. Did anybody get the impression that Beverley was trying to create for himself more than normal and refusing to pass to Harden at times?

 

I honestly feel because beverley is so useless on offense, we should end the game with this lineup:
PG: Harden
SG: Brewer
SF: Ariza
PF: Josh Smith or D-Mo
C: T Jones or D-Mo

the heat had a lineup with no real point guard to end the games because lebron played pg while ray allen and dwade were the wings with mike miller/shane battier at the 4, and bosh at the 5..

 

<blockquote class="twitter-tweet" lang="en"><p>No NBA report for <a href="https://twitter.com/hashtag/Blazers?src=hash">#Blazers</a>-Rockets today because game didn't meet criteria of 5-point margin at 2-minute mark. Score with 2:00 left: 99-93.</p>&mdash; Mike Tokito (@mtokito) <a href="https://twitter.com/mtokito/status/576074189100036096">March 12, 2015</a></blockquote>
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