ClutchFans Game Thread: Rockets @ Mavericks 4/2/2015

Heard Howard was limping, is he O.K.? Any updates on his condition?

 

Nothing serious it seemed. Just banged knees with Dirk. Came back out with knee pads.

 

Howard bumped knees with Dirk...he's a little sore but nothing major. Might be wearing knee pads from now going forward.

 

Why wasn't he wearing them to begin with? He started using them earlier in the season after bumping knees with another player.

 

Popovich did it to Golden State a cpl years ago in the playoffs

 

This is what I don't get with some Rockets fans. We make excuses for everybody else but our own.

 

I'm right there with you. I'll gladly eat crow, I kept watching the game even tho I told myself I wouldn't. Its just become a mental thing in Dallas, in fact I reacted MUCH better to the game when I turned off the volume. Watching it all with no happy Dallas fans on their ridiculously lucky 3s, and no Mavs announcers, made the experience so much better.

 

McFail went all in risking Dwight's health for the regular season win while Carlisle chuckles to himself and tries to close game without his best players knowing that playoffs is where amazing happens.

 

4th game in 5 nights, on the road against a playoff team. No such thing as an ugly win under those circumstances.

 

It was one sweet win, really sweet. McHale outcoached the highly touted Rick hack-a-anyone that breathes.

Josh Smith was awesome, Ariza terrific, Brewer the greyhound, Terry and Prige steady, TJones hustling, Dorsey giving everything he had, Dwight still building minutes, and Harden MVP.

McHale made tremendous halftime adjustments that lead to outscoring the Mavs by 15 points in the second half. It was chuckles all the way to watch, LOL.

How sweet it is.

Glad you enjoyed the game...I sure did...and really looking forward to the playoffs.

 

Only problem is you missed some pretty vocal Houston fans cheering in the background as the Rockets started to seal up the game.

As an aside...HOLY CRAP I LOVE THIS TEAM!!! So gutty. I've root for the Rockets because they're from Houston....but I like certain groups of players better than others, obviously. Aside from the championship squads, this is among my very favorite teams they've ever put out on the court.

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Mavs fans have known this all year, its a number they throw in my face every time I've enjoyed a win. Yeh, well like you said, Rockets play them too, and ours was a 4-in5 this time!

 

After sleeping over the victory, TBH not quite impressed with the win.

Mavs missed their best player at PG in Raymand Fatton who also happens to be their best shooter. Instead they had brick layer Rondo and the corpses of Devin Harris out

Wake me up when we reach the WCF

 

lol from some of these comments houston must of lost.

 

Great game, great win.

Thoughts on Dallas:
1) Aminu has really come into his own. He was all over the place, blocking shots, getting boards, hustling. Seems like he has figured out his niche in the league. He is part of the reason Harden had a bad shooting night as he blocked the Beard at the rim out of nowhere a few times.
2) Rondo is a TERRIBLE fit for that team. I'll give him credit for D'ing up Harden pretty well on a couple iso's but offensively he holds the ball for too long and doesnt provide any spacing. He ALWAYS looks to pass making his drives less useful.
3) I pretty much forgot Parsons was out there. I think he was nursing an injury.
4) Amare is still an offensive force. This dude can flat out score
5) Harris/Ellis did a pretty good job of guessing right on Harden drives, drawing charges, credit given.
6) I hate Dallas, but I love the way the play in transition, they actually look like our old 2013 Rockets

Thoughts on Houston:
1) Ariza has definitely found his shot. He's been playing great lately. I still want him to cut down on ball handling in the half court. He's great as a spot-up-shooter, ok as a cutter and BAD as an initiator. Still an overwhelming net positive.
2) Terry is great from the corner three. He is TERRIBLE at everything else. I don't want him playing the pick and roll ever. His 'pocket passes' are always too low. PLUS when he is the initiator that means the other perimeter guys are likely Brewer, Ariza, or Smoove... not exactly snipers... The paint is always packed making the pass to the roller even harder. He needs to only play off-ball and should be on a short leash, if his shot isn't falling get him outta there. At 37, he doesn't have it every night, and thats ok
3) TJ was limited by foul trouble, but showed good energy out there. He is like the new Chandler Parsons for us in the sense that he is great at taking advantage of the defender's momentum when rotating and getting to the rim in 1 or 2 dribbles and finishing.
4) Dwight is still a mystery to me. Our defense and rebounding obviously improves with him out there. I saw him grab a few boards in traffic that nobody else on our teams could've gotten, credit given. But the offensive fit is still awkward. I don't like the high pick and roll with Dwight, he half-ass sets the picks and I don't think he has the hops to just 'go get it' and finish over the top like DeAndre does now. We should revisit that low pick and roll where Harden looks like he's posting up and Dwight comes across the paint to set the pick. It's a much shorter "roll" for Dwight and we always get a switch on that. I trust Dwight to finish over a guard in that situation.
5) Harden played just ok. He had a couple uncharacteristic turnovers and looked disinterested at times out there. I wasn't worried too much about his shooting numbers since he got a couple looks at the rim blocked by Aminu. I loved that one drive where he anticipated Aminu's help and swung a pass around Aminu's back to Josh for a three. That was a huge play. You can tell Harden needs some rest.
6) Prigs, I love this guy off the bench. The things that he does well will be there every night. Even if his shot isn't falling he can run a team. He is probably the only guy on the team who knows how to make the pass that doesnt necessarily lead to an assist but scrambles the defense. You can't really teach that, you just have to know. There was one pick in roll with Dwight where the paint was packed and Prigs turned the corner. Dwight has his hands high wanting to try to finish at the rim. There is no way Dwight has the hops to finish, Prigs purposely throws the pass behind Dwight where only he can get to it and that forces the whole Dallas D to collapse, Dwight kicks it to the corner, corner man swings it to the wing for a three. Beautiful. Anyone else would've shot a floater or forced the lob to Dwight. A true PG is SO vital.
7) BREWER. We are so lucky to have this guy. When he is getting out in transition if kind of forces everyone else to get to his level. We were stuck in the mud before he checked in. I love what he brings to the table. No question he will win a playoff game almost singlehandedly with his energy for us. Props.
8) Dorsey... *sigh* I like he guy. He battles. He just kind of sucks. He is short, with no hops, can't pass, can't dribble, can barely finish at the rim, hits free throws at an abominable rate... The ONE things he brings to the table, rim protection and rebounding, are only adequate, not even good and certainly not game-changing. Thankfully D-mos return will send him to the bench.
9) Nick Johnson.. kid can play. Right now his contributions are limited to defense and rebounding but damn is he good at both. I want to see him get more minutes especially when Terry is struggling with his shot. Nick can at least stay in from of his man.
10) Josh Smith... He is our own version of Trick-Or-Treat Tony Allen, you know he's gonna do great things that no one else can, and he'll do dumb things that no one else would. It's a net positive either way, but the negatives are always so boneheaded you want to pull your hair out. Great game from him tonight. Great D tonight, great on the boards, a couple timely threes. Things he's got to clean up... transition D. He is the WORST at getting back on D after a turnover. He almost never crosses half court.

Overall good game for us, I liked how we bounced back after being on the ropes there a few times in the second and third quarters. We HAVE to do a better job on transition D. It was like we didnt have a scouting report in the first half. Dallas get more than a few easy looks at the basket very early in the shot clock. We HAVE to figure out how to generate offense when Harden is of the court. Dwight post ups aren't cutting it. D-mo will probably help with this.


If we end up playing these guys in round one its a wrap. Dirk is a turnstile on defense we would do well to attack him early and often off the dribble with TJones and Smoove. We'll kill them on the boards as we did tonight. We have to do a better job changing sides of the floor and preventing them from getting easy looks on offense, thats about it. I'm not worried about these guys at all.

 

Not even a single mention of McHail being awful?

I am disappoint FTW Rockets FTW. It's like I don't even know you anymore!

 

Not sure if trolling or sarcasm

Spoiler

Since when is playing Howard a grand total of 18:02 last night considered going "all in"????? And besides, Howard finished the game on the bench anyway.

 

I am completely serious about that bolded part.

Its not a bout the minutes but the flow of the game if you actually watched. I am glad he ended up being okay but its not okay for McHale to disregard it.

When Dwight bumped knees on that play and limping everyone was concerned except McHale. Announcers were even wondering why he wasn't getting taken out.

 

Great points all around; REPPED!

You know these 2 particular parts of your post are 100% sig-worthy material, right???