Face it, folks, the Clippers are just better at NBA than the Rockets are

I've been in this boat since game 1. I've watched because I'm a fan but after game 1 I knew we weren't winning this series.

 

I've always thought they were a bit better, but very beatable. I had no clue they had THIS much more heart, though.

 

Looking at our season in retrospect, there's never been such an undisciplined team that made it far in the playoffs. High turnover rates, poor FT shooting: these were all telltale signs of an undisciplined team. Like Haralobos, you can chalk it up to having a fatally flawed core of Harden, Howard, and Josh Smith, none of whom is going to pass as a guy-you-want-in-your-bunker-leading-the-charge type, but at the very end the buck stops at coaching. Talent is talent, but coaching is supposed to be what gets the most out the talent you have. Look at the Warriors and Hawks: two teams that have less talent than the Rockets, yet maximized their abilities to create a deadly ball-moving machine. Look at the Spurs: do you think Popovich would ever trot out a team that has as many turnovers the Rockets do? That shoots FT's as poorly?

The buck stops at coaching, and if we are serious about taking the next step, then the first step is to find a new coach.

 

Maybe, the Clippers are for real ... considering the fact that they just beat an unrealistically efficient San Antonio team. You'd have to figure that a team has to be playing at an extremely high level to beat a such a team.

Houston did not get tested in the 1st Round in the same manner.

Playing and beating a team, like the Spurs four times in a series is not easy at all. Just ask LeBron, OKC, and Memphis.

The Clippers managed to hang around and beat them, and it was not by lucking into it.


I may have been naive to believe that Rockets would've beaten the Spurs, since they would've eaten us alive with all of these mistakes and lack of energy/effort.

 

We have no one that can guard Griffin or Paul. That opens up holes everywhere else because we have to collapse on them on defense. There's no fix for that, we just don't have the pieces to match up to them.

 

Yall dont watch as much NBA basketball as yall should. GSW will destroy these Clips, but if the Warriors do lose...Memphis will dominate this team. FACT.

The Rockets are a coaching change and a "shooting" point guard from being better. I guarantee if Les had the stones to clear house with coaching...we would be in better shape.

Why Game 1's loss was so difficult to accept

 

Clippers will win the NBA championship. They are a devastatingly good team.

 

Stop complaining and stop being so negative, guys. We are only down 1-3. This series is not over yet. We win the next two and it's an even series again. Have some faith, you fairweather fans. Rockets have no flaws. Just some bad bounces that'll even out. McHale is a great coach. Harden is a great leader that'll take us to the championship.

 

thats kind of how i feel at this point. the stuff with rondo and parsons kind of skewed that first series. Plus Dirk showed his age. Gave me false hope I guess.

Call me kneejerk, but this is how I feel.

1. Dwight Howard is no longer a superstar. Never had the brains or heart of a superstar but he made up for it with his athleticism. Now injuries and age have made his athleticism inconsistent.

2. Harden is legit. He's on a team without enough talent. Jordan without Pippen/Rodman. CP3 without Griffin/DJ. Lebron without D-wade/Bosh. Remember when Lebron's cavs lost and everyone said he didnt have what it takes? Then he joined a team with talent, went to the finals four times and won twice.

3. McHale is a decent coach in the regular season. But I do not feel he is a championship coach. And as much as people say this is a superstar league, coaching matters. Its no coincidence that in the last 25 years, two coaches have won sixty percent of all of the championships. Think about that.

So... wtf do we do now? How do we surround Harden with legit talent? TJones, Dmo, Patrick Beverley, Trevor Ariza, J smoove, Brewer... none of them cut it. Dwight Howard probably wont even cut it pretty soon, depending on his health.

 

That's when the trolling was confirmed

 

They may be better than us, but we should not be getting blown out in these games like this. Talent-level wise I mean, we are just very poorly coached.

 

We just don't match up well with the Clippers at all. That's the bad news.

The good news is that DeAndre Jordan is an unrestricted free agent this summer. Austin Rivers will be a restricted free agent, and somebody is going to pay for him after this series. The Clips have a 69 million dollar committed to payroll next year, which puts them over the projected cap. They have no tradeable assets outside their core rotation, and no first round pick in 2015 or 2017. The Clippers have to win now because they mortgaged their entire future to get Chris Paul and Doc Rivers.

 

When you get beat consistently in several close games, it's because of the difference in systems and coaching skills. When you get whopped as badly as we did in 3 out of the last 4 games, it's because we lack the talent and our system just plain sucks.

SYSTEM: We play a style that relies too much on one man, James Harden. When you shut him down (or when he shuts himself down), the whole system collapses like a house of cards. The affects are shooters and our defense. How many times in the regular season has he carried our team to victory all on his own. I think the whole league knows this.

TALENT: I like Corey Brewer. Aside from his awful 3-point shooting, he's a good player. He hustles and can slash. Josh Smith, get rid of him. Our starting 5 cannot compare to the starting 5 for the WC elites. Just look at the Clippers. Who on our team can guard CP3, Griffin, Redick and Jordan. Nobody. End of story. Let's go home and blow this team up.

 

howard is the last person you should criticize for houston. his play in the playoffs the last two seasons speak for itself. ill leave it at that. and harden still has yet to put the team on his back like howard has. if you're an mvp caliber player you should be able to help will your team to victories. thats what makes players superstars to me. and Ive said it over and over. JH has yet to become a superstar imo no matter what anyone else says here. great player but to take that next step and become a superstar you have to be able to take over no matter what. that's what superstars do. you might fail & get criticized but that comes with the territory. but to not even attempt to take over is even worse. he might be a regular season beast but all of that means nothing if you can't carry it over to the postseason when it matters most. yes lebron has lost in his early years but he still led that team deep into the playoffs. JH has yet to do so. JH has more than enough playoff experience under his belt. there's no excuse at this point. its either he has it or he doesn't

this team also lacks a real leader. nobody is holding anyone accountable and that's a huge problem. i'm not sure what changes are going to be made but there definitely needs to be.

 

Which pretty much is the definition of evenly matched

 

Heart matters so much

 

C'mon guys. Give the Clippers some credit. They tried so hard to choke in the 4th quarter even when nobody believed they would succeed. :grin:

 

The Rockets just need someone that can guard Griffin half way decently, then they are beatable. Dwight did a great job on him down the stretch.