ClutchFans Game Thread: Clippers @ Rockets 5/17/2015 (Playoffs Round 2, Game 7)

Magic is such a tool. Rag on the Clippers all you want but they're miles closer to a championship than his pathetic Lakers are.

 

<blockquote class="twitter-tweet" lang="en"><p lang="en" dir="ltr">The Clippers had more than a 93% chance to beat the Rockets after taking a 3-1 series lead... (H/T <a href="https://twitter.com/skatz23">@skatz23</a>) <a href="http://t.co/lsuOMfUtN7">pic.twitter.com/lsuOMfUtN7</a></p>&mdash; ESPN Stats &amp; Info (@ESPNStatsInfo) <a href="https://twitter.com/ESPNStatsInfo/status/600129959923875840">May 18, 2015</a></blockquote>
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<blockquote class="twitter-tweet" lang="en"><p lang="en" dir="ltr">Morey found some sort of NBA loophole. His team's 8-4 in the playoffs with a negative point differential</p>&mdash; Ethan Strauss (@SherwoodStrauss) <a href="https://twitter.com/SherwoodStrauss/status/600115613185413120">May 18, 2015</a></blockquote>
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<blockquote class="twitter-tweet" lang="en"><p lang="en" dir="ltr">Dwight on the end of this game &quot;they cut the lead and I was like, 'Man, we can't let them pull an us on us&quot;</p>&mdash; Ramona Shelburne (@ramonashelburne) <a href="https://twitter.com/ramonashelburne/status/600076367405780992">May 17, 2015</a></blockquote>
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I hate this guy. He is a Warrior fanatic. So annoying.

 

Well, the Rockets lost in the first round last year with a positive point differential, so obviously this is not some magical anomaly.

 

Perhaps someone should explain to this guy that points don't roll over between games like cell phone minutes.

 

point differential is a regular season indicator

 

It just shows that people will always use facts to back up their narrative rather than to draw a logical conclusion.

Morey was correct in saying that the Rockets were "unlucky" last year when they lose 2-4 despite probably playing as well or better than the Blazers. He was criticized and clearly it’s not luck but that “clutch gene” that propelled the Blazers. This year the Rockets are certainly “clutch” and “wants it more” or whatever other clichés you want to use to explain winning despite seemingly not playing as well as the opponent. Yet now its used against him by saying the Rockets aren’t as good and simply lucky.

I would be okay with any journalist who claim we’ve been lucky, if that same journalist also stated last year that we were unlucky and should have advanced. And vice versa by calling us chokers last year and clutch this year. As long as you’re consistent. But we all know how national media works.

 

lols.

 

He isn't saying that points roll over. What he is saying is that in a sufficiently large sampmle, win % aligns with point differential. He is just pointing out that the combination of an 8-4 record and a negative point differential is unusual-- and tend to suggest that the Rockets had some good luck in racking up such a record.

Luck goes both ways, though. The Rockets had a positive point differential in the series vs. Portland and lost 2-4. Like JVG says, it's a make or miss league.

 

I understand that. But 12 games is not a large sample size. The blowout losses skew the point differential significantly.

 

I really hope we can keep this team together this offseason. I'm loving it. This team might be onto something for years to come. Resiliency and vet experience are so key and I never really knew how important it was (I had a sense of what it looked like but never saw it in my hometown team/was still too young for the 94-95 season). Having Harden and Howard tasting this success is invaluable to the future of this franchise.

 

Rockets be rope-a-dopin'.

 

That's why we play the games.

Morey is very careful not to cite stats like this before important games. In McHale's first year with us, he tweeted out that we had something like 87% chance to make the playoffs with 6 games remaining and we lost out, man.

After that, he steers clear of citing odds like this.

 

It's not a huge sample size, but just about large enough for it to be at least a little bit weird. If you look at 100 teams with the Rockets' point differential in 12 games, probably no more than 8 or 10 of those will have a 8-4 or better record.

The Rockets overcame A LOT this series to beat the Clippers. Gotta give credit to the Rockets for not giving up when it would have been really easy to do so-- and give blame to the Clippers for choking badly when they had a big advantage. But the fact that the Rockets have an -0.4 point differential while facing a GSW team with a +8.6 point differential in the playoffs suggest that the road ahead is gonna be even tougher.

 

He is a Warrior fanboy so if teams don't have a 14+ point differential, he thinks little of them.

 

<blockquote class="twitter-tweet" lang="en"><p lang="en" dir="ltr">Did some digging. Since playoffs expanded to 16 teams in '84, HOU is the 1st team to reach conf. finals with a negative point differential.</p>&mdash; John Schuhmann (@johnschuhmann) <a href="https://twitter.com/johnschuhmann/status/600150868344844288">May 18, 2015</a></blockquote>
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Here's an indication of how unusual this point differential thing is.

 

What do you expect he lives in the Bay Area, it's like knocking on a Rockets fan because he lives in Houston.

Regardless i'm okay with him.