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Clutchfans Game Thread: Rockets @ Lakers 9/12/2020 (Playoffs Round 2, Game 5)

Discussion in 'Houston Rockets: Game Action & Roster Moves' started by Clutch, Sep 11, 2020.

  1. mfastx

    mfastx Member
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    I guess it's not surprising that they just rolled over like dogs in an elimination game when they routinely did it all season long. This team had major effort, discipline and consistency issues all season. There's a reason why we get mad at those random losses to teams like the Warriors, Knicks, etc. during the regular season, because this is what it leads to.

    Capela trade didn't really end up making a difference. I like Covington but he definitely wasn't worth giving up Capela AND a FRP for. Time for MDA to go, he seemed checked out all season. Was clear he was not on the same level as Vogel. I can probably pull up my old posts on here wishing we hired him instead when we hired Mike lol.

    I think Morey/Tilman or whoever the hell is making decisions around here these days underestimated what the loss of a roll man/lob threat does to the offense. Made it worse by every measurable level and makes it easier to guard. Hopefully that is addressed this offseason.

    Unfortunately I don't see a major way for the team to improve, just have to hope Gordon has a bounce back year and WB/Harden mesh a bit better next year... who knows if that's possible. I would like to see WB be healthy all year or at least heading into the playoffs. I do think his injury had an impact on him.

    So long for the season Rockets.
     
    bmelo, jboslett, daywalker02 and 3 others like this.
  2. Surfguy

    Surfguy Contributing Member

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    Is it small ball or small balls?
     
  3. sw847

    sw847 Member

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    how can u say that he is the best player on a championship team? What has he won to prove that? To me he has yet to show he can lead this team to the promise land. He is a great player, no doubt, but I don’t think he has the mental toughness to be the top dog of a championship team.
     
  4. PeterKingX

    PeterKingX Member

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    Small ball is hot garbage.

    Even the Warriors have many big players.
     
  5. TimDuncanDonaut

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    Two balls: one is small, other is regular sized, but slightly misshapen because it's left in the oven too long. Wait... what are we talking about?
     
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  6. Mr. Space City

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    PJ is gonna have to pack so many shoes out of his hotel :eek:
     
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  7. HP3

    HP3 Member

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    He's consistently overmatched when it comes to talent. Look at AD and look at Westbrook, look at Harden's play and look at everyone elses, give me a break, all this mental toughness crap gets thrown out the window when he was the only one to come to play today.....please give me a break
     
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  8. YOLO

    YOLO Member

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    LMAO. take a look at the rest of the team. who did anything of significance to help the team win.

    what harden is supposed to beat the lakers by himself. some of yall really don't know jack about basketball and spit the dumbest garbage. same ones that cry and complain about media takes and yall are even worse
     
  9. tinywang

    tinywang Contributing Member

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    I just wanted to come here and say, FK DANIEL HOUSE!

    Literally and figuratively
     
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  10. jerryclark

    jerryclark Member

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    Yawn. What a load of ****. Any time you have james harden its championship or bust
     
  11. JW86

    JW86 Member

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    I watched the first 2 minutes of the game and knew we would lose. Again zero adjustments, low energy and just a team who have given up. Glad this **** show is over, now let's wait for the good news of MDA let go / not coming back. I'm not emotionally invested in this team anymore, as constructed. Pathetic showing.

    By the way, where was that secret new strategy they were going to show us - per Rivers?
     
    #1291 JW86, Sep 13, 2020
    Last edited: Sep 13, 2020
    ak99999 likes this.
  12. BigDog63

    BigDog63 Member

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    I would have agreed with you in previous years, but that's not what I saw this year. Harden wasn't the problem....everyone else was. The Laker's double teamed him constantly, and no one made them pay for that. How is that on Harden? It sounds like if the other team threw all five guys on him, and Harden didn't find a way to get through that on his own...you'd say the same thing.
     
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  13. BigDog63

    BigDog63 Member

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    Maybe...but that video actually shows some pretty tough defense. Not gonna blame a guard for not wanting to get taken out in one punch. ;-)

    Now, should someone else have stepped in between? Yes....
     
  14. TimDuncanDonaut

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    If talking basketball, some of the adjustments (I think Austin hinted at) I actually liked. JVG called it out on TV. The TV crew did graphics for us at half time.

    First is Green setting a screen at the half court line, allowing Harden to have a long runway; long head start for his drive. In the highlight below, Harden made it look easy, but he's actually driving into the teeth of defense 1 HOU vs 4 LAL bodies. It's a tough finish.

    Second is Rockets role players flatten at a 1-4 low set. All the defenders are further away from Harden. So the 2nd Lakers defender is too far to double Harden. With 1-4 low, there's options, like green coming back for pick n' roll, but instead of doing that where Green would bring his defender as well. ...And Harden being a good iso player can shake Caruso off, opts to drain a three instead.



    Harden ended with 30 pts this game with 60 fg%. A lot of it is still skilled offense, but the key is that we varied it up, to keep LAL defense guessing.
    ---

    The other stuff I think included beginning of Q1, to get guys like Tucker or RoCo going with layups. The jitters (or maybe LAL length) bothered them; they couldn't make. Part of it could be no repetition in regular season, and have been conditioned to just shoot 3's.

    ---
    We lost the game because of LAL was red hot on threes by their role players. HOU's man coverage was better than previous two games. Guys staying closer to the Lakers bodies and putting hands up better. They just shot very efficiently.
     
    #1294 TimDuncanDonaut, Sep 13, 2020
    Last edited: Sep 13, 2020
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  15. Cladyclad

    Cladyclad Member

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    Bro y’all scored 96 pts. Majority of Harden points were meaningless lol
     
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  16. daywalker02

    daywalker02 Member

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    Rivers is not being honest, he also scored 41 in a useless game.
     
  17. saleem

    saleem Contributing Member

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    I'm most disappointed in Russ and Austin in this series. I thought they would slash and drive in every game. I was so wrong.
     
    waytookrzy079 and daywalker02 like this.
  18. daywalker02

    daywalker02 Member

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    [​IMG]
     
  19. banzai

    banzai Contributing Member

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    My exit post: This season sucked. Westbrook was hurt. Covid - Harden couldn’t get any strippers in. And obviously affected his game. He got way too defensive. We rely on his offense too much for him to be a two-way player. I wish he had a Clay Thompson instead of a Russel Westbrook. I miss Clint and his playoff game. Can we please expand our rotations? We didn’t play with energy excuse means they obviously got tired. The played every other day. Props to the Rockets for keeping us entertained for as long as they have. Can you imagine being a bulls fan?
     
  20. daywalker02

    daywalker02 Member

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