ClutchFans Game Thread: Rockets @ Pacers 1/29/2017

You are requesting five players. Morey will fail you, I assure.

 

******* PG shut Harden down.

 

Teams are eating buffet in our paint, not a good sign.

 

sometimes i think harden for embiid, simmons and 2 future unprotected firsts just because of the warriors....spurs......and cavs talent

 

Do you think he could do it again when the team is fresh?

 

I think harden shut harden down. He looked beyond exhausted out there.

 

This game encapsulizes who Capela is. He's slow to react and weak when he shows at the rim. That is who he is. He may get incrementally better defensively at the rim but at this point in his third season he is about 90-95% of his defensive ceiling. He's not going to show any huge leaps defensively. Because it's not in him.

Capela needs to be traded. His trade value has already slipped and it's not coming back as his third season winds down and he heads into the last season of his rookie contract.

Pacers had 66 points in the paint and shot 65% (43/66) on two-point FGA's. They just gutted us at the rim. And this is the recipe that playoff teams are going to use on us. Put a long defender on Harden, cover Anderson and the other shooters tight. And force Harden to attempt to do it all himself while on the defensive end getting him and Capela defending the pick and roll and just jamming it down their throat. Yeah Harden is going to pop a couple huge games but by around game 4 there won't be any rubber left on the tires and we'll get a flat that we never recover from.

The last two games are a preview of the playoffs. Monster stat line from Harden one game followed up by a huge elimination turd from Harden which is then followed by Harden ranting. "I need help at (guard/defense/center-take your pick)."

I have no doubt Morey sees this coming and is going to acquire a starting 5 man. I do have my doubts that he will trade Capela. But he should.

Harden needs to move to the three defensively because he sucks so bad defensively against point guards and shooting guards and it's too easy to get him defending on the ball with switches. And we need to combine either Ariza or Anderson with Capela, KJ, Ennis, Brewer, and picks to get a championship caliber starting center, another high end playmaker, and a great 3&D player.

And lastly, Harden has to accept playing alongside another player that can handle and make plays. Otherwise we are exiting early in the playoffs.

This offense is fun to watch. I grant you that. But it's a paper tiger. Without rim protection and without a great playmaker on court with Harden we're too easy to scheme against.

 

tl dr:
trade for rubio

 

nah these are fragile totally unproven players you just need to surround harden with shooters or find him another star in FA

 

All the more reason to play KJ.... he's our best rim protector.

 

So glad I missed this game because of work.I had a bad feeling about this game because we seem to struggle in Indiana even in the games we win they are by small margins. Looking at the box score only Anderson seems to have shown up.

 

i thought relative to health because if we not healthy we might as well be 1st seed we are bound for 1 rnd exit

 

Whatever chemistry and magic this team had in December is long gone. What we saw tonight and in general the last few week is the corpse of that team. Rockets just straight up quit tonight, and haven't given a **** about defense for weeks.

Hopefully we find something or else we will be sitting at 6th/7th seed by season's end.

 

PG's dunk on Capela was vicious.

 

Strongly agree with this! However, I am beginning to blame this on the coaching. MDA has a great system that he allows to be flawed by James decision making. What really bothers me here is the turnovers look the same every game. As a team the Rockets rank really low in the league as of the Philly game it was 27th. This is a team problem, so while I am somewhat disappointed with James the whole team need to be held accountable.

Side note: If Brewer were productive he would be one of the perfect solutions to our problem, someone who could score off the dribble going to the rim. We need to get a productive veteran version of Brewer to take another step as a team our Andre Iguodala if you will. Ariza has gotten better at this, but it's still just not his strength.

 

Sorry to disappoint our younger viewers, but that was not PG 13.

 

Typical bi polar fans freaking out because the Rockets have been playing .500 ball lately. Yes they are tired (no excuses, just fact) and they will go through lulls. No big deal.

It's comical how people throw Harden and the Rockets under the bus whenever they lose.

I was hoping they'd win 60 games this year but I'm not going to crucify them if they don't. It's a tough league (tough schedule as well) and it's clearly worn on the Rockets and especially Harden who has carried the toughest load of any player in the NBA the past few seasons. Plus Harden has been incredibly durable.

Rockets may or may not make a deep playoff run this season, but I wouldn't be able to predict their playoff success based off their regular season highs and lows. Give them a break!

Harden does not have the help ala GSW or Cavs. He's done a fantastic job carrying the team. If the Rockets remain the 3rd seed (or even slip to 4th) so be it. They will play hard and end up where they stack up against the rest of the Western Conference. Remember the '95 Rockets weren't exactly world beaters during the regular season. They just found a way to put it all together when it counted.

 

Typical bi polar fans freaking out because the Rockets have been playing .500 ball lately. Yes they are tired (no excuses, just fact) and they will go through lulls. No big deal.

It's comical how people throw Harden and the Rockets under the bus whenever they lose.

I was hoping they'd win 60 games this year but I'm not going to crucify them if they don't. It's a tough league (tough schedule as well) and it's clearly worn on the Rockets and especially Harden who has carried the toughest load of any player in the NBA the past few seasons. Plus Harden has been incredibly durable.

Rockets may or may not make a deep playoff run this season, but I wouldn't be able to predict their playoff success based off their regular season highs and lows. Give them a break!

Harden does not have the help ala GSW or Cavs. He's done a fantastic job carrying the team. If the Rockets remain the 3rd seed (or even slip to 4th) so be it. They will play hard and end up where they stack up against the rest of the Western Conference. Remember the '95 Rockets weren't exactly world beaters during the regular season. They just found a way to put it all together when it counted.

 

all the magic and the chemistry were in fact healthy flash gordon hitting 3s
our defense feeds on hitting those shots thsu giving less transition scoring and less momentum for the opponents

 

The two best defenders on the team, ladies and gentlemen.