ClutchFans Game Thread: Rockets @ Blazers 12/26/2020

It was ok in the first half I thought until Mcollum exploded. They exposed wood in the pick and roll and there were a few mental lapses by harden, wood, and brown. Some things to tighten up and I expect them to be better.

 

Dame and CJ are also a terrible matchup for this team without Wall and Gordon. No elite rim protection, and small guards aren’t really Harden’s cup of tea. Nwaba and Tate were ok, but they’ll look better against wings.

Denver is not going to be pretty for us. We don’t have a good answer for Murray with Wall and Gordon still out, and I’m sure Jokic watched Nurkic punish Wood inside.

 

Don’t like how Wood is answering the post game question after a loss. We lost the game; he needs to say it’s not okay.

 

Bitter sweet loss. Realistically no one really expected a win, however there were some really positive things. Nwaba and Tate certainly made the most out of their opportunity. Both were hustling and brought good energy to the team. Tate figured out pretty quick Harden will find him. Nwaba's hands were pretty active tonight. I'm loving Woods chemistry with Harden and the trust Harden had in him. Not enough can be said abouts Hardens passes. He needs to work on his post defense and not be afraid to take the open 3. I felt like 2-3 shots were passed up. Its nice to finally have a big who can finish again and has a good feel for the game. If there was any doubt that Harden was going to play subpar or disengaged well that was answered. He is continually coaching and communicating whether he is playing or not. Hopefully this keeps and things will only look up.
Now on to House and Tucker...smh. Honestly there isn't much to say. Plain and simple, House's bball IQ is not that high. He is what he is...streaky. Tucker has his moments defensively and can hit corner 3s but imho father time is quickly catching up. You cant be mad at someone realizing that and wanting the best for him before its too late. On that last play it certainly seemed as though Harden was expecting to be where he is supposed to be. You could he see he was pretty pissed and almost turned around and said something to him as they were walking off. Ultimately it was on James but it would have been nice to have that shot.
Barring any significant injuries, this should be a fun team to watch once we have the rest of the team on board. It is nice having a coach that calls timeouts when they are needed. I thought he did about as good as you can considering the circumstances. Let's go!

 

Yes, or someone versatile enough to play 3-5 at a reasonable level. The Wood acquisition was the right move but there is a hole at the 4/5 for someone with length that can protect the lane and still defend quicker 4/5’s and hit 3’s.

 

Really concerned whether John Wall and Cousins can stay healthy. Otherwise we trade Westbrooks for nothing.

 

After Rockets first game...
Coronavirus and coronavirus protocol 1, Rockets 0

 

Holy crap we are good. All that without most of our starters

 

Well the best we have is Bruno right now haha

 

I think it starts with wood unfortunately. They exposed him all night with the pick and roll which forced weak side help from the corner defender etc. He didn’t guard his guy couple times. But other players were caught napping including harden, house and brown. Not sure what it was the overall awareness wasn’t there. They will get better as a unit though. I’m staying positive.

 

so you're saying GSW will be competing for a chip this year?

 

This was not a good audition for someone who wants to win a chip though. Im just saying fellas. We needed to win fast if there is ANY HOPE of getting Harden back on board.

 

Rockets

 

Simmons can’t play offense and sucks at it I agree but I saw the sixers game tonight and he really facilitated that offense and his vision is off the charts just making it easier for everyone else. He is valuable in a lot of ways. Not an easy player to trade for or trade away with his max contract.

 

But Silas only played him 4 mins.

Silas played a tight rotation of 8 guys (really only 7 man rotation since BT barely played 10 mins).

Hmmmm, that sounds familiar.

 

LOL

 

C'mon, if you're going to troll us with insults at least HAVE THE BALLS to tell us what team you root for!

 

I don't know how you can't be excited about this team even after the tough loss, especially after Harden basically committed to the team in the postgame press conference!

Christian Wood is easily the best offseason signing in the league. We desperately need more shooters so hopefully the guys out come back and hit their shots.

 

Is it possible House can move over to the 4 at times? PJ cant sustain these long minutes