ClutchFans Game Thread: Rockets @ Grizzlies 1/30/2025

Fred seriously had a bet going.

 

missed the game, did we brace?

 

Agreed.

We dont have a guy who we can consistently depend on to generate offense in close games.

 

Yeaahhhh... so the guy who is among the worst shooters for the night decides we need a .... checks notes .... STEP BACK THREE even tho the team is down ONE point.

MAKE IT MAKE SENSE

 

He chucks stupid shots many games this season.

 

Eh, it's not like we haven't seen this before from the rockets. It's a theme of this season.

Build a sizable lead in the 4th, offense stalled, opponent goes on a run and cut the deficit, rockets sometimes win sometimes lose.

but base on the rockets overall record they win most of the time. I ain't even mad. beat the same opponent 4x in a season is difficult. this ain't baseball.

 

Tough and unnecessary loss and there was just a lot of weird decision making, from guys taking turns to go 1-on-1 all night, losing people on defense and on box outs, Green getting upset that other guys got the ball to dribble it up the floor when he was tightly guarded, not playing Tate all game only to then give him a lot of minutes, no Jeff Green on a night where we needed spacing, several guys dribbling into 2-3 defenders, Cam’s body language along with his awful defense and not getting Amen more involved.

A lot of blame to go around, but FVV and Ime messed up the most with strategy and decision making:
- why is Tate out on the floor with 8 seconds left?
- why do we make it too obvious it was Amen who’s going to make a drive?
- why did FVV not make a serious attempt to drive and kick before chucking up a contested 3?
- why did FVV not pass it to Tari?
- why did we not double on JJ, worried about Brooks’ pride?
- why did FVV on his previous attempt drive into heavy traffic and expect a foul to be called?

My main issue with the game, all game long actually, is several guys making it very obvious they were going to take a shot and just go 1-on-1?!!! Green, FVV, Amen, Tate and Cam all did it….****ing ridiculous. Suddenly we seemed like a team with no direction, no pecking order. This is not even talking about defensively allowing guys to just drive past them.

I wouldn’t mind a trade for a Coby White honestly.

 

Without sengun, team asist number and amen's rebound number falling

 

Big shout out to Adams and Amen though, Tari to a degree too. Amen with those 5 blocks was tremendous!

 

“I think when we do the things that we are capable of, I think we’re in good shape. We’ve shown that, built leads in all these games,” Rockets coach Ime Udoka said. “But they’re a tough team that continues to fight and scrap their way back into pretty much every game when we had double-digit leads and so made them all pretty close. But yeah, it shows it’s a pretty evenly matched series and even though the number is 3-1 or whatever, all have been really close games. And that’s why we are where we are in the standings, both teams.”

“We should have blew them out,” Brooks said. “We just fell into their game and we just crumble every time. We just got to get stops, stop turning over the ball.”

The Rockets committed five of their 12 turnovers in the fourth quarter and shot 28.6% from the field.

But in the second half, the Rockets’ transition defense hit a snag and the offense fell off a cliff. The Grizzlies shot 59.5% from the field and 46.7% on 3-pointers while holding the Rockets to 34.7% shooting overall and 33.3% behind the 3-point line.

“We need to be able to put teams away when we have the lead,” said Rockets guard Jalen Green, who scored a team-high 25 points. “We do a really good job with getting up and then somehow lose the lead. I don’t know if we get comfortable or just out there and they play harder than us.”

“I think the start of the third quarter obviously got them right back in it,” Udoka said. “They get matched up in transition, something that hurt us in the first quarter, and felt like all the work we did to build the lead was gone in about a minute and a half. But more so than that, I think the fourth quarter, the ball stuck a little bit too much.”

Going into the final quarter, Houston led 96-92. Ahead 119-114 with 1:54 remaining, Houston missed its final three shots while Memphis scored the final six points of the game.

 

Charles Barkley - "I was surprised on that last play I would go to Jalen Green. I like Fred but this boy can get any shot when he wants to."

 

I have no idea why Ime Udoka constantly ignores and goes away from Jalen Green for the last shot.

Jalen is basically the 5th option on the floor with the last shot.

1. Fred VanVleet Foul baits Airball, Bricks, GSW clutch 3 pt shot
2. Alperen Sengun at Philadelphia gets blocked.
3. Dillon Brooks - midrange clutch shot
4. Amen Thompson - GW at Boston
5. Jalen Green - I don't remember any opportunity.

 

Well maybe he was a bit tired after playing the whole game with Holiday not getting any minutes whatsoever. The cracks in the armor are beginning to show. Not a good enough backup point guard on this team and WAYYYYY too much Tate at the end of the game.

 

I dunno why Tate was in the game. I would of had Adams on the floor so that he could set a screen, then if who ever shot it missed maybe Adams could of grabbed an offensive rebound. If not Adams I would of had Whitmore, Just like Thompson he can bull it to the ring and create something.

Tate was really **** this game, was a black hole in his 10 minutes, its no wonder he is at the end of the bench.

 

Oh no. We suck again.

Had plenty of chances to close that ****ing game out.

 

How's life in Japan these days? Are you missing Houston at all?

 

Yeah, that was inexplicable. I get that Tate saved the Rockets in Atlanta, but he's useless out there offensively coming out of a timeout when you're down 1 and need a bucket. Adams easily could've set a pick for Amen or Jalen. And if they get doubled and kick it to Fred, at least it's a set 3-pointer without a defender draped all over him. I'll live with that shot.

BTW, any word on Amen's back? Is he ok?

 

the way the Griz reacted to beating us tells you everything you need to know about how good the league thinks the Rockets are.

 

The Kings game

 

Meh nothing to be mad about. Yeah it sucks the game was right there, but Memphis was playing like it was a game 7 and we didnt match the intensity.

Ime - give the rock to your hottest player in these games. Dont try to get cute and reinvent the wheel. We wont be catching anyone off guard anymore. You're not drawing up amazing plays. Let these guys take YOU home.