ClutchFans Game Thread: Rockets @ Lakers 3/31/2025

The good:
Amen played like a champ (20/5/4/2/2). He was all over the place. I really loved his late baseline drive and finish. It was the Rockets final made FG.
Jabari rose to the occasion.
Tari was the 3rd best player
DB played with the heart of a lion like he always does, but he didn't shoot well

The bad:
Alpi has something missing. Maybe the guy needs a heart transplant. After starting the game 3/3 in the first couple of mins, he went 2/8 the rest of the way against a team without a legit C.
Jalen's rec league game against the Suns was obliterated by tonight. 4/13, 1/4, 0/0 erases 9/17, 4/5, 11/13. Yes, he rebounded and passed well, but the Rockets needed buckets more than anything and he didn't deliver.
Fred was complete trash. 2/14 in a game like this was a death sentence to winning.
Udoka played Fred 40 mins! even though he was complete trash. It's one thing to teach Jalen a lesson, but playing Fred in his place is indefensible. No way that can be justified IMO.
Rockets don't have a closer. Fred and DB should not be the alphas with the game on the line.

More good:
I get more worked up for Lakers games than any other opponent in the NBA, yet I feel fine after this tough loss. Why?
This loss was great for evaluation purposes. We learned a lot about the team, including that they don't have legit stars or a closer.
The Rockets were able to hang tough despite all the negatives above and with DFS and Gabe Vincent shooting out of their minds.
The Rockets players should learn from losing a high-stakes game like this. They get another bite at the Lakers next-to-last game of the season.

I'm not OK with the loss, but it could end up being a positive if the players learn from it.

 

Had enough of Fred VanVleet and Ime Udoka Love Fest. Crazy that he plays terrible and never gets benched the whole game.

Looks a lot like Dusty Baker and Martin Maldonado Love Fest. Yanier Diaz is Jalen Green not giving him a opportunity.

Fred VanVleet needs to go at some point.

 

It's amazing to me that any Rockets fan could not be excited but do it your way! Don't get excited for anything!

 

The most disgusting thing is not Fred playing like shiit.

The most disgusting thing is Ime playing the horrible Fred the most 40 minutes.

 

Yep. This was like a practice playoff game without it being an actual playoff loss.

 

Sengun ain’t him bruh. I can give Jalen a pass on this game because he has playing well and ime just sat him most of the second half.

we still missing our guy man, we don’t have our best player yet.

 

The Jalen & Alpi inconsistency has been maddening lately. Either they look like a pair of superstars (or at least one of them does) or they're dogsh*t. I understand they're both still pretty young, so I'm trying to be patient, but they better get it together soon. Like, next year soon. When you're 23 and in your 5th year in the league there are no more excuses, IMO. You might get a bit better each season, but you better at least be close to your peak.

 

When you play this Fred 40 minutes, you cant win.

 

Our 4th Quarter Clutch Player Game Winner was Kevin Porter Jr.

 

If we know the game would be rigged why do we keep doing this to ourselves?
Like against the warriors in 2018 that was clearly so rigged and we still tune in!

 

Losing Kevin Porter has hurt the Rockets as a late game creator.

 

To see good triumph over evil. I don't know.

 

What does Lakers and Celts have anything to do with Jordan and Dream?

 

JJ Reddick running Small Ball like Mike D'antoni, Alperen Sengun and Steven Adams not guarding Dorian Finney Smith 18 points at the 3 point line was unacceptable.

Luc Richard Mbah Moute shooting 3s while Rudy Gobert doesn't guard Luc similar game.

Really sad Ime Udoka is Jeff Van Gundy, Tom Thibedou Low Level IQ on Offense.

 

Why did Ime draw up a play for an Alpe post up while down 4 with 11 seconds to go?

Doesn't make sense for the worst free throw shooting team in NBA history to want to play the free throw game.

Had to roll the dice on a 3 there, ball should have gone to Bari tbh.

And don't get me started on how Alpe should have known Bron was patrolling the weak side, so going up with the soft **** that he did was never going to work. ****.

 

Thats only due to social media which didnt exist back in the day during Jordan's time. If Jordan played today he would be cancelled and exposed just like Lebron. People were sucking off MJ so much he had a sporta magazine calling him goat even before he won a ring. That sorta **** wont happen today MJ wont even have a chance to separate himself from the rest of the NBA superstars with guys like Nikola Jokic putting up historical stats.

If you brought MJ forward in time and made him play against Lebron, Kawhi and KD I doubt he separates himself from those guys if they all played in the same era.

 

Green is 13th in the clutch IN THE NBA at age 22. I'll say it again: he's the 13th most clutch player in the entire NBA out of like 500 players.

If you're designating Green as the guy who should step up to the big moments, then like all the other 1A's in the league you put complimentary pieces around him. You play fast and you spread the floor, you put 4 shooters around him (or 3 shooters and a rim runner).

You can't tactically play in EXACTLY the opposite way that your designated scorer needs and then ask why he had an off night. That's idiotic.

Ime wanted a dog fight, and when you want a dog fight your ultra fast ultra athletic guard is not going to win you that dog fight. You don't design a dog fight and then ask Westbrook, Morant, Derrick Rose or DeAron Fox to win the physical battle in the paint. You spread the floor for these guys. This game was built for Sengun and Amen to bring it home by battling in the crowded paint. If you're not in the paint, Ime ALWAYS preaches to stay out of crowded areas. He doesn't LIKE Jalen Green to attack a crowded paint and has said this over and over again.

Btw I'm not saying Ime made the wrong choice, maybe a dog fight was the right thing for this game, but that's not on Jalen Green and it certainly has nothing to do with his clutchness.

2 non-shooters in the starting lineup with him and double non-shooting bigs off the bench. I don't know what the F you guys expect from him. Paolo Banchero is a 6'10 250lbs and without spacing he's a less efficient player than Green. James Harden and Lebron James have spent their entire careers telling coaches they need 4 shooters around them and those are grizzly point forwards.

If you really want Green to put up consistent 25-30, we know the exact formula to achieve that. One of Amen or Sengun has to go to the bench and the other has to be the PnR partner with Green. The other 3 players have to be shooters who stick to their roles.

That's not what the team wants though and good on Jalen for not putting his head down and doing whatever coach asks, even if it's stupid. This is not the time to be calling out your coach or pouting, the playoffs are around the corner.

 

Tough loss, which emphasised what we needed and didn’t get in the trades deadline - explosive guard off the bench.
The Lakers won the game thanks to TWO players who came off the bench and combined for 12/24 3pts, covering for the awful 4/22 the rest of the Lakers went. It’s a shame that Cam or Reed couldn’t developed into this role, and it’s a shame FO couldn’t trade ending contracts like Tate or Unc + FRP for a good shooter from some team.
Every good team needs this type of soul-less shooter that can get the team out of the mud with a couple of 3 pointers out of no where. That’s what kept Lakers alive today, and that’s what missing us to compete in the playoffs if we wanna pass the 1st round.

 

Great points.

One thing I will say Sengun and Jalen are still little kids, if they can be closers at their age they would have gotten supermaxes by now. Just cuz they played bad today doesnt mean they cant be the closer 3 yrs from now. It is a learning experience for them.

As for Udoka not sure if he will ever learn not to overplay FVV if he is playing like trash.