ClutchFans Game Thread: Pistons @ Rockets 10/24/2025

Jabaris first game was a fluke

 

Yeah the lack of hustle and toughness surprised me as well.

 

The zone is the problem. We lost this game on the boards. Zone defense is notorious for giving up offensive rebounds. We are playing zone because of Reed and Adams. Adams is playing lots of minutes, because the alternative is a heavy dose of Reed. Neither player is good defensively. Ime needs to go back to leaning into our athleticism and our long wings. Until we make a move, Okogie should start and Tate should be added into the rotation. The double bigs should be abandoned.

Our offense is a huge work in progress and it will be frustrating until we trade for a shooting guard that can BOTH shoot and play defense. For now, lean on defense and Durant. Amen and Sengun both had terrible games and that’s not going to be a common occurrence. When it does happen, odds are we lose. This team is going to be really good if we stay relatively healthy.

 

Dillon Brooks and Jalen laughing it up at the nail salon.

 

Sengun needs to find a way to keep himself engaged against lower tier opponents. Mentally, he just wasn’t present. His body language shifts dramatically after a couple of missed shots, and it’s clear when he checks out of the game. If he wants to be recognized as a “superstar,” consistency and mental resilience have to become non-negotiable. Playing with that kind of unfocused, amateur mentality hurts him far more than it helps. He has to eliminate that habit if he wants to take the next step.

 

LOL

 

This team needs to grow up. They really need daddy Fred to hold their hands still? Sengun is in his 5th year at this point next to Kevin Durant. You think Jokic comes out like this? Amen getting goaded by players to react still, calls himself a point guard and cant do the point guard thing still. Is Tari's leg still broken? Does he know other teams are watching him as well? Ime just run a ****ing normal lineup and quit with this double big zone gimmick. Jabari looked like little foot again yesterday. Refs were on one as well. Felt like they had prop bets on FT #s or something. Just a weird game overall. Still early but they look unprepared.

 

IDK Amen already having cramps in his first road game doesn't spell confidence, Alperen is going to be tired sooner than later as well.

 

The zone defense didn't work. Putting Jabari up top in the zone is a terrible idea. I pointed it out in the OKC game. The zone also diminished the advantage of having Amen. Both OKC and Pistons have their best player in the perimeter handling the ball. You need to put Amen on those guys at all time, not confuse yourself with the zone leaving the midrange space wide open.

And it's hard to box out with the zone. Sengun was too far away from the basket.

I can't believe Ime being a defensive coach didn't see that.

Bottom line, players aren't put in the places to maximize their strengths.

 

it's the fookin' NBA for chrissakes, I mean, it's not like he's logging tall timbers out there.

amirite @heypartner

 

lulz at basketball-reference advanced stats saying Reed was our best defender last night, while nba.com said he was the worst, by a big margin.

Maybe one day, btg will realize the uselessness of defensive adv stats.

 

I’ve seen the Dillon is why we lost our edge or even a FVV, but come on now. Ime is supposed to be this tough coach who gets people to buy in. Now we have Amen and Tari looking like the twins who were terrorized by Ausar. That guy outworked both of the guys who last year were our dogs. Something is definitely off. Maybe the way we play and are instructed to play, slowed down, and or guys not on the same page about how to play.

If Ime insists on this slow, double big line-up, then Amen in particular is WASTED on this team. But it’s also on Amen to give that energy, like his brother last night. I am beyond shocked how soft we looked and flashes of Rockets past. Starting out slow, god I hate it. Also as a guy who’s pushing 40 and still the most energetic player on the court, I will never understand how you can be outplayed energy wise.

There’s just no excuse in my book to how we give up on possessions, get lost so often on defense, continue with this zone crap as if we cannot handle 1-on-1. Also Jabari on SF and Sengun on PF is just not it. If Ime remains this ****ing stubborn, also not using Jeff Green or even Aaron, then this ship will keep sinking with Ime as the captain.

 

Starting Jabari weaken our defense.
His defense is not that good.

I miss Dillon Brooks already.

 

Jabari's defense is terrible in the video.

 

It's not so much that those are worthless, it's that ANY tiny sample is potentially worthless and any one metric is potentially worthless. A single game, single metric analysis is almost always worthless.

Last night, Sheppard wasn't really a problem defensively....but just about everyone other than Okogie was. Somehow despite frequently playing 4 guys over 6'10 together the Rockets lost the rebounding battle and had essentially no interior defense. Name a player on the team, and you almost certainly saw them get cooked defensively last night, including guys like Amen who normally don't get cooked one on one.

Basically everyone but KD was dogshit.

 

Jabari is not the problem on defense. The problem is we are playing zone and Adams and Reed are playing too much. Neither can guard perimeter players, which forces Sengun and Jabari out of position. Durant is playing pretty good defense, but he can’t guard quick perimeter players either. Ime needs to adjust and play Okogie and give Tate some run. Reed is just going to have to get Holiday’s minutes last year and continue to work hard to become an effective role player over time. DFS will help as well. It’s only 2 games, we have too much talent not to succeed. We are just going to have to suffer with a small improvement on offense over last year, until we make a move for a +SG. Lean on the defense again and stop playing zone when Adams and/or Reed are on the floor.

 

Reminded me of Suns fans talking about last season, felt familiar.

 

I get why its funny, but I do think its a false equivalency to think that doubt is the same as panicking etc. I'm not saying we suck or to blow up the team, its 2 games, but it does remind me of a few week time last year that was terribly frustrating because it seemed like we temporarily lost our identity, and even our wins were ugly, but it was obvious why we were struggling. Early on now, theres zero offensive cohesion, and we don't have the defense, hustle & run intensity that led to some easier buckets last season. For most of the year we were so easy to root for, and I think we can find it again, but a floor general is necessary for us and we don't have it. Things are ugly so far is all, and the situation isn't dire, but the thing that bothers me is the lack of options to remedy our halfcourt problems at the moment. Hopefully the other side of the court can generate some more positives in the mean time!

 

Funny to think pistons were missing 2 starters and… malik beasley

Thunder were missing jalen williams

 

My initial reaction is putting the responsibility on İme’s lack of offensive creativity. But these numbers are something else:

2 pt fgm/fga:

Bari: 0/11
Sengun: 5/16
Durant: 6/15
Amen: 2/7
Sheppard: 0/8