ClutchFans Game Thread: Rockets @ Pelicans 12/18/2025

What's so funny about our team is the consensus was that we need a player that can close out games for us....so we traded for KD.
The last 2 games came down to the last possession. Who takes the shot: Sengun.
Our coaching needs to level up - no more excuses, we need execution!

 

Real contenders don’t lose to the Pelicans.

 

at this stage of his career you can't really generate looks for KD and he doesn't have enough energy to get buckets at will. he has to be contributing to the flow of the offense and being uber efficient in that role. if you're hopes are winning a title KD needs to be the #2 or even #3rd best scorer on the team.

for me we lost the game when we played the Double big lineup for the last 10 min + OT. You can double KD because he has 3 non shooters + Jabari surrounding him.. which the way Jabari shoots is close to being labeled a "non-shooter" as well. Double Big + Amen is just an abomination of a lineup that needs to stop.

 

This team thinks it is better than it currently is and that includes some individual players. Last year they played hard because they knew they were not the most talented team every night. But they hustled and played hard because it’s something they knew they had to overcome.

This year, that’s missing.

Also….too many are trying to do things outside of their skillset. The turnovers show that…no point guard doesn’t help that, but still….take care of the damn ball.

 

CP3 would have helped win that game.

 

Thanks for the effort.

It should be more horizontal than vertical though.

 

100 % truth !!!!

 

All of Sengun's clutch shots in his career have come when the offense is in half court. Why, oh, why, do we need to see him clunk his way down the floor with his connect the dots dribbling with the clock winding down for an off balanced, wild and clumsy shot?

What the hell to we have KD for if he doesn't touch the ball in a game closing possession?

Why not take the time out and draw up something? (see buzzer beater against Magic)

This is one of those games I get so pissed I take like a two week break from watching games.

 

That game really sucked but really, we needed a good slap in the face. Man up boys, we got this.

 

They sure as hell don't lose a 25 point lead to them either.

 

OKC lost to Portland

 

They had to lose to someone, so yeah, it was when Portland played their best bball, then they lost Jrue to injuries.

And Avdija drew fouls like Luka.

Would not be too shocked if those 10 losses of OKC came 90% against mediocre teams.

 

The 72 win 1996 Bulls lost to the expansion Raptors.

 

are we a 72 win team?

 

If they go 56-2 from now onward........they are.

 

I just assume that all NBA games prior to Christmas are rigged sports betting ploys to sink degens who should know better than to bet weeknight games against heavy underdogs. And the NBA league office particularly hates the Houston market, who are mostly immigrants who stream their games and watch the free youtube recaps and spend no money on the actual product unlike the white kids in Dallas or the Asian kids in California dabbing on the jumbotron. Hey, I'm on your side, just telling you how the NBA views things. Lebron hating Houston doesn't help either.

Still, the WWF needs its Iron Sheik. Expect us to be the 3-4 seed come the playoffs and a frisky enough villain to be worth hating, only to get summarily executed in extremely satisfying fashion in round 1 or 2 come May.

 

Fred and KD talked up Jabari on that podcast and he proceeded to ball hog and play outside his limits and failed miserably.

 

OKC lost to the Blazers

 

Blazers are mid. Pelicans wish they could be that mid.

 

The Blazers are not the Pelicans. Also I think okc has already won like 10 games more than we have; we aren’t even half way through the season. There is no equivalency here.