ClutchFans Game Thread: Rockets @ Blazers 1/7/2026

OKC barely beat the Jazz in overtime to avoid going 6-6 in their last 12 games lol. They should trade everyone right away! Their season is lost! They all suck! Their players are overrated! They’re all busts!!

 

Jabari and Reed 5-23 [2-14 from deep]

Yeah Boiiiiii

 

A few observations from watching the game at Moda here in Portland tonight:

as badly as we played, it was shocking to see how close we were right up until the end. Portland let us hang around. We had no business winning this game based on our play, but we certainly were in a position to win.

I could not believe how we left Reed on an island against Deni several times throughout the game.

we couldn’t break Portland’s zone and I started to realize, we had a lot of rotations chalk full of bad passers. Tari is a bad passer. KD is a bad passer. Bari is a bad passer. You have to move the ball to break the zone and we just couldn’t.

we just couldn’t hit shots. Had a lot of wide open looks and 2nd, 3rd, 4th chance opportunities, and we just couldn’t knock anything down.

if Reed and Bari aren’t making shots, they aren’t providing much out there. Both have been in a slump lately. They’ve got to be better.

I’m so tired of the turnovers.

No idea why we didn’t double Deni every time. He was the only guy in Portland we had to worry about out and we didn’t make it our mission to shut him down. How is that not the game plan priority defensively?

Portland is missing Grant, Holiday and Scoot. The are playing without a point guard. Their 1st guy off the bench was Ryan Rupert, who I don’t even think is a legit nba player. Losing this game is straight up embarrassing.

 

What are you talking about?
They still have possibility to get 70 wins.

 

Seeding and matchups both matter, but we still have time. There’s a lot of basketball left to be played.
Idk why some people are in panic mode already, yeah it sucked we lost tonight. We will look like a different team when we get closer to the post season.

 

Deni is their PG. That's why he's avging 7 asts per game.

 

So do the Rockets…. But you keep b****ing and crying after every missed shot lol

 

Yeah if the season ended today I'd just be mad about getting Denver in the first round more than the 6th. I still think Matchups matter more than seeding, we all know we wanted to desperate avoid the Warriors last year and we saw why. So I'm not stressing about seeding right now until we can see what matchups might come from it. If the Warriors end up getting MPJ or something at the deadline and sneak in to the playoffs again I'd happily drop a seed to avoid that team. F that.

People here just overreact, we're not even behind because we've barely played these other teams and they are all right around us. The 2nd place team is ahead of us by 1 loss, that's it lol. All of these teams are dropping games here and there, it happens.

Tonight sucks, to shoot that poorly sucks, the defense despite the Blazers poor shooting could have been better, defense could have been better against Deni like @roslolian mentioned, but overall yeah we are fine lol. We go on a 2 game winstreak and we could literally be 2nd place in the west.

Games are going to be harder for us to win without Sengun, that's just how it was always going to be.

Still, major issues with the offense and how a lot of it is just give it to KD and pray. Seeing the amount of shots KD takes vs everyone else...I just don't like that. I want to see our other guys grow offensively a bit more, but we're not firing Ime in the middle of a season nor do I think we should unless there is some kind of drama so I try not to worry about it. This team will be judged by what they do in the playoffs anyways.

I actually think Amen is growing into the PG role too, finally learning that he can be a lot more aggressive and playing more downhill, want to see more of that and someone get Reed's balls back.

 

As long as we don’t have to go through Denver and then OKC in the playoffs, I’m fine. I’d much rather face one of them, not both. The standings are super tight anyway, and we’re not even fully healthy yet.
These ugly games are part of the process, that’s how teams get better. It just felt like tonight we lost that grind-it-out identity we had last season. And it didn’t help that Reed looked rough and clearly low on confidence, while Bari was just flat-out bad.
On the bright side, Amen’s growth is real. He needs to stay in attack mode at all times. I hate when he overthinks, he can get to the rim whenever he wants.

 

Silly but you get that one chance for payback.

 

Friday, can't wait to get our revenge.. please beat them by 30 again

 

Just watched the highlights. To be honest I think the Eason tip in should have counted. With that being said it should not have never come to that, where the refs decide our fate.

 

not gonna win a lot of games shooting 37% from the field.

 

Season's not over but I have trouble believing this team at full strength can beat the other real contenders at full strength in a series.

This team don't have that year 1 Harden-CP3 vibe where you just feel like you can win any game. That team would definitely have won it all if it weren't for injuries.

 

Our supposive shooters have been ass

Eason, Smith, Reed.

Yikes

 

I mean the thing is...we won't see this team at full strength all year long...unless he does miraculously come back 2 months earlier.

FVV solves a lot of our issues.

 

I feel Portland misses 2 big pieces, but it happens that they let you hang around as they are no real contender.

Splitter has been coaching his butt off.

 

It's nice to see someone actually blame other players for poor shooting and not just blame one guy for it constantly.

 

I've seen enough, blow it up