ClutchFans Game Thread: Rockets @ Pacers 1/18/2013

Not to bash Asik, but it does raise an interesting question... how much MORE often would Lin and Harden dump the ball to Asik and call for PnR's if Asik had Smith's hands? Not even talking about his ability to finish.

A 7 footer who can catch and finish is a pretty big advantage.

So just adding in his bobbled/missed passes might actually be misleading...

 

It is only a LOF statement because it has been used over and over by some new posters to explain why Lin has not been dominant. The same excuses are used... McHale has told the team to not pass to Lin (yes seriously), McHale has decided to limit Lin or Lin has been over coached, Lin does not score more because Harden will not screen for him, Lin doesn't do better because Harden is a ball hog, Sampson wanted to destroy Lin, Asik isn't Tyson Chandler.... When the reality is that Lin has largely struggled because he is not a good enough shooter to keep his man from sagging off of him.

There are some Lin haters. They are mostly trolls or respond to LOF's not caring about the Rockets. The LOH are obvious, they start threads calling Lin awful or saying he should be released.

 

haha awesome...more captions!

 

That is fair, and it is only compounded by having the worst power forward rotation in the NBA. It leads me to believe there may be some validity to Gortat going to Houston. Ideally Asik Would be a bench reserve for the 4-5.

 

Sampson first. Isn't he brought in to help develop our team's defense?

 

LOL! Kobes been doing it since 96. Sometimes people just have off games man. Not Mchales fault

 

Oh I didn't know, you joined in 2008, you're so cool; you're the man bro

 

we were 5-6 games above .500 now were only 2 games above .500 what happened.

 

I for one like to blame Mchale. Loved the run and gun offense when we were winning. Couldn't believe we stopped running and gunning since NOH. I actually hope Mchale is right, that they are short on juice. I would imagine that they are short on juice because of 2 weeks of straight 4 games in 5 nights. I mean, we were laughing at teams because we beat all of them so easily. Hell, when we were down 18, no problem! We still beat them by 20! Can't stand Mchale's coaching decisions the last 5 games, but hopefully, that's all it was. I can't imagine why Mchale would go away from the offense that beats everyone by 20-30 points.

 

The thing is james' misses are mostly contested layups which are a higher percentage shots while kobe's are long contested perimeter shots.

 

I actually joined in 1999... but It has nothing to with being cool.

 

I think the biggest reason is fatigue.

6 back to backs this month, 2 sets of 4 in 5, tons of games on the road (travel, jet lag, no practice time, and home court reffing), and toss in that Lin, Harden and Parsons are all averaging 35-40 minutes per game in January.

Mins per game - January

Jeremy Lin - 36.1
Chandler Parsons - 35.3
James Harden - 39.3

And they're being asked to play Defense on top of driving the Offense?

That's a LOT to ask of anyone, especially when they're running the fastest pace in the NBA.

And yah, the PF's have been awful ...

 

Ah I was just wondering if he had fans back then like he has now.

 

a BRUTAL January schedule happened...like Phil Jackson said "schedule losses"...we also seemed to have caught a lot of these teams while they were rolling...NO, Boston, Clippers (well they've been rolling all year really) Mavericks, Pacers etc. were all playing better-than-normal ball during January

on the plus side Dallas, Denver, and GS all lost tonight...as bad as we have been in Jan, it seems all of the other fringe playoffs teams in the west have been just as bad...big game against minny tomorrow...so glad that our starters were rested tonig- oh wait they played until the 46th minute tonight...MCHALE!!!!!!

on the LOF/LOH thing, why don't more people just use the ignore function? if there's a LOF/LOH that you really don't like, just put them on your ignore list!

 

Maybe the only hope is when McHale actually run Harden into the ground, so some one else can step up like Lin did in the game against the Spurs with Harden out. Then it may dawn on him that there are other ways to win a game than the Harden way.

 

But those are all true!!

(I KID!! I KID!! I KID!!)

Lin definitely is capable of playing better. Let's hope he does sooner than later so a DMZ or cease-fire can be reached between fans on the opposite end of the Lin spectrum.

 

McHale has been terrible handling minutes in back to backs. Down double digits in the 4 time after time and Harden especially is playing 40+ minutes. Had he handled the rotation better we could be 2-3 the last 5.

 

I wished I agreed with you, but I don't think this team can win without Harden playing well. The team defense is just not good enough. All along I have felt the playoffs were a long shot, because an injury to Harden, Lin, Parsons or Asik could literally trigger a long losing streak.

 

if you play 40+ min per game in a stretch of 4 game in 5 night, I wonder who would not have off night, and that is not mcHale's fault? With Rox's high tempo game, I don't know who could last..... plus, he is the main go to guy in the team, and he don't get too much easy basket, as he is SG that need to score for himself, and he is also PG that need to creat for his teammate.

 

I'm really not sure that McHale understands the concepts of "schedule losses".

I'd bet dollars to doughnuts that Pops or Doc Rivers would have paced this team significantly differently, especially being on the road with so many back to backs.