ClutchFans Game Thread: Rockets @ Warriors 2/20/2014

Summary of the last 5 pages:

Lin lost the game for us. He was way too passive and gave up the ball too many times. But thank god for Harden ISO. It kept us in the game.

 

May I remind you that not just Lin but every basketball player has to pick up the ball every single time? No one is allowed to dribble forever in a game.

 

The offense as a whole was a bright spot when he was in the game. For the game Asik was a +8, and Dwight was a -10. When Howard is stinking it up on offense the entire teams offense comes to a grinding halt. When Asik is in the game, we don't try force the ball into Asik, the offense seems to have a lot more movement and better pace.

 

Lin didn't take many shots last night, much of it seems to be due to the fact that Harden had it going and the team went to him a ton. Also, when Lin did drive, GSW did a good job clogging up the paint. Parson was more "aggressive" trying to score but he also ended up with a rather low FG%. Dwight also tried to be " aggressive" but ended up missing a bunch.

Sometimes, the number of shots a player, especially a role player, takes in a game is just a matter of how the game flows. Single game +/- are not all that useful, but HOU was +9 last night in Lin's minutes, the highest on the team. He was mostly on the floor when the team closed the gap or even took a lead.

The guy who really struggled was Terrence Jones. He was the "Kendrick Perkins" for the team last night.

 

Fun game. Looking forward to see how these guys bounce back. New win streak starts on Sunday. Let's go!

 

Hard to criticize much about last night. Would have liked to see D-Mo in the 2nd half a little more but that's it. It just turned into a grind it out kind of game that was going to come down to the wire and it did.

 

LOL. A simple strategy shuts him. Then why doesn't every team play this simple strategy?

The real problem was all of our perimeter shooters laid an egg. When they collapse the paint, you dish out to the perimeter. That's the "simple" counter to the "simple" strategy. Make shots from the outside and they won't be able to collapse the paint. No team will let you just make lay ups for all of your points. Also, Jones got taken out, because he didn't have the speed to guard Lee. Howard was somehow smoothered by O'neal, so there wasn't even a post presence for lobs and easy down low passes.

 

I can't believe the Warriors are the 3rd best defensive team in the league according to points per 100 possessions. It's true though, and they played this game without Bogut, though that may have been a blessing in disguise since O'neal was incredible defensively.

 

Are you seriously trying to day it didn't? Harden was flat out incredible in the second half last night.

 

I am very sold on the Bev Lin combo. This may currently be my favorite thing about the team (right up there with Harden's beautiful clutch shots)

I also really like the Lin DMo Harden Parsons and Asik combination. The Rockets have such a luxury in being able to draw on strong starting combos from last year - and taking advantage of the experience these groups have playing together. Now that Asik's back and looking engaged, I am totally psyched to see this develop

 

totally agree accept that i HATE iso ball at any time.

 

Lots of people (including myself) are extra frustrated at this loss because it shows a lack of ability to close games.

We were in a great position to win the game multiple times and couldn't hold down the defensive end of the floor, which has been a reoccurring theme all season. Very frustrating.

Also, if Harden is out for an extended period of time, we can kiss the 3-4 seed goodbye IMO, unfortunately.

We should have won that game in regulation and Harden wouldn't have even gotten injured.

 

The ball bounced the Warriors way last night. Iggy hit some lucky a** shots in crunch time. They came up with a lot of loose balls. They also got a lot of second chance points.

 

just watched a fast version of the game while doing my best paulfks impersonation in running the treadmill, if only mchale would have kept his cool or jeremy "my shoes are too big for me" lin would have nailed that three instead of 2. Ugh, and O'neal just ate chandler on that last drive. This game was bound to happen. I just wanted it to happen after our 18th victory in a row or something. =(

Harden was pretty awesome on D when guarding the post. Less running and more grinding and bumping on the low post. =)

Lin too. was only scored on for 9 points, 4 by lee and 4 by thompson and a ft by barnes.

I like that we're finally showing and switching on PnR defense, but don't like that the PG ends up on the PF. Back in the JVG days, battier would slide over and force that Pf to give it up. (but then that leave the okurs of the world wide open.) it's always a catch 22.

 

I'm not. I'm tired of seeing Lin play SG. I don't care if he comes off the bench and/or if he only plays 15 minutes a game as I can't change McHale's decision on that. But what I would prefer to see if that when he is playing that he is on the floor to lead the team on the break, get the ball FIRST on out of bounds plays to push it hard, is told to take every shot that he can get open for, and told to run PnR with Asik, Jones or whomever to create space/drive the lane or whatever to create for himself and teammates. We need a backup SG who isn't Lin if we want to be successful for a deep run in the playoffs, so we better be looking for someone on waivers or hoping Hamilton can be that person to give Harden his 10 to 15 minutes of rest.

And I do think that when Beverly plays more than 30 minutes, we are always more likely to lose. His peskiness may seem like it's doing a lot to those that just like to watch that type of basketball, but those 2 or 3 steals a game are always offset with those foul calls and getting us into the penalty, not to mention that come playoff time, the refs surely/probably won't let him get away with any of that against the elite PGs on the top teams in the league. The rules have changed to actually prevent this type of play to make the game a more exciting scoring game. Plus asking him to play that way for 30 minutes or more isn't fair to him. He can be effective with that style of play for about 15 minutes a game, 20 max.

 

Mchale sucks! Y da f*** would u play caspi when he is shooting blanks.

 

god tjones is absolutely horrid against good power forwards like randolph and lee. He couldn't rebound or defend at all. Should have given Dmo some minutes.

 

re Harden's injury. it just sucks. I agree.

Are there any updates ?

 

Yup. Asik has no qualms setting a high pick. Dwight is great, but this lineup lets the Rockets run pick and rolls, easy drives to the hoop

 

Yeah right now DMo is coming into his own... gotta ride that!