ClutchFans Game Thread: Rockets @ Thunder 3/11/2014

Good loss for the team. They needed a good slap back to reality, they are not good enough YET. They did not play like a team, so they lost as they should have. They will either grow and mature like a championship team or they will lose. No other team controls their destiny. The Rockets will be as good as they let themselves be.

Harden not going up to Durant after the game was very positive, he gets it now.

 

goodbye JHam

 

We probably end up being the 4th. But I am not too enthused that there are two teams in the conference we need to avoid at all cost. We need to up our talents during the off season.

 

Dwight getting punked by inferior centers is what cost us the game.

Parsons telling the media that we are the best team in the NBA and then getting destroyed by KD cost us the game.

Lin being too soft cost us the game.

 

Going small is definitely a viable solution against them seeing as Serge seems to settle more for short jumpers. I think this game would've been a lot closer had Bev not gotten his 3rd foul seconds after McHale tried this strategy.

 

Parson's leash is too long.

 

<blockquote class="twitter-tweet" lang="en"><p>Brooks on Beverley: &quot;You saw the same thing I saw. There's really not much to talk about. We played a good game. I'll leave it at that.&quot;</p>&mdash; Royce Young (@royceyoung) <a href="https://twitter.com/royceyoung/statuses/443582814101835777">March 12, 2014</a></blockquote>
<script async src="//platform.twitter.com/widgets.js" charset="utf-8"></script>

 

Bev and Lin are not the main reason we lost.

 

Right? Lin, Harden and Cisco pretty much rallied them back while Dwight and Parsons couldn't get anything going

 

But for clutchfans, it always appears like it.

 

No, they aren't.

 

What a disappointment.

- Love Bev's energy/grit, but he got way too wrapped up in his own hype tonight IMO. One of the things I ordinarily like most about him is his level-headedness -- he is one of the few guys who doesn't start making panicked, bone-headed decisions when things look grim. Total opposite of that tonight. That was a patented Westbrook flop, but Stevie Wonder could've guessed the refs were gonna call that on Bev given the dynamic of the game up to that point. Can't get so high on emotion that you abandon logic and reason. Before I'm attacked, I AM NOT COMPARING BEV TO LEBRON AS A PLAYER -- but what he showed tonight reminded me a lot of how LeBron always talks about what a mistake he made his first year in Miami, trying to fulfill the villain role when that isn't who he is. Bev is a guy who plays hard and gives his all, but I think he is a good guy at heart. Forget trying to prove something to people who are never going to like you anyway and just play your game. I hope this is a lesson for him.

- Harden's ability to flip the switch is amazing and incredibly impressive, but it needed to be flipped way earlier tonight, especially with Dwight as a virtual liability. Waiting until it's down to the wire to turn it on is what killed us in the OKC series last year -- sometimes miracles like Sunday will happen, and sometimes they won't. Can't always depend on that last-minute magic.

- I'm not ready to entirely knee-jerk re: Dwight, but I'll just say this is an entirely different game if he shows up tonight w/ even half of his usual contribution. Perk out should have been a huge advantage, and it was -- for OKC. D12 and Steven Adams looked like a wash, which is super disappointing. Why we continued trying to post him up for so long when it was obviously not working is beyond me.

- Nice game for Cisco... glad to see McHale willing to dig a little deeper down the bench. Big, big MEH to Hamilton / T. Jones / DMo. Couple of really nice passes/shots for Lin -- I'll keep my mild criticisms to myself, as I'm not in the mood for attack.

So... yeah. Sucks that this comes right on the heels of so much positive media attention -- the criticisms will come faster and stronger than any of the praise did, which isn't fun. They need to find a way to muster some of that intensity and focus they showed at Toyota Center all last week, and quickly. We will definitely need it for what's sure to be an angry Chicago and a vengeful Miami.

Disappointing night, but I still like what I see overall.

[/soapbox]

 

No it's not sad.

 

My bad. Did not see your "not".

 

But I seriously doubt the small ball will work for a 7 game series against OKC. Against the Clippers, nothing seems to be working. We give up too much size on the defensive end. Hopefully, TJones would grow in a hurry ready for the playoffs.

 

We don't have a better option. You take Parsons out and you go with either Casspi/Garcia/Hamilton, I rather take my chances with Parsons. If Lin was a consistent player, than we could go small, but unfortunately he doesn't always show up.

 

The thunder and clips are just a terrible match up for us. Will be tough to beat either in a seven game series. We are competing though... playing with fire.

 

Howard Sucks. No kidding.

 

<blockquote class="twitter-tweet" lang="en"><p>Brooks on his little dust-up with James Harden: &quot;My mom wouldn't be proud of me with what I said.&quot;</p>&mdash; Royce Young (@royceyoung) <a href="https://twitter.com/royceyoung/statuses/443584563520888832">March 12, 2014</a></blockquote>
<script async src="//platform.twitter.com/widgets.js" charset="utf-8"></script>

 

By the way speaking of shooters and toughness off the bench, anyone miss this guy:



If he is healthy next season, I hope Rockets trade for him and get him back over here. Here is a guy that was not hesitant to put up shots. We need a guy like that. Casspi, Lin and Hamilton are all hesistant. Garcia isn't but he rarely has played like tonight this season.