ClutchFans Game Thread: Blazers @ Rockets 4/20/2014 (Playoffs Round 1, Game 1)

Just stop your endless bashing of Beverley already.

Just because you support one player doesn't mean you have to constantly put down another. It is YOU who's embarrassing. You should learn a thing or two about grace and humility from your favorite player.

 

We need more Asik, at least he can hit his FT.
The defense on Aldridge is unacceptable.

 

I am so gutted...I'm a 6'2" 213lb bloke that has done MMA most of his life, played Rugby league & is pretty tough, but I almost feel like crying.

Seriously, I've waited so long for my beloved Rockets to get in a position to contend, then we get beat by a team from Portland freaken Oregon?

There was horrible officiating on both sides, but that 17 free throw to 0 advantage in the first half was a sick joke & the holding call on Howard at the end? Disgusting, bordering on corrupt.

Beverly getting a technical for clapping, but LMA can charge at the ref yelling?

All in all we played well, but just couldn't get it done at the end. Our execution was very questionable & that last shot was a head scratcher.

That being said, it took career nights from both LMA & Lillard, plus all of those 50/50 calls for the Portland Blazers to best us by 2 in OT...hopefully that won't happen again & we can still close this series out in 6.

End rant...

 

McFail is probably the worst coach when it comes to playing team defense. He didn't even double team Aldridge one single time. Also why not tell your players to play defense in a way as to let Adridge shoot over you rather than letting him drive and do that easy layups all game long. I question if the Rockets have put any effort in team defense strategy against the Blazers...because it doesn't look like it.

 

you made some good points. lma had I go off for career night and they win by two when rockets executed poorly the whole game. expect a bounce back on wed

 

We got this.

 

I agree with this. Game 1 loss, in a close game where the opposing stars go off. Fine. Alright.

Game 1 where your beloved and key starting PG goes down. That's a possibly outcome changing event.

In a recent Rockets TV guest appearance, Zach Lowe mentioned what he saw as the Rockets' weakness: their defense and their lack of maturity. The way he put it is that the Rockets may not yet understand how hard and how tough/dirty they need to play to win a championship.

This team loves Patrick Beverley, and for Bev to be out for the rest of the playoffs as it seems increasingly likely. Is a huge huge deal for them.

I think the Rockets grow from this experience, and surprise some people. The Blazers are a good team, and they were great tonight. But the Rockets are better team.

 

Will they grow up overnight? That's the upcoming narrative,

I can expect Parsons, Jones, Asik, Garcia to step up. Jury is still out on Howard, Harden and Lin, if they can dominate the game under playoff pressure.

 

How is the jury out on howard and he took a team worse than this to the finals? 1 game,the whole series will come down to a couple of plays.

 

We need to get the next 4 games. 4-1

 

I honestly need to hear Harden say"i played terrible this is on me" i love the dude but eventually you need to own up to your games that are horrendous

 

Referees were bad on both sides though the technical on Beverley, then the non-technical on Aldridge and that last call which was very easy to make and it should have been on Portland. Still, that's not where we lost and I truly believe Portland deserved it more. They were hustling, working hard on the boards and just fed the hot hand.

McHale made some questionable decisions in my opinion, but also the players. Parsons was hot, why didn't we feed him more? That's on Harden, Beverley, Lin, McHale but also Parsons himself. He has to demand that ball.

In the end, what truly killed us was rebounding, McHale sticking to small line-up and not double teaming Aldridge, constant switching on defense and terrible late game execution by Harden. It worked well when Lin was initiating in the 4th quarter and OT, so why not do it again?

A lot of head scratchers and the 1st quarter basically showed we were not ready. Hope they know now regular season does not count and it was always going to be a very tough series, now even more so.

Some positives though:
- We came through in the clutch a couple of times: Garcia with Battier like rebound, Lin with some tough shots, Harden setting good screens, Howard with rebounds and FTs.
- Howard came to play in the 2nd half
- Beverley who I thought was the x-factor, was indeed the x-factor. The crowd fed off of it but unfortunately he was not getting much done on offense and now the injury..
- Jones was good, it felt like he had more points than he did

 

Six months of effort to get home court, and they give it away in game one. And let's not kid ourselves, next game is a must win. If the Rockets start the series 0-2, I don't think they can over come that.

 

What do i say that has not been said already, they gotta win game 2...its that simple.

 

8-man rotation hahah~ Mchale really did it...

 

No he didn't. He was the centre piece of that squad and the main focus of the opposing defense BUT he wasn't the one making the necessary clutch plays in the end. It were Turk and Lewis so don't expect him to be 'the man' or something.

well I'm not that concerned with this loss, as have others already said it took so much for them to beat us by 2 in overtime, that im confident we are going to win this series.

 

That desperation 3 from Aldridge in it was so lucky. Man

 

He had the confidence to take it, and it fell in for him. Harden and Howard didn't.

 

Was at the game. Bev looked like he was really struggling to move around after that collision. I have a feeling he's done. Also Aldridge was amazing and Harden didn't look like himself. Portlands strategy to constantly post up Matthews on the block to tire out Harden and make him work on defense was genius. McHale just isn't good enough to notice the little nuances during the course of a game. He reacts rather initiates his own strategy. He's not cut out to coach a high level team. Hack-a-Dwight will cost us a plenty of games in the playoffs, whether in this series or the next.
Also there were a group of greasy thugs flicking and pouring beer below on some dedicated-looking fans a few seats besides me (the thugs were above on the railings). Those pieces of scum soured my night even more..why would you treat your fellow Rockets fan like that?

 

Actually it's both of you that are embarrassing. Neither Lin nor Beverly are that important to our team in the long run.

It's Harden and Howard. They need to step up. Once they get it going, they'll be unstoppable. It doesn't matter who's playing with them.