ClutchFans Game Thread: Kings @ Rockets 12/5/2015

McHale wore out the skin on his palms too.

 

I see no reason why we can't be the #1 seed by the start of the new year.

 

oh?lul

 

Thanks for a respectful response.

Just remember, I'm not saying Rondo or Lawson are better than Harden. That would be foolish. I'm saying the package of them is better.

Why mention Rockets forum?

Because you know biased-ism will be a factor.

You do realize several posters in this thread called JB a fool for not playing Lawson more minutes, right?

You're better off not mentioning that.

Post those stats because I don't believe it. Keep in mind Harden has had better C's in the paint to help his crap defense. Harden has probably had better perimeter defenders around him too.

Why would teams trade for 2 players who play the same position? They'd be limiting production.

 

ROFFL!

 

Dwight 22 points 18 rebounds

 

Craig Ackerman @ca_rockets
A pair of reoccruing themes the last 2 nights that were an integral part of last yr. HOU hit 28 3's & had multiple guys make big plays late
7:43 PM - 5 Dec 2015

 

I'll take it.

 

Jonathan Feigen ✔ @Jonathan_Feigen
Rockets' 120 pts, 16 3-pointers and 43 FTA were all season highs. The difference might have been Howard holding Cousins to 4 of 16 shoting.

 

You barely beat some weaker teams, you start to dream about #1 seed already. We still play so inconsistently throughout the game.

 

<blockquote class="twitter-tweet" lang="en"><p lang="en" dir="ltr">Bickerstaff: &quot;There was a time earlier in the year where there was a lot of doubt -- self doubt, doubting others. I think that's gone now.&quot;</p>&mdash; ClutchFans (@clutchfans) <a href="https://twitter.com/clutchfans/status/673346139349868545">December 6, 2015</a></blockquote>
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<blockquote class="twitter-tweet" lang="en"><p lang="en" dir="ltr">D-Mo: &quot;I want to say thank you for all the fans that came &amp; cheered for me &amp; were happy for me to come back. It was a long 8 months for me.&quot;</p>&mdash; ClutchFans (@clutchfans) <a href="https://twitter.com/clutchfans/status/673357900266389504">December 6, 2015</a></blockquote>
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<blockquote class="twitter-tweet" lang="en"><p lang="en" dir="ltr">Another number that really stands out is Rockets' 25 assists on 36 FGs. Ball movement has been steadily improving. TOs remain an issue.</p>&mdash; Jonathan Feigen (@Jonathan_Feigen) <a href="https://twitter.com/Jonathan_Feigen/status/673364116455600128">December 6, 2015</a></blockquote>
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<blockquote class="twitter-tweet" lang="en"><p lang="en" dir="ltr">OK. One more number. Kings made 40 % of shots in 4th after 70 % in 3rd. Rockets D strong in 4th in past 3 games. Not so much at other times.</p>&mdash; Jonathan Feigen (@Jonathan_Feigen) <a href="https://twitter.com/Jonathan_Feigen/status/673364834776276994">December 6, 2015</a></blockquote>
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<blockquote class="twitter-tweet" lang="en"><p lang="en" dir="ltr">Golden State's assist rate of 69.1 % does lead NBA. The 67.6 % assist rate I cited from tonight's game would be 2nd. <a href="https://t.co/hplQxBAVIL">https://t.co/hplQxBAVIL</a></p>&mdash; Jonathan Feigen (@Jonathan_Feigen) <a href="https://twitter.com/Jonathan_Feigen/status/673365878327545856">December 6, 2015</a></blockquote>
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<blockquote class="twitter-tweet" lang="en"><p lang="en" dir="ltr">Actually, on subject of assists and assist rate, Kings had 35 assists on 46 FGs, both season high vs. Rockets. That's a 76 % assist rate.</p>&mdash; Jonathan Feigen (@Jonathan_Feigen) <a href="https://twitter.com/Jonathan_Feigen/status/673366585696894976">December 6, 2015</a></blockquote>
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Every team have those inconsistent stretches through out the game. It's about battling through them. And that's exactly what we're starting to do.

 

A couple more wins and the Rox will have a couple TNT/ESPN games... I'm so sick and tired of crappy intermittent streams and I can't afford league pass of any sort this year.

 

Use "http://www.nbastream.net/". HD stream that is reliable. I use it every day

 

Rockets happy to add Donatas Motiejunas back to rotation
By Jonathan Feigen on December 5, 2015 at 7:01 PM

The Rockets had settled in on a frontcourt rotation with Clint Capela starting at power forward and Terrence Jones playing off the bench. With center Dwight Howard back on Saturday after sitting out Friday’s game in Dallas, the Rockets could return to their preferred substitution schedule, but were happy to instead return Donatas Motiejunas to the mix for more than just Motiejunas’ potential to contribute.


With just one limited practice since Motiejunas was cleared for contact, the plan has been to let Motiejunas play his way back in limited minutes. But Rockets interim coach J.B. Bickerstaff said he is happy to add competition for playing time to the frontcourt positions.

“It puts a little pressure on guys, too,” Bickerstaff said. “The guys who play well are going to play, simple as that. If you know you got another guy sitting over there that’s hungry for your minutes, you’re going to take more advantage of your minutes. That raises the level of everybody.

“We’re looking forward to having him back. We’ll have to figure out how we’re going to work him in alongside the other guys who are playing well. It’s always good to have too much talent. We’ll figure it out.”

 

It's no secret that since his ACL injury Rondo's defense has been bad. It was talked about plenty last year when Rondo was on the tradeblock. Here's a post of mine talking about that very thing from when Rondo was acquired by Dallas.

http://bbs.clutchfans.net/showpost.php?p=9415756&postcount=231

You can easily look up stats yourself by going to http://stats.nba.com or http://www.basketball-reference.com/ . There's tons of info there.

As far as the idea of Rondo and Lawson being better or equal to Harden offensively, that's a joke.

Harden has had a TS% over 60% every season as a Rocket. That's elite. It's especially amazing to be doing that while being the #1 option and having teams scheme their defense against you every night. Typically when a scorer is depended on to carry the offensive burden for their team, their efficiency suffers from having to try and generate offense rather than just taking what is available.

Lawson isn't nearly as efficient as Harden and Rondo has been horribly inefficient since his ACL injury. In fact, since his knee injury the best TS% that Rondo has been able to post for a full season is 46.1%.

Rondo was already a 27.2% 3pt shooter prior to the injury but for since the injury even his FT shooting has fallen to below Dwight Howard levels.

It's also silly to look at turnovers to assist ratio as the sole basis for judging passing. First of all, Harden is an elite scorer and has to provide offense. Many of Harden's turnovers occur while trying to score, not while trying to pass. If Harden travels, gets calls for a charge those are turnovers but they had zero to do with passing. Also realize that because of Harden's elite offensive skills he's facing all types of double teams that Lawson and Rondo don't see. Passing out of double and triple teams is going to generate a few more turnovers.

A better indicator of how well they protect the ball would be turnover percentage. That's the percent of turnovers that the player has per 100 possessions. Harden's TOV% for his career is 14.4%, Lawson's is 15.3% and Rondo's is 19.5%.

The argument that Rondo and Lawson together are better than Harden offensively is a pretty strange idea. Lawson and Rondo play the same position and could never be on the floor at the same time so each of their values would minimized. Also, the NBA is a star driven league in the sense that you have to have stars to win. Aggregating good players never surpasses superstar talent, it just doesn't work that way. Two 7's don't beat a 9 or 10.

 

Nice to see them string a few wins together. Almost at 500

 

What I have at least found encouraging over the last couple games is
that we were pretty much in control the whole game right out of the gate.
None of this digging a 16pt hole in the 1st Q and look for late game heroics to come back.

Also, player movement has increased, ball movement likewise, and shots start falling.
Certainly no coincidence.
Looking more like last years' team. Let's keep this train rollin'

 

After one of the most horrible starts I've seen with losing by 20 pts to no name teams and CF on suicide watch the team is finally looking like the WCF team we saw last year. With JH finally in game shape and Dwight recovering from his injury the Rox are on a roll, and they can only get better as D-MO gets more games under his belt and T Lawson gets his **** together (+/- of 12 tonight despite taking just 1 shot, 4 assists in 12 mins of PT).


I was against the Mchale firing but it could be a blessing in disguise, JB Bickerstaff doesn't have Mchale's charisma and street credibility but he obv knows his Xs and Os and he has an emphasis on D. Things are finally starting to look up