ClutchFans Game Thread: Pistons @ Rockets 1/20/2016

Criticize is one thing what you guys were doing went way beyond criticizing.

 

I agree and Ariza was better too.

 

And the beat goes on...


oh wate

 

Who the hell cares about these dumb stats. We lost in a pathetic fashion...where have the days gone when u needed to show effort and basically win to be praised? Even fans here want to praise Harden now and talking about trading Ariza...

 

Don't forget Smoove

48 years ago!

Great stat

 

team basketball and team defense beats most teams, but we have no team just a bunch of dudes improvising what they think basketball is.

 

I wasn't able to watch the game, and from reading this game thread and my twitter feed I am glad I didn't. When I saw the hacka strategy in full force and then the inevitable meltdown I was completely embarrassed to be a Rocket fan. I can tell some of the players were embarrassed. If I was JB I would be looking at myself and be embarrassed.

I don't care if the strategy was (temporarily) successful. I hate it. Hate it. Don't like it when its deployed against us. And I hate that we deployed it. I hope the rest of the NBA criticizes us. We deserve it.

I don't care if Howard was injured. Next man up... play through the injury (ies) and play basketball. And playing basketball isn't sending a bench scrub in to foul out by fouling a poor FT shooter five times within the first minute or two in the second half. What next, tilting the opposing team's rim slightly? Icing the floor?

I think I need a week off from this team. At this point can't wait for this season to be over. I have been a big "In Morey I Trust" fan. At this point I am losing the faith.

 

I don't know. There's something else going on. The Rockets were relying on the likes of Tarik Black, Joey Dorsey, Nick Johnson, Kostas Papanikolaou, and Francisco Garcia to win games for them early on last season. Remember, we didn't have Brewer til mid-December and Josh Smith til the end of that month. Yet they still started 19-5 with a much tougher earlier season schedule than what they had to begin this year.

D-Mo or no D-Mo, this is a more talented and healthier team than a year ago. Yet the dropoff in defense has been massive. Sure, McHale looked like he was mailing it in to start the season and was promptly fired, but I thought JB was the mastermind behind the defense last year anyway. Why are they so bad at that end of the floor all of a sudden?

 

Yeah, play through the injuries to only further injure yourself to ruin any hope of any sort of run in the playoffs or even making the playoffs. Good plan. 10/10. Would recommend.

 

pretty sure that ship has sailed, hate to break it to you

 

I wasn't directing this at Howard nor suggesting he have played with the sprained ankle. I was directing this at the team and coach... that they had to play on despite the injury(ies) and not use it as an excuse for the hack strategy and weak play.

 

The only chance we have of making a serious run in the playoffs is to make some serious personnel changes now. Get a new starting 1 and 3 and another big that is a dominant rebounder and paint defender and see how it plays out. Gotta put Ariza and Bev up on the block along with the other guys nad see if we can get a couple quality defenders back that have more offensive ability than Ariza and Bev, that can handle and dish and gotta get that 3rd big.

It's time to make major changes to this group.

 

Really hard to blame Morey (not saying that you are) for all of the crap that's been on the court this year. Morey, this offseason, put together probably the most stacked team since the McGrady, Yao, Artest era. You cant ask for more than that.

The coaching staff doesn't seem to hold the players accountable, the players dont seem to hold each other accountable, and the most important-Harden isnt nearly playing with the same fire as he was last year.

I wanted JB to be able to get things turned around, but dont think that's going to happen for him with this squad. I wasn't in favor of Thibs , but seeing how well Harden played in FIBA 2014, and how he improved on both sides of the court last year - Thibs may be the right coach for Harden and this team for next year.

 

This is probably the best way I've seen to describe how Houston plays basketball.

 

Dwight = relies on athleticism

Harden = relies on skill.

More examples:

Pau Gasol = Skill; hence why he's still good

ZBo = Relies on skill; hence why he's still good....

Marc Gasol = relies on skill...........

Joe Johnson = relies on skill, still a damn good player.........................

see a pattern here? Harden's game is gonna age well.

 

I agree BB but I'm not sure there is anything out there that's really going to improve our team that much. I mean who can you get with Jones, Brewer, Ariza, Bev and DMo? Ariza seems like the only legitimate assets we have. Brewer is awful as is Jones, Bev is injury ridden and has taken 2 steps backward in his development and DMo is a huge question mark right now.

 

joe johnson is still a damn good player? 100% false. hes absolutely atrocious now. Harden's game is not going to age that well. Youre in for a huge disappointment once his body breaks down in a couple years. Once the drives start coming down and hes forced to take even more and more jumpers, he'll struggle even more than he has this season.

 

LOL @ people thinking we should replace Ariza.

 

Howard out; 3 others questionable

Pat Beverley (left ankle sprain), Montrezl Harrell (right shoulder contusion) & Jason Terry (right knee pain) are questionable. — Mark Berman

 

Why is that so far fetched? He has regressed a lot. This isn't a contender either. I would trade him while he still has value.