ClutchFans Game Thread: Rockets @ Bucks 1/4/2013

Yup, we got out-rebounded badly. They blocked a bunch of our shots. They took an 18 point lead.

Then the Rockets turned on the after burners and the Bucks were left standing in the dust, a dwindling speck in the rear view mirror.

19-14. 19 wins and 14 losses.

Up to 6-8 on the Road, and 2.5 games behind Memphis for the 5 spot. And we're solidly at #1 in scoring per game at 106.1.

Not too shabby for a Rebuilding year. :grin:

 

maybe now lin will let his hair grow and have his hair long like the old steve nash...

 

You know when they pulled through the Harden trade and refusing to give Tjones and Motiejunas substantial minutes that this is no
REBUILDING YEAR...Retooling

 

Thank goodness you're just a fan like the rest of us. Lin came in when the game was still close but hooroo said Lin only played garbage minutes.

I get confused by some of you who aren't as high on Lin. Did he come in when the game still mattered and helped towards the win or was he ineffective and only played garbage minutes? Gotcha...

 

A guy has a superb game
off the bench,
on both ends of the floor,
and plays big during a crucial comeback
in one of the more exciting WINS of the year

...and you still try to find a way to dump on him?

Stop it.

 

He came in when things was hot.....he was part of the coup that created the few minutes of garbage time for the bench warmers.

 

What about the backcourt defense, Rockets held their starter to 28 pts with 8TO.

 

Here are two of them: It was a 5 pt game with 6:47 left to play in the 4th. Patterson makes a bucket off of a Lin assist, to make it an 8 pt game. Within the next minute and a half, Lin steals the ball twice, and passes to Harden for a FOUR POINT PLAY! Harden misses the foul shot, but the 3 pointer put the game out of reach for the Bucks.

 

add 2 free throws and 1 rebound to that stat line.

 

Wow, what's just happened tonight? Turnover festival??

This was an ugly game to watch, it almost felt live an all-star game without the stars. Several sloppy plays, specially from the Bucks.

This game I consider that were the Bucks who lost and not Houston who won. We were playing a little bit like the last game in the first half: several missed 3's, slow halfcourt play and not looking sharp. Ou defense was allowing a lot of their plays and Lin, Parsons and Morris were having a very bad night. On the second half, we tightened the defense a little bit, with TDouglas and Delfino, and also the Bucks committed dozens of turnovers, not necessarily because of our D. They seemed like amateurs out there, loosing the ball and taking bad shots. We had just to keep scoring to build up the lead.

The bads:

- 3's (from our starters): again, our performance was under par from behind the line. Several missed 3's from Lin, Parsons, Morris. Lin seems to put too much arc, Parsons seems to not put arc enough. Morris is in a slump. Even Delfino was missing when he came in. By the end of the game, Delfino's 3's started to fall, and Patterson was showing also a sharp shot. Harden joined them and thus we were able to close the gap and put some points ahead.

- Halfcourt offense: same as before, our plays seems stiff, not flowing, putting the team in tough shots. That is not going to improve anywhere soon, since it is something that we will only see better next season, after a camp. The solution for now is to not let our game slow down, keeping the pace, and trust in the penetrations from Harden and Lin when the opposing defense is positioned.

- Halfcourt defense: Our defense was very shaky tonight, in the first half. Several uncontested jumpers were allowed and we were lucky that the Bucks started to miss everything they tried. While they were playing as usual, they've built a lead of 15+ points. Asik was not so dominant on D tonight, despite being competent as always.

The goods:

- Keeping the head straight: during the TO festival from the Bucks in the second half, we had several transition plays to enjoy ourselves. We were competent to score and keep the defense tight, so we could take advantage of all those bad passes, and offensive fouls from them. Also, we started to rebound better and not give them second opportunities

- Bench: our bench shined tonight. They won the game and bailed us out. TDouglas, Patterson and specially Delfino were playing well on D, and scoring 3-pointers, layups, and getting a high FG%. TD was 8-14, Delfino 8-11 and Patterson 6-7!! That is only a stats that shows how dominant they were tonight. Each one of them were also holding their own on D, either one-on-one and also cutting the lines for a steal, or rebounding with energy. Props to all three and is good to see that the bench is able to have performances like this when needed.

The players:

- Lin: bad night from him. He was scoreless for the entire first half, despite playing heavy minutes. Not moving the ball well, driving and passing to the wrong hand of the centers, missing his shots. His defense was not top tonight, and Jennings was not having too much trouble. The Bucks' lead was built with Lin on the floor. As usual, we saw some Lin's blood, and after that he played better, having a decent 4th quarter.

- Harden: another stellar standard performance from him. Usual drive and get fouled technique, shooting clutch threes, passing the ball well. In the last games, Harden also stepped up on D, playing much harder and earning him some very good defensive plays and steals.

- Parsons: bad offensive night. Since his shoulder injury he is not hitting the 3's and that hurts his game. He has good defensive presence, and also position well always on offense and defense. But tonight he was not a factor, even in the small things. He was +20, but that is misleading since most of the points there were due to Milwaukee's struggles.

- Morris: I don't know if the pressure of having Patterson back is getting to him. The fact is that he is not playing well and seems lacking confidence. Shooting 0-7 and not holding his own on D hurt us tonight.

- Asik: Competent, having a lot of trouble with the Buck's bigs, but he was a defensive presence inside, and his mobility is astounding for his size. There was a transition play when he outrun everyone to receive the pass an attempted a reverse layup on the run. He also completed another alley-oop tonight. Strong and fast, that is really special. Has to improve the ball catching skills though.

- TDouglas: really good game. He was a beast on D, and lead several transitions, finishing with layups. His speed has won the dispute against the size tonight and he was too fast for Ellis or Jennings to keep up. Seriously, the 3-guard scheme with Douglas, Lin and Harden is very good sometimes, since all three can score and take care of the ball, and one can bail the other out when he is having a bad night. Tonight, TDouglas put some balance in our backcourt, since Lin was not handling the game well.

- Delfino: Man of the game. He started terribly, with bad shots, and the Bucks put their lead on when he was on court. However, suddenly, he started to hit everything. No kidding, there was a contested 3-pointer in the last second of our possession, and a drive and dunk! It seemed that Delfino could not miss. He helped us to get the game back, and then to put a lead. His shots were destroying the Bucks' moral, since everytime they started to come closer, Delfino put a 3. He was 6-7 from the 3-point line.

- Patterson: Another one to have a terrific game. Patterson also was looking as he couldn't miss. 6-7 FG%, 3-4 from the 3-point line. His shot was smooth, all net, and he was fighting hard for the rebounds. Definitely not looking soft lately.

- Rest of the bench: well, just 2 minutes of garbage time, not much to comment. Several sloppy plays.

The coach:

- McHale: Good decision to go small on the 4th, keeping Douglas. However, besides that, I think it was a bad coaching game. If the Bucks' didn't get out of control so badly, we would have lost this one. They were controlling the pace and outplaying us in the first half. We needed an amazing shooting night from Delfino and Patterson, and the Buck's to go goofy style in order to win. We need a gameplan for nights when the 3's are not falling, and the halfcourt defense has to improve on the midrange game (they are always letting some open jumpers happen out there). And, an 8 man rotation is risky for our legs, in my opinion. He didn't need to let GSmith out of the rotation. But perhaps it was also because he was very much out of focus in the last game (remember the TO due to shoe lace tying?), and maybe it was a sort of message to him? Just speculating.

Overall, we really need to build our pace again, and find the long range. Slow games are not our strength, and we were able to be very comfortable in the second half, when the game was more of a running game. Also, we have to tweak a little bit better our halfcourt offense for when it's needed. We were lucky to win this one, and the 25 To's from the Buck's will not be there in the next games.

 

Just noticed that seven Bucks players had 3 or more turnovers. Is this some kind of record?

 

Here we go with the odd Lin stats line:
8points 7assists 6turnovers 5stitches 4steals 3fouls 2fts 1rb 0bs:grin:

 

Lol... Me gusta.

2funny

 

and a partridge in a pear tree....

 

I didn't invent the Gamescore stat. John Hollinger, writer for ESPN and works for the Griz front office, did.

I'm not being biased in my explanation, I'm just explaining why this particular stat said TD was below average this game.

 

And I get confused by this incessant need to defend one player. Seriously, the Rockets put on a phenomenal offensive show and still 70% of the posts in the game thread is about Lin.

I know I'm feeding fuel to the fire, but damn you fangirls drive me nuts.

 

Thanks, you just made it worse. Now I see why fans from other Rockets forums stay away from this one. I still enjoy reading your posts though.

 

Douglas is sort of an undersized poor man's version of JR Smith/Jamal Crawford.
A good punch off the bench sometimes, can shoot the ball well, questionable decision making at times.

 

shuh thank you recapping for the game as a whole and for indiv players & coaching.keep it up!

 

chill out - Lin play like **** yea - redeemed himself abit . But heck I am still pissed with the team's D and his performance at the start of the game. We were suppose to win this easy.