ClutchFans Game Thread: Rockets @ Cavaliers 11/1/2016

Can't win if you don't play defense. Rebounding is still a big issue. No boxing out, ball watching by our guards / wings and no helpside rebounding nor defense. Also why is Gordon not the ball handler when he's the only one who can create outside of Harden? What's the point of having Gordon in when Harden is out if Ennis or Bobby are handling the ball. It went completely to **** when they came in. Also Dekker did a nice job, can he get some Brewer minutes for crying out loud?

For those who think it's a positive it was close, that was only because we were hot from three in the 4th. We made some tough buckets all night. We gave them easy ones, that's the difference.

 

he wasn't making his shots and the rockets offense was awol when he was handling the rock with harden off the court.

 

He is not being used as the primary ball handler when Harden is out, you can just see it. They need to practice that. Cannot just throw a guy in the game and say handle the rock, he's not Harden. Ennis has that role now and he flat out sucks. Should've kept Prigioni.

 

Thanks for the "Fandom 101" crash course. How dare I spend my whole life up to this point getting mad when my teams lose and jump for joy when they win?

So now if and when any of my teams win a championship, I won't get happy and celebrate because I'm not the one playing

 

4th game playing for Dantoni!

Almost beat defending champs on home court. You could tell they gave it all they had too!

I don't really understand how anyone could be down about this, as they just put up 120 ok one of the best defenses in the league.

They will get better.

 

While what you say may hold a little truth, we will have to go through a rough patch in order to get on the same page.

 

4th game with 3 new starters and a new coach

on the road against last year's champs with the same starting lineup

 

Whys everyone so negative?

Don't really understand it.

 

"The pessimist looks down and hits his head. The optimist looks up and loses his footing. The realist looks forward and adjusts his path accordingly." - King Ezekiel

solid proverb

 

I enjoyed the game and as said above, new coach, new players, on road VS defending champs and we kept it close and even had a good chance at winning.

 

Yah, we just had a 2-3 min stretch where we couldn't score or defend when Harden was on the bench. We likely would have come back to beat most other teams, we almost did last night. But this was the defending Champs. Does anyone else get annoyed with "World Champs?"

Anyways, we're still figuring some things out, but we showed we can play defense for stretches. Our problem is rebounding. We've GOT to get a big that can rebound and finish at the rim. Doesn't necessarily need to have more offense than that. We need Chuck Hayes' taller more athletic cousin Charles Hayes.

 

I am really enjoying watching the Rockets this year. Bad break with Ariza getting banged up and leaving the game for so long. I am perplexed on why the coach left 3 guards in so long when Ariza was out getting stitched up, with Harden, Anderson, and Dekker on the bench. We could have used Harrell instead to help on defense. Why isn't he playing at all? Have I missed something? I think we could have won if we hadn't let them get to double digits ahead of us with that lineup he was using for too long. Our starters came back in to nail a bunch of 3's when it was just too hard to come back and hold the lead. Gotta love the toughness of Ariza though! I can't wait for Beverly to get back to add some extra defensive help.

 

Can't really be too mad at that game, we obviously weren't going to win barring a massive upset/trap game for Cleveland as they are clearly the much better team. But I have to say it is really frustrating to see us hang in there and show great promise offensively, only to throw it all away with some of the worst defense I've ever seen. I've seen a few people in this thread say "the defense wasn't that bad, they hit tough shots, etc. etc." but I strongly disagree. They hit a few tough shots, but we literally couldn't get a single stop in the 4th quarter it seemed like. When they weren't hitting tough shots, they were driving in the lane unimpeded, dumping it down to a guy (usually Love) who would beat his man and walk it in with an easy layup with absolutely no weak side help and generally playing with little resistance.

Now, this specific game doesn't upset me, but if we keep playing such poor defense when we are in a good offensive rhythm, we will keep losing games to teams we shouldn't lose to (like the Lakers). We are dead last in defense. Think about that for a second. Dead. Freaking. Last.

Have to give major props to Harden for playing a helluva game. Gordon needs to be more aggressive with that 2nd unit when Harden isn't out there.

 

If the defense was as bad as people say it was then Cleveland, the champions...would have ran away with this game by the 2nd half.

Cavs went on a quick 9-0 run, sparked by Harden missing 2 fts and Lebron swishing an open 3 (that most times you happily live with). This is the same team we played against, very same makeup and everytghing...that the Golden State Warriors couldn't get a single stop against when it mattered either. So expectations of our defense must be sky high if people thought when it was winning time that the Rockets would be able to get those necessary stops.

It would have taken a few more big shots made and funnily enough when clutch time came it was Ariza (the former champion) that provided us with the big shots to put us back in it after that big Cavs spark.

 

We played well and almost beat the champs in their home. Harden had a monster game!!

 

Why are Harden's TO's so far down? I know it's early by DAMN -- that is very different. Is having an offensive system helpful to this extent, or is it a statistical fluke?

 

Can't turn the ball over if someone shoots it first.

 

Wait, Nene hit a three?

 

Gerald Green is a great 3 and D now? IIRC we had him as a rookie but got rid of him because he doesn't know how to play organized Bball. He shot 32% last year and was still playing bad D on the Celts so I don't even know why you're comparing him to Ariza.

Iggy is making 12M a year, Batum and Barnes are making 20M each and Winslow and Warren are lottery picks. Any of these guys might be better than Ariza, but how are you gonna get them? That's why 3 and D guys are scarce, they either cost a lot or teams won't give them up, that's like saying you can easily get superstars to pair with Harden and start listing guys like Lebron, Kyrie, KD, Curry etc.