ClutchFans Game Thread: Rockets @ Clippers 11/17/2023

Seen James do that so many times for us. I can't even be mad or surprised to see him do it against us.

A lot of people gonna focus on Jalen and Bari's play especially offensively. But on a positive note, I thought Bari did a great job defending Kawhi in the 4th with 5 fouls for most of it. Jalen also had a few defensive possessions that stood out to me guarding the post and you can see the improvement he's made from last year in that department.

I had a feeling that we were definitely gonna have some ugly offensive moments through the season given the amount of attention we are putting on the defensive end. But on the flip side -- We are some absolute DEMONS defensively, and it has happened so fast just 10 games into the season. Our defense is gonna carry us far this season.

 

As many of y'all have said already, cannot be too mad at this loss. It's a loss we can learn from and if we clean up some of these errors then we have a better chance at winning next time. It's unfortunate the way we lost more so than anything. That 3 by PG at the end of the 3rd was bigger than this Harden 3 as that's just a great shot by still a very good player. Giving up a shot at the end of the 3rd when we had the momentum was bigger imo. The ball handling issues of Green are well established and cost us 4-6 points in the 4th quarter alone. I also still do not like Green has poor offensive awareness at times and just goes into his shot with zero lift, a guy on him and (too) early in the shot clock.

Defense again was stellar and from what we have seen, what people say around the league and my own view on it is that is is sustainable. We were not winning because we got hot from 3, we were winning because we fed off of our defense and did enough usually in the 4th to win or got out to an early lead that we kept with continuous defensive effort. Very few times have we let up on that side of the ball. And offense I am not worried about at all. We're playing very simple on offense, there's little to zero cutting - and when we do it's rarely even a good cut since the paint is cluttered and only gives the guys less space to work with - and just not a lot to it. I am sure once we add more wrinkles to some sets and introduce new sets, plays and guys get more familiar with it, then we'll be much better on that side.

Even with our struggles, I think we should've given Brooks more shots in his spots. The threes he took were not in rhythm, off of a well designed play. Have to reward the guy for playing that stellar defense. Thought it would've served us well to try to get him going, since nobody else was really having a great offensive night. Sengun was solid, but man his passing and recognition of a bigger guy on him at times was not good. Jabari and Jalen should be better as the season progresses, the bench is fine save a rim protector as I do not trust Landale so if Stone can pick one up that would be great. Other than that, I have faith and rather we lose now, use it to beat preferably the Warriors (by a ton) if we're going to take someone down on this trip.

 

Hate to say it, but don't be surprised if we also lose against the Lakers--they are a good team at full strength and they always get the whistles at home.

 

Man, this game pissed me off so much in the 3rd quarter, I straight up turned off the game knowing we weren't going to win because of the refs.

The league is so ****ing corrupt it's outta control and this someone who watched that whole crooked ref fiasco unfold. Idk if it's really Silver putting in the calls or the refs themselves taking bets under the table but let's all remember, the only reason the illegal gambling got caught last time because the FBI just happened to be monitoring the mafia's calls otherwise who knows how long it would've gone on for.

It really sucks because year after year it feels like the league only wants the big markets to succeed because altho Houston may be considered a big city, I doubt it's a big market compared to LA or SF considering how many away fans shows up in our games.

Yes, we could've won if JG didn't turn the ball over twice while in crunch time but it should've never have had come to that, our defense was suffocating all game but the refs kept calling phantom calls against us and swallowing the whistles when it's our turn. It was so bad, the refs weren't even trying to hide it knowing our fanbase won't be as loud as the Lakers or Warriors fanbases when calls don't go their way.

And to make it worse, our next two games are against Lakers and the Warriors. fml

 

Trap game/Harden. All good onto the next one. If we lose the next then its time to tank lmao. Jk jk

 

I wasn't able to see the game, so checked the box score and scrolled through these last few pages of commentary. FVV with the near triple-double, particularly his 10:2 A:TO ratio, and the bench FG% >> starter FG% are stand-out stats on first glance. My conclusion: you want to win, put Nate Hinton in. J/k, but one wonders...

The team is a much better basketball product this year, actually fun to watch at times, under COY candidate Udoka.

 

Can we win on the road? Not yet.

 

Nothing you can do about the refs so I try to not get worked up about it.

Outrebounded them 47-44

Houston Rockets points in the paint: 50
LA Clippers points in the paint: 34

Clippers +10 FT advantage.

Oh wow......

Fyi-

You can't afford to have Jalen and Jabari both shooting 33% or less.

 

Yes. 1-2 is looking like the likely record on this trip but we’ll be ok.

 

Tough loss. It's honestly amazing to me that we have the record that we do and haven't really had anyone on the team have a monster +35 point game all season. It really has been all about team basketball. If we can get Jalen/Jabari to play up to their potential offensively, watch out

 

I'm not staying up for it. If we win I'll watch it on my DVR Sunday. The Lakers always get more of the FT calls. Always! In fact, when they played Portland at home last Sunday they got 37 FT to Portland's 9 and won by 6pts. That was even without James playing. That's some blatant favoritism by the officials there.

 

I blame it on the dumb extended layoff.

 

Have you ever actually been to a playoff game in Houston? Or anywhere else for that matter?

 

Hit your free throws and protect the ball and we probably win this game. Baby Steps!

 

I said it earlier that there was no way the refs were going to let the rockets win that game.
If you are the nba who do you want to play in your shiny new tournament?
A team with four hall of famers or the rockets?

 

I've made this complaint many times over the years but it still bothers me during the prime Harden years that he was decried by take-havers as boring and unwatchable - like 3 pointers and layups and alley oops are unwatchable.

Kashi Leonard was the NBA guru fanboi favorite of this era - the Zac Lowes etc - and - oh man, talk about boring.

Say what you will about Harden but he created triple threat action on every play - compare that to the worst version of Kashi and its endless dribble-dribble elbow jumpers. It's not close.

 

Something was fishy when they sent out an amber alert for Westbrook not starting. Also, Vegas was right, they control the refs.