ClutchFans Game Thread: Rockets @ Mavericks 11/20/2013

Two options. (1) Put me on ignore, or (2) deal.

 

Lin did have an off night. I can't say for sure but I think he would have had a better night if he would have had a chance to play more. The ball would have moved better, and I think that is the main reason we lost the game tonight is because the ball didn't move in the second half.

I don't think any player is the reason we lost the game tonight.

 

I think the blame should go to the coach. You have to show trust in your player and reward him if you want him to perform. Asik has played hard, never missed game, and the coach seriously did not try hard enough to give him playing time.
The TT tower experiment is not a well-designed one. Yeah, it failed the first game. Then you need to tweak that instead of throwing that away all together.

Persoanlly I think McHale is always hard on himself, willing to sacrifice his health for a win. In my experience, this kinds of people usually do not care much about managing other's time and feeling. Now he is basically coaching a bunch of kids.

 

No worries.

 

Everything you just said points to the team not winning a lot of those upcoming games. First of all, they're not gelling. Not defensively anyway. And we can't blame it on early season injuries to Bev or Asik not trying because he wants out. Neither of those were factors tonight. We're just not trying on D. There was no excuse for the kind of effort(or lack thereof) in the 4th quarter against the Mavs.

Secondly, I agree that teams will give us their best shot most nights. But that only makes it more important that the Rockets not slack off the way they did tonight. If you looked at their body language in the 4th quarter compared to Dallas, I saw one team that looked hungry and desperate and another that seemed to think they had the game in the bag and just needed to run out the clock. That kind of mentality will(and already has) cost them winnable games. And in a Western Conference this competitive, you cannot squander those opportunities and expect to have home court in any round.

 

Um, no. You just whined that his play calling sucks and stated look at the results.

THAT ISN'T PROOF. Its your OPINION.

 

I don't either. Team defense has been and continues to be an issue. Scrapping TT got us clicking offensively, but it means nothing if we put up 200 pts and still manage to allow 202 on the other end.

 

One more point and I am done for the night:

McHale is now to ride his stars for long minutes. He is always coaching like if he would lose the job tomorrow if he lost the game today.

I would say Asik's situation is made worse by Mchale's poor minute management and lack of vision.

 

Hey Rookie.

Perhaps you should stop trying to antagonize the entire board in one night.

Just saying...

 

Even with TT, the team was consistently giving up 100+ pts.

 

Lin did have a bad night.
I guess he's human after all.
Let's hope he bounces back.

 

Why was this foul at the end of regulation not called?

Spoiler

I wish someone could post all the pictures from the game thread of Harden being man handled, scratched & Dwight being mugged all with no calls…

Refs in the NBA do my head in.

 

One thing that's becoming apparent to me. Lin is the key to our 2nd unit. When he's attacking, playing with confidence and hitting shots, the whole 2nd unit plays well. When he doesn't (like tonight) they don't.

 

Today's minute distribution was just so damn strange. He basically killed any change of the bench to get into any kind of rhythm.

I don't know about his end of the game play callings, but I think there is one thing we can all agree on.

His minute distribution and timing of substitution really, really sucks.

 

Yeah, because our perimeter defense is trash. IMO, TT was an all-around fail because they clogged the lane for Harden/Lin/CP... and the payoff SHOULD have been that they locked down the paint and forced opposing teams to take outside shots. Except that our perimeter defense is so flimsy that we allowed all of those outside shots lol. I continue to be puzzled by McHale's unwillingness to give Brewer any minutes. Keeping him over Reggie Williams makes less and less sense to me as time goes on, if we aren't going to use him for what we kept him for.

 

That photo needs to be spoilered.

 

You're right, I'm tired of the lies. Black power!

 

sad to say but harden will be the reason this team doesn't win a championship..true superstar player go for the shot not the foul..shame really..

 

Meh. No point arguing it. People look at the boxscore and don't factor in minutes.

17 minutes at 4 assists = 34 minutes at 8 assist. With 0 TO's

0/5, 1 shot was with 1 second left (end of clock), 1 shot was rushed for a 2 for 1 (general principle).

Considering how well he's shot this season, I think he's entitled to miss a few shots. If anything, I would think people would be happy that he's not mindlessly chucking shots if he feels his shots are off or the shot isn't there.

As for his time...Lin played

The last 3:55s in the 1st
The first 4:25s in the 2nd
The last 2:11s in the 2nd
The last 3:35s of the 3rd
The first 2:42s of the 4th

So, the longest stretch of uninterrupted time that Lin had on the floor was 4:25s. Versus Beverley that played 37/48 minutes.

How much control do you expect a person to have when they're being subbed in/out like that? And sharing ball handling duties with Bev, Harden, Parsons, Garcia and Casspi? Not to mention that you're being thrown in new line ups every time, against different line ups every time, and no time to establish a rhythm to your shot, with long breaks (8-10 mins on the bench) in between.

Lin didn't have a good game in terms of shooting, but he generated a solid number of assists for his time on the floor. And it wasn't his defense that put most of the points on the scoreboard. He was off the floor for 31/48 minutes.

As for the rest of the team, the starters laid a brick in the 4th quarter. They couldn't his a shot, serious lack of ball movement and cutting, and dodgy defense combined with red hot shooting from Dallas in the last 8 minutes.

Finally, aside from McHale's idiotic minutes allocation (which were really awful), the guy can't call an in bound play to save his life.

I mean really, a lean in 3 for Harden? That's the BEST the team could come up with? Without down screens, curls, or picks?

Seriously, the team still has lots of chemistry to work out and McHale needs to get his head out of his butt.

 

Typical game in dallas.