ClutchFans Game Thread: Rockets @ Pelicans 1/2/2015

Wait until this team is healthy. Remember that?
Wait until Dwight comes back. Remember that?
Wait until Beverley returns. Remember that?
We are injured, just wait. Remember that?

Now, it is wait until we get Terrance Jones. Alright, sure, whatever.

 

Rockets 6-29 3pt made 21% Nobody made more than one 3 pointer

Pelicans 7-15 3pt made 47%

 

Even if they were 30-2 people would say wait until after the allstar break or playoffs.

 

One last thing. McHale is so dumb for not benching our starters for playing like crap. I would have went deep in the bench and played Canaan, Papa, and maybe even Nick Johnson tonight. Not in garbage time like I am sure he did. McHale doesn't know when to go to his bench or when to call a time out. These are pretty important things a coach should know when to do.

http://www.nba.com/games/20150102/HOUNOP/gameinfo.html?ls=eref:google:1b:post

NBA.com making fun of the Rockets. You guys see that pic of Ryan Anderson pointing at the score? You know they wouldn't do that if it was the other way around with Harden or Dwight pointing at the score.

 

Um, did you watch the game?

 

Dude, I have been waiting since 99. We have only been out of the first round one time in the last 2 decades.

 

Only the first half. I would have used them by the start of the 2nd quarter at the latest. That's how bad the starters and most of the second unit were.

 

This night is just a total lack of effort by multiple guys. The Pelicans are not 30 points better than the Rockets if the Rockets are actually trying.

The missed shots are not surprising-- chuck a lot of 3s and you are gonna have nights where you miss a ton. Usually, though, this team at least fights on defense to make up for their lack of firepower outside of Harden. Not tonight, not at all. Defensive breakdowns all over the place. Dwight just letting Omer Asik drive by him for a dunk from the 3 point line. James Harden was playing inattentive brain-dead off-ball defense again-- so much worse than he's been all season.

I don't know what is going on, but this team that we saw tonight isn't the same team we saw all season. It's like one of those games that the Cavs have had reacently-- looking like something is seriously rotten from within.

 

Howard has been bad since he returned from injury. I don't know if he's playing hurt or he just doesn't care. Either way he's hurting the team. We were playing better with Tarik Black for crying out loud.

 

He pulled the starters like 2 minutes into the second half. IIRC, Harden is the only one who returned for a few minutes after that.

 

Starters played like 30 seconds in the second half. Pelicans went on a 6-0 run to start the 3rd and McHale instantly took all of them out.... The only ones that went back in were Harden for a little bit with the bench guys and the Josh Smith got garbage time at the end.

 

Man. Asik yamming on Dwight off the dribble is a perfect summary of the way this game went for us tonight. I also thought the ball hitting Bev on the ass after NO's half-court heave at the halftime buzzer was pretty fitting.

 

Props to him for that, but I would have done it by the 2nd quarter. They looked so sluggish, poor reaction times, just terrible on both sides.

 

Yeah, yeah, same ol' Rockets and same ol' ****ty MoreyBall. Threes, Frees and layups but they suck at it!

From a few days ago:

 

The team's defense was bad because the offense was bad;
so the offense was bad if the team's defense was not good
The all problem is from defense

 

...Wut?

 

What up Dwight?

 

We never were able to start the engine tonight. No flow on offense, little defense, bad from behind the arc. Let's hope this is the end of the Holiday slump.
We made New Orleans look great tonight.
OK, this was too painful. I'm going to sleep and start my new year all over again. Goodnight.

 

Look, bad games happen. I'm pretty sure the Rockets won't look this bad again. But what is truly concerning is that our 21 million dollar center all of the sudden just seems disinterested in playing basketball. It also doesn't help when 4 of your 5 starters are completely incapable of making a damn jump shot.