ClutchFans Game Thread: Rockets @ Raptors 2/9/2024

Why are we having Jeff green spotting up at the 3 taking pivotal shots? What the hell is happening? Why were Holiday and Jeff Green our go-to options in the 4th? I’m super confused.

 

We played poorly. We will be fine.

 

Hmm. They turned Siakam, OG, and Schroder into Brown, Barrett, and Quickley. Barrett is a known quantity, he is so-so, but probably still a lot better than Schroder. Brown and Quickley are, in my view, two of the bench players who are secretly starting-caliber. Brown isn't much worse than Anunoby, if at all--I view him very highly. And for Quickley, I think he has some real upside as a breakout candidate with higher usage--I would have loved if we had grabbed him at the deadline.

On the flip side, Mikal Bridges has become hilariously overrated on this board, and it seems, by his own front office. Good for him, I guess, but if he's your best player... good luck. Scottie Barnes is probably already better.

Toronto will not have a winning record this season, but they could come on strong during the second half.

 

Toronto should be up there with Brooklyn, Atlanta if they played them instead of the Rockets, I can see Atlanta winning....

And Atlanta is poor in the standings.....

Toronto was 4th in Defense under Nurse, I think they are both pretty below average on both ends under the new coach.

 

Weird game. Sengun and Green didn't bring it tonight. It happens. Some other guys stepped up. It's a miracle it was that close at the end. Toronto tried their best to give it back. Just a really weird game.

 

Adams, and next year, can’t get here soon enough.

 

We're agreeing to hold Adams to the same standard? He must defend all the perimeter players on PnRs, must close out to all shooters, and also must contest every shot at the rim all at the same time?

Good.

 

I was told Jalen Green was better without Fred Van Vleet

 

I'm not saying Alpy is the only guy who has to help. Who Poeltl scored against isn't even relevant. They dont play 1 on 1 out there!!

The problem is that he shut Alpy down and forced him out of the game. That is the story. As I said earlier it lead to a face up 4 being preferred

 

Sengun hasnt been himself lately when Sengun is on Poetl cant shut him down. He just had a bad game it happens sometimes though rare for him.

 

There is a very unhealthy problem with coming out with little to no energy oftentimes on the road. Get behind early due to low energy/effort and spend our energy playing catchup. If it's not that, we get a lead and then crash drive the 2nd half.That MUST change...if we play more than a quarter tonight, we win..probably double digit.

 

Was about to say the same thing, a few things though:
- Our guys are not being physical assertive enough on offense, going up weak and looking for calls. Granted, they didn’t call obvious slaps on arms in that 1st quarter and throughout. Still have to play through it.

- Our ball handling across the board is awful, really abysmal. Brooks cannot dribble, Green dribbles into 3 guys and loses it willy nilly, Cam is not the best, Amen handles are shaky AF, Sengun loses it quickly when defenders get physical at times. We have to work on that to be a serious playoff team.

- Ime’s ability to stick with certain groups that are not working is impressive and not have your best 3pt shooters at the end there was baffling. Add to that how obvious it was our guys were not going for the quick 2, what was the ****ing point?!

I also don’t care what a coach says, if you have 11 seconds left and you get a lane to the basket, you take that chance! Both Holiday and Jeff have up opportunities to get a shot at the rim. These are your veterans…

- Brooks needs to stop with the dumb fouls. It hurt us tremendously in that 1st quarter.

- Running a 3-on-1 fast break should always lead to quick passes to have a defender commit. Immediately giving it up to a trailer who then takes off from way too far out is just dumb. I fault both Holiday for not passing to Jabari and Cam for not running to the left of Holiday and even attempting that dunk.

- Cam is going to be a great player still. Loved the hustle to help Tate and his confidence to make a 3pt shot. Just really needs to learn to play the team game. You can just see when he doesn’t have the ball he’s moving only to receive the ball to shoot it. He’s rarely moving to a position to help others.

- Our offense needs to diversify and soon if we still want to win. I don’t mind losing at this point since this year is lost anyway, but we are so easy to defend. We do not play to our strengths enough. Brooks in the post rarely leads to good things, yet do not go to Jabari in line ups with Jeff, Holiday, Cam and Tate. Instead we just roam the perimeter. Help me understand that…

- Referees got the reviews right at least, but I did not care for the anticipation calls. Happens way too often. Amen nor Brooks fouled when we were down 104-105!

 

Toronto be like: Let's tank and then okay let's still be competitive at home and acquire Kelly Olynyk, our fellow Canadian!

 

If the Rockets hadn't lost Cam in the first half they would have won by 10. He was about to have another career night. Jalen saw what he was about to pull off while he sat on the bench and put some gay black fingernail voodoo on him when no one was looking. BAM! Cam down.

 

I agreed with everything you said but especially with this. They had plenty of time on the clock and we're handed 2 wide open attempts at the basket and didn't score to be down by only one. They could have easily fouled Toronto as soon as they had the ball to make them try and get the lead back up to 3 with free throws with time still on the clock for the Rockets to try another 3 if necessary or when the Raptors inbounded take a chance to steal it and score but committed to only shooting a 3. It was so stupid. I've never seen that kind of poor decision making. That game easily could have gone to OT.

 

After the way Green played last night, and much of the season, now that the trade deadline is over and we are stuck with him for the rest of the year, after last night's performance, if Cam is healthy, Jalen needs to come off the bench as punishment. The Rockets should no longer be concerned with how it might affect his trade value and if Ime is serious about making it into the playoffs he needs to ride the pine.

In addition, I am VERY unimpressed with Jabari on the offensive end. I saw him parking him self on the perimeter play after play last night. The defense didn't have to worry with him at all. It was like 5 on 4 for the Raptors and each of those sets the Rockets were scrambling like hell against the defense unable to find someone open and what's Jabari doing? Standing in the corner with his defender only half guarding him while he waits. This dude also needs to go to the bench.

This may be unpopular but right now, if I'm Ime, I am swapping my bench and starters outside of amen and Brooks TEMPORARILY and letting those young bloods know that **** ain't gonna fly.

PG - Amen
SG - Cam (if healthy)
SF - Brooks
PF - Eason (if healthy)
..C - Uncle Jeff (who else you going to put in there, Landale? Still can't believe they didn't get another backup big.)

 

Jalen Green. Man, this guy. How in the hell can you possibly build anything around him when there is no way of knowing what he might do on any given night? As good as he CAN be, I'm not sure I'd be able to start him much longer. He's just too wildly inconsistent. You simply can't rely or trust in what he's going to bring you. He's about as hot and cold as any player I've ever seen.

 

If Aqua man just gives me one of things you’ve listed, I’d be so damn happy. The question is can he make the comeback from that serious knee injury?