ClutchFans Game Thread: Rockets @ Thunder 4/21/2017 (Playoffs Round 1, Game 3)

yeah but he hogged all of the team's free throw attempts to do it. mvp back to westbrook.

 

Man, with how much we struggle against Taj Gibson I worry about guys like LaMarcus Aldridge and Pau gasol. my guess is Ryan Anderson will have to guard the other teams center and clint will have to guard aldridge. still a huge rebounding liability

getting ahead of myself...

 

Yup. I've said this before, we will not beat San Antonio, Golden State or Cleveland with Ariza as our starter playing those many minutes in the D'antoni offensive system. Teams will just leave him open and beat us. Ariza is Brewer 2.0.

 

One thing I said to my friend before this series started, was that my biggest fear is the Thunder had gotten Westbrook his triple double average, and are now going to start playing team ball in the Playoffs.

We're saying if this or that happened, we'd be up 3-0.

The exact same thing could be flipped around. If Westbrook had one more quarter of playing team ball in Game 2, we'd be down 2-1.

With the offensive movement that OKC have been getting, I'm not so sure getting our big men out of the game is the way to go.

Keep Nene and Capela in the game and force them to keep Adams/Kanter in the game to clog up a little of that paint.

Our philosphy to switch every p'n'r was just woeful. Time and time... and time again Westbrook was getting Anderson out of his stance and just rising for the mid range in perfect rhythm.

Ariza has been terrible offensively this series. At what point do you put Troy Williams in to not only try and find some outside shooting, but to also help on the boards.

We need to give Westbrook a couple of feet as he's walking into our half, show him the 3 point shot and only get up on him if he takes a step inside the 3 point line.

He is just wreaking havoc when we're pushing up on him, getting past that first defender and making the rest of our guys sag, which is in turn getting their role players involved in the play with movement and cuts resulting in easy buckets as well as mad scrambles for rebounds which we are not getting because we're all out of position.

Some people have been listening to ESPN for too long and the narrative 'Westbrook is playing with a bunch of junk". No, he isn't. He hasn't been all season. He just was not allowing them to play correctly.

Now he is, and now we find ourselves in trouble.

If Ryno can't find his shot, or if Lou Williams loses his...... this series has the potential to turn ugly real, real fast.

Donovan's adjustments today were fantastic.

I'm hoping MDA has some up his sleeve for Game 4.

EDIT: In saying all that I realise we haven't played not a great, but even a 'good' game by our standards yet. So there's that.

 

Just amazing how we again started off so sloppy, lazy and not ready for the big moment. Guess that OKC crowd really messed with our composure..also going small way too often, not getting Beverley shots in rhythm, switching defense and Ryan's defense is killing us. Our 3pt philosophy is flawed, because teams tighten up on defense, so don't expect to see any game with around 20 made threes. This could easily go 6-7 games.

 

No doubt. WB has more help than James. If WB didn't play hero ball with 42 shots in game 2, Thunders would be up 2-1.
This is why James is the real MVP.

 

They must get the lead at the first quarter. Get more rebounds. Harden pass more ball to Williams

 

He had 5 fouls and Bev already fouled out.

 

One of the best Westbrook stat from game 3 is (1 3pt FG attempt). This is something Westbrook rarely do is shoot just 1 3pt FG in a game, in this season he averages at least 7 3pt FGs a game. This is the reason the Thunder can win games, but not series. I'm hoping Harden gets another 40+, we will see the chucking Westbrook back to self. He is the type of player that does not want to get be outdone. If Harden plays better than him, he will go back to being that 1 and done team. If we start to defend better, we will cakewalk the rest of the series.

 

OKC shot and made everything, ridiculous shooting from 3

Rockets shot pretty bad from the 3

Yet Rockets came within inches of making it 3-0

I have that feel good factor. It's a 4-1 wrap

 

OKC played their best game and won by 2. I don't think the OKC supporting cast can sustain 59% shooting over the next few games. What worries me is Rockets playing down to competition and coming out sluggish. Had they come out with some intensity in games 2 and 3 they would have controlled and won both games fairly easily IMO.

 

The problem this game was that harden had to play hero ball because only Lou was making shots other than him. I think he needs to make plays for others more. I'd like to see minimum 10 assists. When harden gets more assists team seems to play a lot better.

Less ISO ball please

 

That would require Capela to not fumble away passes and Ariza and Bev to make shots. 60% of our starting lineup played like garbage. The same thing occured in Game 2(sub out Bev for Anderson). That can't keep happening.

 

Disappointing loss. I just feels like the Rockets aren't bringing the effort needed on defense. And why do the Rockets come out so flat at the beginning of the game?

Unlike some, I do not assume we will win this series. We should win the series, but the Rockets could easily be down 2-1 right now if Westbrook hadn't flamed out in the 4th quarter of game two.

It felt like in last nights game that the Thunder had wide open shots all night. Layups, dunks and wide open shots. The Rockets better tighten things up and be prepared to give max effort on Sunday.

 

Another way to look at it is he's a perfect 36-36 when the points mattered. The last two misses we after sealed the win.

 

Need some one to spell Ariza some minutes. Give Troy some PT and see what he can do or when will Dekker be ready? I wish Harrell could get some burn in the next game.

 

A heartbreaking loss.

I'm really nervous about tomorrow. Really hope we don't start slow and come out with some urgency.

 

Harden should've passed to Lou on the last possession

 

By far the Thunder's best game. A nearly perfect game from them as a whole. They won by 2, yet oh so nearly lost by 1. It sucks, but no worry here. I'm good. The better team wins in a 7 game series, and the better team is the Rockets.