ClutchFans Game Thread: Spurs @ Rockets 10/14/2012 (PRESEASON)

Its gonna be a LONNNNNNGGGG SEASON !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

 

Machado didn't impress me that much either, those stats doesn't mean much when it's against deep bench of the spurs. Plus he still can't really organize any offense in a half court setting, he got a lot of points and assists from fastbreaks and iso's

 

White needs to be in next game no excuses mchale

 

Fun being able to actually watch a game. The Spurs looked like they could turn it up whenever they wanted to. The Rockets had their moments, but the inexperience was obvious. Turnovers, poor ball movement, lousy defense, missed open shots, missed bad shots. Still, there were some bright spots. Asik continues to make Morey look like a genius, while Lin is making some folks question Morey's sanity. Lin looks like he's far from 100%, to be fair to him. Machado is a great passer, but makes Aaron Brooks look like a great defender. Some encouraging play by Donuts and Lamb and Jones at times. Parsons looks like he's ready for the season to start. Smith looks like he might make the roster, and Forbes is making a case for himself. Delfino looks weird in a Rockets uniform, at least to me. I'll get used to it.

 

Lin is known to look really good when he's on, and really bad when he's off. Hence the polarizing effect on people's opinions on him.

Right now as far as health and movement-wise he looks decent to me. His shot was obviously off, but not really worried about that. The biggest issue for him today was the Spurs defense, and the chemistry with Lamb/Jones. The rookies were out of position both on offense and defense, allowing the Spurs to completely shut off the paint. This put a lot of the offensive pressure on Lin and Parsons, who both struggled. This is also why most of the rookies won't play much initially until they get caught up with what we are trying to do.

At the end of the day, this is not close to a contending team, so of course they will look bad playing against one.

 

FREE the white Squidward

 

Ye pretty much. I wonder if Martin & Patt will play tomorrow against Dallas and hopefully Royce as well still waiting to see White.

 

Would be interested to hear what McHale has to say. I feel like our guys are not sticking to any game plans.

 

agreed. i mean, the spurs are pretty much playing regular season minutes using everyone on the roster.

 

I think D Mo is a better fit with Lin than T jones. D Mo does a better job on pick and roll pick and pop. Plus off of pick and roll you can post D Mo up.

 

They will learn, if they get playing time once the season starts. Easier to learn when you are on the court.

 

Thoughts-

-Contending team played like a contender. Even the role players off the bench shot lights out, defended well, and played fundamentally sounds basketball. The Rockets were doomed from the start. Still, great experience for the youngsters to truely see how much better a player like Tim Duncan is than the folks they played against in college, summer league, or wherever in the world beforehand. Good gauge to judge how good some of these guys really are.

-Asik is the real deal. McHale needs to be cautious with his pre-season minutes from here on out. No need to run him ragged any longer and risk injury.

-Lin isn't on this team to re-claim Linsanity in Houston, but he did look awful today. Ill just chalk it up to a bad game for him, and a solid team defense that really disrupted his game from the opening tip. Otherwise Lin has looked pretty decent in the preseason in running the team, and actually playing decent defense. Right now he looks like a 12PPG, 5APG type of PG in the NBA. Not bad, not elite, but still worth having on your roster on a 3 year contract.

-D-Mo really looks like he's going to be solid now that he's getting his legs back underneath him, and looking less nervous on the floor. McHale should get him and Greg Smith more minutes off the bench together to take some of the dirty work off of his hands defensively.

I don't want to hear the whole "D-Mo is not a Center" argument. Neither is Smith on paper, but together they can help each other man the paint as a bigger front line off the bench. As the season goes on, I think D-Mo will really start to turn some heads around the league.

-Other youngsters... meh. Machado had some good offensive moments. Jones also looked solid as usual. Lamb had some moments, but they need to get him more open shots somehow. Other than that, they looked meh. If the game around them was played better then it might have given them more opportunities to do something here. Sloppy game didn't help them really improve or show much this game.

All in all, it was a game they can definitely learn from. Games like this are important to have in the preseason. The preseason can often be fools gold when your facing the likes of the Hornets and the bench brigade of a good team thats resting its stars. This is the type of game where its good to get your butt kicked around, and learn something from great players taking it to you.

 

So Lin + DMo on the floor and Douglas + Jones off the bench?

 

we lose because our D today

was ZERO ZERO and ZERO

 

His shot wasn't falling for the past 3 games. Wonder what happened. Hope reporters got to ask him this question. Is his shooting coach in the summer to blame?

 

<blockquote class="twitter-tweet"><p>McHale on Lin not being "involved" in offense: "That would be like saying the quarterback's not involved. They hike it to him every play."</p>&mdash; ClutchFans.net (@clutchfans) <a href="https://twitter.com/clutchfans/status/257585087389003776" data-datetime="2012-10-14T20:54:05+00:00">October 14, 2012</a></blockquote>
<script src="//platform.twitter.com/widgets.js" charset="utf-8"></script>

 

We got absolutely hammered on the glass and defensively with Dmo in. But on offense he did look a lot less nervous and deer in headlights. He needs a few years of seasoning, but has potential to contribute down the line.

Haha. That's a good one.

 

Poor Lin got crucified on this board. Hope he doesn't come here to read those comments, that would destroy all his confidence.

 

His stint in NY made him stronger than that...no worry.

 

I don't think he got crucified here. There wasn't anything that's over the top.