ClutchFans Game Thread: Spurs @ Rockets 12/20/2016

Hopefully Boston comes thru

 

We played well. The defensive effort was amazing. I don't care about the final score, we're gonna be okay.

 

Nope your not the only one....Spurs have proven they can be beat by the Rox, You could tell they didn't want to get into a scoring competition tonight at all with the Roxl. Rox chocked this game off. The loss sucks but looking at this from a long term point of view I doubt the Spurs wanna deal with the Rox in the playoffs. I don't think the Spurs can play much better and obviously the Rockets can.

 

The mark of a great team isn't that they win all their games but how they respond after a loss .

We've got a chance to put this loss behind us quickly .

On the surface we should never have been close in the this game . 6/37 from 3's .. What kind of **** shooting is that ? Hahahaha . The fact that it was that close is a testament to our defense and energy and movement .

Sure , pissing away a victory sucks . But it will be a learning experience and if this team responds tomorrow like they should then it's no big deal .

 

If the Rockets have, say, 6 4th quarter turnovers, they still win this game despite their shooting woes. I think it is less likely they shoot this poorly. The rest of the season says they won't.

 

one of the best losses of the season. Our shot was off and we're missing Capela, yet only lost by two. We're contenders for sure...on to some wins against Phoenix and Memphis to brighten our holiday spirits!

 

Ariza should have shot a tear drop over Gino instead of walking into his trap. Then the pass to Harden - omg- wtf was that.

B4 all that Harden goes into dribble queen mode and turns it over. Wtf

 

I was going to quit watching this game after an hour, but haven't done that yet this year, even with such an ugly offensive start. Now I wish I had. Nothing worse than blowing such a big lead at the end. Dekker should play more minutes, and Harden needs to come out in the last 2 minutes of every game.

 

I hope we beat the Suns by 100. Clyde got it right. I want to club some baby seals after witnessing that BS game.

 

Those late TOs (harden then trev) killed us. Could never recover from them

 

The Spurs are about as nervous of us as we're of the Timberwolves. How often will they turn the ball over 25 times?! Kawhi & Ginobilli miss several clutch free throws?! A win is a win. Harden routinely shoots his wad dribbling down the stretch going back years. Why shoot the three when he had Aldridge one-on-one?! Why take Dekker and Montrezl out when they provided all the hustle/ winning plays tonight?! We choked plain and simple. 9 fourth quarter turnovers?! Damn damn damn.

That said, I'm more convinced than ever we're better than the Spurs. We need to make a few minor moves to pass the Warriors & Cavs.

 

Yep. But you know what? The Rockets are well coached too. To be missing Capela and not miss a beat against a top 5 team? Tells you this team is well coached. Not many teams do what the Spurs did to us tonight.

 

Harden is without a shadow of a doubt playing the best of his career, but in 014-015 he was a ruthless clutch hombre. Right now I don't see that clutch gene. Much better overall player but not as ruthless. Even last season he was more ruthless.

 

I hate losses, but I'm actually glad this game happened so that we can fully address this poor 4th quarter Harden has in close games, and clean this up so it does not come to bite us in the playoffs or the future.

 

We were up 13 with what? 4 minutes to go?

Spoiler

That ****ing offensive rebound they got and the Parker 3pt basket after...it was over...

 

Gordon taking that quick 3 when they had that decent lead was stupid, .just careless TOs. At least this team proved they are legit now. They could hang with the serious contenders. The Rockets are also serious contenders.

 

Good learning game. I can care less about this L.

 

These are the types of losses that really suck, given the win streak and how we lost. Its unacceptable that this team had a 13 point lead with under 4 minutes to go and repeatedly shot themselves in the foot.

But in the overall scheme of things, there are things to take away for this:

1) First game without Capela. The importance of Capela cannot be understated, both Nene and Harrell played alright games but neither were a threat off the PnR and the Spurs utilized this against us. But its good that we are figuring out how to deal without that threat without Capela now instead of later in the season and in the playoffs. I still think Morey should make a trade.

2) We had a real chance to win the game against a contending team by playing good (until the last few possessions) defense and without hitting threes consistently. We aren't going to shoot below 20% from deep in games, this team is too good from there. It was great to see that we got consistent points from places outside of the arc and were able to build leads without the three point shot.

3) We have to work on finishing teams. We had a 8 point lead to start the 4th and within 3 minutes, we lost the lead and were down. We built a 13 point lead with 4 minutes left and couldn't keep the scoreboard moving or prevent them from getting points. We have to take what we did wrong and fix it.

4) Again this loss sucks but these are the games that the team should be okay with losing, as long as the game was very competitive. The Spurs were touted to be true contenders out West and better than the Rockets heading into the season. If we won, its a great game that would have been nice to have come playoff time. If we lost, its understandable, take away some of the good things you did from this game and move on. Its a game you're okay with losing.

5) For anyone blaming Harden, yeah he made mistakes at the end but he was not the only one. Nene passed it right to Leonard, Gordon took a very quick three off an offensive rebound when we probably should have wasted clock, Ariza got the key rebound then threw it away, MDA should have called a timeout right when we got the rebound, etc. I know Harden should be held in a higher standard and he knows that but him playing hero-ball, while frustrating when it doesn't work, is much better than the days when this team had to go to Kevin Martin and other mediocre talents for shots at the end of games.

 

I would stop taking this loss away from the Spurs. Kawhi and Aldridge played horrible even if you bring up percentages. They are a formidable team with Capela or without. I'd still say the Rockets aren't as good as them.