ClutchFans Game Thread: Thunder @ Rockets 1/20/2020

Unusually salty from Feigen. He's right though.

 

I can’t stand that. He is the coach you’re supposed to talk to your guys and tell them to try to get better shots instead of jacking up 3s. And if they don’t listen you can always sub them because they didn’t listen to you. Even if it’s the star of the team.
Like come on you can say stuff like that it shows or means you don’t have any decision or pull in the game. That’s why Harden needs a better coach this team needs a better coach who can keep the players accountable for their plays.
If not they will never get rid of those bad decisions.
First McHale now MDA, also Harden needs to grow up. Seriously he is in his 30s.

 

He's playing great and he's by far our best player at the moment. But he can't seem to carry the Rockets to a win like Harden can.

It's not his fault, because he needs help. It's just, if Harden were to have 24 attempts and was shooting decently, you know for a fact he's scoring way more than 32 points. You also know Harden's going to generate you way more free throw points.

 

Good Harden wouldn't even be able to carry this Harden rn along woth PJ "less than 10 points in 40+ minutes" Tucker.

 

I just can’t believe MDA is getting paid millions of dollars to do what he’s doing right now.

 

Yeah, what Westbrook said is irrelevant. You don't win a basketball game in 42 minutes.

This is clearly on MDA in any case. He's the one that needs to make things happen. He's the one who needs to motivate the team.

He's clearly lost them. We need to make a decision of whether to keep MDA on for longer and risk going out of the playoffs or finishing in a low place and playing against one of the top west teams early in the playoffs.

 

Westbrook’s quote shows the lack of leadership on this team. They choose to not play hard for a full 48.

 

It's nice to know Feigen cares as well. Not just a mouthpiece.

 

This is all Bill O'Brien's fault.

 

the 3's certainly didn't stop.

 

That's the thing. The support is literally useless. House has a decent first half, and then he completely starts bricking again in the 2nd half. Tucker yet again shoots poorly from wide open corner shots. Then you have Gordon, who is shooting the worst he's ever shot for the Rockets. Then players like Rivers and McLemore will never get you big points. And even though Capela has been good this season, he's never going to get you big points, either. That's a complete disaster of support.

Without Harden carrying the load like he normally does, the Rockets are no better than a 10th place team in the west. Look at the teams they've lost to team when Harden doesn't carry like he normally does. The majority of the time Westbrook is going to get around 20 points and shooting inefficiently..... but he'll normally make up for it with rebounds and assists. This just proves we're nothing without Harden carrying. People are finally realizing when Harden doesn't carry, we don't win games consistently. What he's done in his 8 years with the Rockets has been a miracle.

 

I mentioned a week ago that I thought Harden was playing through an injury. One thing I have noticed about Harden, he is much like The Dream. Dream felt he was letting down the team when he was not 100% healthy, so he would play through it, He did not tell anyone that he was not 100% until people started to notice a deterioration in his game. Then it was made public. James Harden is very much like the Dream....keeps his injuries inside. They both place their playing as important for the team. James needs to sit out a game or two and "heal himself". We need an 100% Harden to win, not a 60% Harden. Harden "playing through it" won't get it done. Take a rest James.

 

“we stopped doing things that got us the lead”

I love Harden, but this just shows a lack of leadership and accountability. Sad to see.

You’re the one that kept jacking 3’s that you couldn’t hit while trying to hold a lead. You didn’t play a shred of defense. You stopped attacking the basket.

You’re the leader. You run the offense 90% of the time. It’s on you man.

 

Can we have more than one player shoot well for a change? This is getting old really fast.

 

I get the MDA hate, since he definitely has his flaws (rotation, defense, small lineup etc) but you can't really blame him for not being able to adjust /call out harden/westbrook or even the team's defensive issues.

He's a lame duck coach, with zero leverage and almost certainly going to be let go by the end of the season if not sooner... Why would any of the players seriously tune into him.

Now more than ever, MDA has little control over Hardens play... only difference is that he's lost all power/leverage with the rest of the team too.

Rockets should really just let him go now and hire Dave Joerger... but I doubt TILL-MAN wants to pay for two coaches for half a season. He's gotta get his money's worth after all.

 

I'm not MDA's biggest fan at the moment.... and I actually want him gone. But what he's saying about Harden is true. If you stop Harden shooting those 3pt shots or take away the amount of time he has the ball, the Rockets will not win consistent games. He's our best chance of winning.

Westbrook has scored 5 30 plus games in a row.... but it has only lead us to 1 win in 5 games. The point I'm making is.... if Harden has the amount of shots Westbrook has had in his last 5 games and is shooting like he normally does, we wouldn't have lost any. Westbrook cannot carry like Harden can... simply because Westbrook cannot hit the 3pt or generate the free throws like Harden can. I am not hating on Westbrook, because he's been great. I'm just stating a fact.

 

But harden hasnt really had to carry in January with the way westbrook has been playing.

If harden was just averaging 25 on his typical 45/35/86 splits playing good defense, the rockets would be winning some of these games

 

What I'm seeing is maybe Harden should shoot his threes when he receives the pass, and not while he is doing ISO. Once he gets his stroke back, then he can go back to the ISO step back 3.

 

Exactly this. There’s very little reason to keep him around without an extension. I hate to say it, but it REALLY looks like Tilman not wanting to write him a check for doing nothing, which is exactly what he’s going to have to do if he fires MDA.

 

There's a phrase in poker - being balanced. Which basically means having the right ratio of bluff combinations to value hand combinations in regard to your bet size. You're not exploitable when you're balanced even if the opponents know your strategy with every single possible hand. Harden... is not balanced at all, to the point where he's letting his opponents off the hook. He's making himself easier to defend, he's making the Rockets easier to stop, and he doesn't seem to be making adjustments for the fact that this imbalance is being exploited by other teams.

I'm not saying Harden should stop shooting threes. I'm saying Harden should balance it more and make himself less predictable.