ClutchFans Game Thread: Thunder @ Rockets 10/28/2019

Harden finds out he's friends with CP3 theyll fire him like they did Irv Roland

 

Rested PJ doing well again. He did well last season too when fresh (early season, after ASB). Hope we can keep his minutes 28-30/game.

Westbrook has really impressed. He's doing it all boxscore-wise and only one 3PA tonight !! Perhaps becoming more a team player.

Harden has started slowly again, but I'm not worried. He will beast the regular season as usual.

 

Couldn't have said it better myself. Except I can't say anything remotely similar to that because I don't talk to NBA players and I'm not Chris Paul.

yeah..

but I can definitely see that EDGE he's talking about, and it's so fun to watch.

 

On Twitter they were saying Harden was the on interviewing

 

Did anyone see that Paul and Harden didn’t shake hands before or after the game? Also PJ didn’t clap at all for the CP3 tribute. Interesting.

 

Gary should stop talking to him then...

 

honestly james needs to take a book out of older kobe's book and constantly be learning new, effective moves. people are starting really tee off on his stepbacks.

 

Who else is surprised he's that high?

 

kobe's book of chucking?

you know law of averages? those threes will begin falling soon

and besides he still has the best drive game in the league

 

in kobe's later seasons he always added a new effective kink to his game. one summer he worked with hakeem and subquently killed it in the post the following season.

i know james adds new stuff to his game, but it seems to get progressively flashier (ala the one legged, same foot, side step shot we saw a lot in summer).

 

He should be around #13 on that list by the end of the season. I'm not really that surprised considering this is like his 12th season and he's been playing in the NBA since he's 19 or so. That combined with the fact he's averaged a triple double for 3 straight seasons, 10 assists for like 5 straight years and been around a 7-8 assist guy before that... yeah, he's been racking them up.

 

Wish we could’ve traded Gordon and Filler and kept cp3.

 

The three point shooting has got to improve soon.

So many guys shooting like ****.

 

This was quoted before, but here's the video in case it hasn't been posted :

 

i mean its not like his 3 pt step back is ineffective anymore his shots are just not going in. once he gets back to making 33% of those then he good

and his drive game is still the best in the league so far

 

House?

 

My takeaways:

* Was surprised at how well OKC's shot the ball, especially in Q1.

* D'antoni's challenge on PJ's moving screen in Q1. PJ did move a little, I think D'antoni did it to try to stop OKC's momentum. The ol' coach shows frustration, and players to focus less on the refs and keep their heads in the game.

* Outside of PJ, we couldn't find the three ball. Harden and Russ did penetrate the basket, found success there. Both were playmaking, setting up teammates. A lot of willing passes, but at times got predictable, the opponent saw that and played the passing lane. Some of it could be familiarity.

* The guards tried to get House going, which is nice. But a bit surprised to see House ends on box score with 1/8 3pt.

* Refs put their stamp on the game. Calling fouls on the driver if he puts hands on a defender. First they called it on Harden, but they became consistent and later called it on Shroder. When calls went our way, can tell some of the young OKC players got frustrated.

* Gallo ball tapped Harden, cheap move.

* CP3 didn't go full out, he was finding his guys, played in with the confines of the game, didn't force too much.

* Fan of Russ's overall play, his energy, playing making, put backs, rebounds and dunks. He's so dang fast. The Harden to Russ alley-oop was pretty sweet.

* Defense. The effort is there. Feels like the HOU players adjusted to the way refs were calling the game, which later calls went our way more. Fair amount of reach in fouls, gambling on strips? At times, we weren't boxing out, not sure if it was a height mismatch or a byproduct of going too fast. We should run, but if you sense the other team is going for offensive rebounds instead of get backs, then consider focus more on box out before running. Could be an analytics thing since fast breaks are much preferred.

Wasn't an easy game, like the effort on HOU, happy for the win.
Let's find the 3ball next game.

 

this. can't believe so called fans here truly believe the rockets are dominantly a 3 point shooting team

its drives and threes

we have 2 of the best and most effective in drives in the league

for every three the rockets take expect 1.5 X more drives