ClutchFans Game Thread: Warriors @ Rockets 5/24/2018 (Western Conference Finals, Game 5)

Harden just can't help but get in his own way when the chips are on the table. It's happened again and again. It's like he completely loses his mind in the most crucial situations. I couldn't even believe my eyes when i saw him 40 feet away from the basket, not engaged in the offense at all and not even looking at the ball.

Crazy respect to CP3. He should have never even been in that situation to get hurt because the "MVP" should, should have had the ball.

 

cringe

 

He had an AWFUL game.

 

Not arguing that. I'm saying his still impacted the game, and was engaged defensively all night. He got beat a few times, but that happens to everyone. All you can ask for is effort and execution. The negativity does absolutely nothing at this point. We're going to live or die with the 3. Harden is FULLY capable of knocking down 7 of them tomorrow.

 

Relax. Everyone here wants the Rockets to win. Message boards are here for both the ying and the yang.

 

Really impressed to see Harden so engaged on defense despite a truly awful shooting night. That's maturing right there.

When Harden is engaged on D, the Rockets do not have a single defensive liability on the floor. That's what makes their defense suffocating, even against the Warriors.

 

Obviously, CP3's injury is a huge story, but I do think looking inside the numbers at Game 5 is worth it. The trends are solid:

1. Uncontested Shots (Houston 43 - GS 38) -- Houston Wins

• Despite excellent ball movement (370 touches/250 passes), the Warriors generated only 38 uncontested shots (consistent with Game 4).
• The "ISO heavy" Rockets had 43 uncontested looks.
• Harden was 0-10 on his uncontested shots. He only played 38 minutes so I like my chances in Game 6.

2. Cleaning the Glass (Houston 40 - GS 41 Warriors) -- Houston Wins

• Only 15 offensive rebound chances for the Warriors. 27 chances for the Rockets.
• The Rockets had 8 offensive boards to only 4 for GS.
• Durant, Thompson, and Looney combined for zero offensive rebounds.
• Draymond Green had only 1 offensive board (in 6 chances) for the game.

3. The Turnover Battle (Houston 10 - GS 16) -- Houston Wins

• Seven of the Rockets 10 turnovers were steals by GS. That means only 3 unforced TOs.
• Ten steals by the Rockets (and 12 deflections). That means that GS had 6 unforced TOs.
• CP3 had zero turnovers for the game, and if he can't play, this becomes a primary area of concern.

4. Pace of Play -- Even

• Houston took 78 shots (compared 72 shots for GS).
• GS had 12 fast break points to only 2 for Houston.
• Houston took more free throws (27-32) than GS (20-23).
• Durant drew a game high 9 fouls and was 10-10 from the line.
• The Rockets were more balanced with Harden, Paul, and Gordon drawing 5 each. Capela drew 4 fouls.
• All the fouls called stopped the clock (19 for Houston, 21 for GS) and slowed play.

​

 

What a f'ing experience this game was live last night! Proud of the team!

 

Make that 2 facials from Harden

 

a few of the shots..particularly the 2 three pointers that CP3 hit...those were unbelievable. you can tell the warriors were like ya...wtf is this sh**..

 

Horrible in EVERY way??!
Oh . . wait a minute, I JUST realize who posted this. Malvo, or is it Malfoy?
What a troll. You only come here to bash Harden.
in spite of James' 3's not falling, you know what everyone else sees?
W's!!!

Sure, if he had made only a FEW 3's, we could have coasted.
But he's worn out from playing hard on D. (can't deny that)
His play makes a BIG impact on the game. Just go away.

 

One more win! Let's close this thing out in Oracle!

 

The thing is Durant outplayed him, straight up, but Durant isn't a Point Guard, he can pass but does not have the court vision which is a god given talent.

Also, I think Durant is too skinny to overpower thicc players.

 

To be honest, Rockets could of made this a blow out if they hit their open threes at the start.

 

With Hardens bad shooting and turnovers? Plus no Paul? Are you ****ing serious??
You can play defense all night long but without your true floor general Harden will have to score 40+ for them to even have a chance. Just being real.

 

(On Harden's performance)

Max: That's a MVP. That's why you gotta wait until the end of the playoffs. That's a MVP performance. Yeah, 0-20 from 3. That's not just fatigue. When you miss that many shots, there's something psychologically as well. Just because you choked in the past doesn't mean you'll be a choker forever. Harden looks like he's making a transformation from a guy who chokes to a guy who wins. In the past, he would allow that to affect the rest of his game. He was taking good shots that didn't go down. He was affecting the game in other ways. That's a MVP performance when you do other things to help your team win. His performance was a big reason the Rockets won last night. Lord help us when some of those shots go down.

SAS: You need to be tested. I won't accuse him of choking but to say that was a MVP performance? Stop that nonsense. That was not a MVP performance. In the end, Houston can't win with Harden continuing to play like he played last night. You need better than that. That was not a MVP performance.

Max: I see him trending in that direction. Shots he were taking were good. They just didn't go down. He didn't let that affect him in other parts of his game.

Molly: If they lost that game, the narrative is he choked in the playoffs.

 

To folks saying he played good defense. No.

He had a couple of good possessions but he was terrible all around. That was the worst game of his career, he’s been good for 3 quarters total this series

 

Idiots gonna idiot lol