We are missing 2 key starters vs a terrible matchup, what did you expect?

effort in game 1 and 3. that's what i expected.

i can live with losing to a better team, but the lack of effort/energy in games 1 and 3, that drives me crazy.

sure, we are down bev and dmo, they were down cp3! and they aren't the only "bad matchup" for us. the warriors, spurs, and blazers are bad matchups for us too. that's half the western playoffs! we were lucky to play the mavs without parsons and with rondo being a negative for 2 games. we are a second round team this year. in order to be a WCF/finals/championship team, we need to get better. more talent, better coaching.

 

And if Chris Paul was 100% healthy you guys would be demolished.

 

Go nuthug Jeremy Lin on whatever team is stupid enough to sign him

 

this team cant play defense is the main thing. bev is huge cuz of he's the only one who can defend pgs but that doesnt means rivers and reddick get to torch us. that and no one on this team other than harden is a good shooter, esp ariza

 

Nice try. The Clippers are basically without their best player for the first 3 games. EVERYONE should expect the Rockets to win in that scenario.

 

Jeremy is a scrub. Not relevant to the discussion.

Cp3>>Harden btw.

 

And a healthy CP3 is 5x more valuable than those two scrubs combined.

 

I expected harder play.

I understand it's tough losing guys but you have to get back on defense. There's no excuse.

 

I expected to not lose at home against a team without their best player.

Effort would also be nice.

 

I can stomach losing to the Clippers. If the Rockets gave them their best shot and it wasn't enough, so be it.

Can any Spurs fan really be that upset about the outcome of their first round series? Both teams gave it their all. Games 2, 5, and 7 went down to the wire and could've gone either way. And unfortunately someone had to lose. That's life.

But we're not seeing the Rockets give it their best shot. They came out lazy and uninspired in Game 1. They did the same in Game 2 after they built a double-digit lead in the first quarter before finally waking up in the second half. And they never really competed at all in Game 3.

And BTW, I don't buy into this notion that the Clippers are more talented than the Rockets. Their starting five is, certainly. But we're allowing their pathetic excuse of a bench to destroy us which tells me that we're simply being outplayed and outhustled. That's inexcusable.

 

well said. i have the same feeling.

 

I was about to post something similar to this. Paul has only played in one game this series and really didn't look close to being himself and the Clippers have dominated this series even though the first two were at home. Rox folded in games 1 and 3 when the going got tough. Game 1 still hurts worse than game 3. Rox just didn't respect the game in game 1 with all the dumb ass turnovers that snowballed against them. If the Rox came out with a professional effort for game 1, they would be up 2-1 in this series. The Rox don't deserve too many excuses at this point. They have been their own worse enemy in this series.

 

My big problem has been the guys not running back on defense. I don't care if its the last guy or the starters it should be enough care in you to play hard while you are out there.

 

Wut?

The same CP3 who's never been to a finals?

 

I'm also tired of the "missing 2 starters" line. DMo only became a starter because Jones got hurt. There is not much difference between the two. Neither is a surefire starter on a good team, and Beverly wouldn't start on most teams in the NBA. If you are that dependent on guys like that, then you've failed at surrounding your max guys with enough talent to win with.

 

I'm not even going to bother listing all the "guys like that" that have played and helped championship teams since we both know you'll just move on to another lazy talking point. Your shtick is tired.

 

Trying to play the injury card in this series? Absolutely comical.

 

lol, Dmo maybe a bit but Smith's extra minutes (especially 1st round) were huge. Can't play the injury card. Also, Prigs and Terry (while skeletons) have provided more stability then Bev.

You can't play the injury card when the team straight up gives up half way through the 3rd in game 1.

 

I expect the same things should we have those 2 key starters: discipline, effort, toughness. They've shown none of these things in this series and frankly haven't shown it all year. They build leads, but rarely sustain them. They play the game relying on pure talent to get by rather than any sort of discipline or real effort. They act tough, but no team is scared. Barking and pushing the opponent around doesn't translate to tough. They are essentially the bully primed to get knocked out by anyone willing to stand up to them. This team has major flaws which have become more evident has the season has gone on. Something broke within the team and it's not the absence of D-Mo and Beverly.

I hope they pull it together to at least compete in the rest of this series, if not win it, but I'm not getting my hopes up.