ClutchFans Game Thread: Rockets @ Wizards 3/2/2026

Adams done. Teams have learned to just hang in there with us until the 4th and they can win. Ime still the coach.

But I do agree we have a shot. Just need to not have our forwards control the ball in crunchtime

 

You are right that u have a better shot at anything short of a chip.

 

We can go toe to big toe with the Bullets....Wizards.

 

Wiz did something right though by not trading out of a deep draft like this year.

 

Dave is not who he once was, this forum has turned to **** and he just refuses to engage with people about it.

 

Isn’t he younger than Adams??

 

His level of engagement on his own forum compared to his engagement with a select few on Twitter is really odd. Seems like Clutchfans has outlived its usefulness for him and he's moved on, but he still checks in once every while to set up a game thread.

Old @Clutch used to be prolific on here, he must not like us now lol

 

Our trade allowed us to get KD and still have picks/swap in 27th and 29th. At 10th the only great picks were Derrick Queen and Cedric Coward. DQ is a worse Sengun and while CC is good he is nowhere as good as KD.

If we had Jalen/Brooks and with FVV out we would be out of playoffs give a lotto pick to OKC.

 

And apparently a trade with the Pelicans for an unprotected 2026 pick (see Atlanta) - I would have taken that over Durant.

But hindsight is 20/20

 

Maybe his priorities changed?

DD

 

I was supposed to go to this game but bailed. Looks like it was a good one.

 

I won't speak for Dave, but I'd post a ton more here if folks would just drop the ad hominems and ask questions. I'm an open book.

For instance, with this thread, what is it that I'm accused of whining about? Pretty hard to address it without specifics. And whatever it is, why does this person get to whine about me? Why are they exempt from the apparent "no whining" policy that they want? Seems a bit hypocritical. And I can promise you, my thoughts about Reed and his minutes, usage, role, etc. are solely my own thoughts, and we are certainly not being "pressured" by anyone with the Rockets to have any particular viewpoints. Dave doesn't even do credentials anymore!

For me, I've definitely gotten more insular in terms of who I engage with simply because it feels like a lot of conversations aren't in good faith. It's a big part of why I pretty much don't do Twitter anymore. I appreciate the convos with Dave because while we won't always agree, there's mutual respect and assumptions of good faith. And I would be fine extending that to more people -- but when we disagree, tell me why you think I'm wrong and make your case for what you think I'm missing. The ad-hominem, namecalling, conspiracy approaches (i.e. he must believe X because of secret theoretical reason Y) are just exhausting and pointless.

Anyway, most of you guys are great, and I appreciate those of you who have watched/engaged with us this season. Just wanted to point out a way that would make engagement much easier, at least for me.

P.S. As one example, @Aruba77 and I had a respectful disagreement dialogue a couple weeks ago about the KD files. I'm good with debate, just make it about the actual topic and not the person

 

Changed to what? Being a shill for the team so he can get into media day?

 

My apologies for calling you “whiny ass Ben Dubose”. You weren’t whiny. Pointless thing for me to say.

If you want my honest opinion it’s that you guys defend Ime and his way of thinking way too much in that show.

I refuse to believe that a person who knows as much basketball as you do, and watches this team so closely, doesn’t see how poorly Ime has managed the rotations this year.

its not that you have to agree with me completely, its that I don’t think I’ve ever heard either of you question Ime once.

He constantly puts lineups out there that clearly don’t work. We lose leads, we lose to bad teams, and our offense is so bad at times that it is laughable. Yet Ime changes nothing. It is so oblivious.

Then, when Reed gets serious minutes with the starters everything looks drastically better and we turn the ball over way less.

Any basketball person can see this, and most outside of Ime do, but he is too stubborn to change, and it is to the detriment of this team!

That is what I want discussed on the post game shows.

 

I am not one of these people that thinks Ime wants Reed to fail, or is "sabotaging" him or any of that. What I think is that he is incredibly stubborn. He has basically already decided there is a way he wants to play and come hell or high water he is not going to deviate from that.

You say you are in favor of a defensive culture, and I agree with you. The problem though, is that too often this year Ime has shown that he is willing to sacrifice all offensive continuity just so that he can play his defensive, "tough" lineups. When he does that, which he does literally every game, this team looks awful. That's why we have 2 losses to Sacramento this year, and too many offensive collapses to count.

I think we both know that these types of lapses are unsustainable in the playoffs against good teams. I don't care what our record is. I don't care that we are the 3rd seed in the West. My bar is a deep playoff run. Ime's defensive minded tough lineups with multiple non shooters on the floor at a time aren't going to get that done. I will break my TV if I have to watch a lineup of DFS, Tari, Amen, Sengun and Capela for damn near entire quarters in the playoffs. It is unwatchable coaching malpractice.

You talk about it not being important that Reed start as long as he closes. I disagree. He needs to be given the role of floor general, bringing the ball up the court on every possession he is out there, starting from minute one of every game moving forward. No more Amen aimless point guard possessions with Reed in the corner.

Every other player on the floor is better when Reed is in this role. Alpi has space, KD gets open looks, Amen can be an elite slasher. It works, and it is sooooo obvious. Amen is not a point guard. I love him, but he just isn't.

Unfortunately, Ime Udoka would rather keep beating a dead horse though, because he doesn't want to admit it is possible that he might have to change his way of thinking and admit that there is more to basketball than being tough minded defensively.

I think in deep down you agree with me, thats why I am giving you ****. If I had your platform I'd be calling him out after every game.

But go ahead and go back to the bench Reed, maybe after we are down 0-2 to the lakers in the first round Ime will start you. =)

btw I actually think Reed is a good defender too, not just passable.

 

Two of the last three Reed starts were against the Kings and the Wizards, and the game in between (Miami), they largely lost it early in the second and fourth quarters because the bench units without KD were an absolute trainwreck. That's why I do think there's an argument to be made for trying to have one of your three top offense generators (KD, Alpi, and Reed) in the Manu Ginobili role.

It's also worth noting that Reed actually is averaging 30 mpg over his last 10 games. Once his play improved, i.e. he wasn't shooting sub-40 percent like he was in January, the minutes have come up a good bit.

I have criticized Ime on this before, if you believe in this young core to the extent the Rockets say they do, you can't be so scared to play Reed and Sengun together in high-leverage possessions. There's an argument to be made that you should just rip the bandaid off and do it, and trust Ime and his staff -- who are supposed to be very good defensively -- to find a way to mitigate any deficiencies.

But I do think we can acknowledge that and also add a little bit of nuance and context, in that because Reed is 21 years old and year two, the fact that there's some hesitation right now doesn't mean it will be there permanently.

In the big picture, the single biggest concern I have about the Rockets -- and I've said it on our CF postgame shows a few times -- is about the fit of the three "highest upside" young pieces. Those are Sengun, Amen, and Reed. It's not to dismiss Jabari/Tari, I just think those two are more plug-and-play, role player types that are more projectable in numerous roster configurations.

As for the other three, there are two primary questions. Offensively, can you be good enough as a unit with two non-spacers? Defensively, is the Reed/Sengun combination too much to cover for? You can hope that because all are 23 or younger, some of the questions will resolve with time and development -- but there is risk to waiting. The Pacers sold high on Sabonis at a young age and brought in Tyrese Haliburton. The Kings were hesitant to move on Sabonis, and now he has minimal value despite good counting stats.

I'm not saying that to compare Sengun to Sabonis, I'm just mentioning it as a risk of waiting. It's not like you can blindly say "just give them more time" and assume that the same options will be there later, if it turns out that the "fit" just isn't right.

To this point, we don't have a ton of data on the Reed/Sengun defensive angle, and I do think that's a shame. With that said, there are still 22 regular-season games left and a playoff run, so we can acknowledge that there is still time -- and they are easing into it more since the All-Star break. And as far as Amen/Sengun on offense, very curious to see how Sunday goes in San Antonio, I think that'll be a big Ime referendum. The Spurs made their adjustment, time for the Rockets to make theirs.