Clutchfans Game Thread: Thunder @ Rockets 8/29/2020 (Playoffs Round 1, Game 5)

yup it's the same song and dance we hear all the time on cf's. "Refs" Was it the refs when the rockets came out the 2nd half on fire, building a 15 pt lead.

you know what the rockets are still going to continue is all the drive and kicks. leading up to 50+ 3's. When they don't go in it's ugly. Coupled w/ the poor decision making and undisciplined mentality you're not going to close out games with a W like that, especially when it's the playoffs. They're going to live or die by it. a lot of people need to quit blaming others on self inflicted play. The rockets have been this team all year at the end of games. It's terrible that they still are making the same mistakes

 

Good lord these numbers are crazy lol. -53.5 smh

 

And he only sat for what, 6 minutes in game 4?

I know we've been spoiled with Harden that a 30+ point, 10+ assist game is "expected", but I'm really waiting to see a "play-off breakout game" from him. Like what Luka (40-point TD), Spida (2 x 50 point games) and Jamal Murray (50 point game) have done this round. Would love for him to drop a 50 point masterpiece on them in game 5 and take the series by the throat. Will the team to victory and demoralize them. Make them realize they have no answer for him.

Rockets by 10+ in game 5.

 

this is pretty much impossible when getting hacked nonstop w/ 5 FTA and made 3-pointers waived off. on the rockets feed during deadballs, harden was constantly slapping dort off of him or extracting dort's elbow from his ribs while complaining to zebras (who did nothing of course)

the fact alone that dort played basically the entire 4th Q with 5 fouls is testament to the immaculate rigging job of the brothers crew

 

Touche... I swear I have my phone a certain way, my control a certain way my seat a certain way everything is getting thrown out the book , I'm going dark too minus the alcohol

 

or it's a testament to the team leader not being aggressive enough, making bad decisions and settling for 30 footers, which is a re-occurring theme we all know too well.

 

The three point offense will never take this team to the promised land. Remember, it took the addition of a CP3 mid-range game to add enough versatility to the offense to overcome the deficiencies presented by the three point offense. The three point shot is a low percentage shot...always has been...always will be. I don't give a sh_t how open you are. Players and legs get tired at the end of the game...especially when you have to amp up on the defensive end. That's why three point buckets are so hard to come by late. It doesn't compare to regular season games. But, we are missing Russell Westbrook in this equation. So, it's Russ or bust at this point. No Russ...and the Rockets are for sure to fail. Russ has to be the game changer we brought him in to be. And, if he isn't, then it's hasta la vista Rockets.

 

Need this win.

Don’t see Westbrook being able to contribute much coming back from injury.

d’antoni needs to rest starters more and play bench so the starters have energy.

 

Adjustments I'd like to see:

- No House late in the 4th. Rivers should get his minutes. If Russ is back the 4th quarter late game lineup should be Russ, Harden, Rivers, Green, and PJ. If MDA has to force EG in the lineup, he can take Rivers place.
- More McLemore. 9 minutes is just not enough, especially when he's managing okay on the defensive end
- When Harden is in the game, we should have more sets which start without him or in which he plays off-ball. Way too many possessions where he has the ball for 20+ seconds. This is 2019 Harden coming back to life which drowned us.
- Need some sort of limit on consecutive 3-point misses forcing a shift in forcing 3's. If we miss 3's in three straight possessions, cannot go a 4th shooting another 3.
- When we have a lead, our offense should adjust to keep and build on the lead rather than loading up deep threes that let the other team back in the game
- More fast breaks. We get steals and rebounds and then the player waits till Harden is open to pass it to him and he then walks the ball up to a defense that is fully set. Should take advantage of fewer players on defense, them not being set, and our numbers advantage.

Jeff Green as inbound passer in the 4th. PJ has too many brain farts in those moments.

 

Jeff green should start over pj. Not only is Jeff a better rebounder and passer. He can actually bring the ball up and save hardens usage. Pj can’t even set screens right and he constantly bricks wide open shots which packs the paint even more for harden. Okc has to actually respect Jeff green as a shooter. I would consider starting mclemore and bringing Eric of the bench as well so that when harden is off court. Eric can be as aggressive as he wants

 

you are so right! it makes perfect sense for harden to foul out more times in a series than dort. harden should have gone for 2 straight games by pushing back on dort in front of tony brothers

 

... I have no idea what that even means

 

These injury updates........

 

My thoughts

harden still a lazy choker in crucial moments


Give me mclemore all day with his shooting. No way we get 3-21 with his shooting his defense doesn’t matter when the other team scoring at will.

Can we insert Carroll to foul the **** Out of Paul one time?

Gordon should be on the no 3 diet Westbrook is on

And Westbrook needs to play. Nothing left to save him for

 

It means he's not gonna play at least in my mind. This is just a hope that his body is ready to go. I don't think he'll be ready for game 5. Harden is gonna have to go it along offensively again. I hope I'm wrong.

 

It means DumbToni’s 8 man rotation is already set and doesn't want to rush Russel back to force his own hand.

 

Boring win. 125-102