ClutchFans Game Thread: Pelicans @ Rockets 10/26/2019

If you don't like that, you don't like Houston Rockets basketball!!! This MO has been going back a decade to when it was the McGrady lead Rockets.

It's a tough pill to swallow. Thankfully I've had plenty of time to get accustomed to it.

 

Good win.

Pels have a young, talented roster that is contending for a lower playoff spot.

 

30 yrs old and not getting much younger, plays up to 80 plus playoff games every year. Mileage is huge.

 

Shooters shoot, and historically good shooters shoot even more.

You can't break the shooting drought by stop shooting. You will miss 100% of the shots you don't take.

 

This is the scapegoat every year. Teams have to be deep you cant depend on one guy star or not. Harden is playing terribly but he should not have to play excellent every single game just for us to have a chance thats been our problem. We all want a championship by surrounding our stars with trash and wondering why it doenst work out. Harden is human fool this will happen other people have to step up.

 

What pisses me off more is Harden is not allowed to be off his game. Because Ego cant hit anything and others arent hitting wide open shots. Eric Gordon hits two more threes against the Bucks (which is his job) and we would win that game. Im sick of role players getting a pass. Morey and MDA need to do there jobs. Morey pulls this **** every year and he gets a ****ing pass too. Stop trotting out ****ing small ball lineups wondering why we cant play defense or rebound and the ****ers still dont hit wide open threes when the whole reason they are out there is to hit ****ing wide open threes. Otherwise get a big man who can rebound and finish around the rim. Sick of seeing westbrook passing it to Capela who has no idea what to do when he's 1 foot from the god damned rim. And Tucker literally being mad a Russell because he passed it to him under the net... Its bullshit.

 

I think it’s the decision making that rubs some people the wrong way instead of the shooting slump. Having said that harden will get it going and once he does he will be
Back to the best Offensive force in the nba.Its a matter of when

 

The guy shot 29% last year so it's not just bc he shot bad in preseason. It's that he shot poorly last year and did not show improvement in preseason

 

what i liked the most were russes passes to tucker under the basket!

 

He won't shoot this many 3s, in OKC he felt obliged to take the most shots, but with his 3 pt shot attempts going down, he might shoot a better percentage.

 

he was talking bout gary

 

Analysis

Negative

1. Harden is playing like ****, on both ends and showing bad body language in the process. Every single missed assignment on defense, whether it's rotation, not closing out on a shooter or going for the rebound he starts yapping his ****ing mouth. He's ****ing responsible for at least half of those with his ball watching, no hustling ass, sour puss attitude because he's not making shots or whatever is going on. I'm really at a point where I'm done with the guy. All the fans here will probably defend him like MDA does, but there's no excuse for his pathetic performance on defense, let alone trying to shoot yourself into the game when it's that close.

2. We are a bad defensive team and a lot of can be fixed with hustle, determination and a commitment to work hard. The main problem I see is attitude, as if we're good enough to just win a game by showing up. This has been a problem in the Harden era for quite some time and Harden is the leader in all of this. I guarantee you if he starts to see the game as one you can win with defense, that it starts with defense and you do not let your offense dictate your effort, we will see a different team.

3. Lack of hustle and effort! Can we get up on their 3pt shooters once? We gave them so many wide open threes, it was like target practice. Josh Hart looked at us like you're not guarding me and even mouthed off at Harden, which was warranted. How many times did we just not put a body on guys after a shot and they came in for the rebound. That one by Reddick was the worst, 3 guys just stood there and waited for the ball while JJ came in there and threw it off of Harden.

I didn't see us hustle until 4 minutes left in the 3rd after Gordon made that three that got Harden fired up a bit. It was also right after the 3 they gave up in transition where Harden started to blame Gordon, or tried to. Bad look for your best player. I don't know how he gets away with all that whining to his teammates.

I wonder if part of bad defense is due to our scheme with the all out switching defense I see guys getting hung up on screens, leaving the lane wide open and when we help their 3pt shooters are open. I did see miscommunication and guys not knowing who to pick up so there are some learning curves I guess to the tweaks we've made I guess.

4. Small ball - it will be a problem under MDA, but he refuses to adjust. Only once did he put in Thabo for Westbrook who actually made Ingram miss a shot, but not sure if that was on purpose since Westbrook needed a rest to get back in later in the 4th.

5. Failure to recognise the hot hand. House was hot, how does he only put up 6 shots and Harden is allowed to hoist 18 ****ing threes? We have to be smarter.

Positive

1. Again, it has to be Westbrook's play and hustle. This guy again came through in the 4th and just made great decisions, could've had even more assists and he really just hustles to get those rebounds so I don't mind them one bit. That one steal with Tucker and him pressuring Lonzo / Josh was awesome. We play better when Westbrook is handling the ball as opposed to Harden as well. Guys move more, Russ gets more guys involved with his great passing and vision - which I really did not give him credit for all these years - and I'm sure guys love to play with him since he makes quicker decisions. With Harden, it must be tough to watch a guy just slowly dribble around where you don't know what he's going to do though he's kind of learning from Russ since I've seen it less often.

2. Role players are doing well. It starts with Tucker & House who are just playing good defense and making their shots with Westbrook finding Tucker around the baseline a couple of times. Really like that. Even House had a nice pass to Tuck / Gordon around the baseline. Harden gets guys shots, but mainly from the perimeter and on lobs. Russ finds guys around the lane so we have to continue that. I prefer these games with more guys having 10+ points so it's not just a one or two-man show. Then off the bench we had good minutes again from Tyson and Thabo, but also Rivers. McLemore only had 4 minutes, which is not enough to judge him. Wish MDA had the stones to pull this on Harden though.

3. We played them dead even in rebounds and assists so that is encouraging. Thabo and Russ really take care of those rebounds along with the hustle of Tucker, Capela and House. We have enough players who individually make up for our bad team awareness on rebounds.

So far, overal we've l been solid on the boards, we're #1 in pace and I guess it takes some time as a team to adjust to playing faster since we were dead slow last year. Considering this pace and Harden's sloppy and lazy play, his turnovers are 7.5 on average, we're actually taking care of the ball quite well with 16.5 as a team. FTs so far are a positive sign as well, but that defense has to turn around quickly along with Harden getting his head on straight. MDA is a lost cause, don't expect him to impact the game. He'll just play the rotations and eventually get it down to 9-8 guys with McLemore and maybe Thabo / Tyson out of the rotation.

 

You are right, it's not the shooting slump that should worry anyone. What is worrying is that when 6 guys are out shooting him he still takes twice as many shots as most of them. Always has and always will. If he can learn to pass more during shooting slumps, then I won't worry at all. Taking 18 3's during a slump is just BS. Even Westbrook has shown he can take less, but smarter shots, and pound that extra energy into rebounding, and hustling back down the court instead of arguing every call with the refs.

As for all the turnovers, well I'm not sure how much better he will ever get at that. I've grown used to them. Sloppy, lazy, and slow spurts are a common sight at times. That is where I love the addition of Westbrook. Then again, there are times where Harden can be brilliant with the ball.

 

By the way, what was up with that last play by Harden? It almost like he was daring the refs to call the foul, like he’s owed something and definitely tried to dribble between the guys on purpose.

 

Harden's showing how selfish he is. The reason he's taking all those 3's is because he wants to get his numbers. Notice how the ball movement gets worse & the team suffers when he is in.

But the biggest issue is he's NOT IN SHAPE. Harden looks severely slow & out of it. You can tell by looking at his face

 

Alright here are some stats for you the ignorant haters out there, in 2015-2016 Harden had a pretty bad start yea? Sill ended the season with 29/6/7.5 on 60 TS%. But yea D’Antoni needs to reign him in

And don’t come at me with the “well we had a bad season still” you’ll only look silly by not getting the point.

 

I didn't see last night's game, but man, I hear ya. You hit it right on the negative and the positive comments. I couldn't agree more with some of your points. I'm sick of MDA at this point, simply because most of those negatives need a coach to fix them. Since MDA either can't or won't, I want him gone.

MDA will never sit James on the bench and rip him a new one when needed, and sometimes that's exactly what James needs. His frustration oozes out poor decision making and affects his game. MDA sees everything he does through rose colored glasses.

That's just one problem with MDA. Equally as frustrating is the fact that MDA will never see height difference as a justification to quit playing small ball. Also, how many times have you seen a lineup working great, and then he changes it and things go sour. To make it worse, he then sticks to what isn't working as we watch a big lead slip away and disappear into a big frustrating loss. That is what happened so many times last season, and is exactly what happened in our first game this season.

 

I think it should open the eyes of many of the "Harden is infallible" GARM posters how pathetically lazy Harden is when he isn't iso dribbling.

 

If you actually watched him, it's far more than a shooting slump. It's slow feet and just looking disinterested in the game

 

I am NOT saying for him to quit shooting. I am saying he doesn't always have to take twice as many shots as everyone, and certainly not 18 3 point shots when ice cold. Sure, when hot take 20. What I am saying is if a teammate is shooting well it makes no difference to James. He'd prefer to shoot his way out of a slump than feed the hot hands. That is soooooooo frustrating. Almost as frustrating is people saying that is fine. I don't agree with that logic.

People need to take off the rose colored glasses and smell the coffee. It is as if he is ensuring he scores the most points, even if he has to take twice as many shots to do it. If Westbrook had done that there would have been 10 new threads bashing him and wanting him off our team. People are critical about Westbrook with the stat padding comments and negativity, but they refuse to think that James might be doing that himself. The difference is that he does it with a whole lot less hustle.