ClutchFans Game Thread: Thunder @ Rockets 4/27/2013 (Playoffs Round 1, Game 3)

We were 17 of 25 on FT (68%). 5 of those misses came from Harden. Asik made 3 of 4 for 75%. Harden was 66%....you know things are bad when Asik has a better FT% than you. To Harden's credit, he had 8 rebounds...same as the Timid Turk. (1OF,& 7 DEF).

 

might as well go with this lineup to begin the game

bev
harden
garcia
chandler
asik

bench: delfino, gsmith/tjones, lin (very short leash)/AB (if lin is straight garbage)

 

I wish McHale would use the words "Basketball IQ" as much as he does the word "sticky." As physically gifted as the young guns are, those 3 TOs in the last 2 minutes (or so) are representative that these guys have not evolved mentally at all this season. Then all the cheap fouls when everyone knows Crawford calls tons of fouls. And the constant ISOs when "hero ball" shows ISOs are the lowest percentage play in basketball. And how about telling the players don't even try to block Durant's dunks: foul him hard on the arm and make him think about it next time.

And we all know you can't live on 3's alone: "Live by the 3, die by the 3." This all shows the coaching needs an upgrade. I respect McHale for getting the Rox to where they are, but he's been more of a builder to get this team respectable. Don't think he can take the Rox to the next level.

I hate Popovic, but I respect that guy because he gets in the face of his stars to play basketball the right way, and it shows in how they play and in the 'W' column. I'd rather the Rox pattern themselves after the Spurs. There's got to be some future Popvic's out there.

 

Please shut up.

 

Kind of hard to pattern yourself after the Spurs without a player like Tim Duncan to build around.

 

WE'RE THE YOUNGEST, MOST INEXPERIENCED TEAM IN THE LEAGUE.

Sorry, but ZERO amount of coaching can make up for that. I'm amazed at how stupid a lot of you are.

 

Yeah, Popovich is a great coach(and former GM), but his career would've been over before it even began if the Spurs hadn't lucked into the #1 pick back in '97. Everyone thought the Celtics were gonna land Duncan, including Rick Pitino who never would've taken that job if he'd known they were gonna end up with Chauncey Billups(before he was good) and Ron Mercer.

 

i cant even blame mchale for this style of play. those are the pieces he was given. i do blame him for his poor rotations which have resulted in losses in close and crucial gms.

 

Trade Harden for Demarcus Cousins and 2pat. Get er done Morey.

 

I think Mchale is next Popović...you think Popovic was Popovic from the day he was born?

 

After I registered and started lurking about a week ago after the season was over, I've been holding off on saying something about this particular subject after seeing it mentioned a few times. Don't get me wrong, I really like the Rockets and think they have some good pieces in place to eventually contender if the right moves are made. However, the situations aren't as similar to the 2010 Thunder as some Rockets fans believe...I think.

We were a 50 win team and were a Gasol putback at the buzzer away from taking the defending champs 7 games in the first round. We were about as young (Durant 21 years old, Westbrook 21 years old, Harden 20, Ibaka 20, Green 23, Thabo, 25, Krstic 26, Collison 29....that was our top 8) as the Rockets are this year, but Durant in 2010 was better than Harden is right now, and I don't think you guys have someone now as good as Westbrook was in 2010. That was only his second season, but he averaged something like 20-6-6 in the series and I think his shooting percentages were even better than they were in the regular season, or close to it. Jeff Green was actually our third best player at the time, and I'd say he was pretty comparable to what Parsons is now. That was Harden's and Ibaka's rookie season.

Durant actually had a brutal series. Got his 25-26 PPG but on well below 40% shooting. He was getting guarded by an excellent perimeter defender in Artest the whole series, though, as Harden is this series with Thabo.

And we've just improved our win% every year since 2010. We made the leap to 55-27 in 2011, finished 4th in the west and won the division, beat the Nuggets in 5 in the first round, and made the run to the WCF. Granted we got a somewhat favorable second round match-up after the Grizzlies knocked off the Spurs.


I do like the pieces on this team, though. The more I see of Beverley the more I think he absolutely can be your starting PG as long as you add another legitimate scorer who can consistently create his own shot. Harden, Asik, and Parsons are excellent building blocks. Get a PF who can score on the block and hit the 15-footer and this team can be pretty scary in a few years. I just don't know if they can make the same kind of leap and as quickly as we did. We were bad enough for a few years to get some top 5 picks, hit those picks out of the park, and the young guys just kept getting better quicker than any fo us could imagine.

 

^ also, the thing with okc was that they were able to be bad enough to be in the lottery for a few yrs and basically nailed their picks in the draft and at the same time develop their young players.

rockets will be winning and battling for playoffs and wont be drafting that high in the next few yrs. however, they do have the luxury right now to offer $ at free agents.

 

I say throw Lin in. Does anyone think we can go 4-0 on the Thunder. Give him the playoff experience he needs and next year there will be no excuse. Even before the injury, he wasn't playing well.

 

No, we're not where the Thunder were back in 2010. I don't know why people keep saying that. The reason the Thunder rose from first round fodder to an appearance in the Finals as quickly as they did was because they sucked really bad for a long time before that and loaded up on Top 5 lotto picks.

The Rockets have done almost the exact opposite. They've been mediocre for a long time, but have never been willing to just flat out stink in order to increase their ping pong balls and build through the draft. Ironically I think they were prepared to do just that this season until Harden fell into their lap at the last minute.

That being said, there is a solid foundation on which to build. Harden despite his deficiencies is a superstar and a keeper. Parsons is a bargain(for now anyway) for what he gives you. Asik has been more than I ever expected at the center position. And at least the rotation at point guard is alright with Lin and Beverley, although I'd still prefer one dominant player at that position. The key now is finding a way to get that 2nd superstar to compliment Harden. Not any easy task, but if Morey pulls that off, then we can start to entertain the possibility of a quick rise to contender status like the Thunder from 2010-2012.

 

I ain't expecting a young team to be Spurs, but any "stupid" person (your word, not mind) should know a team can mature much faster with great coaching. And MJ and Kobe got much better under the ZenMaster because he brought in some structure and got into their head to think the right way, not playing hero ball and try to do everything one-on-one and throw low-percentage passes. Any non-stupid person knows that. The more freelancing you allow, the more errors you will get, especially in crunch time.

This offense needs some structure to help it down the stretch. There is no team that has won a championship that didn't have a very good half-court game. That doesn't happen with players just getting older. JVG was too controlling, but McHale is the complete opposite. If only Les could throw a whole bunch of money at the ZenMaster and do whatever it takes to bring him to H-Town. I know, fat chance, but a dude can dream.

 

I wish McHale would be the next Popovic, but I think he's too nice. That's okay for young players who are just learning their way and to build up their confidence. But after the players feel the sting of getting swept and they want to up their game, they need a hardass to drive them to the next level by challenging them.

I actually think Popovic was like that (kind of an a-hole) shortly after he was born. Him being in the military also bred that. You can see alot of that with his interviews with Sager and talking to the press in San Antone. Even their press is afraid of him.

 

Yeah, the Sonics were kind of what the Rockets have been for awhile now, a mediocre team that would make the playoffs some years, but not ever bad enough to get a great draft pick. Then they had a couple of bad years, hired Presti pretty much right before the draft in 2007, and that got the ball rolling. Presti has admitted he would've taken Oden if they had the #1 pick, but luckily we got the 2nd pick. I mean Durant had a great rookie year, but his best teammates were Chris Wilcox, Earl Watson, and rookie Jeff Green, so they were still really bad. Even after adding Westbrook the next year we started 3-29 and got another top 5 pick.

But like you said, the front office killed draft picks 3 years in a row. It's never a sure thing even when you get a top 5-10 pick 3-5 years in a row, but it sure helps to suck enough to have the chance to get players of that caliber from the draft. I wasn't a fan until the team moved here, so I don't know who the GM and front office people were before then, but I'm glad they had the sense to fire the previous GM and hire Presti who had been a key piece in nailing some key draft picks for the Spurs during his time with their organization.

Admittedly we've been somewhat lucky in that Durant, Westbrook, Harden, and Ibaka panned out. It's not too often one team drafts 4 All-Star or borderline All-Star caliber players in 3 straight drafts, one of which turned into the second best player in the league before his 25th birthday.

 

Well, the drive home from that game was freaking horrible. It was the best game I've ever been to, and yet, I am so freaking disappointed.

The toughest thing for me to get through is that even through this team's inexperience, they are still just 2 breaks away from being up 2-1 on the #1 seed in the Western Conference. I mean, if Durant's 3-pointer bounces off the rim, they win tonight. And if the refs call a foul on Perkins' blatant hold, they just might have won Game 2 also.

The Rockets are almost there. They just need to fill in a couple of gaps and grow from this playoff experience and I think they'll be fighting for a Conference Championship in a year or two.

 

That was the loudest I have ever heard TC...ever! The crowd was great.

Tough game many people to blame *cough cough* Joey Crawford at the end of the day though we gotta look at the positives and that is we are the youngest team in the nba that just took the Western Conference champs down to wire in the past 3 games

 

This team desperately needs a better coach.