ClutchFans Game Thread: Warriors @ Rockets 11/6/2019

Fix the transition defense and perimeter defense. That's on the coaches.

Play with more effort. That's on the players. Even when shots are not falling, there's no excuse to be lazy on defense. In fact, on nights when it's harder to score, it's incumbent on Harden and Westbrook to lead the team to increase their defensive intensity. Will they? I don't know, but if your goal is to win it all, whatever they are doing is far from what's needed.

 

Clippers’ top 3 scorers tonight game are all ever Rockets players:

Lou: 34pts
Harrell: 34pts
Beverly: 20pts

 

Watched the game while in the ER tonight, better effort and James is hopefully figuring out his game after some weird up and down performances so far this early part of season, a little concerned that they had no real A level players playing tonight and kept it a close game through the first half but it’s always nice to beat the Warriors regardless of who is playing.

 

Spoiler

Takeaways from the Rockets' 129-112 win against the Golden State Warriors:

The Rockets could not take much from a rout of what’s left of the Warriors. Ten minutes after the game ended, they might not have been able to name most of the Warriors left standing.

They would likely have not felt much sympathy for the Warriors even if they did not have issues of their own to distract them. But the Rockets’ stumbling start to the season demanded their attention.

After another ragged start on Wednesday, the Rockets rolled to a take care of business sort of win. They shot so much better than they had been it made everything look better. But they did seem to defend with greater energy. They did attack with some force. They moved one blowout – their first of the season – closer to where they need to be.

The schedule will get much tougher soon enough. At 5-3, the Rockets’ need to play their way into shape has not hurt them too much unless they stumble a few more times before they reach the run of tougher opponents. The Rockets appear certain to be a work in progress for some time, which could lead to more tough losses. But a blowout win, even against the Golden State Make-Dos, was a welcome break and progress.

1. More than he has at any point in the Rockets’ often stumbling, occasionally dispirited start to the season, coach Mike D’Antoni cited the poor conditioning of his team.

That, more than anything, leads to the sort of performances, particularly defensively, that have made things difficult. It is also correctable.

The problem with the Rockets having to play their way into shape is it takes time away that they could be building their defense. No scheme works without energy, not in the NBA. There is also no way to judge the schemes they are using until they get up to speed.

“We’re doing the same thing we did last year and the year before that, and the year before that,” D’Antoni said. “So now with having almost the same guys, it’s just a matter of heart and will, and communication, and getting it done. We can’t make adjustments until they play as hard as they can. They’re getting it. They know.”

Fatigue leads to the sort of breakdowns that have filled the early-season games. Despite the 3-point shooting opponents have enjoyed against the Rockets, hitting on 40.3 percent of their 3s to place the Rockets 29th in 3-point percentage defense, the Rockets’ defense at the 3-point line is nowhere near their greatest issue. Teams are hitting 40.4 percent of their defended 3s against the Rockets, by far the best shooting against 3-pointers that have been defended. That tends to balance out eventually if a defense keeps contesting those shots.

The Rockets’ problem has been with back cuts and other movement without the ball, leading to layups that come when concentration slips. They also have not defended hard on switches. Going into Wednesday’s game, they had allowed the most points per possession to the pick-and-roll ballhandler in the NBA, though that was better on Wednesday. They had allowed the most points per possession to spot-up shooters.

With signs of progress in the two games since the incredibly low bar set in Miami, D’Antoni was willing to be more specific about the problem and his confidence in a solution. No one could argue.

“We’re getting there game-by-game,” James Harden said. “We don’t really practice a lot. We’re a vet team. He leaves it up to us to go out there in the game and compete at a high level and work our way through conditioning that way.”

2. If any Rockets player has had to overcome conditioning issues it would seem most likely to be center Clint Capela. He relies on speed and energy to succeed. He will not be bigger or stronger. He will not drop in standstill 3s. He has to be the swiftest.

For most of the start of the season, he has not been, but he has shown undeniable progress in the past two games. Capela had a season-high 13 rebounds in Memphis. He topped that with 16 on Wednesday. He had managed just nine offensive rebounds in the first six games. He had six on Monday, five more on Wednesday. Against the Warriors, he matched his career high with six blocked shots.

All of that, as well as when Capela was not producing, showed how valuable Capela is to the Rockets. He still is not finishing the way he can. He has at times seemed to be avoiding contact, as if he does not want to go back to the line. But if he keeps hitting the boards and protecting the rim, he can get the minutes to get up to speed.

“He’s got room for improvement like everybody,” D’Antoni said. “He just has to get in shape. It was a short preseason and it’s funny, because I just told him that I was kind of mad at him the whole time, but well I’m also kind of responsible that I was saving their legs in the preseason, so that near the end of the year, we’ll be fresher.”

Capela, however, could feel considerably more confident after his best game of the season. While most of the Rockets were matched up with rookies or players in far greater roles than the Warriors planned, Capela went against five-year veteran Willie Cauley-Stein and badly outplayed him. That had been expected in past seasons and will be again, with Wednesday’s game offering a clear sign of progress.

“I’m not where I want to be at yet, but I’m getting there,” Capela said. “I feel like game after game, it’s getting better.”

3. P.J. Tucker had a season-high 22 points, adding a season-high 11 rebounds. Danuel House Jr. had a season-high 17 points, making 5 of 7 3-pointers. Their strong play, however, also pointed to a potential problem.

House played nearly 39 minutes. Tucker played 38. The Rockets rolled when they were on the floor, but it was also difficult to take them off.

Thabo Sefolosha is about as close as the Rockets come to a backup four and is one of their misfiring 3-point shooters. And though the Rockets have five centers on the roster (including Nenê who is not with the team and Isaiah Hartenstein who is in the G League), they generally play just one with a few minutes from Tyson Chandler. That forces Tucker to play more minutes than the Rockets would probably prefer.

There could be matchups in which Chandler will play more than he has, but he is averaging just six minutes per game. He played less than three minutes on Wednesday. Until he plays more, or Ryan Anderson somehow gets in a game, Tucker will have to play heavy minutes again.

House has played with consistent energy, making him especially valuable to keep on the court. But he has never played anything like the 31 minutes he is averaging this season. He can probably handle that. When Eric Gordon returns from his sore hamstring, possibly as soon as Saturday, House will likely get back to his average. But especially while Gordon is struggling, the Rockets rotation seems very short and House needs to play as much as Tucker has been.

House could continue to start, D’Antoni said. He said he will have to consider going back to that lineup that began the season. Tucker and House have been energetic defenders and the Rockets’ two most-accurate 3-point shooters. But it is very early in the season to struggle to keep them under 40 minutes in a blowout.

 

We gotta get the 1 seed and u want Lakers and Clippers to be the 2 and 3 seed so they can play each other in rd 2.
U gotta do what Denver did last year

 

Honestly, seed doesn’t matter much to me. Just stay healthy and get in gawdamn shape.

 

Gordon went missing.....

 

Nope, 117-112 predicted

Granted it was the bad Warriors, but I saw a much more energetic defensive team once Harden had his shot going. He tried to defend much harder and it showed. Capela also really got into it and I saw some Westbrook hustle to close out.

Capela made WCS his b**** who really tried to get Harden with his leg. He really didn’t like James this game, I could see it on that other foul in the 1st half with his drive to the rim. Harden made some ridiculous hard shots so that can get under anyone’s skin. I do however not like those threes with dead legs from Harden late.

It coincides with Warriors making a comeback and the inconsistent effort that MDA spoke on. Our transition defense was embarrassing once again. We have to clean that up! Aside from that, we had some minutes from Rivers and Thabo. We need more from Ben in my opinion.

Harden was playing very solidly with Capela as his running mate. Capela had some nice moves around the basket, some strong ones, but then also blew some as he still rushes too many shots. He should realise he’s a big man, he should have no fear. Once we get that version of Capela, he’ll be much better. I liked his defense, not just the blocks, but his hands on some steals.

I gotta give Tucker a ton of credit, working hard and hitting shots both outside and in. The MVP for me has to be House though, that guy just plays within himself and could easily ask for way more shots. He’s almost automatic from the top left and right. He also drives to the basket with the intent to score and just defends well.

We need this version of Harden and Capela every game, MDA still needs to find out how best to give Westbrook minutes since he needs that rhythm to get going. He hopefully will cut down on some of those fast break shots and get the right guys running with him and not all 4.

Laat funny thing I heard was a Warrior (fan) kept yelling “hell naw” as our shooters shot from the corner near their bench and when we hit looked at them and mouthed off.

 

This was one of his better games

 

We may win some games but we are poorly constructed, bad job by Daryl&Mike. We have no chance against top tier teams in playoffs as we are now

 

A glimmer of hope diminished by the level of the competition. GS is currently a minor league team. Can you name one player? Still, improved effort. Let's see what they can do against the elites teams like the Clippers made of many ex Rockets. Should have kept Harrell for sure.

 

me too, i can't wait till the clippers game!

i also want to see what rotation mike throws out there. i think he needs to shorten it against a good team and also know when to play which lineups. I would rather have our better players play 35 to 40 minutes against the good teams than give 5-12 minutes to other players.

i feel that D house and rivers need to play at least 35 minutes a game or more if they can handle it.

 

Since we were basically playing a bench team wearing Warriors' City uniforms I had a hard time staying interested. It was hard to even evaluate our play considering they should make any decent team look good.

The most interesting part of the game for me was when Bullard said Elvin Hayes only missed 9 games in 16 seasons, and never missed more than 2 games in any season. Wow, Now that's impressive.

 

I find it funny folks will dismiss a game because we're playing the 'warriors' who, by the way, beat Portland a few nights back. Guess we should dismiss Portland as well since they lost to this 'warriors' team.

 

Aw come on. Just because Portland played bad against a Warriors bench team doesn't mean this shoe in Warriors team isn't one we should fear or shouldn't easily dominate. I also won't dismiss Portland just because they had a bad game. Weve have bad games too. I was still glad we won.

 

a win is a win, but even in winning you can see major issues that aren't going away until a trade happens.....

portland doesn't have its big man, so what? they beat them.

the fact that we are losing or in a tied game when we are rolling out our starters who don't seem to mesh to well right now is the glaring problem.

 

Team can only beat bottom feeders!!

 

The glaring problem is our obsession with small ball. That makes our defense so soft.

 

I get what you're saying all too well. But even though I know he''l never contribute here like he once did--and that he might not be the same player he was-- all indications are he's been a good teammate. That's probably not reason enough to play somebody (I could be a good teammate too for even his current contract), but I'm curious to see what he's got. If he can't get any playing time, which would be a true shame, I would rather his spot go to someone who can at least get garbage time minutes and make some sort of impact on the game.