ClutchFans Game Thread: Rockets @ Hawks 10/19/2022

For a 1st game of the season, against a tough opponent, it was a lot of fun to watch and I am not as skeptical as I was last season. Lots of you are too harsh on this young team even tho we saw a lot of progress...

Did anyone check the stats?

We had almost double the rebounds than ATL, we crushed them offensively. Our threes weren't falling but that will change. 15 to 9 turnovers, plenty of those were steals for ATL, and unfortunately plenty of those came from Sengun with his funky passes. That will get fixed with time I am sure...

Fernando is a beast. He is what we wished Dorsey/Greg Smith/Black to be. This is the best version close to Howard. He needs to start, just a better fit. I actually enjoyed the lineups and subs last night

Smith took surprisingly a lot of shots, but I am ok with that, they will start falling. Imagine then trying to stop our shooters, lol...its going to be crazy funny when they start going in..

This team is going to be sooo much fun, I haven't been this excited since 2018...

 

Absolutely plenty of blame to go around.

 

I kinda like what I saw last night besides the sloppy turnovers. Good ball movement they just couldn't hit the open looks. Plenty of bright spots on this team. Once Jabari figures this out he is going to be a scary player.

 

I'm loving Senguin and Fernando.

We just need to clean up the sloppy passing and make those 3's. Go Rockets!

 

Silas ****ed up all around. Subbing Mathews in, letting Green get cold in the bench, not telling KPJ to pass the corners, Tari's limited minutes, ball getting sticky.

 

Would have been nice if Jalen and Jabari shot better but def saw some encouraging things this game. It's gonna be a multi year process to get where we want to go lol, patience.

KPJ looked good and under control for the most part.

 

The pieces are there. They just need to learn how to close and win games. It was encouraging for me when they made some runs when the game could have easily gotten away from them.

 

I agree with everything you said. If they could make a layup they would’ve won the game even though their threes weren’t falling. Still think Sengun should be starting, several turnovers attributed to him should have been caught and several of the blown layups should have been assists. Fernando is not a long term solution, but played pretty well. Murray had an incredible defensive game and should get a lot of credit for the sub-par performances of our guard group. Gordon should not be starting and Matthews should not be getting any run whatsoever. Jabari didn’t have the defensive impact I would have hoped for, but he will get there quickly. Eason should be getting 30 mins. They played a contender on the road their first game of the season and were close most of the game. All the negativity is absurd.

 

There was a ton of things to love about last night.

KPJ - all personal feelings and bias aside. Porter showed a ton of improvement in his game last night. His handle is much more fluid, tighter and under control. His jumpshot looks more routine and consistent. He added a nice floater to his bag. He can consistently get to his spots on the floor now. If we had a normal shooting night from Bari and Green, Porter easily has double digit assists last night. You can tell KPJ was in the gym all offseason.

Jalen Green - looks significantly stronger. Can handle physical contact much better than last year. His handle is much improved. He has a quicker release on his jumpshot. Had an off shooting night but I still expect around 22-24 ppg from him this year. Definitely put in a ton of work this offseason.

Jabari - shot the ball with confidence. Wasn’t afraid to put the ball on the floor. Showed the hustle and grit we expect from him. 17 points on a horrible shooting night? Jabari is going to be a much better scorer than we think.

Sengun - love Sengun on the second unit where he can get the ball in the post consistently. Loved how he bounced back from a bad start. His jumpshot looks much improved. He needs to get more 3point attempts up to open up the rest of his game. He’ll be a bigger threat to roll to the basket when he develops his pick n pop game.

Christopher - played unselfish and under control tonight. Made good decisions. I expect him to chuck all night tbh. Pleasantly surprised.

Tari - the GOAT. Needs more minutes.

 

Remember, he's on a team-friendly, very tradeable contract and will have to perform better to get the bonus kick-ins. It's up to KPJ at this point to prove he belongs.

 

I've read on here in a few places that the Hawks are eastern conference contenders. Are they really?

I dont really see it... BUT if Hunter can play like that then sure. They were VERY balanced last night.

 

Matt Maloney looked good, though.

 

I was pleased. We probably win 30 games.

Dislikes
-KPJ good game, times where I felt his vision was poor.
-Matthews should get 0 minutes. Tate(when recovered) Should get 0 minutes. More min to KMJ and Eason.
-Sengun flashed some development but played poorly.
-Smith jr. needs to focus on a few specific dribble and drive strategies and moves to just try to generate the same type of shot. Build off of that. I absolutely think the potential to develop a handle and the ability to be a 3 level score is there for him though. Smith seemed to play good defense last night as well.

 

Is Tate playing tomorrow? He is currently my fav hooper in the association right now.

 

We all wanna see the youngsters excel.. Problem will be the rotations involving Gordon and Mathews.. I'm sure it's difficult as a coach trying to get everyone minutes.. But you gotta go with the productive rotation in tightly contested points of the game.. No need to put Mathews and Nix out there when it's a 5 point game.. And no need to have Gordon out there when Green and KPJ are eating...

 

Actually enjoyed the game this team might be more talented than I thought and would need to do some major **** to actually tank which would not be good for player growth, with that said I still want to lose as much as possible.

I was happy to see Smith being aggressive, and he actually took somebody off the dribble but his lack of finishing was still evident.

I now understand why Bruno is starting, he is a legitimate guy.

I have no idea why KMJ, Gordon or Mathews are on the team, Tari should have all of KMJ minutes, Christopher should have all of Gordon's and Mathews and I am not even a big fan of Christopher he seems to be a bit of a chucker, but I think he is pressing for playing time.

If this team wins over 30 because of young guys, I have no issue but will be pissed if they flirt with the play in game because of veterans who are not a part of the long term nucleus.

 

This was just the first game, right?

 

With a last min starter change and Smith being back, it felt like a preseason game to feel out the rotation and sub pattern.

Whatever it was, the sub timing was weird and disruptive.

Want to see more Eason. Matthew is a zero.