ClutchFans Game Thread: Warriors @ Rockets 5/16/2018 (Western Conference Finals, Game 2)

It would behoove the Rockets winning the turnover-battle.

1. We maximize our FGA
2. We potentially draw more fouls
3. Our fastbreak defense sucks
4. We limit their shot attempts

Rockets won this battle all three games regular season, then lost it Game 1. It doesn't guarantee victory, but it wouldn't hurt, at all.

 

some of my keys to the game

1. Win the 3rd quarter: GS is the best 3rd quarter team in the league and outscored us 31-24 in that period in game 1. We must come out strong after halftime.

2. Win the periods when both KD and Curry are out of the game: In game 1, GS was dead even with us when both of them were off the floor. That just can not happen. We have to win those moments decisively. I say when both KD and Curry are off the floor, we need to be outscoring GS by at least 5-7 points.

3. Get back in transition: GS outscored us 18-3 in transition. We did a poor job locating our man which lead to numerous open threes for Klay. KD got a few open threes in transition as well. When the shot goes up, guys have to get back. Harden, when u drive and don’t get the call, u can’t just stand there with your hands up. Let it go and get back, because while your lagging behind, Klay or the likes of Swaggy P are getting a wide open three.

4. Don’t change the offense, but get it back to how it was: We run 22 isolation plays on average. In game 1, we ran 45 of them. Harden had 23 ISO plays by himself. That’s not Houston Rockets basketball. GS’s defense is too good to beat them running that much ISO. Running ISO has been good for us, but running twice as many as we normally do? I still like the Looney on Harden and Curry on Harden matchups. Also, only 3 transition points? We need to run a bit more.

5. Role players have to step up: Tuck, we can’t have u out there for almost 35 minutes and u score just 1 point. Moute, u can’t be going scoreless. We’re supposed to have the better bench, but we only outscored them 21-20 on bench points.

6. A body needs to be on Klay at all times, stop losing this guy: KD dropping 37 points is something u live with. Klay dropping 28 tho? Nah, that can’t happen. We allowed him to get off 15 threes with many of them being wide open. I thought we did a good job on Curry for the most part. A lot of his points came from blowing by Harden and getting to the rim where he was 7-9 from the field. He was 1-6 on jumpers and only shot 5 threes. Capela did a good job when switched onto him.

 

I can't f*cking sleep.

11:44pm here in Sydney.

Been tossing and turning for nearly two hours now.

It is going to be a long night waiting for 11am over here.

 

holic is praying hou loses tonight so he doesn't go into hiding til sunday

 

agree with everything. but howbout blow them out by 20 by halftime and just keep them at bay the 2nd half

 

I wish that would happen, but that would require us to be unconscious from 3 while GS is having 1 of those games where they can’t make shots and is turning the ball over at a high rate

it’s possible, but unlikely

 

This is pretty much the season, we lose here and it's done. We're not taking 4 of 5 from them with 3 in Oakland.

We can beat this team, but it will take an inspired effort. Just put some heat on them and see what happens.

 

Ken Mauer!? Wtf

 

We are winning this one.

 

my point is if everyone knows and they are a proven great 3rd quarter team them why try beat them there

we cannot end the half tied

beat them at the 1st and 2nd when they're more vulnerable

 

Ken Mauer loves JH this season lol

 

As problematic as the turnovers were, the biggest thing was all those missed shots at the basket. As @Reeko noted, the GS transition offensive advantage (18-3) is what really killed us because if we make those baskets, our guys are all back on defense and GS would have had to inbound the ball, which allows the Rockets defense to at least get set. Every time GS got into transition, Rockets on defense looked lost out there. That's how they got so many open, uncontested looks. That was the real reason Thompson went off, mainly in the 4th Quarter while the game was still somewhat in reach.

 

Have two flights tonight. I'll be in the air for the first 30 minutes, get to watch about 45, and then in the air again.

Anyone recently tried watching a game in planes? Are streaming services blocked? What about NBA streams?

Any help is greatly appreciated.

 

How much trouble is Houston in?

SAS: World of trouble. Don't win tonight, it's over. [...] I'm not predicting at all that this will happen because I think Houston wins tonight but if they lose tonight, they might get swept. I won't disrespect the great James Harden, CP3 or D'Antoni and the job he's done this year but tonight's game is that pivotal. If they walk into Houston & take both games, there's better than a 50% chance it's not coming back to Houston.

One reason I have a problem with what Mike D'Antoni said. A good coach does what they do. Great coaches who are champions adjust on the fly. They see the moment. They see it before they seize it. They recognize the modifications that need to take place. You start Ariza on Curry. Why would you do that? [...] You take Ariza and put him on Durant. Know why? You do that because even when Durant is scorching you, you won't get in foul trouble guarding Durant. Curry's movement without the ball, chasing him around & expanding energy will lead to you getting into foul trouble just like Ariza did. The other thing is iso ball. 6 times Durant had the ball 10 seconds or more. James Harden 28 times. That means the ball isn't moving & Golden State is resting. All of a sudden, you don't have to sub as much. The impediment to the Warriors success was pace of play but you're not pushing it. D'Antoni will have to adjust. Otherwise the Warriors will win & if they win, it's a wrap.

Max: How much trouble? They're in a must-win game. The way they lost & it the fact it was game one, game two is a must win. One team was working so hard to tread water. Warriors pulled away. That wasn't the best version of the Warriors. The reasons the Warriors are the Warriors is because Steph Curry is an unselfish star. The ball doesn't stick. He does unselfish things. The Warriors at their best are devastating. They devastated Houston without playing at their best & Houston is in trouble. If the Rockets lose game two, the series is over.

SAS: One thing that may need to be said, listening to D'Antoni, CP3 is a pivotal player in game two. It's CP3 the coach on the floor. He may need throw an audible into the mix. CP3 may need to dictate things. Gerald Green & Joe Johnson might need more minutes. Houston might need to go smaller. These are things D'Antoni has to consider.

Max: D'Antoni has done a great job with the Rockets. He can overachieve with a group of guys in the regular season. If you look at other coaches, they've taken what D'Antoni does and add to it. D'Antoni seems stuck in his ways.

SAS: Exactly. He is stuck in his ways. This is the same D'Antoni who revolutionized the game, he's to be respected but there's a reason he's not a champion. He was the coach when Steve Kerr was the GM in Phoenix. Kerr wanted him to have a defensive coordinator(Tom Thibodeau). He didn't want to do it. Years later, he seemed to learned because we've been talking about Houston's defense but here he is again chirping in the same fashion he did a decade ago in when he talked about not making those adjustments.

Max: He seems unwilling to make adjustments in that style of play.

SAS: End of the day, when the pressure mounts, he seems stuck in his ways. You can't do that.

 

[...]

“If I was the opposite coach and saw Stephen Curry, Klay Thompson, Kevin Durant, Andre Iguodala and Draymond Green, I’m most likely going to (go after) me – especially for a team that relies on iso situations like they do,” Curry told USA TODAY Sports after practice on Tuesday. “Cleveland has done it for years. My whole goal is that if you want to abandon (your) normal offense to try to pick on me and put me in mismatch situations or whatever it is, then over the course of 48 (minutes), I’m going to get enough stops to figure it out.”

If Game 1 was any indication, Curry speaks the truth.

Only 12 of Harden’s 41 points came against Curry, who was the primary defender six times when Harden misfired and five times on makes (four of the misses, it should be noted, came in the final 1:39 of play when the Warriors were up big). Curry’s two steals on Harden were key, with one coming midway through the third quarter and the other midway through the fourth.

“Those two plays were timely,” Curry remembered. “We were up six on the first one, and those are kind of the make-or-break points where you extend the lead to double digits or (let them back in). And then the fourth quarter, same thing. You’re kind of killing a last minute run, and their momentum.

“I was joking with somebody in the locker room, saying if I’m in that situation (getting targeted on defense) for however many possessions it was, I’m going to make some plays. It’s just a matter of not having many breakdowns.”

There were a few, of course. Sixteen seconds in, Curry stayed with Trevor Ariza on the perimeter when he was supposed to switch to Harden.

The irony of this approach? Curry and the Warriors learned a few years ago that this offensive approach has its limits.

Before Steve Kerr was hired as coach in the summer of 2014, when the pass became such a staple in their offense as they focused on moving it at least 300 times per game, the Mark Jackson Warriors were far more focused on isolation play. They were never nearly as prolific as these Rockets, but there is a common thread there nonetheless.

In those years since, the three consecutive Finals matchups with the Cavs have served as a Masterclass of sorts for this experience.

“Cleveland did it a lot,” Curry said. “It didn’t end up in an iso situation with me and ‘Bron (LeBron James) most of the time, but they would initiate most of their offense with a ball screen with either J.R. (Smith) or ... Iman Shumpert, sometimes with Kyrie (Irving), and they would try to create confusion off of that initial action, or at the end of the shot clock try to get me in a post-up situation with Bron.

“It’s kind of a two-way sword. One, sometimes you’re going to get scored on. It’s the NBA. There’s talented guys. James (Harden) averaged 30 a game for a reason, but at the end of the day like I said, I’m going to get enough stops to hopefully have that matchup be to our advantage over the course of a game.”​

 

this game is a must win, if we lose, our season is done, you may not get another chance at GS this deep in the season again, please for the love of god, everybody step up, if you can't elevate your game at this time of season, then this team is done....

 

Y'all dudes check out PMA by Bad Brains and Still Believe by 7 Seconds. Then try to tell me that the we ain't winning tonight. Go Rockets!

 

GO ROCKETS!!!

 

All hands on deck! Unless the WHOLE TEAM shows up, the Rockets can't win a series against GS. It is really simple. The Rockets are not the same team that rolled through the regular season. They haven't looked like that team for about a month and a half. They haven't looked that team at any point in the playoffs thus far. That was a well rounded dominant team. If it doesn't miraculously reappear, the series will be over soon.