2016 Houston Rockets Pre-Season Thread - Preseason Finale vs Spurs

Will update more in detail tomorrow (well, in a couple of hours when I wake up), but this was a very good game u til Doc pulled the hacking card, which didn't even work for him :lol:

Harden, Dwight, Thornton, Ariza, Capela :smokin :smokin
 
Putting Thornton in the starting lineup as a vet and for floor spacing over Harrell with TJones out may be McHale's best move so far, and props for doing that. He's been a fantastic addition that I didn't see coming, based on the fact that I've rarely seen him play before, but always knew he could put up points.

Capela has been looking great out there, and love seeing his improvement game by game. He looks really comfortable out there minus some early fouls. Him and Dwight hitting those FTs in crunch time, completely ruining Doc's Hack strategy :lol: :pimp: Wish Dwight wouldn't get those early (and silly) fouls either, but I'll take 20/20 games with that :lol:

Beard :pimp: :pimp: :pimp: looks like he clearly has his shot back. Guess it was him having to round into shape after all his off season fun, looking like Where's Waldo.
 
There was some corny fans yapping at Dwight last night during a break, and Dwight said "you still mad? It's been 3 years, let it go" :lol: :lol:. It had to be a Laker/Clipper hybrid fan, cause a 100% Clipper fan shouldn't be mad and him leaving the Lakers
 
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do work son said:
did you make this?

i've been looking into getting a game capture device to make some gifs but never got around to it.
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Negativo.  Simply converted it to gif form for NT.

However I did change this one up a bit 
tongue.gif

 
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Peep Game said:
There was some corny fans yapping at Dwight last night during a break, and Dwight said "you still mad? It's been 3 years, let it go" :lol: :lol:. It had to be a Laker/Clipper hybrid fan, cause a 100% Clipper fan shouieht be mad and him leaving the Lakers
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:lol: great response from Dwight. it really has been 3 years. Let it go
 
From chron.com:

The NBA's tallest coach would rather not have the NBA's shortest team, despite the stats that say otherwise and Clippers coach Doc Rivers' suspicion that the Rockets secretly enjoy their small lineups.

It sort of worked out that way for Kevin McHale, but he would not mind having more than one healthy player that can look him in the eye.

The question now, with Terrence Jones (6-9) to return to the Rockets' rotation, is whether he will have more than one in his starting lineup that can at least come close to McHale's 6-10.

The Rockets offense got rolling when McHale switched to a small lineup when Jones went out with a cut right eyelid. Marcus Thornton (6-4) moved into the starting lineup, Trevor Ariza (6-8) moved to power forward and the ball moved to open shooters.

With Jones back, McHale would not say whether he would go back to the lineup he used before Jones was hurt. If he does not make the switch for Wednesday's meeting with the Brooklyn Nets, it would seem to be a matter of time. McHale, however, would not offer clues.

"Sometimes it's (about) matchups," he said. "Sometimes it's do what we do. Sometimes, they have to match up with us."

Regardless of who's starting, Rockets coach Kevin McHale wants his team to employ crisp ball movement and adequate spacing on offense. Big or small? Kevin McHale just wants to go with lineup that Cowboys-Eagles fan fight was a family feud NBA: T-Wolves beat Hawks after blowing 34-point lead During the Rockets' 4-0 week, James Harden became the franchise's first player since Moses Malone to score at least 43 points in consecutive games. Rockets report: Harden named Player of Week in West Rockets forward Terrence Jones watches a free throw during the Rockets' 105-85 loss to the Denver Nuggets, Wednesday, Oct. 28, 2015, in Houston.( Mark Mulligan / Houston Chronicle ) Terrence Jones back on court with Rockets
With that, he launched into a long explanation of why he really does not know.

"If you step into a basketball game saying I'm only going to do this, you're limiting yourself," McHale said. "I don't know what the hell I'm going to do. I watch the game. If our small lineup is rebounding the ball, they're having a hard time guarding, we're getting shots, you like it. If you're not doing that, you change it.

"I think about how we're playing once the game starts. If I knew what was going to happen during the game, I'd run Wall Street … I'd be a multi-trillionaire. I'll wait and see how they play, how the match ups are, what's hurting us, what's hurting them and make decisions from there."

He already knows, however, that when the game begins, he will have been able to choose five players and will have the option to stick with the lineup he used when Jones was out or change to a different lineup with Jones back in.

The argument for sticking with the small lineup is clear, if based on exceedingly small sample sizes.

In the two games with traditional lineups (one that included a power forward), the Rockets ranked 29th offensively. In the five games since Thornton moved into the starting lineup, even with a second-half collapse in Miami, the Rockets have been seventh in the NBA in offensive rating.

There is a compelling case, however, in favor of switching back to a traditional lineup. The Nets and Nuggets are two of the league's better offensive rebounding teams, ranking eighth and 10th in offensive rebounding percentage. Power forwards Thaddeus Young and Kenneth Faried do the bulk of their scoring go to the basket.

Though Dirk Nowitzki, whom the Rockets face on Saturday, is much more of a jump shooter, the Rockets built much of their success against the Mavericks last season going at Nowitzki on the other end, rather than allowing him to defend catch-and-shoot scorers.

Beyond the schedule this week, the Rockets said they will have to develop the spacing and driving lanes with their traditional lineup that they used so effectively when the extra shooter forced teams to defend from corner to corner.

"I think we just got to move the ball better when we have a traditional lineup," Ariza said. "We have to have more ball movement, more cutting, more playing for each other. That's something that we have been working on and something we're going to continue to work on until we get it down right."

There has been a league-wide trend toward having four shooters on the floor with one big man in the lane. But the Rockets' offensive worked with power forwards sharing the floor with Dwight Howard (6-11) far better in the previous two seasons than in those two games to open the season.

"We got to get better spacing, better movement," McHale said. "Our spacing has got to work in more coordination with each other. It's going to have a little bit different of a dynamic. They have to set more wide screens. They have to set more picks for others. Their man is just not going to guard them outside the paint. We have to take advantage of that."

He either wasn't sure or wasn't saying when they will try to take advantage of Jones' return, but that time is coming. When it does, the Hall of Fame power forward that coaches the Rockets can go back to coaching a power forward again.
 
:lol: :lol: I accidentally ran through the tolls that are closed, but still have the flashing lights as if they're open one time. Got some mail saying I ran through 3, and ended up having to pay $38. **** sucks
 
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Peep Game said:
:lol: :lol: I accidentally ran through the tolls that are closed, but still have the flashing lights as if they're open one time. Got some mail saying I ran through 3, and ended up having to pay $38. **** sucks
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Man listen...I was on the phone like 30 minutes explaining to them I couldn't have run the toll because I have an EZtag. :lol:

Homegirl looked it up and everything but still wouldn't budge. Finally had to ask for a supervisor to get the ticket revoked. I think they were trying to wear me down until i said F*** it it's only $30

HPD was waitin' to hand Pat Bev that L
 
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the toll people play no games, but if you annoy them long enough they'll sig drop what you owe or just let it all go 
laugh.gif
 
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