Podcap: Rockets 117, Cavs 113 (or, It’s A Rocket League… We’re Just Living In It)
2017-11-10https://soundcloud.com/ctb-5/episode-150-its-a-rocket-league-were-just-livin-in-it
Unless you’ve been living under a rock (or not listening to podcasts featuring Tom Pestak) you’re well familiar with this vehicular soccer video game league that’s played with rocket powered cars. It’s a fast paced, high powered game where cars can slam into each other as they score points. It’s also a pretty fitting metaphor for the kind of game the Houston Rockets play on a nightly basis in the NBA. It’s fast paced scoring with tons of shots and, when those shots aren’t falling… they pretty much just run into the other team and get to the line to score.
The Cavs were the latest victim of this Rocket style of play, as they got blitzed by a barrage of threes in the first half, and then got more than lapped at the free throw line as the game wore on. As a team, the Cavs only attempted as many freebies as James Harden did alone (14). Houston also took full advantage of the confluence of the Cavs missing Tristan Thompson, having a frustrated Kevin Love in foul trouble (he fouled out in the fourth quarter), and Ty Lue refusing to play any other bigs. The lopsided rebounding advantage (45-26 in Houston’s favor) went a long way in cementing the win for the home team.
Yet, it at least approached being an “acceptable loss” as far as defeats go this young season. The Cavs rarely win in Houston, and being down three players, and with their recent defensive woes, it’s a testament to their at least slightly improved effort that they weren’t blown out of the building. Also, Jeff Green had a monster night (yes, you read that right).
The Rocket man himself (the aforementioned Mr. Pestak) joined Nate and EG for the second half of this podcap. In it, they cover not only this game, but also the ongoing issues with the team in general, the road ahead, how the game has fundamentally changed since the days of the LeBron 1.0 era, and whether or not “Daddy” is done spending money and picks on making this team better. Take a listen for these things and a whole lot more (including about a 15 minute conversation about The Natural — which Tom watched instead of the game tonight)… and of course a Rocket League update.
As always, you can listen above, on SoundCloud, Apple Podcasts, or Google Play.
As others have said, Lue’s unwillingness to play/develop younger players is inexcusable at this point. The best coaches, and yes that may include Stevens, work their rotations to give 8-10 minutes to rookies so they can either grow or prove to be unplayable. We know nothing on Cedi or Zizic due to Lue. In my view Lue is certainly average at best and woul not make a top 15 list of NBA coaches. And we are stuck with him for the year.
All: if you didn’t get a chance to read Ben Werth’s column (it got buried a bit this week) on leadership, roles, and Ty Lue, it is so good.
Hey EG: After tonight’s Celtics win without Kyrie & Horford,Brad Stevens is now the greatest coach ever, according to Twitter…
Without top 3 players, kudos well deserved. There was some discussion before season how Celtics are not going to be as good a defensive team this year because of the players lost. I said at the time, some coaches just make anyone play defense and Brad Stevens is that mould.
Has your handle changed to plural? How many of you are typing? :)
Re: team defense – I think a good coach can help a group of players play better defense. I also know from past athletic competition that you can’t turn a donkey into a racehorse. Time will tell if the Celtics are a great defensive unit I guess. Having watched this game I thought in the last quarter the Hornets missed a lot of makable shots, FTs , Dwight Howard was awful & the Celtics took full advantage.
No idea how my handle changed.
Michael Porter Jr., a potential Cavs selection with that Brooklyn pick, injures hip in debut
https://www.google.com/amp/s/www.seccountry.com/missouri/missouri-forward-michael-porter-jr-leaves-highly-anticipated-debut-injury/amp
Maybe a 2-for-1 treatment deal at Cleveland Clinic with IT.
Looks like Kyrie may have a concussion too, from his own teammate Aaron Baynes.
Bledsoe looking good with the Bucks!
Spurs coming back….honestly thought they were done.
Still no Leonard.
Yup, and Ginobili looking like a younger man!
I’d take Patty Mills over any of our PGs.
As an Aussie, you have my agreement ;)
I’d love to see if Kyrie could carry the Australian Olympic team next go around.
Dunno how that works, can you pick & choose with duel citizenship? That would be pretty cool.
He’d have chemistry with Baynes too (once the elbow to head is forgiven).
And Delly too. Not sure about duel citizenship, but I’ve seen Chris Kamen play with Dirk on the German National squad.
I think he was offered at one point.
No question…
My two favorite non-Cav teams are playing each other on ESPN right now.
JFG sort of gives props to the Cavs for not having IT.
So…to respond to Tom’s hill…i don’t think it would be as easy to dismiss those cavs teams in 2009-2010 if Lebron had gone to Miami in 2011 and done what people basically expected and what almost happened: struggle a bit during the early stages of the regular season, find a rhythm, storm through the leastern conference, and beat whatever came out of the west rather soundly. And to make matters more ridiculous, a seemingly weak opponent came out of what was a stacked western conference playoffs, and Lebron STILL didn’t win a title. With all stars in their prime against… Read more »
I don’t see how anyone can say the cavs of 2009 and 2010 were not a great team. They definitely underachieved those two years. Orlando wasn’t a great matchup, but our defensive scheme and personnel Brown used to execute that scheme simply were not the right ones . However, I am unsure if they would have beaten the lakers. They had a decent shot, but I don’t know if they would have been favorites. Gasol at that time was really really good, better than Howard in that series. Kobe would have been equaled or surpassed by LBJ but gasol was… Read more »
Kobe wasn’t the best player on his team for any of his championships.
Come on Nate. I am no fan of Kobe and have always been of the opinion he was overrated, but even though Gasol was great back then, he was not better than Bryant those two years.
Um.
Nate is right. Pau was a beast
Meh, fair enough. I don’t have any desire to defend Kobe’s game much.
I’ve never complained about Gilbert’s spending or non-spending. I’ve always maintained that he puts his money where his mouth is. My issue with Gilbert is the meddling in the FO, not trusting the FO, and becoming the defacto GM.
But I’ve said I think every owner should spend money.
I would agree with this if I was aware of any evidence that Gilbert is in fact meddling. I hear about Gilbert meddling all the time, but it is all from the same few people on CtB. The one well documented case of Gilbert meddling is flying to Miami and bringing back LeBron. Many of us will forgive him on that one.
I’ve read/heard about it from Cavs beat reporters.
I’m getting all my info from beat reporters. It’s pretty much ‘s known fact.
Jason Lloyd has reported on multiple occasions that cavsdan as usurped more authority from each succeeding GM. It was a major issue why Griffin did not resign. It isn’t some CtB conspiracy theory.
Clearly CSD doesn’t value the GM position. I’m just not sure an owner has enough time to play GM, along with everything else that goes on. I realize that probably most owners meddle to a certain extent, but it appears CSD has continued to constrict that role. I kind of get the impression he’s miffed that he maybe didn’t get enough credit for the championship so wants to prove everyone wrong. My fear is that he’s Marty McFly taking the bate from Biff. Anyways, I’m glad he spends money. I just wish he’d learn how to be humble.
and yes this is what is so frustrating with ty — his stubbornness / stupidity /inability on developing young players —–you will never have trust in them if you don’t play —–now is that time to play them —develop that trust —-I see the warriors and spurs playing 13 players almost every game —doesn’t mean you play them 20 + minutes but you need to find 5-7 minutes a game for these guys —that is where ty is “clueless ” on developing rotations—–talked with a fellow coach this morning—other that out of bounds plays after a timeout what else does… Read more »
accurate recap—yeah almost a 2/1 rebounding advantage –ouch—-almost 3/1 foul shooting advantage —double ouch-shump / 2 games in a role consistent solid play—does he now start over drose ——-another good game by swish–good sign——-someone please jump start crowder -if-he gets going that helps immensely——only 3 shots by korver –he needs more than 3 …….take the monetary loss already and “fork jose ” taking up a spot for a youthful player ………did we have a chance to draft clint capella ( liked him even before he was drafted )–if so we missed the boat on him———–was happy on how they fought… Read more »
I got the #Corby reference from Nate. So I thought Nate came up with it.
Maybe I fat fingers it.
Thanks for finally explaining where Corby came from.
Green has such a casual style of play, yesterday everything he did looked effortless, his jogging up the court is faster than others sprinting. Its really pretty to watch when he is on, but it looks lazy when he isn’t.
Best yet from FTS: “It would be fascinating to see what the Cavs would look like with LeBron as their owner. It seems inevitable that there would be implications of him being meddlesome as an owner, given the perceptions that have followed him as a player. Although it’s unclear whether or not there would be rumors of him leaving to own a different team every summer.” HaHa!
29-12 FT disparity after 3Q was really rough. It’s tough, I don’t even blame the refs. Houston has got to be the most difficult team to officiate that I’ve ever seen, especially Harden. I wish they didn’t fall for so much of their BS, but what can you do.
Cavs are down 2 of their top 5 guys, and seem to be looking better. I thought this game was encouraging. I’m just glad I don’t have to watch the Rockets regularly, it’s a pretty miserable basketball viewing experience.
Harden is a fantastic actor on the court. There was a play where LeBron cut from the opposite corner baseline towards the hoop and stopped under the basket to seal Harden off like we’ve seen Bron do many times. Unfortunately, Harden made it look like LeBron used his arm to throw Harden back when in actuality, Harden basically just fell over. You can’t see it game speed though. You only notice that he’s falling when you watch slow motion.
And unfortunately for Harden, these antics do not work in the playoffs, which is why he always struggles during that time.
The problem I have with the referring is only ever the lopsided nature. I mean, Harden gets any contact on him whatsoever and that whistle is blown immediately. LeBron and Love get regularly mauled and have games where the refs swallow their whistles. I mentioned below that there was a series of plays where Harden very obviously shoves Green to get open and then Green gets shoved to the floor when he finally makes it to the other end of the court. The result? Swallowed whistles. If you are going to swallow your whistle in the last 5 minutes of… Read more »
Trap game!
24. If the Cavs continue to give this type of effort, the rest of this trip may not be horrifying. Then again, they play the 2-10 Mavericks on Saturday. Nothing says “trap game” like a terrible team on the schedule, especially on the road.
I thought overall the Cavs played a great game despite the loss. They had the opportunity to win, and probably should have. Anyways, on to the next.
Per Lloyd. I still think he could’ve thrown Zizik in there down the stretch.
9. The Cavs have a bruising center in 6-foot-11 Ante Zizic who theoretically could help in rebounding, but his brief audition at Washington didn’t go all that well. And if the smaller lineups and quicker pace make the game too fast for Love on occasion, then Zizic certainly doesn’t fit.
Ante played 6 meaningful minutes against the Wiz and had 2pts and a block. He also set some really good screens and rolled to the basket nicely. Unfortunately Lue decided not to play him the rest of the game (although I think he came out in the third for a minute) and now we are where we are – Love getting owned by a young center and our very own young, athletic, tall and smart center sitting on the bench. Why bother trying to grow talent? Lloyd’s conclusion that if Love can’t handle the situation them Zz won’t he able… Read more »
I can’t wait to watch James Harden lose his mind when he can’t buy a call in the playoffs. Nope sorry James, the Golden Turd only works in the regular season. You’re a regular season player.
Isnt it on Lue and Longbardi if the guys arent ready to play defense
I would say as far as effort, not so much with this particular team. Execution and knowing the schemes that are being used, absolutely. My second biggest knock on Lue or more probably on Longibardi is the lack of mental preparedness this team seems to have on d.
Idk about zizic – I think he has 0 career boards and didnt look impressive on the boards from what i saw previously
A quick YouTube search tells me he had 4pts/4rbs in about 8 minutes.
https://youtu.be/LI-rTtmuvhE
That was actually a preseason game so not correct on my part.
Lue coached this game to win but not to help our future selves… When it was obvious that Love A) Couldn’t handle Capela on the PnR’s and B) Wasn’t effective on the rebounding aspect, it was time for Lue consider putting Zz in. Why? Because although Zz’s PnR defense is lacking, he’s a young, athletic tall body that could negate Capela’s impact on the boards with some of his own. Also not giving Zz the opportunity to show his potential against a solid center makes it impossible to determine wether he will be useful in the future. So not only… Read more »
unless I misheard Tom’s comment, did he say Cavs could get bounced in first round this year? there is no historic precedent in Lebron’s career that will happen. If I misheard, my bad, but this team will get to Finals again. Playoff basketball in May is WAY different than November, and there is still no team that can beat Cavs 4x in a series. Guarantee when Cavs meet Celtics, they will double Kyrie and force another Celtic to beat them and it will end badly. Yes team is currently struggling and effort issues arise, but they will get it figured… Read more »
He was discussing how he felt going into the playoffs last season.
Yeah I was using how I felt last year about the regular season to try to describe how I’m not sure what even matters from the regular season this year.
You now have to watch every back to back this season…
Also as I said 5 games ago, Jeff Green > TT
I still cannot figure out why everyone thinks Jeff Green sucks. Maybe Cols can help?
He has stunk two previous seasons
Green is a taller version of Shump. He can be an asset, if and when he plays to his potential. Unfortunately he sometimes think he’s a better player than he truly is and forces the game to the point of being a negative.
I was impressed with Jeff Greens defense – he was locking harden down whenever he got switched on him. Looked like our best 1on1 defender out there
Agreed. I was encouraged by that.
Watching The Natural instead of Cavs/Houston? WTF Tom. You should get docked major fan points for that decision. Siskel and Ebert broke out on a Cavs podcast, although I do like The Natural too.
Haha – I’ll have to do a penance
The Natural is a good flick.
You guys are a lot more lenient on the refs in that game than I was. Watched the shortened version of the game this morning and there was a sequence where Jeff Green was shoved by Harden to get free to inbound the ball then comes down the court and gets shoved to the floor again and not a single foul was called. Certainly wasn’t the reason we lost but my gosh the Rockets have one hell of a home court advantage.
I will never forget Nate’s optimism at 1-3 against GSW. Those articles & comments should be immortalised on a separate keepsakes CtB page.
Great pod guys…I found it interesting listening to Simmons talk about Kyrie and then Ryen Russillo(who has quickly become my favorite NBA guy over the last few years) on his RusSolo NBA podcast talk about Kyrie today. Basically, he said that Kyrie is just finally playing like he cares for the first time in his career. He also went on a little tangent about Ty Lue and it’s not his fault entirely and most of it is on Kyrie and not sustainable. Highly recommend the Pod…its on the same podcast feed of the Russillo show podcast if anyone is interested.
Kyrie is finally playing like he cares……smdh