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Game Thread | Game #76 | Rockets @ Cavs | March 26, 2023 | 6:00 p.m.

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Wham with the Right Hand

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After two days off the Cavs host the Houston Rockets, owners of a 6-30 road record which is tied for worst in the NBA. The Rockets are a very young and very bad team at the moment, although they have some promising young players.

Jalen Green was the 2nd pick in the 2021 draft, chosen one spot ahead of Evan Mobley. Green averages 21.9 points per game on 41% from the field. He puts up 18 shots per game.

Kevin Porter Jr has settled in as their point guard, averaging 18.6 points, 5.6 rebounds, and 5.9 assists per game on 44% overall and 35% on 3’s. I’m sure he will want to play well against his former team after the Cavs sent him packing after a locker room meltdown and other off-court issues which included screaming at a security guard and driving around with a gun in the car.

Center Alperen Sengun (6’11”) averages 14.7 points, PF Jabari Smith (6’11”) averages 12.6 points. and SF Kenyon Martin (6’7”) averages 12.6 points.

The Rockets have to be the youngest team in the league. The ages of their starters are: Green 21, KPJ 22, Sengun 20, Smith 19, and Martin 22. Three of their rotation players off the bench are 21 (Josh Christopher, Usman Garuba, and Tari Eason). This is a young team learning how to play in the NBA. They have eight players age 22 or younger getting playing time or starting.

The Rockets have lost 17 of their last 22. On Friday night they lost 151-114 to Memphis. The Grizzlies ran up 83 points in the first half before putting it in cruise control and only scoring 68 in the 2nd. They hit an incredible 25 of 42 on 3’s as the Rockets offered no resistance. Luke Kennard came off the bench to hit 10-for-11 from deep.

The Cavs beat the Rockets in Houston on Jan. 26 by a 113-95 score. The Cavs led by 23 points after three quarters. Donovan Mitchell was out for the Cavs and KPJ was out for Houston.

The Rockets rank 29th in scoring and 29th in scoring defense. On offense they love to attack the rim, ranking 3rd in attempts per game at the rim and 6th in points in the paint. They only rank 27th in accuracy at the rim, but they keep trying.

The Rockets are not good from deep, ranking 29th in 3-point percentage and 29th in mid-range percentage. They just don’t shoot jump shots very well. They don’t pass the rock (last in assists) and they don’t protect it (last in turnovers). They’re basically a group of young, athletic guys who take turns attacking the rim while committing a lot of turnovers.

The Cavaliers have forced more turnovers than their opponents in 27 of their last 29 games and I don’t expect that to change tonight. With the Rockets being the most turnover prone team in the league the Cavs should force a lot of them. The Cavs now rank 5th in opponent turnovers per game, by the way. This is an area the Cavs could really exploit.

The one area on offense where the Rockets excel is offensive rebounding where they rank 1st at 33.2%. The next best team is at 30.9% so the Rockets are by far the best offensive rebounding team in the league (but they’re still 29th in scoring because they shoot so bad). The Cavs will be challenged on the defensive glass tonight and that has been an issue. The Rockets average 13.1 offensive boards per game with Sengun leading the way at 3.1.

The Cavs need to prevent blow-bys which force Allen and Mobley to contest the lay-up and leave Sengun or Smith in position for easy put-backs.

Since the Rockets have a tough time scoring anywhere but at the rim and the Cavs have elite rim protectors in Allen and Mobley I’m thinking the Cavs should match up well defensively, especially if they force a lot of turnovers which will negate the Rockets’ offensive rebounding.

Defensively the Rockets are awful, especially against the 3-point shot. Opponents take more 3’s against Houston than any team and make 37.6%, the second highest. In terms of effective field goal percentage the Rockets are 27th. At the rim they’re 26th. Just a bad defensive team both at the rim and beyond the arc.

An interesting matchup will be Mobley against Jabari Smith Jr. Both are 6’11” power forwards and both were the 3rd overall pick in their respective drafts; 2021 for Mobley and 2022 for Smith. Mobley is two years older. Smith is listed at 220 pounds; Mobley 215.

The most interesting Rockets’ player to me is obviously Kevin Porter Jr. The Cavs took a chance on Porter, taking him with the 30th pick of the 2019 draft despite some concerns about his maturity. He got off to a promising start, but then imploded with three off-court incidents culminating in a locker room tirade that included food throwing after finding out his locker had been moved to make room for a newly arrived veteran.

After his promising rookie season he was considered a key building block.

The Cavs have big plans for Porter in Year 2. He has the best chance to be the team’s foundational piece and sources say he is at the top of the Cleveland’s young player hierarchy, considered untouchable, to the point where teams won’t even ask about him in trades anymore. - Chris Fedor

Coaches, teammates and members of the front office rave about [Kevin] Porter. His talent, upside and growth as a rookie played the biggest role in Jordan Clarkson’s December departure, as the Cavs were hoping to create a path to more playing time. Porter’s viewed as the most promising of all the young pieces…Fedor


[Even more promising than Garland!]

If we get him to reach his potential (he can) be the cornerstone of an organization. His skill set is what the NBA is. - JBB

I think we really haven’t even tapped into his potential yet. He’s really incredible, what he will be capable of in the future. - Kevin Love


At the time I was jacked about the Cavs stealing a future All-Star at the end of the first round. But Porter wore out his welcome and was shipped off to Houston. Now in his third season with the Rockets he seems to have settled down - I’m not aware of any behavioral issues. In his 4th NBA season he seems to have hit a plateau. His shooting percentages are right on his career averages. His scoring is up slightly over the last two years (18.6 ppg) but his assists are down. He does not appear to be improving as a player. The Rockets are 0.8 points per 100 possessions when he is on the court, 7th best on the team this year.

He appears to have settled in as a solid starter but not a star. His biggest problem is turnovers where he ranks in the 14th percentile in turnover percentage after being in the 18th percentile last year. He’s not improving in that area. He’s an excellent rebounder for a point guard and he’s above average in steals. He’s an excellent finisher at the rim and an above average scorer.

Last year the Rockets were 5.1 points better when he was on the floor; this year it’s declined to 0.8. I don’t know how much of that is Porter’s fault.

Last fall the Rockets signed Porter to a four-year, $82.5 million contract extension which kicks in next year. It’s only guaranteed for the ’23-’24 season; they can release him anytime after that with no cap hit. His skill set might be redundant with Jalen Green as they are both 6’4” shooting guards. The Rockets will have to decide if Porter is worth $15.6 million a year or if that money might be better spent on a true point guard.

The Rockets will get another high lottery pick this year and are definitely in the running for Victor Wembanyama or at least a top four pick. This is a young team that will grow together into what could be a super team, but management will have to make sure the pieces fit.
 
Last year Okoro dunked on 3 Rocket players

Sengun, Martin Jr, and Garuba - all of them still on the team. Like I said, they don't have great rim protection.

We need more of this from Okoro. In Thursday's game against Brooklyn he had the ball in his hands on the perimeter with the shot clock getting short and he drove to the rim for a nice left-handed layup. With the Cavs all but locked into the 4th seed it's a good time for Okoro to work on expanding his offensive game.
 
I know a lot of people complain about kpj in Houston, but it's not like Green was doing shit while KPJ was out. He's proven to be an inefficient chucker. I think aside from Silas, he's the number 2 problem.

Kevin is super talented but has his issues and based on comments doesn't live & breathe the game like our other guys do.
 
The player on this Rocket team I wanted the Cavs to snatch up was Kenyon Martin Jr. I said on that draft night going into the second round that this kid was going to be a star in this league…..and he’s looking like it!
 
Sengun is so good, and only getting better amidst that dumpster fire.
 
Compared to other point guards, Porter ranks in the 59th percentile in points per shot attempt, in the 32nd percentile in assists per usage rate, and in the 14th percentile in turnover rate.

Given his below average numbers in assists and turnovers, Is Porter playing out of position at point guard? Would he have better numbers if he played the 2?

He's not a particularly good shooter, hitting 40% of his mid-range shots and 35% of his 3's. He's good at the rim, however, at 67%, which is in the 80th percentile for point guards.
 
Woah the game time is in the thread title now. Wham is evolving. Just imagine how good he'll be when he reaches his gamethread-making prime.






Edit: Looking back at the other threads I see now that there's a game time listed in the thread titles seemingly at random intervals. I need to do further research into this subject.
 
With a win tonight, the Cavs clinch a playoff spot and can finish no lower than 5th seed.
 
No one has commented "trap game" yet. You know what that means?

That's right, Trap Game.
 
Purchases tickets for tonight.. want to see them clinch a playoff spot at home
 
No one has commented "trap game" yet. You know what that means?

That's right, Trap Game.

I get the feeling Mobley is going to keep us in every game from here on out.
 

Rubber Rim Job Podcast Video

Episode 3-13: "Backup Bash Brothers"

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Episode 3:11: "Clipping Bucks."
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