ClutchFans Game Thread: Rockets @ Lakers 4/18/2026 (Playoffs Round 1, Game 1)

Fred is his solution.

Stone wants nothing but Fred.

 

Of course, it’s one game dude lol

 

Rockets 17-25 FT
Lakers 17-26 FT

If you think the refs were the problem in this game then good night lol

 

we had 21 offensive rebounds tonight

imagine just how bad the offense would truly be if we weren’t a generational offensive rebounding team this season

when all else fails, just get the inevitable brick out of the way and grab the board for the putback…that and KD making insane shots has been saving us all year

 

Nah when Stone took the team Rox hadnt made a draft pick in 5 yrs what tf are you talking about?

The Rocks roster so much better than the Lakers everyone was calling for a sweep. But Stone is the one who needs to be fired and not Ime? Clearly you just have a massive bias. I can understand people who say both Stone and Ime should be fired but saying Stone should be fired rather than Ime LOL wtf

Last year we had FVV who also acted as the offensive coach and Adams who made up for bad offense with his rebounds.

The team is very well constructed if everyone healthy this team can beat OKC and Spurs. But we have a bad coach we can only win via overwhelming talent difference so in cases like tonight we still lose cuz we dont have the offensive hack known as Kevin Durant.

 

It's just like UH's offense. Everyone has to beat their man off of the dribble to get their shot. Look at the Laker's offense. Even with more talented players, of course they ISO'd, but they also had other motion, actions and screens baked into the offense to make the game just a little more easier for the players. To give them a little advantage.

 

Except they were a 50 win team last year with no KD but with Green and Brooks… so if you’re arguing that either one of those or both are responsible for 20-25 wins on their own…then I guess Dylan ****ing Brooks should’ve been the MVP of the league.

 

and if Stone hangs on for 2-3 more years. Drum roll please

FVV will be the next head coach.

 

You don't know you have a championship roster until you win one. Look how long it took Sam Presti to win one (18 years).

You don't get rid of good GM's. If we lose the first round, I could see them chasing Giannis.

But also...........It is only game 1, and this place goes into meltdown after game 1's

 

I don't even know what you're arguing about anymore. You stated that it was "more on Ime than the player" that Reed didn't impress despite numerous opportunities tonight

I think it's on Reed precisely because he got lots of touches & didn't do enough

I mean ok Luke Kennard - well he had 27 on 13 FGA and Reed had 17 on 20 FGA

How is this on the coach and not the player?

If Reed played 10 minutes and Aaron Holiday started maybe you'd have a point, but he didn't

This is a bitter pill for the Reed stans, and he's far from the only problem but it's also just....true.

 

OK. Let's give them the benefit of the doubt this time and blame the jitters that these relatively young players went through tonight. Let's admit that the home court advantage went the Lakers' way. The third game at home will be the decisive game, so we need to wait and see what happens then. Calm down, folks.

 

I am fine with that. It is a change, and it isn’t like the series is over. It was a disappointing game 1 but win game 2 and it’s a new series.

 

It could be DJ Augustin

 

should it not matter if they were tap ins?

 

OKC, Spurs, Pistons Best Rebuilds by far

 

Lol if you think the league never has a hand in deciding who they want to win then congrats you’ve duped. But im duped too because i keep watching just like the rest of you

 

That is exactly why this team sucks and KD isn’t going to fix anything. This coaching staff is the typical “let the guys do their ‘job’ without any repercussions for half assing it”.

Athletes need mentoring, coaching, stability, tough love, what have you. Letting dudes bank without accountability is a disaster in the making.

That goes for most of any business though. The difference is the salary.

 

I'm sorry but I don't understand your perspective at all. Stone's been here the longest and we didn't become a winning team until Ime came here and we started adding veterans that Ime vouched for. The veterans added the floor but the young core drafted by Stone was supposed to give this team a ceiling. They haven't been able to do that and tonight is another example of that. The first two years of Udoka's tenure Jalen Green was the limiting factor (a player drafted by Stone), but we still had FVV and Brooks. In this game the young core wasn't able to pull off a game 1 win without KD. Udoka's gotten the most from this limited roster. The issue is that Stone is unable to give Udoka a more talented roster.

 

Yes but you said they would win 30 games without KD. That's pretty harsh, they clearly were a good team before the KD trade, they were not struggling to get wins they were just struggling to become elite.

They are still a 'good' team, they just are not a team that is going to win a championship or they are behind some other teams in the west.

 

We have a coaching debuff that the roster made up for. Last year we had FVV who knows how to run an offense and Adams who generated extra looks from rebs. This year we had KD who is scored 26 pts on 63% TS and had so much gravity.

But now all these 3 are gone so Udoka offensive incompetence is laid bare for everyone to see.