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[Chronicle] Stagnant, "selfish" Rockets crash. Haven't we been here before?

Discussion in 'Houston Rockets: Game Action & Roster Moves' started by badgerfan, Jan 27, 2009.

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badgerfan Member

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Alston calls the play tonight selfish.

Stagnant, "selfish" Rockets crash. Haven't we been here before?

The plan was simple. Everyone understood. Everyone agreed.

Tracy McGrady would take his two weeks to go through his own boot camp, with infomercial-like promises of renewed vigor and vitality as if he were swimming laps in the Fountain of Youth, and then come back better than ever.

Ron Artest would rest and treat his ankle and not return to the floor until he was a monster again.

Rick Adelman did not want them back until they were ready for whatever he asked of them - back-to-backs, tough assignments, win the close games, whatever. He would play them down the stretch and they were to reward him by realizing the promise of the giddy preseason prognostications.

"Play like you never left," McGrady said of his intentions. "With me, that's how I have to go from this point on. That's what I put my body through, why I took a couple weeks off to train extremely hard. Every time I step on the court, I'll go hard."

That's nice, but in many ways, the Rockets played the way they did before he and Artest left.

McGrady played harder than when he was limping through his every-other-game schedule. He had a bit more bounce. He tried to slam in traffic on Monday. He did not get it there, but he tried.

But back before McGrady and Artest left for a few weeks, the offense too often bogged down badly. Artest went one-on-one, pounding the ball as if trying to teach it a lesson before barreling into traffic. McGrady held it as if he were trying to run out the clock. They took turns deferring to one another and teammates deferred to both of them, standing around passively and rarely posting up or cutting hard with the sort of energy that might demand the ball.

That was the offense then, and it was again on Monday.

When they were out, however, the Rockets were retooled around Yao Ming. Von Wafer worked well in his orbit, happily hitting 3s, and driving past closing out defenders. Brent Barry got going, hitting his own open 3s and moving the ball. They became the Rockets' two most accurate 3-point shooters this season, both shooting better than 40 percent. And both have been largely supplanted (they played a combined 29 minutes on Monday) by the return of McGrady and Artest.

This is understandable, and Barry and Wafer had the advantage of not only playing with Yao, but playing in an offense that was far more organized and prepared than the one the Rockets tried the past two nights with Yao suddenly plucked from its heart.

The Rockets improvement began when Adelman trimmed his rotation to only those ready to practice and play every day and they put them to work on an offense they could run. He hasn't had a chance to do that in this latest version of the Rockets, and likely will not have that chance. The Rockets don't practice today and likely get Yao back on Wednesday.

The turnaround, however, also began when the Rockets reacted to the ugly losses in that road trip to begin the month and became determined that if nothing else, they would play with energy and play together. They saw what they had done wrong and vowed to not let it happen again.

Now they have another set of lessons. With or without Yao, they saw themselves at a different variety of their worst.

"We're not playing team ball," Rafer Alston said. "We were very selfish tonight. They were able to capitalize off of our selfishness. We have to decide if we're going to play one-on-one or we're going to pass the ball to each other and play team ball.

"Not playing with energy on both ends, being lazy, not running up and down the court, not sharing the basketball, not setting solid screens, it's just selfishness."

They had gotten McGrady and Artest back, but they also got back to what they were three weeks ago. But they have another chance to stick around at home, get the same group of players on the practice court and get themselves together. This time, however, instead of learning just from what they did badly, the latest version of the Rockets could learn from what they did right when Artest and McGrady were out.
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http://blogs.chron.com/nba/2009/01/stagnant_selfish_rockets_crash.html

#1 badgerfan, Jan 27, 2009

DaDakota If you want to know, just ask!

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I may not like the way he plays all the time but at least Rafer speaks the truth.

DD

#2 DaDakota, Jan 27, 2009
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LOL Alston is part of the problem...

#3 1RocketMac11, Jan 27, 2009
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DaDakota said:

I may not like the way he plays all the time but at least Rafer speaks the truth.

DD
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I should have quoted it.

"We're not playing team ball," Rafer Alston said. "We were very selfish tonight. They were able to capitalize off of our selfishness. We have to decide if we're going to play one-on-one or we're going to pass the ball to each other and play team ball.

"Not playing with energy on both ends, being lazy, not running up and down the court, not sharing the basketball, not setting solid screens, it's just selfishness."

#4 badgerfan, Jan 27, 2009
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Alston is right, one on one ball killed us tonight. He also took some bad shots but not as bad as T-mac and Artest did tonight. I hope this is the game that changes their ways but that should of happened a few games into the season.

#5 Shaud, Jan 27, 2009
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1RocketMac11 said:

LOL Alston is part of the problem...
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That's right..

#6 macgrady001, Jan 27, 2009
DaDakota If you want to know, just ask!

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badgerfan said:

I should have quoted it.

"We're not playing team ball," Rafer Alston said. "We were very selfish tonight. They were able to capitalize off of our selfishness. We have to decide if we're going to play one-on-one or we're going to pass the ball to each other and play team ball.

"Not playing with energy on both ends, being lazy, not running up and down the court, not sharing the basketball, not setting solid screens, it's just selfishness."
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Huh, I wonder whom he is talking about? Perhaps the two guys who just came back?

DD

#7 DaDakota, Jan 27, 2009

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badgerfan said:

not setting solid screens
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That has been the problem the whole year. I'm trying to figure out the first time we have set a real screen that actually freed up the guy with the ball.

#8 Shaud, Jan 27, 2009
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DaDakota said:

Huh, I wonder whom he is talking about? Perhaps the two guys who just came back?

DD
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Definitely aimed at T-mac and Artest, but I think it is aimed more at Artest than McGrady.

#9 Shaud, Jan 27, 2009
DaDakota If you want to know, just ask!

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Shaud said:

Definitely aimed at T-mac and Artest, but I think it is aimed more at Artest than McGrady.
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No way Jose, it is aimed squarely at both of them...right between the eyes.

DD

#10 DaDakota, Jan 27, 2009
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DaDakota said:

No way Jose, it is aimed squarely at both of them...right between the eyes.

DD
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I meant the passing the ball more is aimed more at Artest. T-mac passes it, it usually just takes him a while.

I think the getting back on defense is definitely aimed at T-mac though, and the lazy part is aimed at T-mac.

#11 Shaud, Jan 27, 2009
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Not playing on both ends sounds like TMac. Not sharing the ball sounds more like Artest. Lazy has to be TMac.

#12 northeastfan, Jan 27, 2009
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we all know tmac is not a selfish player. He tried to do 1 on 1 tonight because his other teammates were not hitting anything. Rafer and Artest could not buy a basket, and no one else could create their own shot. TMAC is not the problem, it could be artest but we will see when yao gets back.

#13 Mooch, Jan 27, 2009

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tmac and artest's return have ruined our chemistry. I called it from the beginning... it was just too obvious

#14 jzmagic, Jan 27, 2009
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DaDakota said:

No way Jose, it is aimed squarely at both of them...right between the eyes.

DD
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I agree, though I think more of his gripe is probably towards McGrady because at least Ron plays with effort. Ron also wasn't the one to make all these bold proclamations about his return and doing the whole "I'm going to prove the haters wrong" like Mac did. Players can tell when other players are slacking. To me, I could forgive a player who gave it his all but did not play well, but I cannot with a player who doesn't try 100% and ends up playing poorly and may make subsequent excuses for his poor performance.

#15 rox4lyf, Jan 27, 2009
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Shaud said:

I meant the passing the ball more is aimed more at Artest. T-mac passes it, it usually just takes him a while.

I think the getting back on defense is definitely aimed at T-mac though, and the lazy part is aimed at T-mac.
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northeastfan said:

Not playing on both ends sounds like TMac. Not sharing the ball sounds more like Artest. Lazy has to be TMac.
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Jinx!

#16 badgerfan, Jan 27, 2009
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DaDakota said:

No way Jose, it is aimed squarely at both of them...right between the eyes.

DD
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Exactly right. I just do not get how these two guys can sit there and see how well the teams plays when they move the ball and play asa team. Yet for some reason they return and want to get there shots.

#17 rockets_fanatic, Jan 27, 2009
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rockets_fanatic said:

Exactly right. I just do not get how these two guys can sit there and see how well the teams plays when they move the ball and play asa team. Yet for some reason they return and want to get there shots.
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Time to trade one of them...and since Artest is expring.....

#18 DaDakota, Jan 27, 2009

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badgerfan said:

Jinx!
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LOL! If it is obvious to us ignorant fans, it must be screamingly obvious to the players and coaches.

#19 northeastfan, Jan 27, 2009
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DaDakota said:

Time to trade one of them...and since Artest is expring.....
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Agreed ... by why stop at one?

#20 northeastfan, Jan 27, 2009

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