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[Chronicle]Van Gundy "Fed Up" With Poor Record at Home

Discussion in 'Houston Rockets: Game Action & Roster Moves' started by ima_drummer2k, Jan 26, 2006.

  1. ima_drummer2k

    ima_drummer2k Contributing Member

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    Please, FOR THE LOVE OF GOD, don't let this article be already posted...

    Jan. 26, 2006, 1:05AM
    Rockets finally slug home run
    Rout of Bobcats ends 7-game skid at Toyota Center



    By JONATHAN FEIGEN
    Copyright 2006 Houston Chronicle


    For the next game at Toyota Center, the Rockets might just wear red. Stay in a hotel. Take a bus. Light up the video screen with the cheesy "Houston, we have a problem" cliché that they see at every stop around the NBA.

    The Rockets came home Wednesday to the cushy, if half-filled, Toyota Center. Coach Jeff Van Gundy, describing himself as "fed up" with his team's awful play at home, did all he could short of bringing in metal lockers and frigid weather to make his players less comfortable — or perhaps to just make a point.

    Either way, the message was heard.

    The Rockets' seven-game home losing streak ended with a 102-78 win over the injury-depleted Charlotte Bobcats before a crowd of 10,938, the smallest at home this season.

    "We're eliminating the nonsense is what we're doing," Van Gundy said. "I'm fed up, and I'm sick of losing at home, playing terrible basketball. Nonsense is always a distraction. I don't like our home environment. I don't like it at all.

    "I'm going to do what I can do to make the environment what I think it should be to play our very best. If that ruffles feathers, I don't care. I do not care — in capital letters. We're going to play better at home, or at least we're going to search for ways to play better at home instead of accept the status quo: 'The Rockets are undermanned.' "

    With that and the Rockets' league-worst 3-13 home record before Wednesday's game in mind, the player lounge was locked, its buffet replaced with the usual road fare of cold sandwiches. Those who don't travel, from ballboys to injured teammates, were kept out of the locker room. :eek:

    It's hard to say if any of those things accounted for the Rockets rout.

    More likely is that they found a team as damaged by injuries as they are. The Bobcats were missing five players, including their top three scorers: Gerald Wallace, former Bellaire star Emeka Okafor and Kareem Rush.

    The Rockets played with the intensity of their recent three-game trip. Tracy McGrady, though struggling a bit with his shot and taking a Jake Voskuhl elbow to the face that might have broken his nose, had 29 points, eight rebounds and six assists in 28 minutes. The bench combination of Lonny Baxter and Chuck Hayes continued to provide a boost, with Baxter getting a season-high 18 points to go with 11 rebounds.


    Coach fired up

    Van Gundy got his team's attention long before the opening tip.

    "Coach did a full change in here," guard David Wesley said. "He did his best to simulate the road. We have a lot of amenities that guys are used to. People get used to coming in our locker room and hanging out. We don't travel with our injured guys, and they were kind of put to the side, too.

    "When you're injured, your mindset's different. You're not coming in for a game. You're loose. We don't usually travel with our injured guys. We focus better on the road. Everything to do with the road, that's how it was. If it makes a little difference, we need it. If it feels like it makes a difference, we need it. If it's psychological only, we need it."

    McGrady said he will likely need to wear a mask for Friday's game against Minnesota. He planned to get X-rays today.

    "The way it feels and the way it looks right now, there's a possibility it might be (broken)," McGrady said. "If it's broken, it's not going to prevent me from playing the next game.

    "It's basketball. It happened. He didn't try to do it. Voskuhl is a good guy. He stepped up, tried to help."

    McGrady sat out the fourth quarter, but by then, he was not needed.


    All about results

    "Take away McGrady, (and the Bobcats) have as good a players as we do," Van Gundy said. "I don't want to undersell (the win); it wasn't easy, nor did we expect it to be easy. I thought our guys competed really hard for the most part. It wasn't like we overwhelmed them with talent, that's for sure."

    He did not say how great a role redecorating played. But as he has often said, it's a results league.

    "It worked," Rockets guard Rafer Alston said. "It definitely worked."

    http://www.chron.com/disp/story.mpl/sports/3613501.html
     
  2. fromobile

    fromobile Contributing Member

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    I love Jeff Van Gundy
     
  3. rhester

    rhester Contributing Member

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    Van Grumpy hates losing and he will do something about it, even if he's wrong, and his passion is what it is... He wants this team to win- I like him. :)
     
  4. reggietodd

    reggietodd Contributing Member

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    A healthy Tmac and some inside rebounding sure makes Van Gundy look good. :p
     
  5. MR. MEOWGI

    MR. MEOWGI Contributing Member

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    Is he talking about the weak home crowd and lack of noise etc.?
     
  6. rocksolid

    rocksolid Contributing Member

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    I like what he's doing...The test of whether it's working will come in the next two games...I wonder if the injured players were upset about not being allowed in the locker room.
     
  7. emjohn

    emjohn Contributing Member

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    chicken or the egg

    It's hard to get excited about watching them take a dump on the court, and that's what I've been in the building to witness 6 times so far this season. I'm still going to games, I'll be at Minn and Miami and 6 others, but they're the ones that have to entertain me. I paid my 15 hundred bucks.

    Evan
     
  8. ima_drummer2k

    ima_drummer2k Contributing Member

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    I thought the same thing, but I've heard him get asked this kind of question before. He always retorts with the "we have to play better for the fans to get excited" or "I wouldn't cheer for us either" kind of reply. I don't think he blames the fans at all.

    I think what he meant is that he thinks the players are spoiled at home (by the luxurious surroundings and buffet etc) and wants to change that so they might actually play with some passion for a change.
     
  9. TMac640

    TMac640 Contributing Member

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    may i present what one of the greatest coaches of all time did in a similar situation.


    THIS is how you motivate your players.



    edit: http://www.cnnsi.com/thenetwork/news/2000/03/14/knight_indiana/
     
    #9 TMac640, Jan 26, 2006
    Last edited: Jan 26, 2006
  10. GRENDEL

    GRENDEL Contributing Member

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    I've always loved JVG's passion for winning. I hope our guys continue to play well and get motivated. 2 tough test coming up.
     
  11. tigermission1

    tigermission1 Contributing Member

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    LMAO! I must have missed that, never heard of it before. Yup, sounds like Coach Knight.
     
  12. TECH

    TECH Contributing Member

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    :eek: YACK!
     
  13. rocketstrike

    rocketstrike Member

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    T-Mac has a great attitude about being hit in the nose. Even if it's an accident, I still hate being hit in the nose-afterwards I feel like Ben Stiller in "Mystery Men"
     
  14. caphorns

    caphorns Member

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    This was truly a typical disgusting thing for him to do and the article correctly points out that dude was f'n verbally and physically abusive to his players. He was pathetic by the end of his Indiana tenure and just seems like a nobody now. What a surprise.
     
  15. TMac640

    TMac640 Contributing Member

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    if it ain't broke, don't fix it.
     
  16. KeepKenny

    KeepKenny Contributing Member

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    I always wondered myself how the team could play so hard on the road, where no one is cheering for them, and then lay egg after egg at home, where many more people are cheering for them. I figure we should just cheer for the other team so they the rockets would play with something to prove.

    Last night, the starting unit was lethargic as hell. Everybody just kind of running through the motions. Tmac not really attacking the basket, Rafer deferring to Tmac, and so on. Sadly, every home game i've been to starts pretty much the same way. However, when the bench brigade came in, the game changed completely. Rafer suddenly attacked the rim and created with great passes. There was a lot more hustle and movement in general.

    Our defense and rebounding got better when the old men (Juwan and Deke) went out. I hope JVG continues to play the guys who play the hardest (except Bowen).
     
  17. Will

    Will Clutch Crew
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    Hell, if we're trying to simulate the road, why not do it for real and move our home games to Oklahoma City. We keep losing to the team that did.
     
  18. droxford

    droxford Member

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  19. ima_drummer2k

    ima_drummer2k Contributing Member

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  20. Deckard

    Deckard Blade Runner
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    I'm not a huge Van Gundy fan, but I'm damned impressed with what he did. We've been playing like absolute crap at home. It was past time to do something... anything.

    (I just reminded myself of a Todd Rundgren LP... groovy)
     

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