Before I start this thread this has nothing to do with knee-jerks or anything, I'm just here to tell you why the Rockets have been crushed by the Lakers in the last 2 games. Right now, Most of our guys are playing with no passion, no motivation, no desire and no hope of winning this series or any of the games anymore. It seems like ever since we won Game 1 in LA, our entire team has been too content to compete anymore. We have matched if not outplayed there physically strength, but far from there mental strength Lamar Odom and Luke Walton have gotten into Luis Scola's head. Ever since the start of Game 2, he has been playing below average games. Missing open layups, getting completely rejected by the Lakers forwards, lacking aggression and not playing much defense. Luis Scola's mental mindset is not in the game right now, and he was huge for us to take out the Blazers Sasha has completely gotten into Von Wafer's head. We saw this coming since Game 1, when Von had the same amount of points as everybody on clutchfans. Sasha's dirty and aggressive antics have completely gotten into Von's head. We saw him bounce back in Game 3, but we saw absolutely no desire, motivation or passion to win or play the game of basketball. Kobe has completely gotten inside the head of Ron Artest. It started in the beginning of Game 3. Last night, in Game 3. I saw absolutely no desire, motivation, passion or hunger to win or play basketball last night. All I saw was the old Ron Artest jacking up 3 pointers after 3 pointers and missing the majority of them. It didn't matter if he was open or if the shot was contested. He missed all of them. There are only 3 or 4 guys that are playing mentally strong right now. Those guys are Chuck Hayes, Kyle Lowry, Yao Ming and Shane Battier. They know how big these games are and they are not buying the Lakers dirty garbage. It takes all 8 players in this rotation to be physically and mentally ready to take out the Lakers. Let's honestly hope Ron and Yao will play in Game 4 and let's hope this entire team is physically and mentally ready.
bullcrock. everyone knows this rocket team plays with passion and desire every minute of every game. we play every game like its a game 7 for the most part. a team beats us not because they outwork us, but because they are simply better than us.
We could have won game 2 easily. Mentally, they are/were breaking down. We need bravery and firepower, "war feelings" and martial spirit, and I don't think T-mac should be sitting on the bench much less expected to lead them to it. I don't care if he doesn't say a word and sits pretty. We need to do what we can
I think Rockets will be fine mentally for game 4. It's the mental toughness of the fans I'm more worried about right now
stop complaining, for christ's sake. try to take any player or a combination of players whose payroll totals a 20mil. then we see what happens.
Yao Ming slowness is another reason we lost. He had so many easy point blank dunks and got blocked because he takes too many time to rise up and dunk. Second of all, we're giving them too many 2nd chance shots and as i was watching i am thinking they were lucky ....because the ball keep bouncing to the Lakers outside the paint. 3rd, way too many turnovers.
I hope and do think so as well. I'm not saying this series is over am I? I'm pointing out the current flaws in this team so far and why we are down 1-2. Mental weakness.. We have matched or outplayed them physically. But mentally we are very inferior to them. Kobe said he was happy after Game 1, because he knows his team wasn't going to play like that again and it was one of there worst games this season. If we get smarter and grow up faster, we can win this series.
Lamar Odom is destroying Scola. And its embarrassing. Adelman has to make a change here. Right now Scola cant hold Odom's jock. Im sorry but its true.
Its just as simple as making shots. The Lakers got the same shots in game but no one was hitting them. They got open looks last night and nailed most of them. Odom, Vujacic, Walton, and Ariza all hit most of their open shots which they did not in game 1. Battier did a decent job on Kobe after his hot 1st quarter, holding him to just 6-22 for the rest of the game, 2 of those makes being tough buzzer beaters. The Rockets simply just did not execute well enough on offense and had too many turnovers which let the Lakers get many easy points. I'd take another game of Kobe shooting 11-28 but their role players hitting shots makes things difficult. They're a great tema when their role players come to play, but they can be very inconsistent as we witnessed in game 1. We have to hope for more inconsistency next game and reduce turnover that boost the Lakers confidence with free possessions.
Anyone remember the last time the Rockets played the Lakers at home on ABC, and at the same start time at that? I think we'll come out on fire and win Game 4. Depends on Yao's ankle though. Hopefully our man is alright. We can do this. The Rockets just laid a giant egg last night.
I don't think mental has anything to do with it. The lakers are just playing better basketball then the rockets right now.
The only player lacking it the confidence department at this point is Aaron Brooks. He needs to get that Game 1 swagger back...then we'll be fine.
He's pretty much the complete opposite of Ray Allen. Allen sucks on Game 1's but plays consistent and well in those other playoff games. Brooks is good on Game 1's, but plays INCONSISTENT and garbage in those other playoff games. Obviously and mentally does have something to do with it. You really think if this team was mentally ready you would see a bunch of passive players who are still jacking up contested 3's? Best post, I saw in this thread. We made a good risk, and the Lakers did a good job especially Lamar Odom in making there 3's and playing aggressive basketball. Again, Physically we have matched them or outplayed them. But mentally they are just owning us.
oh come on. we are probably the mentally toughest team in the league. in case u didnt notice, we always shoot jumpers, especially when yao is being defended like that.
We weren't mentally weak when we were playing and beating the Blazers, but now we're suddenly weak because we're playing a team better than us
