Did you all see Rudy's technical foul tonight against SA? Mobley, in his "iso coach, iso" blows by his man to the left with a slight stumble as the defender sticks his foot out. The ref sucks wind into his whistle out of surprise for Mobley's speed, and while everyone is staring at him decides he must call something, so he says "palming". Porter brings the ball up with his casual palming and Rudy walks out ONTO THE COURT to get in Porter's way and proceeds to point at his palming. Rudy gets a T. And it didn't take but two more possessions for Porter to get called for palming. Reminds me of '95. What do you consider to be the defining moment of the title run? For me it was what happened 2 minutes into game one of the SA series. Dream vs Mr. MVP. First minute in the game, Mr. MVP does his one move to the basket--drops his shoulder and drives it directly to the basket...the refs oblige by calling Dream for a blocking foul for getting the middle of his chest in between Mr MVP and the basket. One minute later, very same things and Dream has 2 fouls in the first 2 minutes.... Millennium Moment: what happens next..... Rudy runs out onto the floor and demands them to call a technical,,,and demands another one (which they don't give him). 7 minutes later after we come back from unexpectedly early commercials...Dream is on the bench and the commentators are saying Dream got screwed...2 minutes later,,,Mr. MVP gets 2 fouls and they sit him down. Rudy stepped out onto the court demanding the refs respect the best player in the league, and best defender...they heard him, and got their collective asses out of Mr. Robinson's neighborhood, and Robinson NEVER gets that call again.... the rest is NBA history... Never underestimate the Heart of Rudy!!!
Got to say, some of this Rudy bashing is forgetting one thing...he sticks by his players, especially the youngs ones. He was weak coaching 3 dream teamers (I was very vocal against his decisions then), but lets look at this situation anew: 1. these players are not pointing fingers at each other 2. these players are not quitting at end of games 3. these players are thinking positive of the future when is the last time you've heard a disgruntled young rocket's players, much less one that demanded to be traded? That's got to say something about the intangibles of this coach, much underappreciated by constant rudy bashers.
Heypartner: Yor post was right on! (guess that dates me) Most of the complainers about Rudy profess to be so up on the minute details of picks, rolls etc. I doubt that their knowledge and judgement is really superior to our coaches. They certainly miss the big picture which is that the guys are playing hard and improving every day. The season starts bad. Then the Rockets improve. Barkley gets hurt and they get bad, but have improved again. The coach makes adjustment, but not as fast as the armchair coaches want. For instance it is real easy to say "bench Walt". any idiot can do that. It takes skill to do it at just the right time so that everyone on the TEAM feels it was right including Walt. Are we to assume that Pat Riley is not a good coach since he hasn't won a title lately. How about Lenny Wilkins,Chuck Daley ?
Gotta love him as a player? Don't think so. For one thing, you will never get out of his doghouse once you entered. No matter you are pulling rebounds like a magnet or making shots with your eyes closed, there is still no way for you to play 40 minutes a game. Rudy will be a perfect fit in communism/centrally organized economies, everything is rationed, including playing time.
Well, let me being in his Dog House, even if I can't play, as long as I get a $15 million dollar contract. ----------------- Dear Basketball God, let me be another Maloney, please!
FF, Rudy is well-known throughout the league as a player's coach...don't give me that. You want a distant coach with a doghouse so far away from the bench the players in it can't even sing the national anthem during a game...that's the legendary Pat Riley. Riley plays that game well...but that's not Rudy's approach. But you know, FF and Caveman, write something fun about this game. The coach bashing gets old. [This message has been edited by heypartner (edited December 17, 1999).]
Rudy is a Facist ...? Or a dictator... ? That's nutz ! Rudy is so respected by players, he draws them to this organization in far greater numbers then the team situation justifies, IMO> And respect is what it takes to win in todays NBA. Ask Brian Hill. We've had an incredible run of bad luck. One big error was mis-reading Quitten's guts. But really who knew he'd be such a worm ? I don't recall anyone posting that "oh oh, Quitten is plastic covered with gold leaf" here when he came aboard. Now Rudy must turn his attention towards molding a bunch of younsters, and I do mean kids. Ther are going be many frustrating nights like Wed., but when the corner gets turned, I think it will be clear that Rudy has done his job well again. Dear Santa, all I want for Xmas is for Hakeem to heal three weeks early. Thank You.
The Rudy bashing is not older than Rudy praising. So if it's getting old and stale so are Rudy praising. "Rudy is known throughout the league as a player's coach." Everything has two sides, determination and stagnance refer to the same thing, whcih is persistence in doing things, but are opposite in their meaning. For the same reason, a player's coach, may be loved or respected by players as he is smart and capable, or can be interpretted as being loose on players, further, gaining love by doing favors to players( am not implying Rudy is doing it). In the Rockets' case, rewarding players big money when they have done squat can lead to the reputation of being a "player's coach", a "player's organization", however, that is not a compliment. Back to your original post, asking for a T and let the refs know that they should enforce the rules impartially is a coach's duty, I don't see what does it have to do with a coach's popularity. Rudy was simply doing his job, a thing that basically every coach is doing in the league, protesting for unfair calls. I am not a Rudy hater, but not high on him either. Jcmedia: is the facist and dictator thing directed to my post? let me clarify it if it is, bringing up the rationing of playing time is to suggest Rudy's rigidity, not toimply he is a dictator. On the other side, you can say every coach is a dictator, as first, he is not elected but appointed by the big boss, second, coaches give players orders, not discussions. Communist countries and democartic countries both use rationing system when nessasary, so chill out, no one is calling your beloved coach a facist.
