This isnt knee jerk at all. We rarely put an embarrassing performance on the court, even this season. But our last two games, coupled with the Utah game earlier in the year, its becoming a trend. We lose games often, 5 point losses, 8 point losses, 1 point losses. Blowout losses are relatively rare, but a couple of them have some commonalities.
even with battier, the rockets have not been solid defensively team since early in the season. STOP OVERRATING PLAYERS!!!!! a couple years ago i would agree, but battier is declining quickly and there is no way he has that big of an impact on our team. all we have talked about all year is the OFFENSE, how we need to get rid of t-mac so our OFFENSE can flow smoothly, we trade landry (hard worker), for a scorer who doesnt play ANY defense. we all got what we asked for and thats it. we are the golden state warriors
i guess battier is supposed to guard everyone on the thunder tonight huh? stupid thread. thunder aresuper deep and super athletic.
Didn't the same thing happen when Ariza went down? And then Lowry? We lost tonight because we had absolutely no depth on the bench besides Lowry and Bud. Ariza has been much better than Battier on both ends of the floor imo.
I dunno, the 66 point one was not so much us containing the other team as much as just not scoring. We can see if the trend continues for the final stretch.
too many ppl undervalue how invaluable he is to this team Ariza is nowhere near the defenser Shane is, all he does is gamble and play the passing lanes i thought he'd be at least a better defender than what he is
To be honest I'd rather have a objective opinion on this, because the OP starter was already biased toward Battier. And 3 games is not enough of a sample size.. The best way to judge Battier's impact would be to have the rockets completely healthy, except Battier. If anything else is going on, such as other injuries besides Battier then there are simply too many factors to control..For instance how about the fact the Rockets went 4-8 with Lowry out. Oh..but wait? Hasn't lowry been back the last 3 games, yet we're losing. What about the fact that the bulls could be a bad matchup for us and the thunder were desperate for a win?
We have been playing 500 ball without Ariza. Without Lowry, our record is really bad. LOL is all I can say
Kyle Lowry I agree with. Chase- not really, many nights when he's here he doesn't play that many minutes, big or otherwise. Ariza?- Seriously? Who ever blamed losses on not having him? He sucks.
Seems to me like there's a common denominator somewhere when you say two MIAMI games. Humm...i wonder what Miami could possibly have that hurts us. Nice weather. No. Hot women? Possibly. Hurricanes?? Yeah i bet that was it! I do think it's too early and too small a sample size to know how much it's affecting the team...but technically you can also add the NY game. When battier came in with other subs early in the first half was when Houston finally made some stops and overcame the deficit. Houston didnt really stop anyone after battier got injured. Had it not been for jeffries drawing charges they would have had a good shot to score against us... As for him being only one guy and not "being able to guard everyone on the Thunder"...he doesnt have to. On defense sometimes you play "follow the leader". When the offense is set and somewhat still, the defense should be also, no big deal. Once the offense starts picking and cutting, then nothing it set again and is all over the place. Most of the time battier has been able to think on the fly on defense and make the right choice when it comes to rotating, doubling, and picking up guys on the break. Thats extremely important because it means the other defenders have less to think about and process, they just fall in place after battier makes a move. If that leader doesnt make the decisions quickly enough or correct enough, then they'll cause confusion between the other defenders and cause them to hesitate. Even hesitating 1-2 secs is too much, that can be the difference between a blocking foul or a charge, an open shot or a contested one, etc...
Eh...Battier is important but he isn't the difference between a win or a lose. Just taking the three games mentioned... Utah - Lowry and Ariza both were out too. Chicago - We played pretty good "D" actually and were within three late. OKC - Durant scores on EVERYONE, maybe we lose by 10 instead of 18 but a loss is a loss no matter the score. Battier is the prototypical glue guy so his presence is missed but like others have mentioned what is the excuse in the Miami games, Toronto and the Orlando games?
The Battier/ Ariza issue is debatable. One is better offensively, the other better defensively. I think the key guy for the team right now is Aaron Brooks. If he shoots badly we tend to lose. If he gets torched on the defensive end we tend to lose. Battier maybe the team captain and leader, Scola maybe hardnosed, but if Brooks play is poor, other than Scola and Martin, the team looks bad.
