This was one of the best and most entertaining Rockets game I've seen in a long time. After the shock that came after blowing another one these thoughts popped into my head: 1) Why can't the Rockets ever hold on to big leads?? In every Rockets game I can remember, they always keep blowing them. I just expect it every single game. It's just so damn frustrating. 2) Why the heck do we slow the pace down once we establish the commanding lead? Why can't we keep going to what was working (running game)?? I see this happen time after time. It's like Rudy thinks we are getting too far ahead and thinks we need to give the opponent a chance to get back into it. 3) Drew can be a solid player. He made some very good plays late in the game and actually did a pretty good job replacing Steve Francis. He showed some great hustle out there and his effort was tremendous. Great play to keep the ball alive on that one play, Bryce! Hopefully he'll keep this up. 4) Cuttino, quit making stupid plays! Yeah, Mobley has been doing great, but I can't take it it when he just launches a shot. He did hit some big shots and made some big plays, but he needs to stop making mistakes. He looked like more of a rookie than Francis out there tonight. 5) Steve is just tremendous. I cannot believe how great this guy is. He does it all. He made some awesome plays down the stretch and he showed Kidd a thing or two. This guy will be better than Iverson. Not only is he flashy and a great one on one guy, he can also throw some sweet passes. His shooting is also more dependable. 6) Shandon played a great game, but I can't believe how he srewed up late in OT. He missed some key FT's and he rushed that last play which led to a Phoenix fast break. Let me just stress that I do think he played a tremendous game, things just didn't go his way towards the end of that one. 7) We need to hit our free throws. This team is collectively becoming Shaquille O'Neal. They play a great game with tremendous stats, but they blow games just because they can't hit from the stripe. It's just a shame to lose that way. 8) We play better without Dream (same with Charles). Two post-up players is just too much. One is enough. Dream is not neccessarily the problem, it's just the fact that we have too many key guys who base their games on the post up offense. ------------------ Francis+Charles+Dream-Pippen= Rockets 2000 NBA Champions [This message has been edited by Ace (edited December 01, 1999).]
I've only seen a couple of the national games, but it appears to me that the Rockets are running out of gas in the fourth quarter. I don't think that this team is in good enough condition yet to play the running style that they want to. They absolutely hit the wall late in tonight's game, imo.
Francis, Even thought he's pissed me off a few times, you have to give him credit for trying so hard and making some great plays down the stretch. He hit a grea three as well and he played respectable defense. I would not mind seeing a trade, though. Maybe his value has gone up recently, who knows? ------------------ Francis+Charles+Dream-Pippen= Rockets 2000 NBA Champions
