ClutchFans Game Thread: Rockets @ Blazers 11/21/2003

The book on the Rockets is that they are a 1 dimensional team and the way to beat them is to blanket Yao and force their guards to make the right decisions. By now it should be painfully evident to everyone here that their backcourt is simply unable to think and play ball at the same time. Swear to God, Cuttino would not be any dumber if you cut his head off. The "Franchise" is not that far behind. Expect Mobley to be gone before January.

Our guards who should one of our strengths are in reality our most glaring weakness. If you press them, they will completely fall apart and quit trying to play even a semblance of team basketball. They are tremendous athletes who simply cannot play winning basketball and I'm afraid that I do not see any improvement from last year's unwatchable level of play.

So far under JVG, they look like an Eastern Conference team that is simply out of its league playing in the West. The players are catching most of the heat for this ugly play but JVG deserves some of the blame as well because his offense simply ain't working.

As for Yao, no one is afraid of him. Other teams have realized that if you surround him and slap at the ball, he will get confused and will turn over the ball. They have seen that he does not aggressively attack the hoop and they can count on the fact that he's playing with a set of guards that couldn't spell pass if their lives depended on it.

One final observation. If this team's fortunes rest upon the return of Piatkowski, then they are in more trouble than anyone realizes.

 

Sure, that's why the 8:3 start actually fooled us....

 

I'm talking about the whole game idiot.

 

What a smart ASS!

So you are the first one who discovered that Yao is not athletic enough. I guess your next discovery will be Yao cannot handle the ball as well as J Kidd, cannot jump as high as Francis! Wait, he is too tall to do that. Damn, he just doesn't cut it in this league.


daoshi

 

Just an example, but it didn't warrant a stfu.

 

Actually it is 2 points. The last 2 points was the last second when he was allowed to enjoy a moment.

Still, guards (Steve/Cat) don't trust the big man. Or they fear the team is becoming somebody else's team. Whatever, we want the team win, but the player want not only win, but their paychecks.

 

Francis and Mobley are redundant. Get rid of one, preferably Mobley, since Francis seems to be developing a better basketball-sense.

We've got two slashing, attacking guards when we really need one member of the backcourt to be a pure shooter. It was less important before Yao. But now, when that space develops on the perimeter after the D collapses, we haev to have a SG who can be depended to knock down the open 3 every time.

Bright side of the game: did anyone else see how good of a post entry passer Nachbar is? It's sort of pitiful that a frickin' demi-rookie is our best post entry guy... but there you have it. Still, nice to see that he's contributing.

 

Yep, any NBA player that's taller than Ben Wallace and gets less than 15 rpg is worthless.

 

I hope you're not a lawyer because your technical analysis is terrible. I was talking about CENTERS in this league averaging less than 10 rebounds per game are pathetic. When you're 7'6" and getting 9 rebounds a game and giving up offensive rebounds to the other team, well, nevermind your skull is too thick to comprehend common sense.

 

Oh, and incidentally, I had a real "throw the remote across the room moment" when Mobley took the ball away from Yao after a board.

Geez... he's so eager to not let Yao have the ball that he can't even wait till he crosses midcourt .

 

quit whining about the offensive rebounds people. give portland a little credit. check the stats. top offensive rebounding team and top overall rebounding team in the league.

 

Sorry, I know you are unhappy tonight. I am too but I just wanted do a little education. You may ignore that but I said don't let the 5 posts under this ID cheat you.

Good night!

 

Holy crap, DaDakota! You're about to roll over to 10,000 posts!!!!

-- droxford

 

I dont know what game you were watching. I thought yao did a pretty good job of helping his teamates on defense, which is why we lost so many rebounds.

Yao kepted us in the game pretty much the whole entire night.

If you wanna put the blame on somebody, you can blame Francis for not showing up or you can blame BONEHEAD THE CAT for giving our opponents the Ball.

 

Let's Not Overreact Folks.

Yes, it was a disappointing loss, but sometimes that's what we need to have in order to grow.

Some Of the Glaring Mistakes that I Saw
1. Lack of energy/Lack of urgency
2. Nachbar and Others failing to box out
3. Turnover differential/Points off turnovers killed us
4. Didn't protect the 3 esp against Damon Stoudamire

Bottom line, is that we failed to hustle. As a team, we are wholly more talented than the Trailbrazers, yet it's those lulls that we get into where the team gets complacent that kills us.

We Have To Prime Our Offense Like Revving an Engine
Personally, I think it was a mistake not calling more plays for Francis in the early going (e.g. Quarter 2, 3)... and for two reasons:

1. He never did get it going offensively
2. He was always on the defensive against Damon Stoudamire

Had Francis made Stoudamire work on both ends of the court, perhaps, Stoudamire would have had less confidence and energy to pull off what he did in the fourth quarter. Yao, IMHO, is easier to manufature offense through than, say Mobley or Francis. Whereas, Yao has a way of finding his high percentage shots, our two guards need "x" number of shots to get into their comfort zone.

Disappointing loss but fortunately, it's still early in the road trip.



theSAGE

 

Rockets have weak benches...that's the reason they lost. It doesn't matter if Steve or Cat didn't shoot much. The reason they lost is cuz because of weak benches, giving up too many offensive rebounds as always. And as much as they say going into Ming too much, actually one of the reason they lost is when Yao come out of the game, that's when Portland make a comeback, when Yao is in, he makes the team better. But as soon as he goes out, Rockets just couldn't pick up the intensity. They need a better group beside the Yao group on the paint. Also, this maybe funny...as much as they go to Yao Ming a lot tonight....it's still not enough though...cuz they need Yao to help them score anything tonight. It's like if they don't go to Yao, they're going to be behind...Just not enough Yao man!! Somtimes, i think they need to wait for Yao to get back up the court and post up and run plays for him...but the team were running up and down too quick and Yao couldn't catch up with that running and the team simply didn't go to him when they're on a break.

Even though we lost, I am encouraged by the competitive spirit of the whole team....man JVG really had these guys playing really hard out there. The change of the team from Rudy to JVG is like night and day. These guys were talking to each other, cheering for every points, kicking themselves for missing and arguing with refs..man this is a sign of a good team. I have no doubt Rockets will be an elite team from what i seen today. I believe what JVG said that when you play hard and smart, you will eventually win games. Rather than not playing hard and competitive and losing and getting frustrated like Rudy bring to the team last year, this team is going to be something to watch this year.

This team has weak benches and I can't wait for Pikowski and A. Griffin to come back and help this team cuz they really need depth out there. Torry Bragg really screwed up a lot in this game...can't handle the ball when he has clear to the basket and turning over. Also, I don't know about JVG taking Yao out when he's playing really well in the 1st quarter and when they're leading by double digits. You want to put a dagger down the opponents' throat when they're down ...u know what i mean, u don't want them to get up and give them any sign. That's why Damon Stautamire said, he was glad JVG took Yao Ming out when he's dominating the game in the 1st quarter. I think he should left him there when he's playing well. As soon as he take him out, the Rockets are a totally different team and Portland were able to chip away points. I understand he needs rest, but can't he just DO IT ONCE, leave him out there!!!!!!!!!

 

You're just plainly stupid.
Which center don't give up offisive rebounds to the other teams?

 

The dumbest thing I've heard so far? How can you blame it on JJ while Steve dribbled and then got trapped badly there before he throw it to JJ?

It's fans like you that degraded this board.

 

1. Congratulations to Stevie. Under his defense, Stoudamire beats him real badly on the dribble all night long. 23 points for the 5'10" Portland guard. The last play at the end with 4 seconds left was pathetic. He got the rebound, and basically everybody had stopped, but he wanted to add a garbage basket to his 2 points. Really lacks class. Tom Tolbert even said "Stevie is a great player, but not a true point guard". Leadership baby, leadership.

2. Yao as usual, can shoot, leading the team in accuracy. 21 points is pretty darn good for a team that's been struggling on the shooting. But 9 boards is just not enough. He needs to stop tipping the ball during the rebound competition. Just grab it hard. Defensively, he limited Dale Davis to 4 points. But since Stevie lost sight of Stoudamire through out the game, Yao was just sooooo vulnerable like a giant elephant trying to stop a little rat. Result? Lots of mismatch.

3. Let see, 2 minutes to go in the 4th quarter, Yao got the rebound of the Portland miss. Mobley "stole" the ball from Yao, but he lost the ball back to the hands of Portland which resulted in a Jeff McCinnis trey. The game was basically over with that staggering basket. But Mobley did his job on the offensive end. Defensively, Mobley did a great job on McCinnis, limited him to 3 of 13 shootings.

4. Cato, 11 boards, good hustle. But 0 for 5 really sucked, including a miss on an easy dunk.

5. Nachbar 1 for 5. Never really expect anything from the guy, so he's already a bust.

6. Not a bad night for Jim Jackson, but come on, his defensive assignment Randolph really went wild for a period of time.

7. Taylor had a good shooting night, but only 2 rebounds in 25 minutes. Come on, he's gotta be better than that. He made several silly mistakes.