Everyone knows I am a big Jeff Van Gundy supporter. And last night shows why. We most likely lost this series. But you see whats going on, right? I know this mans coaching will win us a championship. How? Because: 1) How many times did Shaq fall on the floor? Any easy buckets? Was he in a box most times or what? 2) The 3 hour practices will pay off soon. Who looked beat up? The Rockets? Or the Lakers? With this type of defense, I personallly think the Lakers couldn't breathe most times. They were on LOCK DOWN. And look at the rebounds. This is Van Gundy at his best. Preparation. Hellified defense. Crash the boards. Whoop your ass. Still need to work on the offense. But this was awesome to see. Its ugly basketball. But I KNOW the Lakers don't want to play us. This is the exact team they can't handle. Did you see Mobley? I was like "Is that Mobley?" In your face. Where was that last year? Did you see Jackson? Did you see the team in generally diving for the ball? Rotation? Crashing the boards? HACKING to remind the Lakers that this is not going to be easy. Yea, we need a PG. And I am starting to believe that Francis might not be the answer. But I love this team. I love this coach. I like to see the Lakers breathing hard. I like Kobe trying to do his typical BS and not being able to do it. I like Shaq falling to the ground. I like Kobe falling to the ground. F$#k the easy layups. The refs swallowed their whistles on both sides. This is the playoffs. When was the last time the Rockets hounded people like this? 1993? 1994? This is exactly what I want from my team this year. Effort. Intensity. Even if we lose, the league will take note. On the negative, the offense sucks. But thats because Yao is not getting the ball. You see those passes he makes? Beautiful. Lets hope Gundy in the offseason makes offensive adjustment. But the defense is rock solid. I think we have the best. And with that, we have a chance to win most of the time and win this series.
i agree, the offense was fugly, and the box score makes it look like a highschool game, but watching the D was orgasmic. huge props on Cat for being a Kobe-killer by showing and not saying. if we learn to turn it over less, we will have a vicious next game. we should have won that one, but we showed a lot of people that this is not a series to ignore.
I agree with everything mentioned above. While losing last night definitely hurt our chances of advancing I think we could very well win game 2 by a pretty decent margin. Think game 1 vs LA on X-mas day kind of win. I think JVG will employ a few more plays to get us some easy baskets such as back cuts that worked so well ln game 4 of the regular season against the Lakers. That's how Cuttino I believe shot 6/6 in the first quarter with something like 14 points. Lots of back cuts ala Kings ball and easy buckets. I honestly believe our game had everything to do with gitters with this being the first playoff game for most of our guys. Francis and Mobley 7 TO each? I know they're not known for their decision making but even for those two that's a hell of a reach. They'll play better, even if their offensive numbers don't. I expect them to take care of the ball better than last game since the 1st quarter was really where our TOs killed us. Shaq and Yao? I dunno what to expect from Yao. I think he did a more than admirable job on Shaq. You look at Shaqs numbers and think 20/17? He must of dominated. Yes he did, in the first quarter. From then on out he was pretty much out of the game. I dunno how we kept him to such quiet numbers for the last 3 quarters but whatever it was, keep doing it. I just really believe the Rockets lost the game because they kept shooting themselves in the foot moreso than the Lakers being a flat out better basketball team. You can say it's the nagging injuries the Lakers are carrying that's helping or whatever you want, but the fact of the matter is, we were one shot away from leading the series 1-0, and we only played stronger as the game went later in the game. We didn't pull a Spurs from a few years ago and start off strong but finish weak. We got stronger and that's definitely motivating as a fan watching this team play. It looked like a blowout at the start. We didn't let ourselves get bullied around. We bullied back. I loved that. And win or lose as much as it would be nice to advance to round 2, I already can tell that this one playoff game has done worlds of help in experience for our guys who have never been there, and the guys that have but were never such a pivotal role previously. It's a win win situation to me.
I loved his D on Kobe and our help D in general when we Kobe established deep position. Watching Kobe try and shoot those fadeaways and watching Mobley knock them out of his hands clan was great to watch. It got to the poitn where it was almost expected watching Mobley knock Kobe's shots clean before they could even get off. I wonder if those count as blocks, because if so Mobley should of registered atleast 3 blocks last night doing just that.
Why are so you suprised about Mobley? He's been playing good defense all year long, even dating back to last year. I've been preaching for years about how he would become one of the better players on this team if he buckled down to improve his game and Mobley has not disappointed on any front. Yeah, he turned the ball over 7 times last night, but that is not the norm for him. This season he had his 3rd lowest turnovers per game total since coming into the league. He's making better decisions when shooting the ball and has continued to step up his defense. I've said it before and will say it again, Cuttino Mobley is arguably the 2nd best player on this team. Regarding Francis, I'm 110% for trying to trade him in the offseason UNLESS he steps up his game and gets the Rockets past the first round. If he continues turning the ball over at an alarming rate, in addition to dominating the ball during almost every 24 second possession, Rockets management needs to take a long, hard look at moving him. I'm not saying make a move just for the sake of doing so, but if a good offer comes across the table, definitely consider it. I agree with you that they have a chance to win this series, but guys are going to have to play smarter. The defense was outstanding, but I am concerned about the refs swallowing their whistles. There were alot of missed calls on both sides of the floor. The Lakers(Shaq) have been taking it at Yao the last couple games and have gotten him into early foul trouble. If the refs start calling the game the way it should be, things could get ugly and we could be out in 4. Another thing, how many passed up shots did you count last night? I lost count. It's ridiculous how many times one of our guys will receive the ball off of a crisp pass only to hold it and wait for the defender to get in position and get their hands up. TAKE A FRIGGIN SHOT! Enough of my rant....ROCKETS IN 7 if they wake up and realize they are in the playoffs. The only way to stay alive is to stay focused, don't let the other team or the refs get to you and keep fighting for 48 entire minutes.
fully agree with Pimp.... Cat has done everything that he has needed to this year to play VG-Ball....lots less stupid shots....stellar defense....works hard from start to end. Anyone that lumps him in with SF as far as stupid guards go plainly hasnt been watching. 4-19 That isnt a bad shooting night from Kobe....that was Cat shutting his punkass down! This team is so dangerous. If they hadnt taken all first quarter to get the playoff jitters out, this game would not have even been close.....I would wager that better than 50% of the turnovers came in the first quarter when the whole team seemed too nervous to do anything right....as the game when on, they just got stronger and stronger... Most expect the Fakers to come out harder next game......well, dont forget that the Rockets didnt even play their best ball last night....and still only lost by a smidgen. This will be a series to remember.....Yao will do better....SF will do better...JJ will hit those open shots more often than he wont...Mo wont always get into foul trouble after 3 minutes. We can do it! You just have to believe! nice posts Almoo and PImp...Im with yall on this.
I disagree here, if I remember correctly, yesterday's game is the third straight game we lost to Lakers this season, we won first two. Lakers played a subpar game yesterday, Malone's shot just flat sucked, he was mostly wide open while we double-team Shaq. Kobe plays like sh*t, Payton is a no show. That is why I am so sorry we didn't steal that one. Lakers will play a lot harder than the first one. And pls don't overrate JVG's defense, what he is good at is half-court defense. He has a lot of trouble facing western conference teams, this years' record proved it. And remember, teams like Mavs and Kings don't slow down to play half court, even in playoffs. Lakers is probably the only team other than us who can only play half-court. That is the favourite team we like to face in the playoffs, and if we still can't win two or more games in the series, it will be disappointing.
I loved the defensive intensity. Rockets were more physical and giving the Lakers problems in the paint. Shaq had to work hard for his baskets, and was being knocked to the floor. He was dominant, but he was taking a beating, and was exposed on defense a few times. Kobe had no post-up game and couldn't get any points going to the basket. Cat shrugged off most of Kobe's pump fakes, and knocked the ball away on Kobe's turnaround J's. There were very few easy buckets given up, and fast break points were at a minimum. The Lakers are vulnerable. They're old, not completely healthy, and couldn't control the tempo against the Rockets. They couldn't take advantage of Houston's turnovers. You had a couple HOFers reluctant to shoot the ball in Malone and Payton. I didn't see the same arrogance in the Lakers that they usually display. If the refs call the rest of the series the same way, I think it's to Houston's advantage. The offense sucks though. The pick-and-roll needs work, and we need more Steve and Cuttino going to the basket. Bryant and Payton can be exposed there. Yao has to be more of a presence on offense. More hard picks on Bryant and Payton, too, I hate those guys .
Great points but we NEED Steve. The guy is fearless and showed incredibble heart and BALLS. This guy played AWESOME under pressure where most of you blame him for not playing well under pressure. No one else was playing well offensively on the team except for MO T and Steve continually went to the basket and wasn't scared of Shaq or Malone. Yao played great defense the second half and the team played excellent team defense, their rotations were great and they doubled shaq perfectly. The only problem was that they didn't dump it into YAO enough and they didn't run many pick n rolls for yao who could get wide open 16-17 ft jump shots on Shaq who won't come out and guard YAO. Yeah steve & Cat had 7 TO's but those came early in the game where they were pumped up and adrenaline was flowing. I bet the TO's get lower the second game. The ROX only had 7 TO's the 2nd half and dominated the boards and points in the paint. PEACE.
We can play with anybody if we can slow it down and grind it out. In the playoffs that's what generally happens. I feel as though our style of play will keep us close against anyone in the playoffs but the key will be how we excute in the final minutes of the game. Is the style of play ugly? Yes. But that's how it goes in the playoffs. Guys are playing their hearts out and looking to stop baskets at all costs. We can do it.
Good points all around about the defense, but we need to change the way we have been doing offensively! We have an advantage against almost anyone BUT the Laker with an Inside-Out, Dump-It-To-Yao strategy. The Lakers are very vounerable against PnR, AND dribble penetration, which is why the Rockets always had success against them before Yao's arrivial. Did you guys see what Parker, Nash, Bibby did to them before? Last night, most of our openning were from PnR around top-of-the-key, not passes from Yao in the post. Too bad, Francis wasn't confident enough to take those wide-open shots! Cat did a great job on Bryant last night, but we need his offense. Next game, JVG needs to have our big guys set some picks for him to get some open looks. Attacking Bryant on offense will wear him out as well.
Good post Almu. I loved what I saw from the Rocket's D last night...its too bad we couldn't capitalize on the great defensive performance. I hope everyone got their 'playoff jitters' out of them, which I say half hearted because I didn't really think it affected their games all too much. The Rox offensive performances were all expected when a better defensive effort is applied by the Lakers...the backcourt turning it over, Yao not getting involved enough, JJ shooting too much(and bricking a lot), and no roleplayers stepping up. I thought the Laker's D should get more credit than we are giving them. On the other hand, when you're not being an efficient team and your defense is geared toward slowing down the game and getting the most out of every possession, you're usually not going to win.
The Defense was good throughout the game, but that's it. The Lakers third quarter malaise was just as much due to poor shot selection and MISSING OPEN LOOKS as it was the Rockets. I found much of this game the same old brand of unwatchable JVG ball. The fourth quarter held interest because it was a close game. In general "what I see" is lack of scoring and wasted offensive potential.
and with a terrible offense we have a chance to lose most of the time and lose this series. our D was as good as it's going to get and we still didn't win. why does the converse never seem to be true when people bring up "defense wins championships?" i will say this, though, the lakers played D about as well as they can also. when the game started, i wasn't even sure i was watching the right game b/c the lakers were actually getting up on people and playing defense. i was almost thinking "hey, that's not fair, they're not allowed to do that" b/c it's so seldom you see them actually try on D. we need the games to be a little more open than last night to win. our offense seems to improve exponentially the weaker a teams D gets but the D doesn't seem to disimprove as quickly. give our O some breathing room but allow our D to still do it's thing and we're better off. shut us off completely the way the spurs do and eventually we'll lose even if it's close.
What I see is a one-dimensional team playing an Eastern Conference style of basketball in the Western Conference and that won't get the job done at all. This was my biggest reservation about the hiring of JVG - that the Rockets would end up looking like the NY Knicks or Miami Heat and boy, do they ever. While their defensive intensity and prowness is indeed noteworthy, ultimately at some point, they will have to put the ball through the hoop in order to win. This is the one area where they have consistently fallen short this past season. They are simply dreadful on offense. I have no earthly idea what they were trying to do offensively on Friday night. Walton got it right when he observed that the Rockets were not running any set offensive plays - particularly in the 2nd half. They blew a golden opportunity - to take one in LA. This was the LA Lakers who were there for the taking and all the Rockets could muster was a measely 71 points. So while everyone here is congratulating them over their "lockdown" defense, let's not lose sight of the fact that they are still a very average team with the odds stacked against them in this series.
Agree with you. Steve is real leader when the team need him.I only give him a suggesstion that he should make right decision when passing or dribbling.
A few overloooked numbers..... 101-100 / 110-98 / 98-88 94.2 <> 90.8 The first three are the scores of the three Rocket losses to the Lakers in the 1998-99 playoffs. The second set are ppg averages of the 98-99 Rox vs JVG's Knicks' average ppg for his 5 seasons.
I rather win ugly than lose pretty. They give Yao more opportunities instead of jacking up shots all over the place, we win the game by 5. They stop making stupid mistakes and turning the ball over, we win by 15. Offense had nothing do to with it. On their BEST defensive nights, the Lakers aren't as good as the Rockets. And if we score 85 points (which is HORRIBLE in the NBA) but the other team scores 78, I will take that every day of the week. That type of output by the Rockets is totally reachable if Yao just gets 15 points!! Stop jacking the ball up and we have a better chance.
