Yao had a so-so game. Artest had a bad game .... but again it's one game, against the best team in the league with Kobe going nuts at the end. You guys are just over-reacting ... again ... after every loss ...
I do agree that people are overreacting after that loss. I can easily say that I did expect that and I am not suprised at all. The thing is, I don't really like the way we lost this game. Once again we had the lead. We are good enough to have an early lead on anybody in this league, but we simpley always give it away. That is not what good teams do and unless we start playing well for the whole 48 minutes, we will not anything in the playoffs. Just watch the last 4 or 5 minutes of the game. There is NO Yao Ming and Ron Artest is turning into a better version of MJ (sadly, only in his mind). We are just completly LOST, we usually play no offense. We are gonna miss T-Mac. Sure, a healthly T-Mac. He has always been a good playmaker and passer and hell, he could score. We are gonna miss it in the playoffs. I don't like the way Ron is playing. Sure, he looks WONDERFUL when his 3s are going in, but when they don't he doesn't do anything else, but shoot. Play within the offense and Rick, please take the ball out of Ron's hands in the last 4 minutes. He sucks at handling the ball and he doesn't like to pass, because he thinks he can do it all by himself. Kobe is Kobe. He is gonna do things like that and that is why you have to have stars to win something. We sure missed T-Mac in that game. Shane Battier. You guys know I love this player but he is becoming simply useless. He can't hit his 3s and his defense is not that good. Sit him, get the microfracture done because he is not helping. Bad, but not suprising game.
were we watching the same game? we lost the lead in the beginning of 2nd half. he's really a shoot-first guard that doesn't like to pass by nature. did you see how he jacks up those 3s in the beginning of 2nd half instead of setting up yao first? the team goes away from yao once they 'think' they have a lead. just so pathetic. ppl want to get their share of points. on the other hand, yao needs to be more selfish and start to attack the double-team rather having these pathetic passouts. we are good, we are just not CONSISTENTLY good. which defines a great, championship calibre team.
Only if the game just lasted two quarters...we'd probably have the best record in the league... Things I hope Adelman learns from our most recent losses 1) Double team Kobe when the game is on the line... 2) Play a zone defense against Utah when Yao is in the game
Yao needs to seal and throw some 'bows in people's faces. Ron needs to stop gambling on defense and just play straight up. If he didn't gamble in the 4th yesterday, the lakers would have had a tougher time pulling away. He gets too emotional there. He just needs to stay in front of his man more.
A tale of two halves! Where to start... first, the sky is not falling. We're a good team, but we have a long way to go. The Lakers are just a much better team - damn I hate typing that! First half, the ball movement, effort, almost everything was NICE. I LOVED the way the second unit came in and showed great defense/ball movement - it bodes well for our team for the next couple of years. Yao/Louis were getting touches and showing results. If only the game had ended there... Doesn't matter what sport it is, the 3rd quarter (for the sports that have one) is always my favorite. It's where any adjustments have been made and you can see where the good teams are. Last night you could see the Lakers made the adjustments and the Rockets...not so much. And what's with Artest channeling T-mac??!!! Step away from the 3-pt line! If your shot is not falling, STOP #$@$@#ing taking it!!! Yao, if he can ever get an entry pass, and learn how to seal off his man, has got to ATTACK the basket quicker and not wait for the double every time. Lakers were great about doubling and cutting off his passing lanes forcing him into bad passes and turnovers. Lastly, do you remember when Shane used to have a shot? Those were good days. He needs to go back to tape of when he was making them and see what's changed in his form. day off. regroup. come back on Fri and get back on track! Go ROCKETS!!!! -Humer
Yall still believe Artest is better than Tmac after last night's game vs. LA??? All he did is get embarrassed and dominated by Kobe in the 2nd half, and Kobe had every right to laugh his ass of at him and declare "I kicked Ron's Ass tonight!" Ron is a good defensive player with an attitude who can knock down the 3 pointer and outmuscle smaller guards. Thats what he is. He isn't a superstar, he is paid 8 million, which is just right for his play (maybe 10 mil/per year). He's a good player and a hard working player, but when it comes to offensive skills, playmaking and basketball IQ, he's just a buffed up, meaner version of Tayshaun Prince. The truth is, the Rockets needed somebody with his attitude and we could have used him in mismatches, because every team in the NBA will gameplan to stop Tmac, and put their bigger, better defender on him, rather than Ron Artest. I wonder what the reason for that is?? Even on one leg, teams game planned to stop Tmac. Ask any NBA coach or player. They'll all try to stop Tmac before Artest on the Rockets. Artest is what Josh Howard is to Dirk or Odom is to Kobe, an extra option to take some pressure off the playmaking star wing player. They will have favorable matchups because the star on their team will draw the bigger or better defender every night. Last night, Kobe lit Ron up and shut him down. Simple as that. I know in recent matchups Kobe has done a good job on Tmac as well, but Tmac was hurt. The last time they were both healthy, Tmac had 30 points on good shooting, while Kobe had 43 points on 39 shot attempts. This was the 07/08 season opener game. Last night, a healthy Tmac would've made a huge difference in the game. He sure as hell would be able to get Yao a post entry pass, rather than people trying to bounce pass it to him (Brooks) or Artest being denied by Kobe. He would have ran pick and roll effectively with Yao, when Yao was being fronted. He can get Yao, Scola and Landry layups, he would get Brooks and Artest wide open 3's. Just admit that Tracy McGrady is an amazing talent that we sorely miss right now against the elite teams in the NBA. If yall want to be haters about it, then fine, but tell me what Artest did last night against a great team vs. the best player in the league...get embarrassed offensively and even in his strong part of his game, defense. It was Mr. MVP who had his way with Artest in the 2nd half. I'm no Laker fan or Kobe fan by any means. I'm just telling the truth. It hurts sometimes, especially if you are a Tmac hater or a bandwagon Artest fan cuz he's had a good shooting month. The Rockets need Tracy McGrady or a player with similar talent (can make plays for himself and others, and can get Yao the ball in spots he can score, and score when the team needs him to score). Yao is great, but if teams front him or double him, he can be taken out of a game, and we'll have to hope that Von Wafer will step up or Brooks or Artest has a good shooting night, to help out Yao, Scola and Landry. You don't realize what you had once its gone (I know yall may say drama cuz of this year, and I don't disagree with yall on that), but when it comes to on the court, the last 4 years, Tmac did his thing, carrying us. We will miss him in the playoffs, even if we get past the 1st round, we won't beat the elite teams without him. We sure as hell aint beating those teams with Artest as our #2 option either...
Kobe kicked Ron's ass, but embarrassed TMac to death in their last match. Tmac had like 1-9 and 3 points last time. At least Ron made Kobe work. TMac relied on Battier to defend Kobe and couldn't do a damn thing on offense.
Tmac was hurt, so thats not even relevant in my opinion (as far as 1-on-1 comparison). It doesn't change the result, but he's a smart enough player to stop shooting if his shot is off. When healthy, Tmac attack the basket and try to get to the foul line or set up his teammates if his shot isn't falling. I also never said Tmac was a great defender or better than Ron at defending. Artest is a good defender right now. He used to be a great defender. But right now, he's a good, solid, physical defender. And you say he made Kobe work...Apparently, Ron didn't make Kobe work hard enough, cuz he lit us up for 18 in the 4th...and embarrassed Ron in the process (cuz Ron kept trying to say, "Kobe isn't ready for Queensbridge" and Kobe could rightfully laugh that off. Ron is a good defender, but he gambles way too much, example: that 3 he gave up to Kobe with 2 seconds left on the shot clock. Just stay disciplined and make him take a contested 3. That shows you Ron's lack of bball IQ. He tried to get into Kobe's head, but in reality, Kobe got into his. Just believe me on this, there is NO WAY you can say Artest is better than Tmac offensively. He shoots 3's better when open. Thats it. Defensively, Artest is superior to Tmac, but that wouldn't have made a difference yesterday. Tmac's offensive playmaking abilities definitely would have.
according to some of the posts i have read, we should probably tank the rest of the season since we lost to the lakers last night! KOBE BRYANT did what KOBE BRYANT has done, and was supposed to do, he closed out the game. i am not surprised that we lost a close game to the lakers. i see this as a learning experience for the team, now they know what to expect when we meet them in the playoffs. also to join in the mcgrady vs artest discussion, here is a objective view of things. a healthy mcgrady is better offensively than a healthy artest a healthy artest is better defensively than a healthy mcgrady you guys should shut up about mcgrady this and mcgrady that. he is no longer playing for the team at the moment, lets support the players that we got and not the players we wish we had, even tho ron did play like doo-doo tonight!
He is the reason the Rockets were in the game and had the lead, those 2 to wasn't in crunch time you idiot. Artest is the one who blew it in crunch time. You going to blame a bench player for not showing up in crunch time, isn't that Yao's and Ron's fault, they do get paid 10x as much
The reason they (Yao/ any other postmans/ coaches) do this is that you have to make sure the double team is not coming the second you put the ball on the floor, they'd strip the ball from you for sure. If they don't double you right away, you can actually make your move but you have to do it quick, it has to be a quick turn around shot or at most 1 dribble move. If you don't do it quick, you'd lose the ball or charge into someone. You can not make a quick move every time either, if teams know your tendency, they will be ready and they'll come quickly the next time. They don't double you right away everytime before the postman has to put the ball on the floor because it's very easy for him to throw out of the double team then. When defending teams double, they also do it differently, sometimes they come from the top, sometimes from the baseline ... if you don't watch and recognize where the double team is coming from, and how they rotate, they can intercept your pass or you can swing the ball to a teammate who is not open, effectively put that teammate in a bad spot because he has no time to make his move. If you wait, you can also tell that they are not coming at all, you are free to make a 2, 3, 4 dribble move, a spin to the baseline ... It's not that simple.
Just losing this one to Laker doesn't necessarily mean we will beat them with tmac. Pls be logical. Bad shooting night, Ron being insane, Adelman being outcoached, those were the reasons we lost.
I predicted that the outcome hinged on Yao vs. Pao. Ok, I was partially wrong. It was the Kobe show vs. the Ron-Ron no-show (his shot at least). Still I think Gasol outplayed Yao by a small margin and it made a difference in the outcome. If Yao seals him better and doesn't get the ball stolen a couple of times we might have eeked it out. This game did convince me of one thing. We have a better chance against the Lakers with a healthy Bynum. Counter-intuitive I know. But Gasol is so versatile in the post. He draws Yao outside, passes inside extremely well, is quick on the drive, and proved that he can get around Yao to disrupt the post pass. Bynum can't do the same things; his "big" game will be neutralized by Yao. Hopefully, Bynum's healthy by the time we meet the Lakers in the playoffs if we're fortunate enough to make it through a round or 2.
Contrary to what you have said I think that if Bynum starts instead of Powell, we get killed more on the glass. However we were killed last night as well, so it may not be a sizable difference
We did watch the same game. Brooks could not pass the ball to Yao. Okay. He's not a good passer as a PG. But what made this happened was not Brooks' fault. It's all about Zen master's defense. Lakers' non-stop fronting and double denied most of the entry pass. Did you notice that even Shane couldn't pass the ball to Yao? I would say unable to get the ball to low post was not Brooks' fault. Actually, we still got an answer while low-post was denied. Unfortunately, Ron and Shane were both off. If we made 30% 3pts, we were the winner. You could easily blame Ron and Shane losing this game if you must blame somebody. But not Aaron Brooks. I like his confidence in the late game. We did have a chance to win when he made that 3pts plus one FT against Fisher. This team deeply needs a guard to penetrate and make 3. Brooks is the first choice right now until Lowry shows his range.
rockets need to work on the last 2 minutes of the 4th they lose soo many in the last minutes of the 4th
Don't worry fellow Rockets. I don't care if they sweep us this season. All that matters is who's Champs at the end of the season. Obviously we know we are at their level and they are at ours. We need to learn and make adjustments so that if we meet them in a 7 game series we get them when it counts. Optimistically I hope that by them winning 3 against us it lowers their guard a little and makes em overlook us in the playoffs. Then we will kill them when it counts. KILL EM WHEN IT COUNTS!KILL EM WHEN IT COUNTS!
