Since Shane Battier has returned to the starting lineup, Tmac and Yao start to play their best basketball, The rest of the team starts to gel, and these Rockets are starting to look like those Rockets, you know, the 22 game winning streak Rockets. The whole attitude of the team has changed since Shane Battiers return. I'm not saying he's the sole reason for our teams improvement but he's been a big part of this turnaround. Oh yeah, screw Rudy Gay.
Seriously, I'm glad we traded Shane for Rudy. It worked out for us, I doubt Rudy Gay would have made us better on the defensive end or kept the same defense even after JVG would be fired. I guarantee you, Rudy wouldn't be the same player he is today if he played with us. He just wouldn't get that kind of playing time or freedom to shoot the ball.
i think our transition D is a lot better now. I haven't noticed until this season that it was Shane always the first back to defend fast break. We looked horrible on transition D at the start of the season has a lot to do with shane out.
Shane Battier gets the ball to Yao in the post in better spots at better times better than anyone. Notice how Artest is starting has picked up on it and is making quick reads and quick passes to Yao when Yao gets deep in the paint for that split second.
This is the key. Yao triggers our offense, and when he's playing at a superstar level, we're very tough to beat. Battier searches Yao out better than anyone (he's our Horry in terms of post passing proficiency). Artest is starting to become much better at that as well.
Battier is a guy that's mature and can anchor the defense. He's also been the most reliable long rang shooter the Rockets have had the last couple years. A guy like that coming back can make a huge difference to a team like the Rox who were struggling on defense and shooting early on in the year. IMO, he's a more reliable defender than Ron for the face that he's a superior team defender. Ron's better at man to man, but Battier has a way of making the entire defense better, where as Ron's impact is more individual.
I second that. Scorers are a dime a dozen. Intelligent and articulate glue guys who are defensive stoppers and team leaders are rare indeed. We got lucky when we stole Battier from Memphis.
When Battier came back I felt this invisible aura wrap itself around the Rockets. It was like when Neo finally realized he was the One in The Matrix. There is no way you can measure that! Give me Rudy Gay any day over Battier.
Absolutely horrible game by Battier tonight. He hasn't play well all season so far. He had a guy 7 inches shorter than him in the post about 5 feet away from the basket and couldn't even dribble the basketball and the shot he put up in the post was one only Chuck Hayes could be proud of. He was just a waste of space out there. He's afraid to dribble the basketball...probably because he can't and anytime he tries to make a play on offense, it's a disaster waiting to happen. He gives you nothing consistently on offense except for the corner 3 and couldn't even hit wide open shots tonight. For all the criticism endured by everybody else on the team, it amazes me that this guy not only escapes any of it, but is praised for supposedly doing things that we can't really measure. Also, stop using injuries as an excuse for him, nobody is using the same excuses fo T-Mac and Ron when they have a bad game. By the way, Ron Artest's D is greater than Battier's will ever be and Rudy Gay is already a better player than Battier (who's on the decline) will ever be as well.
It's gonna take him a while to get his game back (if you wanna call it that)...trust me it'll be here after the all star break going into the home stretch. He deserves a pass for this game.
If a guy can't do a 360 tomahawk superman dunk then that player is no good for Shane's worst critic. And the player he chose for his moniker is serious irony.
wow it's such a shame that you know so little about basketball. gee whose opinion is better: mike krzyzewski hubie brown jeff van gundy rick adelman 4 fantastic coaches who have nothing but the highest praise for the guy. or kwame seriously dude, you're out of your mind.
What about all the other games this season? Why is it okay to criticize T-Mac and Ron when they play poorly, but not Shane? Those guys are injured too. I love when people fall back on this type of justification. Are you saying he's played well this season? He was horrible tonight. Please explain to me what he does that's so special. Is he the Neo of the NBA in that he sees the Matrix while other players don't? Is it too much to ask a professional baskbetball player to be able to dribble the basketball effectively. It seems that it's okay to criticize everybody except for Battier. He was garbage tonight.
T-Mac is the only one who gets bashed for playing with an injury. The guy admitted he didn't play his hardest even when healthy in Orlando. Artest and Battier are hard workers and anyone can see that night in and night out.
see your problem is that your disguising your rant on battier by saying you're only talking about this game or this season. you're absolutely right, he played terrible tonight and he hasn't been great yet this season, but there's certainly justification for that. he had f#$king ankle surgery. surely you don't think shane battier is dogging it? what does he do? he's the vocal leader of one of the nba's best defenses, he plays spot on man-to-man coverage, and he's as good as anyone in the nba at covering up his teammates mistakes on the defensive side of the ball. shane is to defense what kobe is to offense. period. on offense he's a fantastic 3-point shooter, he's quick to move the ball and get himself in the right spots, makes few mistakes, and actually has some good post-up moves. if you've watched rocket's basketball over the past 3 seasons and still don't know why fans and coaches love what battier does, then you're absolutely clueless about what makes a good basketball player. if you're ripping on battier for this season when he's still recovering then that just seems pointless because it's not in his control right now and if you're ripping on him for not being an all-star on offense than that's just idiotic. t-mac gets criticized more because he's paid significantly more and he's the superstar. as good as battier is, he's no mcgrady and the expectations aren't the same. I defend t-mac just as much as i do battier, because he's also recovering right now and I know what he can do when he's healthy. same with shane.