Josh Smith is really playing his role here with the Rockets. He is going to be huge in the playoffs. He's making better decisions and hustling. I'd like to see him not run and dribble so out of control bringing the ball up though. When he has the ball in the open court he's impressing me with his ability to demand attention and then dish it to the open man but its only succesful when he isn't fumbling the ball.
Also, when you have a line up of Brewer, Ariza, and Josh Smith on the floor the defense is crazy. It doesn't get much more suffocating when they're speeding up the game for the opponents offense and getting a hand on almost every possession. Can someone look at how effective the line up of Beverley, Harden, Smith, Brewer, and Ariza has been? I can't imagine the rebounding is very good but the turn over rate must make up for it
Man, once Dwight gets back, we have an insanely deep front court. A rotation of Howard, D-Mo, Smith, and T-Jones will put a world of pain on opponents.
I have the feeling either DMo or Jones (likely the latter, but you never know with Morey) are gone at the deadline though. Actually if Dwight had to get injured for awhile, right now is probably the perfect time I guess. So we have enough minutes to go around and show that Jones can still play.
I truly believe this was all taken into consideration when talking with Dwight on how to go forward. I believe they said dwight could play through it but they thought it would be best to deal with it "now". As much as I would hate to see him go i truly believe that Morey is going to trade DMO while is stock is unbelievably high. I believe that right at the deadline the Suns are going to buckle and take Terry/DMO/Capela NO Pick for Dragic/Plumlee. Morey is going to think long and hard about it but at the end of the day he knows that we won't make it out of the first round with Beverly as the starting PG. I also believe that he will get assurances from Dragic camp that as a FA he will stay in Houston and the future will be built on Dragic and Harden. Hopefully Dwight comes back healthy in March and we make a solid charge at the WCFs... I really like Smith and Brewer off the bench... replace Terry's shooting with Bevs energy and that second unit gets even more intense. Howard Jones Ariza Harden Dragic (That starting 5 can hang with anyone come playoff time) and our bench would push us over the top... Losing DMO would hurt a little but what we get in Dragic 3-pt shooting and offense (leading to Harden more focus on Defense) we more then make up for. Our bench and defense will get better and our 3-pt percentage will go up Smith Brewer Bev Plumlee (is a good insurance for Dwight)
Morey is outside of his mind if he lets DMo go. Barring a miracle trade for a star, DMo is damn near untouchable right now.
Funnest game I've ever seen the rockets play.. The where all over the loose balls, hustling, getting steals, and running. That's what I want to see as a fan, I could have cared less if they would have lost, all I want to see is a team competing
Was unable to watch the game. Seeing those first few plays DMO seems to be playing well, did he start to miss plays?
I don't think we can let go either DMo or Jones go, esp. with Howard's knee problems. We have to prepare for the possibility that the knee will be a lingering issue. Maybe with crisper ball movement like we saw tonight, we can mitigate the lack of a secondary playmaker. TJones, DMo and Smith can certainly attack and create from the high post.
Thanks for the highlights as I was unable to watch the game. The one thing I can't help but notice is once again how dead the lower bowl crowd is. It seems like most of the people don't even bother to cheer or react at all when we score. I know it's a dead horse, but I'm so sick of those lame "fans" down there. You're at a freaking basketball game!
You're not going to give up DMo, and then give up veteran presence in Terry. They would add Shved before Terry.
The Rockets bench was way to much for the Bulls to handle. Which is surprising considering that coming into the season the Bulls were considered a deep team and the Rockets weren't. First of all that's a terrible trade, the Rockets are giving up way too much ...specially considering that Dragic is a unrestricted free agent this off-season and Plumlee has played terrible this year... Secondly this where you should post this... http://bbs.clutchfans.net/showthread.php?t=257213
I concur. DMO more than jones is the future big of the franchise. He takes huge leaps every year on his game. Next year he is probably gonna work on his ups and rebounding. MIP after Jones got hurt.
Probably because these are all Die hard Texan fans that just come to the game to socialize and have a drink since there is no football going on.
One of the many things that is painfully underutilized is our entire front court. One of the best plays I have seen this season is the perimeter or elbow pick by one big (Smith or D-Mo usually) and the handler hands the ball off to the big who turns and whips in a pass to a cutter (usually Dwight or Ariza/Brewer) for either a layup or alley oop. Another one I want to see is when the Smith/D-Mo pairing is on the floor together is to post D-Mo on the elbow or high post and Smith on the low post where D-Mo fakes a hook and throws in a dump pass to Smith or a no look bounce pass. This play is still valid even with they switch places due to Smith being a good passer as well.
A few thoughts about last nights game. You could tell in the first 2 minutes by the Rockets body language and energy level that they came to play. It was beautiful to see. DMo and Josh Smith look like they've become best buddies. Josh Smith seems stoked and very comfortable. James Harden looks like he has embraced his leadership role.
