Check out these stats! SF shooting percentage: http://sports.espn.go.com/nba/stati...=pg&qual=true&season=2009&seasontype=2&pos=sf SG shooting percentage: http://sports.espn.go.com/nba/stati...=pg&qual=true&season=2009&seasontype=2&pos=sg If you're looking for the Rocket, let me clue you in. He's found on the VERY BOTTOM. PG shooting percentage: http://sports.espn.go.com/nba/stati...alse&season=2009&seasontype=2&avg=none&pos=pg Rafer isn't "qualified", but if he did, he'd be on the very bottom too. C shooting percentage: http://sports.espn.go.com/nba/stati...none&qual=true&season=2009&seasontype=2&pos=c Yao isn't quite on the bottom but he's pretty close. So three of our starters (TJack, Artest, and Rafer) are the WORST IN THE NBA at their positions in terms of FG percentage. Our 7'6" tofu softy is THIRD WORST in the NBA at his position. So much for the "big three." We should call them the "brick three." This is going to be a long, long, season unless something changes pretty quickly.
Luck and teammates like Brooks, Landry and Scola who have been pretty efficient on the offensive end.
How did they do on the defensive end? Can we say that because these role players' defense sucked, our stars had to put more energy on the defensive end, and thus affected their offense?
Honestly, I do think this is the case for Yao and Artest! We won the first 3 games because of their defense. The defense pressure they face is too big right now. They are getting tired! Right now, our role players played like stars, all about offense but no defense (except for Hayes). Our stars (Yao and Artest) are doing blue collar jobs. But, role players are role players. We cannot depend on them during critical time.
Yes, their defense was very good in the first three games; however, the Rockets just aren't going to get it done very often with such awful shooting from its starters.
That's pretty amazing how we have so many at the bottom of the list! Defense can be part of the blame, but I think chemistry is a bigger part of it. We really need to hope our starters learn to play together on offense. The good news is it is still early in the year.
How can we be so bad when we have the "best center in the NBA," the "best two way player in the NBA," and one of the "best pure scorers in the NBA?" Again, I say ... we have the BRICK THREE.
Tmac doesn't have to do that! Actually, I don't think Yao and Artest can do that for a long time period. More importantly, they shouldn't! They have more important works to do! Have you seen Bosh's performance after JO joined the raptors and did all dirty works for Bosh?
The shooting percentage is abysmal, indeed. But check out the shot blocking stats...we are number 28 in the league with 19 blocked shots while opponents have blocked us 47 times...good for number 1 in the league. Ugh that is not good. Other excellent sortable statistics here: http://www.basketball-reference.com/leagues/NBA_2009.html
FG% is not the true % stats Simple, Houston shoot more and better from 3 point and shoot more FT at a higher percentage make less TO and have more possessions. Houston shoot 48.2 from the flied while Opponent 47.09, adjusting the 3 made to a 1.5 and dividing FT by 2. And if you want to go really deep and count T/O and possessions. Houston is a .440 eFG% and the opponents .439 eFG% Poss=possessions/game, PPts=points per 100 possessions, eFG%=effective field goal percentage (adjusted for 3-pt shots), FTA=free throws attempted per game, T/O=turnover/possession.
You're right, of course. We could have won 6 of 7. It still doesn't excuse horrible shooting. If we continue to shoot like that, we'll definately not win 6 of the next 7 or be even close.
