ClutchFans Game Thread: Rockets @ Grizzlies 12/28/2007

Good win, enjoy it for < 24 hours and don't rest on your laurels because we owe Toronto a bit of revenge.

 

I think that with a slightly different set of circumstances the Rockets could have entered meltdown mode, like the Philadelphia game. This is a feel good win because people, correctly I think, had the sense that the Rockets could have ended up in a place where they were getting massacred by teams like Memphis. There is an alternative to a nifty looking win against crappy opposition and we've already seen it this season. Hopefully the Rockets never, ever go there again--knock on wood.

 

Hah! Ha!

Brooks actually pointed to Rafer with his off hand in mid air as if he was saying "This is how you do it, bro!"

 

According to me there was nothing good nor even bad: it was just a win against one of the worst NBA team.

The real bad news are:

1) we still have Alston in the lineup
2) we don't have Scola in the lineup

No playoffs hope with those two point.

3) As Magic said (and already reported) the offense looked better with only one superstar on the floor (and of course it is not T-Mac). It is a damn true fact.

4) No sign of Mike James and SF3.

The good news? Let's wait tomorrow to find some, if any.

 

The offense has looked better w/o T-Mac.

However, I choose to believe it could look EVEN BETTER if and when T-Mac adapts to the offense and plays within the system.

 

exactly.
rafer had ball-hogged the ball possession before and threw up his typical garbage.
its about time someone else taught him how to do his own move

 

It was a solid win with our best player injured. This game could have easily been a loss without TMac.

 

You can't read into one game too much - win or lose. So we have to look for trends over the course of time.

When the season started, we played the Yao and T-mac show. Got of to a good start - but as teams adjusted by really going after Tmac and Yao who had great starts and were on fire....the rest of the team failed to click. We saw the JVG offense.

We struggled with offense badly.

In the past few weeks, things are changing. The offense looks better. Even against Detroit the offense looked better. Even with T-mac in against Detroit until he reinjured himself the offense looked better.

Battier is scoring again. Head is scoring again, Brooks is providing a spark - scola is beginning to become a consistent presence on both ends of the court....rafer is again shooting 3 pointers with some consistency.

And more importantly, we're getting open looks. That's the whole point of the Adelman system. We have a transition offense. We have a half-court offense. We have guys cutting and moving without the ball. The ball is going in and out of the post. The ball is moving faster.

These are the things we want to see. And our schedule is soft.

But remember, we've beaten a lot of good teams - that is, before even when our offense looked like garbage, we could beat some good teams.

Now our offense is beginning to take shape, I expect to see a pretty quick turnaround and seeing this team get to 9 or 10 games over .500 before the all-star break.

 

what makes you think that a declining score champion of the year who has never broke out of the first round of the playoffs is are best player?

he is streaky at best. (i grant you that tmac is one of the best... WHEN and ONLY WHEN he is hot. not often, though)

 

hey who was the guy sitting on the bench talking to mike james? he had on warmups and looked just like he was part of the team.....OH WAIT that was steve francis.

 

So, you think we will win 16 or 17 out of the next 23?

I don't expect that much but I like your optimism.

 

Didn't somebody else say that?

You should cite other people's quotes!

 

right now the problem is both our stars dominate the ball too much for our role players to get in a groove. firstly it takes about 4-5 seconds to bring the ball up the court, secondly it takes at least 8-10 seconds to try and get yao the ball. when he's denied, we give it to t-mac who does something himself for 5 or so seconds, and when he passes, theres only enough time for a spot up jumpshot. when yao cant get the ball, when t-mac passes, and when we cant shoot, thats when we lose. as you see when one of our stars is out, it gives ample room for the rest of the team to be aggressive and contribute, and most importantly it gives them TIME on the shot clock. where am i going with this? do i think we need to trade yao or t-mac? possibly...but thats not an option right now. until t-mac learns how to move w/o the ball instead of dominating it so much we're gonna keep losing with both t-mac and yao playing.

 

i said it in the regular game topic...thought id say it here too.

 

Ahhh, my bad... I apologize.

 

after this game and the previous one with Denver, we can shout "trade Mr. $20million" now.

 

Thanks for letting me know we have that option.

I choose not to say it.

 

The Lakers put up almost 80 points on the Jazz...

in the 1st half!!!

75-48 Lakers at intermission

 

At this point i would would trade t-mac for Corey Mag and what ever else garbage the clippers want to throw our way. tmac would actually make the clippers matter in LA again. The sad truth is the rockets run ricks system better with tmac out of it.

 

Raptors beat the Spurs tonight. Bosh did not play the 4th quarter so he will be well rested for tomorrow's game against the Rockets.

I like the way the Rockets play tonight but am not sure how the team will play once T-Mac comes back. Magic's comments may have help out in getting T-Mac to play better like he did in Chicago but I am not sure how long that will last.