A tale of two cities? We beat them in Houston and it didn't look like a fluke, either. Travel not long after to San Antonio and open with a decent first half. Promising, right? No sign of an on-coming freight train of humiliation, correct? No ammunition for my maniac brother-in-law Spurs fan to toss at me after, against all odds (and I've been giving him the business), we shocked his Spurs at the Toy Box in Houston. Even if we somehow lose this game in a tight contest, we still maintain our dignity. We can still hold on to that critical belief that we can, on any given day, during any given playoff series, play with and beat any team. Sound reasonable? Sound reasonable after our playoff run last season with largely the same team? I thought so. So what happens. A team I don't recognize strolls onto the court for the second half and what do they do? Gather in a group at center court and take a collective dump. An enormous dump on the city of Houston, my hometown. A dump who's only positive is the smell that will permiate the Spurs venue for days while it clings to our Rockets for far longer. The odor of failure. The stench of a team with great talent who haven't got a clue about using it. I am not a happy camper. Time to shake up the roster, Daryl. This has gone beyond the pale. We have serious talent. We can and have beaten some of the best teams in the league. Obvious example? The game against the Spurs, the same Spurs who made us look like chumps in the second half and did it with ease. Inconsistency. It's wrapped us in a blanket. We're smothered by it. If our team can't get their **** together and give us a strong game, every game, after a season like last year, then we need to shake up the Rockets like they're parked in San Francisco in 1906. Time for big changes, Daryl. We're past putting up with the drip drip change of what has become a form of the mythical Chinese Water Torture, even if it was invented by an auto mechanic in Paris, Texas. We've been suffering from it and we've had enough. Shake it up, Morey. We can handle an earthquake better than the torture our beloved Rockets are putting us through. Drip by drip, game by game, we're shown just enough to give us hope that we've turned a corner. Then we play like this, Daryl. Pure torture. Save us. Somehow, save us from what we are witnessing. We're waiting. Help us, Daryl Morey. You are our only hope.
The problem with a under-performing team is that by and large it is full of under-performing players. Meaning in any trade, we will be selling low. And given the lack of cap space, the return may not be equal, much less surpass what we give up. On the other hand, just waiting for our current crew to rediscover their game may not pan out either. The fact that most of our woes are on the defensive end, and for the most part, these are the same guys who managed at least adequate defense last year, tells me our personnel may not be the problem. Certainly not the only problem. That leaves coaching. McHale lost this team and his firing, although solving nothing, was necessary IMO. But Bickerstaff is no different than McHale philosophically, and doesn't carry the swagger necessary to get the players attention and respect enough to implement broad changes and expect the players to carry them out. If Morey has erred, it was announcing Bickerstaff had the rest of the season to sort things out. This, IMO, gave the players Carte Blanche to do as they please knowing no new commandant was on the horizon. In essence, firing McHale and inserting Bickerstaff left it to the players to fix things.
I should have made my post clearer? By roster, I meant the coaches, as well. Everyone on the bench during games holds a collective responsibility to place a consistently competitive team on the court. Every game. You can't win them all. Heck, at times you're going to lose badly. What you can do is give a consistent effort with a game plan that makes the most use of your talent. That's not what we are doing.
Utah on a mini win streak. Dwight always struggles vs rudy and favors so i hope the perimeter guys step up
I missed the game. Not deliberately. I didn't realize there was a game last night. Rockets have fallen off my active radar.
The players must take it upon themselves to coach on the floor. Ariza should be the captain and floor general because of his experience.
This this so true, he always pretend to guard the big, ****in sick for his D. Just man up play some hard nose defense. Wats so hard about that. They shouldn't switch everything on defense.
Don't worry. When we beat a scrub team like Lakers or 76ers, fans will believe we will win Champinship again. Morey and Le$ will praise JB a great coach again. So just patiently waiting for a scrub team...
JB will say players are disrespecting games. Harden will say he needs to find his attack mode. Morey and Le$ will keep quiet like nothing happened.
