Positive-Negative Breakdown Rockets at Blazers ***First of all, let me say that I am not going to bore you all to death by complaining about the postup offense, tonite. There was absolutely zero motion offense tonite, and I will have to accept the fact that while Rudy is head coach, that is the way it will always be. Just wanted to get that out of the way.*** ****Let me also add that from here on out I am through bashing Walt Williams. It is obvious that he is not starter-quality and Rudy is only embarrassing himself sending Walt out there.**** Positives: *Bryce Drew - played hard as usual. Had a good game, and I will have to give the kid props for that. *Cat Mobley may not have shot well, but he was most of our offense tonite. Scored 25 points with Scottie Pippen guarding him...impressive. *Charles Barkley - I hate the postup offense, but it's not Charles' fault. It's up to the coach, and Charles just runs what the coach tells him to run. He did a good job running the offense tonite and being the leader. 6 assists was impressive. Good game for the Chuckster. I have to give him mad props for not trying to be the man tonite. He stuck to the gameplan and played this like it was any other game. *Kelvin Cato - Great game. Showed fire, enthusiasm, and everything else we saw from him in the preseason. Hopefully we will see more of this guy as the season goes on. *Matt Bullard - Came in and hit some big shots. I don't think he should have been in the game (I'll touch on this later), but I can't blame him for that. He just did what the coach asked him to do to the best of his abilities. Solid effort from Bull. *Entire team showed a lot of heart and effort. I was proud of the way they hung in there against the Blazers. *The Blazers can be beaten. Negatives *Hakeem - I am sorry to say this, but if you want facts, we play better when Hakeem is not in the game. Take that any way you want, but it's the truth. *Steve Francis - Tough shooting night for the rookie sensation. He still managed to grab 5 rebounds. ---Hold on to your hats, here is the big one--- *Rudy - I hate to say anything bad about any Rocket after this game, because the guys fought so hard to the bitter end. But if there is any one reason they lost, it is because of some bad coaching decisions by Rudy. I understand that Matt Bullard hit some key 3-pointers....but please, Matt Bullard is one of the worst defenders in the NBA. Matt Bullard should not be guarding Steve Smith in crunch time. There are absolutely no excuses for that. He has Shandon Anderson rotting on the bench while Steve Smith torches Matt Bullard. Shandon Anderson shut down Michael Finley for crying out loud! What is he doing on the bench with Matt Bullard guarding Steve Smith?!?! (Sigh), some of the things Rudy does are just so stupid it's incredible.. [This message has been edited by thacabbage (edited November 27, 1999).]
clutch (or anyone else for that matter): does rudy address questions such as 'why was bullard in the game during ot' at his post game interview? are there transcripts for post game interviews that are available to the public? i'm just curious b/c so many of our losses have seemed to be just simple mental lapses... by rudy thanks in advance for any info.
i thought mobley had a pretty good shooting night. i dont remember him missing too much. and also, a lot of people are saying that there was a lot of motion in the rockets' offense after hakeem left(i didn't take notice cause i'm a fool). here's another positive for your list. hakeem injured = more minutes for cato and tmass
