Oscar has been a monster on the defensive side of the court, hounding his man night in and night out, what more do you want?
hakeemtheraptor...u say kenny thomas is overrated??? if anything he is our club mvp right now...lets see wha did i do with that ignore button...
Rocketability, Mo was foul prone in the 1st quarter as well. He is not that good of a defender. Rudy always sat him when he got 2 fouls in the 1st. Then he wouldn't get back in in the 2nd depending on how well Kenny or the 3 guard unit performed. He always played the 4th though, and got many touches. By the way, why are we b****ing at Torres getting 10-11. This is pitiful. You guys just have to b**** don't you. Pitiful. Look, he got some plays ran for him in the 3rd and we mounted a comeback to 10 points. Then, in a flash Cleveland moved it to 18. After a timeout, we put in Griffin and went to Torres for a score to start a 11-0 run. This continued in the 4th as we got it to one point. In the process of that Torres didn't get a shot, but was in the game. Mobley scored 6 points to open the 4th, and then got some low post plays called for him, with no success. Then we went back to Torres. This loss was not about going to Torres, who got open looks mostly coming around double picks like Walt; this loss was about defense. Cleveland scored on 10 of their last 11 possessions. hmmm, that was like Torres shooting 10-11...fancy that! BGM, Oscar does hound, but I think what Pimp is saying is that everyone *should* hound. Kenny hounds as well. We reserve calling someone a great defender (which the bbs is doing) when we see him stop a top tier guard from getting around him. So far, Torres plays against a lot of second stringers, number one, and he does get burned, number two. By comparison, Mobley does not get burned this year (even with the ankle injury), and works hard to deny the ball just like Torres. The difference in my book is that Torres is playing too aggressive on defense sometimes by getting too close to stars,,,who just blow by him. He has remarked that he isn't used to the NBA speed. He needs to balance pressure with respect of speed. He is definitely far from a liability, but he needs to play a little bit more disciplined. I honestly believe Mobley is playing better defense, stellar in fact considering his ankle. Few players have gotten by Cuttino...and that is always a win in my book. Kobe had to shoot turnarounds all game. Sprewell got schooled until NY ran him through a gauntlet of picks...and same with Rip Hamilton. Rip ran both Mobley and Torres around multiple picks to equal success. When I see Torres hold Stackhouse to 0 points and not let Terry, Finley, Kobe get around him, then I'll be impressed. Name me one SG who has beat Mobley more than once off the dribble aside from Hardaway this year.
First of all, I don't think we all b****ed at Torres. We all praised how he was a real deal ...... Secondly, I don't think anyone can deny that the Rockets do go away from their hot shooters sometimes. Mo Taylor may not be the perfect example but he's one of them. Going to the one who's hot, it's that simple. Unfortunately, the Rockets haven't had anyone who's as hot lately. And ... no b****ing meant! I'm one of the most optimistic Rockets fans on this BBS. Almost stupidly optimistic!
Rocketability, I didn't mean you b****ed at Torres; I meant you used Torres' perfect game to b**** at something. What do you mean Rudy goes away from scorers? If you were to do a poll, at least half this board would say he goes to the well too much. Rudy always goes to Walt when he is hitting. He always goes to Mobley when he's hitting (and then some). He always goes to Mo'. He *always* went to Hakeem and Barkley and Drexler. Francis is the PG; it is his option to go to himself. Who don't we go to when they are hot?? What I think people yell at is if a role player (other than Walt) goes 4-5, then if Rudy runs the standard plays to the starters and they fail...it is...Why did we go to the starters? imo, Rudy is known for searching for a hot hand. And the game log last night showed that Rudy went to Torres twice to stop Cleveland runs. When we take an 18-point lead down to 1 point between 3:33 of the 3rd and 5:47 left in the 4th on a 23-6 run, you keeping going to that. Relax, Torres will get more plays called for him. Right now, it looks like there is only one for him to run.
Oscar should be starting at SF. The rockets should look into trading Walt, Kelvin, and Dan Langhi. I still believe that the Rockets will benefit from all these injuries but they must make some kind of deal by the time Steve gets back.
Hey! Oscar is the reason I became a Rockets Fan . OSCAR ROCKS!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! . Yeah and start him now , ROY ROY ROY ROY ROY
I can't believe there are people who are ripping on Cat after he went off for 33 points on a bum ankle! The guy can't win. But between Torres and Cat we might win some games before Francis comes back.
red..... you say Kenny Thomas is the MVP for the rockets.......well i guess it tells you where the rockets are with this MVP of yours......on a 11 game losing streak......and i see K. Thomas's numbers drop off every night......okay he had one 19board game....wow.....his Field Goal percentage is horrible......the guy can't shoot.....and i don't understand why he takes three's ...... he can't shoot the three and keeps try'in.....that's called stupidity......AND YES KENNY THOMAS IS OVER-RATED.....just bacause the ROCKETS have NO other Forward available on their roster who can play day in and day out does not make Kenny Thomas any better.....if Mo Taylor was play'in ......YOUR KENNY THOMAS WOULD NOT SEE MUCH OR ANY PLAYING TIME!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! why....cause he's an over-rated short fat slob.
28 points on 11 shots. That's 2.55 points per shot. That's incredible. I hadn't seen the game. Someone asked earlier if he was getting set up by other players for all his shots. I think that's a good question. I also wonder if this is the Adrian Griffin Effect: unheralded rookie is ignored by defense. Griffin is still a decent player, but he was getting triple-doubles when he first started. Defenses respect him now. I wonder if Torres' numbers will go down as teams realize they have to cover him.
OSCAR OSCAR OSCAR! With Steve, Cuttino Oscar and Mooch, or Tierre we've got the perimeter players. Hope we can get another one or two frontline players. I would suggest that all future draft picks or free agents should be big men. When we "hit" on one we'll be set for a deep layoff run in a year or two. Let's invite every plausible European, Chinese, South American, CBA or wherever big man to camp till we hit a diamond in the rough like Detroit did with Brazak? and other teams have.
Crispee, I disagree with your assessment of Rudy going to the hot player. He did in the past (years ago), but even Calvin & Bill could not believe the amount of touches that Oscar received in the 3rd quarter. Oscar was the only reason that the Rockets were in the game. Cuttino did okay, but he made alot of mistakes. Rudy's only system is for Cuttino to run an ISO on one side, and then Francis to run another from the other side. That worked last year, but not this year. As far as Walt, he has turned into a ball hog (just like Thomas) and rarely will pass the bal. Outside of standing at the 3 point line, I doubt many plays are ran for him. He would rather run into 3-4 defenders then pass the ball. Cuttino is Cuttino and is expected to take any shot he wants (without Rudy b****ing). If you really want to assess the games lately, how many game in a row have the Rockets dug themselves into a 10-20 point hole in the 1st quarter. Thank god for players like Oscar, Tier and even Griffin (defensively), to take up the slack for our starters. Oscar was fearless last night. He might of had a few plays ran for him, but he created most of his shots. My favorite move was the ""REGGIE MILLER"" shot. He passed the ball from the 3 point line, ran into the paint, banged with the inside guys, ran to the far side 3 point line, took the pass and hit nothing but net. WOW!!!! When was the last time the Rockets had somebody that could do that? FEARLESS!!!! Crispee, if Rudy is such a great play caller - what was Langhi doing the other night. He played half of the game, and I counted only one time (from Tier), that langhi ever touched the ball. All of his touches were on the defensive end. Was Rudy trying to showcase Langhi's defensive skills. How could somebody play that many minutes and none of his teammates would let him touch the ball. DOES HE HAVE AIDS or SOMETHING????
If it wasn't for Torres great game and Cuttino's excellent one we lose easy. In addition to Cuttino's production (including 8-8 from the line, 3-5 from the arc, 4 rebounds) about all easy baskets I remember the Rockets getting (esp Willis) were totally do to Mobley's playmaking. To have issue with Mobley's game last night, well, more often than not you wouldn't be happy with any basketball player this side of Shaq. As Crisspee laid out, how about blaming the defense for making Ilgakus (sp?) look like Shaq and Vlade rolled into one, and for allowing all the easy baskets our front-line gave up late in the game even when Cleveland's best player and one easy basket creator went out with us only being down 1. I squarly lay fault for last nights loss on our big people, they just plained totally sucked against a pretty poor front-line in their own right. Not faulting their effort, it is just pretty hard to win when our big people suck so bad on both ends of the floor. Even super efforts out of 2 of our 3 guards couldn't overcome that.
Well Mobley did throw that stupid pass to Willis at the end. Even Chris Simms could tell that was going to be intercepted.
Desert Scar says our big men were to blame for Ilgauskas good game last night. I didn't get to watch the game, myself. (thankfully) What I'm wondering is who was playing center in the 4th quarter? That is when Z got most of his points. Willis only played 24 minutes. I'm assuming a good portion of those were in the first half. EG only played 10 minutes. So, who were the front line during the fourth quarter for the Rocks?
Willis was the one getting abused in the 4th quarter by big Z...he played the final 10:54 last night.
