Thoughts from the Rocket Warriors game 2 at CSLB!

Alright guys lets talk about game 2. Game 2 of the rockets summer league in LA was a much more closer game than game 1. Close from the first minutes of play. This time we had langhi starting at sf instead of sg. And I believe it was Eddie Griffin at center with TRock at PF. This time a different sytle of playing griffin.

Instead of dropping it in the post for EG he was playing pick and roll. He set alot of picks, but the only problem I thought was that Sean colson was not passing it to him when the double stayed with him, granted he did make alot of shots when doubled on the drive in. But also when EG did get the pass from the pick and roll he missed. Eddie again did not really look to comfortable on offense tonight. He had a few open shots that didn't fall. From what I seen today EG was that he was a pretty good passer. He hit(assist) a driving in TM twice under the basket for good layups(TM did not even have to dribble the ball, just put it up quick). Also he twice passed the ball right when he berely rebound the ball to a team mate at the half court and once did a OT style full court pass, just that Jensen wasn't fast enough to get the ball and RJ run so fast and passed jensen who was wide open to get the ball first(It was right in front of Jensen) and RJ jumped up got it first. It would have been a good pass. He rebounded very well. I counted 7 at the break. On one play he shot the ball, rebounded the ball, shot it again, then tiped it twice but the ball just wouldn't go in. Everyone was like whoa! He just dominated the board. Then two plays after that EG got the defensive rebound ran down got the offensive rebound and ran down again and got the defensive rebound in about 1 min of play. Just great long hands and instincts for the ball. As for blocks he had one that I counted, he just swated the ball down on to the court floor(but I don't know if it was a foul called). On one play J richardson faked a shot, then dribbled in and bam EG just blocked it to the out of bonce line, only problem was someone fouled RJ before the block. As for his shot, I don't think he does to well when the shot clock is down. He kind of forces it. Besides his first shot which was an airball, and actually one more shot which was an airball in the fourth, his misses just bounced of the back of the rim, they were close. His thrid shot which he made was a nice 20 foot shot(actually most of his shots were from 20 feet and out). And 3 or 4 plays later he had a nice 10 feet out turn around that when in also. He did have a dunk, he got open under the bucket and got the pass which he dunked with two hands, nothing really ferocious or emotional but good like tim duncan. Today I really didn't see him handle the ball but he was playing PF or C all of the time. He got 10 points and I know he got more than 10 boards, so many that I really lost count. His defense is nice, he can really keep his ground on boxing out. Also I notice his hands really hover right above the ball when the warriors players shoot, it just stays right above it the ball in any direction the ball goes his hands go. When his hands are up they just hover over the ball but not like he's trying to steal it by poking it or knocking it out of the oppositions hands, just that if the player trys to shoot it will hit his hands. Also about his shooting a couple of times he kept looking for the 3pt line when about to shoot and I think that threw off his rythum.

Now lets talk about Terence Morris. The TRock was rock solid. He had a nice dunk where he as open underneath and his back was to the basket, he turned toward the basket at the same time jumping and bam hung there for a couple of seconds. It looked like slow motion going up then realtime going down, like on TV. It was a strong dunk with his legs up in the air like shaq with two hands on the rim. Had a couple of nice layups from EG assists. Toward the end TM got open took a second to set up near the 3 pt line then swoosh it in nice. Got some whoos and awwws from the crowd since it tide the score with 1 or 2 mins to go. Had a real nice all round game. I'm impress by his ability to walk it up court and dribble in or outside. He had this one play where he ran in between two defenders to the front of the basket did this 180 to the right of the basket and was about to dunk it in hard, but got foul hard and couldn't finish the dunk attempt. IMO I'm more than sure he can play in the NBA but how many mins. i'm not sure as a backup. He does alright on defense, average where as EG is definitely way above average in these games on the defensive end. I'm really liking TM as a team player, he doesn't try to do to much or things he can't, he's not trying to win the games on his own.

Now let's talk about the man, Dan the man. DL is smooth. His outside shot is so cool, it just hits nothing but net, it doesn't bounce or hit part of the rim first it just goes right in. He did this one play that got the crowd talking alot about who is this guy, he is good. He drove in from all the way out on the right side of the court, when through 4 players so quick I don't even think they had time to blink and laid it in on the left hard. He look like he was going to lay it in on the right since he was already in the air then one defender jumped up so he just hung in the air and laid it in on the left but it was fast. Another play he was on the left then was open ran in straight to the rim and dunked it as hard as anyone his size could have, it made a loud bam noise, but it hit the back of the rim and flew all the way to almost the half court line. It was strong and ferocious. Not one person in the crowd was quite, everyone was like whoa! And there where many people there today, but toward the end of the game. He was just such a great shooter, not a scorer type, just a great outside shot. He played alot of guard today like yesterday but was not to great on the defensive end. Also on another play he was about to dunk hard and when up really high with the ball but some one knocked his feet while he was in the air and he came down hard. A foul was called. I like how he's attacking the basket though, real mean like.

Today there as a new guy named alex(I think). He is a white person about 6-11 or 7 feet and looked around 260-270. He was good also, he hit layups, outside shots and set good picks. Sean colson didn't look sharp in the first half, he airballed a layup but did great in the second. He was the one scoring to keep the game close. Much better team player today. No one else really impressed much not that they had to. I really don't care to much that we lose as long as we play together and everyone is getting use to the system as to where they should be in a play. Also Kevin Cato did not play today.

As for the game it was so close we were up two with 14 seconds left. Then a GSW hit a
three and SC missed a three. But eddie did have his hand on the miss, just couldn't tap it in. Much better teamwork this time. Hopefully we will win the next one. Can't wait to see what happens then.

Sidenotes. RJ had way too many dunks to keep count, really nice dunks too. One one play he dunked the ball in two hands, I think a rocket knocked it out or had a hand under the basket and it bounced out, but while RJ had two hands on the rim hanging, he then grabed the ball with one hand that just bounced out while still hanging with the other hand on the rim and dunked it again with one hand while the other hand was supporting him on the rim, but the refs didn't count it not that they should. Got alot of wows from the crowd, and boos for the refs. Another play he got a really high ally oop and dunked it two hands strong. Another dunk he just ran right down the middle and one handed strong again dunk. This dude is so good a that thing. He had at least 5 to 7 dunks, all great strong and hard types. He's got a great outside shoot to go with it too. He is just the total offensive machine. In the 4th quarter he owned it. And TM played him real tough just JR was that good. JR was listed there as 6'6 but looks between 6'4 and 6'5.

Another thing Mr. Mean larry smith(although he is nice) and rudy, and even les alexander where watching the game only two benches to the right of me(about 70 feet), but I was way to nervous to try and go over there to talk to them but they did sign a lot of kids autographs. They looked really relax laying on the benches, esp. les. It's the first time I ever saw them in person so it was cool to see rocket leaders.

Shane battier is just so great. He has great floor leadership the crowd could even feel it. He has great court vision, a few times when he got the ball he just passed it perfectly to an open team mate without even dribbling one step. He is good and I can tell he really listens to the coaches when they tell him to do something. Just a real leader out their. The players really look for him and listen to him too. If he's not ROY then he should be second if healthy.

Also I sat next to I think a laker assistant coach and he said EG is just forcing his shots and the whole time he kept talking about EG but not good mostly about his offense. And I over heard him talking with others about Horry but I don't think I should say since it didn't sound nice. I sat next to a group of tall guys that I think are in basketball and they kept talking about how good DL is and kept saying he has major game. They had some papers on him and kept talking about him being 6-11 and playing guard and how good he was at it. Hope this paints a piture for you, if you have any questions I would be happy to answer if I can. Sorry about the english and gammer I'm not good at it really. Also I have a few pics for the game too. Not great pics but if you like to see them here they are:

http://public.fotki.com/323rocket/my_pictures/

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[This message has been edited by LA's #1 Rocket Fan (edited July 14, 2001).]

 

Shank your right about some of the guards I seen on the rockets that just keep trying to do too much on the offensive end and not really look for the open man. I'm not sure what they really want from EG because in the second game against the warriors when EG did post up or got open round the basket he was definitely trying to get the guards to pass it to him and they didn't, and when he was ouside round the 3 pt line and was open he got the ball and shot 20 feet shots, missed alot though. I hope they go back to how they where posting him up and getting him the ball around 10-15ft and in area like in the first game. I think he'll do much better in the third game since he's got the pratice from posting in the first game then the practice from playing the perimeter with 20ft shots in the second game.

Thanks BahDakota, rockbox, The Cat, Kim, Rockettebustier, alaskansnowman, Dallas Rocket for your replies I'll try and make the thrid game on sunday if I can and keep everyone posted.

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About Horry I will try to phase what they said in a nice way(again I'm not sure if they were laker coaches or not though they were wearing laker apearal and people were walking by saying hey coach), they said that they have been having a hard time talking to him about playing and that he was a hard player to deal with right now. They didn't say it in a nice way though.

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Hello harumph, sure I would love to tell you about his play and sorry I spell axel's name wrong. He made his first two shots in 1 min of play(not in the first min of the game that he played) where he had a layup then a nice 7 feet turn around(that got the crowd and me noticing him and somepeople around me started to ask each other who is he). He impressed me and I think the coaching staff was impressed enough to play him more mins and not play Jason collier in the game at all. He's quicker than JC moving up and down the court and he did play in the closing mins of this close game. He looked confident and he didn't look lost out there as to what to do and where to be. What I like about him was he didn't force shots. Like towards the end of the game axel passed up open 20ft shots to look for players with a better shot which I really liked since it shows teamwork and less trying to impress the coaching staff. I though he played very well against the warriors. I'll try to pay more attention to him in the next games and keep you posted : )

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