With a defender on him that's 4" taller than him and he's shooting a running jump shot fading to his left. I think Cuttino is a great player but his shot selection just sucks. Why wasn't Francis shooting the last shot anyway? And I won't even comment on the mobbing that Francis took from O'Neal after the jump ball.
Come on , you know Mobley is our clutch player. So what if he was falling down with a much taller defender in his face, Mr. Clutch makes that shot 99.999% of the time. Never mind that Francis won the previous game, give it to Mr. Mobley everytime.
It was just a collective melt-down. Francis had to force up a bad shot similar to the one he had against Denver at home early last season the possession before. Moochie and Griffin both missed 2 wide open shots a piece that could have sealed it. I really don't like when Mobley fades away, but it should never have come down to a last second shot to tie to begin with. They just squandered opportunity after opportunity. Ironically, they ended up losing by 2 (the 2 technicals they had in the 2nd half). It didn't help that Rudy was running a horrible rotation. Playing Walt as much as he did was a big mistake, especially keeping him in the entire 3rd quarter. How does Willis not see any time in the second half? I like Kenny, but he was pressing tonight, and playing pretty damn badly. Willis or Cato, who was showing unbelievable energy, should have been in there in the 4th on O'neal. Can't place the blame on one person. It was just a collective choke job in the second half. It's a shame too, because the offense looked the best it ever has in the last 3 years during that 2nd quarter.
That sequence with Mobley reminded me of how the first Lakers game in Houston ended. At least this time, the shot got off, but it was still an ugly play. I would rather see us lose on a shot that comes close to going in than seeing something like what we saw.
There's no doubt it was a very bad shot by Mobley, but no one else really earned a chance at that shot in the final minutes either .... Francis made some bad decisions late, getting blocked by Tinsley on one shot when he worked the offense to the point where he had to force a bad shot. Griffin missed his last 5 shots too ... I by no means blame Mobley for this one.
So we can see 50 threads about people questioning why attempted a three instead of trying to go to overtime?
All in all, Mobley was not to blame for this game. That ugly shot he took was just a capper on one of the ugliest halves of basketball by a professional team that I have ever seen.
I wasn't too displeased with Cuttino's last shot. I mean it wasn't the greatest shot in the world but with 7.9 seconds left great shots don't just fall in your lap. He got the ball, penetrated, fought through Harrington's stiff arm on his hip, faded, appeared to have pretty good separation on the replay and simply missed it. How much better a shot do you think anyone else was going to get. Then O'Neal ripped Steve's arm off on the jump ball, game over. Damn why couldn't we just hit one friggin' extra wide open shot.
Here's an idea: Actually run a "play" when the game is on the line for once! I am sick of this ISO crap.....when it's crunch time you aren't going to get a foul call! You need to run a creative and efficient play to get your best player a good shot!! I love Cuttino and he is in no way to blame for this game, but his selfishness with the ball concerns me sometimes! I understand a scorers mentality but you gotta be able to dish the ball when your shot isn't there. Just an opinion!!
Lack of a "Post Presence" was the difference in this game. When things got tight, and jump shots were not falling for either team, Indiana had a post player in O'Neal who operated in the low block for a game winner. We have no Post Presence, therefore, when things get tight and we are missing open jump shots, we have to resort to game winning floaters by Steve (i.e. Detroit) or missed fading jump shots by Mobley. Live by the Sword, Die by the Sword.
That is a good point. With time, EG will be that post presence, but the Rockets stopped moving the ball. That's how this game was lost. They started dribbling too much and the flow for the Rockets got stagnant. The iso is the death of the Rockets.
blame mobley for all those needless turnovers he always has in the middle of the game, trying to be cute with the basketball... is this always overlooked?
It seems you are the only one not blaming him in this thread. I guess you are being the Mobley rationalist in a hata thread. Keep up the good work Clutch.
Bay Rock!! --- you're my hero!! exaclty..that's what i've been screaming for the longest time now. except i'll take it a step further..you said lack of post presence was a difference in the game....i'd say it's a difference in a season and a franchise!!
Absolutely horrible end to a disgusting fourth quarter. It's a good thing this team isn't in contention for anything cause this loss hurts. That was a very crappy Indiana team we played tonight, but we only managed 79 total points. The 4th period was absolutely atrocious as we missed wide open jumpers, took poor shots, and turned the ball over repeatedly. I agree that this game is only partially Mobley's fault. We led the whole way, and choked at the end. Eventually Mobley needs to learn that there are four others on the court with him, and maybe they have a better shot than he does.
I don't blame Mobley at all. With 8 secs and your best player coming off a game winner, its no way to get him the ball? This yr you can throw the ball into the backcourt right? Its someway you must get the ball to your best player which is Francis. You know, never mind ........
Actually Francis was wide open at the arc to receive the ball, but the inbounds passer waited until Mobley curled around to the arc to pass it in to him. It was obviously another one of RT's brilliant set plays.
I thought Tinsley blocked that shot from our best player just moments before Mobley's open shot. So I thought we decided to give Mobley's a chance running around picks following Francis's decoy running the saome picket fence. Francis wasn't open on the strong side with Mobley and the Picket fence Francis and Mobley just ran around would produce only a skip pass. Mobley's shot was a simple jump back jumper from 15', no higher on difficulty factor than Francis running 17'er layup shot the game before. I guess once again, I'm the only one who will say a Mobley jump back with seconds on the clock is as good as a Francis runner. Have fun ripping that simple step back 15'er,,,hatas,,,versus Francis getting stripped a moment before on an identical shot he got for the winner the game before. Oh that's right, you guys aren't hatas, you are "rationalists" on last second shot selection...
