What in the hell kinda shot was that from Mobley?

I don't necessarily think it was a bad shot in the context of the entire game. The only reason this was a bad shot was because it was for the game winner. In most situations, I think Cat would have drawn a foul on that fadeaway. There was definitely contact by Harrington, and it looked to me like Mobley fell back for the fadeaway because of that contact. It is like he felt the contact, expected the call, and just put up the first shot he could get.

Granted, he should have realized that no foul was going to be called in that situation. If he had continued to drive to the basket (watch the tape), O'Neal was going to come over and help under the basket, and somebody was standing right there for a shuffle pass that would result in a layup. It sucks the way this game ended, but certainly there are MANY other things to blame this loss on than Mobley's last shot.

I mean, how many freaking wide open shots did decent shooters (Francis, Walt, Griffin) get last night late in the game that they missed? I hate to say it, but those guys are usually pretty reliable, so I chalk this one up to bad luck.

 

I was at the game and I could not tell you how many times Tinsley grabbed Steve's shorts. Miller pushed everyone while they were shooting. The officiating was suspect at best. However, Rudy really allowed this game to get away. Both Walt and Kenny were on the court for too long. Our most effective line-up was Francis, Cat, Torres, Willis and Griffin and I did not see that group in the second half. I think Rudy really went out of his way to play Kenny. Something is definitely going on there.

 

Nobody disparage Mobley round here!!! RT loves him!!! He told me so just last Thursday!!!!

 

Uh, was Stevie fouled on his last shot? After the jump ball? It looked like it to me.

 

The official in the paper said that "technically" it is a turnover for Francis to even grab the tip. He is not allowed to come down with a tip until someone else (or the floor) touches it. For that reason alone, there is no way he's getting that call. I'd suspect they would have waved off the basket had it gone in.

bigboy,

Isiah said our best lineups were the small lineups when we had no center (the ones with KT and Eddie together). I agree. What do you mean that Rudy has something going on with KT not to be playing Willis in the 4th? We could speculate that Rudy is trying to build up his trade value, besides the fact that Willis is hit or miss every game, along with Cato.

Francis did a good job early in the 4th(??) hitting seams and finding those 4 wide open shots for Walt, when we went centerless. Walt just missed them. I thought that 4th quarter lineup was giving Indiana trouble. Every shot we had at the end was a good look except Francis spinning widely and attempting that runner with Tinsley falling for none of that in the final minute; I'd so much rather him just rise up for a turnaround jumper...the giggle move sucks. In fairness to Francis, he might produce a pass, but I hate it when he does the giggle where he turns his back to the basket and shakes left then right and turns for the runner. He has never gotten that to go, and it takes his eyes off his teammates. I hate that move. Mobley for a step-back at least is a oft-practiced shot. Guys, love it or not, he practices a step back midrange constantly in shootarounds. Show up early and watch sometime. Do you really like the Francis giggle better???

Hats off to Isiah for going big against us and winning and forcing his own mismatches. Although I thought it was a crap shoot as to who had the better mismatches.

 

Crispee , I thought O'neal did touch the ball first , therefor Francis should have gotten the foul .

 

First, O'Neal was the other guy in the jumpball. It has to be touched by another player, hit the floor or the backboard. Second, I don't even think O'Neal fouled him at all, after I saw it on ESPN, it didn't look that close like it did live.

Third, I was really just trying to report what the official said, later.

The way he just rattled off that ruling in a post game makes you think that had Francis made the shot they would have huddled and made a ruling, which could have been "no shot." I think they just let it go and were in no way going to call a foul.

 

Actually, the Rockets were at their worst in the fourth quarter with Thomas and Griffin as the 4/5 combination. Granted, they did get wide open shots out there that nobody capatilized on, but my beef was more on the defensive end, as both were getting abused by O'neal.

Willis or Cato, who was doing an admirable job on him for the majority of the game, should have been on him in the fourth. I find it extremely hard to justify playing Kenny with the kind of game he was having.

By the way, can Rudy please stop running plays for Kenny at the beginning of every game he starts? That's what separates Griffin from Taylor and Thomas; he can thrive as a third option without having to be force-fed the ball. This team is so much better when they run plays for our guards early and often.

Didn't Mobley sit almost half of the fourth quarter? It seemed like he only came in at the 4:45 mark. That was one of many questionable coaching decisions yesterday......including playing Walt for the entire 3rd quarter, not playing Morris after starting him the last 2 games, only playing Torres in spot-minutes, not playing Willis in the 2nd half despite productive 1st half minutes, and sitting Cato in the fourth, when he was showing a fire we haven't seen all season.

Relative to the topic, it should be reiterated that it wasn't a bad shot given the situation. I can recall much worse last second shots we've had over the last two seasons. He got separation and just missed the shot; it was identical to the shot he missed versus New York. I don't think he did himself any favors by telling Harrington he was going to shoot though. Seems like a bit of ill-timed bravado

" He told me coming out of the timeout that he was going to shoot it," Harrington said. "I thought he would pull up for a 3. I just tried to say in front of him. He warned me and I appreciate that."

 

I still say it is a crapshoot who had the better mismatches. Moochie was eating Reggie up for layups. KT just blew by Foster twice for scores, until they put O'Neal on him and made Foster take Eddie. Our 4th Q mismatches won the battle early.

Eddie couldn't handle O'Neal much at all. KT was working really hard to force him to get the ball further out. And he was marginally successful, forcing O'Neil to get his entry pass about 18' away, which twice resulted in passes out of O'Neill's hands as he couldn't back KT into his comfort zone, and stripping him once completely for an embarrassing turnover. That was actually really awesome reaching around for a strip before O'Neill really even made his move. O'Neil got him backed down for one close in bankshot, then scored the clutch 10-12'er turnaround with KT hounding him the whole way. As for scoring KT's defense based on fundamental positioning, quickness and strength, I score than 1 win by O'Neil, 1 win by KT, and 3 ties (two KT forcing O'Neil to give up the ball passively without double team help for bad results and one O'Neil making a big clutch shot). Clutch shot; pretty awesome, but that was not "abused by O'neal." Compare that to Eddie giving up 2 backdoor slams from not fronting O'neal properly. Eddie just couldn't control O'neal's positioning, imo, and KT did about as well as you can in one on one.

I think the back-seat coaching question really is, why not mix in double teams...like surprise O'Neal in the last minute with a new look.

I'm with Isiah; our small lineup is our best against Indiana. We've always played them well enough to say the mismatches were a draw last night. This was actually the first time Isiah refused to match our quickness. What Isiah did by going big against our small lineup was the most interesting story of the game, imo. That was a chess match decision, and we still should have won, because Moochie and KT definitely showed our power against Reggie and Foster, respectively.

tpl,

You say Mobley shouldn't have sat so long ... well. Mobley was only out from 7:35 (Francis subbed in for him) and returned with 4:20. This was probably due to being tired from the rotation getting out of synch due to Francis picking up that early 4th foul. Don't you think he played minutes in the 3rd that he usually doesn't play. Mobley ended up with 40 minutes still. I really never sit there and yell at Rudy for 4th Q subsitutions, simply because we usually find simple rationale like this...this time being that Mobley played more 3rd Q than usual due to Francis's 4 fouls.

 

Yet another mental mistake by Mobley. Seems like he is a bit overconfident with himself, telling the opponent he is going to shoot. There are only a few players in the NBA now, or even ever, that are or once were good enough to have so much confidence as to tell the opponent that they are shooting the last shot. I really do like Mobley as a Rocket, but he is not learning and growing like most 4-5 year veterans do. He is still making stupid mistakes that sometimes lose the game.

 

I was a proponent of playing Thomas and Griffin together, but they just don't mesh well together, especially with Kenny now pressing to keep his starting job.

The best combinations, imo, involve Griffin playing alongside Cato or Willis, though the latter's recent production is probably more a result of Francis' return ; both seem to elevate their play when in their with him (Griffin), as evidence by the great offensive showing in the second quarter. The team hit over 60 percent of their shots and looked better than it ever has in Francis' 3 years here, imo.

Kenny is a much better position defender than Griffin, though I have been impressed with the way Griffin has been working of late to deny the entry pass. Kenny was going for the steal a little too much, in the same way he did against Abdur-Rahim earlier this season, without the same success.

The problem with Griffin is that he concedes the lane far too often. It's an easily correctable problem, but against players like O'neal, it shows, which is why Thomas was the better of the two at defending him. Still, it would have been nice, like you said, to at least show double in the fourth every once in a while to throw him off. He didn't strike me as a great passer out of the double team.

I didn't see a real advantage for Kenny against Foster, since Foster is a converted 5 at 6'11 with above-average quickness. The one shot he hit on Foster in the fourth was a tough hook, with his other basket coming on a drive on Croshere.

They should cut down on Kenny's touches, imo. He's only going to be more inclined not to pass the ball with Griffin nipping on his heels, and his playing style could become detrimental to the team. He's the ideal pick and roll player with Mobley; he rolls to the basket very well and Mobley is getting better and better at finding the seam. Utilize him in a more team-oriented set.

I agree that the team was at it's best when going small, I just don't feel they put the proper counterpart frontcourt in the second half. Still, they had ample opportunity to put Indiana away and just couldn't hit anything. I have no problem what so ever with the shots they were getting with that lineup.

The Mobley substitution makes more sense now that I realize he played earlier in the quarter. It just seemed ill-timed with the Pacers cutting the deficit from 6/8 to 2/3 with him out. From that perspective it does make sense, especially since they did retain the lead with him out.

At least we know it was just a case of missing good shots in the end, not poor offensive execution, sans the Francis Denver'esque airball.

 

Why woulda person who had sucked so badly the entire game get the ball then? Give it to Torres. Work it for Steve. Cuttino was terrible out there all night.


NO ONE is our clutch player right now. We are looking for one. Cuttino by no means counts as our go to guy in the fourth. Why not let the people who have played a good game take the last second shot?

rediculous.

 

You know as much as talk about Cuttino's bad decisions I cannot blame him for this loss. This game was loo to bad chemistry and the Coach needs to stand up and take this loss like a man....

In the 2nd quarter the lineup of Francis, Mobley, Torres, Griffin, and Willis made a statement and played great together. We did not see this lineup in the second half. Rudy has his own way of doing things and no matter what it will not change.

 

Heyp-
I do not really know. I know a couple times down the court Kenny shrugged his shoulder and then ran back on defense a little deflated. The next time down the court, the ball was given to Kenny. I personally believe Kenny will be traded. (probably during the summer) I think Kenny understands he will be losing the starting spot. (again, this is me thinking) I think he has Rudy in a tough spot. Griffin is playing better than Kenny. But Rudy cannot start Griffin because he has stated publically that a starter does not lose his position due to injury. I wonder if Kenny has implied the unfairness if Rudy plays Griffin and when Mo comes back, starts Mo.

I think the small line-up that was effective dealt with the three guards. Walt really rushed his shots. When Walt was in the game it was basically 4 on 5. He was terrible. I won't even get into how I feel about Kenny and Walt being on the court together.

Kenny really does not know what he is going to do with the ball when he gets it. He should concentrate on shooting the outside shot or concentrate on driving to the basket. Kenny is not effective when he kicks his leg to side like a bull does before it takes off after the matador. Kenny should get the ball and then decide which one he is going to do. If he cannot get the shot off, he should pass the ball rather than improvise. I think he is decent at driving, shooting and posting. But he sometimes tries to do all three during one possession.

 

Are you kidding me? Cat played very well in the first half. I am a very big fan of Rudy but last night the (playing) rotation was terrible. He stuck with Walt the entire game which in my opinion took away from the other players. (I really wonder. Does Rudy really believe in Walt or is he showcasing him for a trade?) Reggie Miller could not hold anybody without fouling and Rudy saw that. It was not a bad decision to give the ball to Cat, Cat took a bad shot. He should of passed the ball to the open man.

ONE MORE THING. THERE ARE TOO MANY BALLHOGS ON THIS TEAM!

 

that was a typical mobley shot, ill tell you what that guy has the worst shot selection ever, I especially love the ones where he runs the shot clock down to like 3 seconds and shoots a fadeaway from 3-point land

 

I just wish we hurry up and get a sf so we don't have to see Mobley at the 3. Since teams can play zones, whats the advantage?

 

Oscar could be that SF if Rudy would trust him.

 

Are you kidding me??? Since when is Mobley our go to guy in crunch time? And your statistics seem a little off. What's your source for the 99.999%??



Francis is the man I want with the ball with the clock ticking down in crunch time...... You need to look no further than the Pistons game for proof on that.

 

Just felt that this point needed to be reiterated once again.

Fact is, if the Rocks continued to play team ball they would have won the game and Mobley's shot is a non-issue. Actually, I don't have any official stats nor do I care to find any, but I would confidently guess that 90% of the games they've lost have been due to a lack of ball movement, especially in the second half.

The pattern is:

1st half - Good ball movement leading to good shot selection, build nice lead or not far off lead

2nd half - Too much ball-handling, no ball movement leading to bad shot selection and offensive production, opposition pulls out tough win

Now I don't know if it's the opposition increasing its defensive pressure, the Rocks loosing focus, or all of the Rocks trying to be 'The Hero', but this is a trend that must stop.