The heart, the fire and the passion is on the bench disguised as Steve Francis. Until he gets unleashed, we won't see much heart, fire or passion.
i am sorry. i can't agree with you. they have heart and passion otherwise they would not be able to fight back to tie the game. they just didn't have enough tools of good quality to win the last night game. in the last a few min, they had so many opens but couldn't make them. they tried to attack the basket but missed a few layups from mj and bonzi. yao uncharacterizedly missed so many fts as well as bonzi. it reminded me of shaq in the game vs mavs. don nelson's stretagy was used by lakers and was working last nite.
I don't think they are lacking passion, they just haven't been shooting that well. Rafer and Battier are shooting well below their career averages,and Rafer shooting normal is adequate at best. Combine that with the fact that Hayes is zero offense outside of lay up range and we have been completely dependant on Yao and Tmac for offense. Of course Mike James is supposed to be the scoring spark off the bench, but he shot worse than Rafer at 2-10 yesterday with 3 turn overs and no assists. Bonzi and Yao put up some points, but 7-19 and 6-18 arent much better than Rafer's 5-13 either. They are also still adjusting to a new offense and I expect they won't REALLY have it down til some where in the 2nd half of the season. Rick is a player's coach who won't make big line up changes just because players are having slumps. He will give them every opportunity to play out of that slump first which is generally a good thing because it gives the players confidence. If it is true that Francis didn't have his uniform on under his warm ups after the game that might also explain why he didn't get in last night.
I agree about shooting, but you can see the lack of fire by the lack of defensive intensity at the start. Both the Lakers and the Grizzlies got tons of uncontested shots in the first half, the Rockets came out better in the 2nd half, but they have started slowly in almost every game this year. And not been playing good defense or offense. The Starters are not doing well out of the gate, they need to set the tone, and honestly it seems the tone has been set by the bench far too often. DD
Dakota opened himself up to have this thread turn into a We want Steve thread. I read the title and saw it coming from a mile away. Come on now...Does anyone disagree? - Sushimaster
trust me, lost couple games may not be the bad thing, if rick can test team quicker, do u really think we are that good this season? even when 6-1, none of the game is easy, lucky may better word, now, it is reality.
I completely agree with this assessment. I think in the long run, it's better to expose all our problems now, rather than later, so we can address it. With this current lineup, teams are going to leave Rafer wide, especially during the playoffs. We need someone with Rafer's point guard skill, but who can shoot. If not Steve, someone. Otherwise we will never beat the elite teams. - Sushimaster
Funny how people that disagree find it ridiculous, when I think it is just noticing an issue earlier than most. DD
actually it's not that ridiculous of a thread at all. i'm admitedly not dadakota's biggest fan, but this thread speaks volumes for a majority of rockets fans here about the current state of this team. in short, i agree.
Yeah, but Novak got sent to the D-League...just kidding! I agree with you. If you wan all those things, look no further than the last seat on the active bench...it's the player that has received not even ONE SECOND of playing time. Even Kirk freaking Snyder was given a chance...at his chance involved Kobe Bryant...didn't turn out too well. Steve Francis needs to play. Although I do think he'd play MUCH better if his debut was at home. Save him for PHX unless the SA game gets bad with the guards again.
It's a knee-jerk panic thread, don't congratulate yourself on some kind of basketball wisdom. Even if the sample size is valid (which it's not, Nostrodomus), your point is demonstrably wrong. The team *just* came back from being down 18 *without* McGrady! Did you see the defense in the second half? They were all over the court. The "fire" and "passion" is there in the starters and the bench. McGrady and Yao have played with fire and energy all year long. Bonzi, Hayes, Scola and James have been aggressive, as well. The Rockets probably lead the league in taking charges, for Christ's sake! That's not the sign of a complacent team...you try taking a charge sometime. The Rockets have not gelled because of a lack of passion, it's their lack of shooting. The games they lost in Dallas and Memphis were down to stupid turnovers and fouls, not a lack of "passion." If anything, they had too much "heart," "fire" and "passion" in those games.
Being a video game geek... I must admit, that did crack me up. Good job DD. Although, I have to say, we did play with a much better sense of urgency in the second half last night. I was really proud of the team even though I knew they would lose from the get go. I still have no idea why rafer was in the ball game for the last FT when we needed 3 point shooters out there. It should of been Head/James/Battier/Bonzi/Yao - he should of taken the shot instead.
Give Bonzi his credit. Without him last night would've been a blowout. He's our 3rd best player and he's going to play huge these next few games.
Ok, for those of you saying "But we played well in the 2nd half" please re-read the post, it is talking about the STARTERS and the beginnings of the games where our intensity has been lacking all year. I think only in 2 games has it been there from the start, Dallas and San Antonio - I discount the Utah game because both teams were getting easy shots, Tmac was just on fire. So, out of 9 games a grand total of 22% of them has had our team start out with a sense of purpose or urgency. That is not acceptable, the team needs to come out HARD right away...that is what I am talking about, quit letting weaker teams gather their confidence and have a chance to win. So far it has cost the team wins against far lesser opponents twice......and almost another one in Charlotte. THAT is what I am talking about......FIRE, PASSION, ENERGY, INTENSITY...from the opening tip.....of the FIRST HALF !!! DD
I agree with DD, although i think our problem could be better defined as a lack of killer instinct rather then heart. This team needs to go out with an expectation that they will crush lesser teams, grab them by the throat, and never let go. I don't doubt that our guys play hard or have heart...what they DON'T have is the swagger that a winning team has. They need to think "we're the best, we expect to win, you want the W, come and take it, Mo*f#ckers." The only way to develop this attitude is through winning and playing well. As we learn the offense a little more, i expect this to come. It's incredibly rare that one player can bring that attitute. Jordan could, and could functionally scare all his players into having such an attitude. The same could maybe be said for Bird, but then, he had a team full of all stars, and they all KNEW they were good. Same with the Showtime lakers. As our offense gets smoother, and we get a couple more wins, the swagger will come. Think of it like highlander--we kill our enemies and take their power, and come out with swagger in the next game. Give it time. Except in extremly rare instances, a player doesn't inspire a winning attitude, winning does.
