Tarik Black got stripped at one end (by a big) and hustled back to prevent the fastbreak slam. He fouled, but it was nice to see him not get frustrated. Nick Johnson however seems frustrated; dude got called for fouling a 3pt shooter.
Nick is playing angry, he is determined to make something happen. Drew a foul driving to the hoop and then played tight defense on the subsequent possession to force a backcourt violation. Very nice
One thing I've noticed is that Nick really likes to cheat off his man (perimeter) and put pressure on the big in the paint, if he has the ball. This works great if the guy has poor handles, but backfires if the big identifies the open man. In this case, it almost did. With our paint defense, I'll be curious to see if the coaching staff try to change this behavior (since our perimeter defense is so poor)
<blockquote class="twitter-tweet" data-partner="tweetdeck"><p>Halftime in Orlando, PHI leads HOU 46-40. Jabari Brown leads HOU w/13p, Jahii Carson has 10p. <a href="https://twitter.com/hashtag/NBASummer?src=hash">#NBASummer</a></p>— Houston Rockets (@HoustonRockets) <a href="https://twitter.com/HoustonRockets/statuses/486661203905630208">July 9, 2014</a></blockquote> <script async src="//platform.twitter.com/widgets.js" charset="utf-8"></script>
damn it was just down to like 8 or 9 points and I went to grab a cup of water and now we are losing by 20+ lol what the hell happened?
He is a PG, he doesn't need to be with a true PG. He is a PG who has the skillset to play next to a ball handling guard/forward aka JAMES HARDEN!
Nick said it himself he is a combo guard. Slot him at the 2 or the 1, it shouldn't matter. Still. I would like to see him next to a traditional point like Bev. He'd get demolished by quicker guards if he were to play next to Harden.
Probably held out in case of injury since they could be traded or land in FA if Melo or Bosh accept Houston's offer. They will play in the Vegas Summer League if they are still Rockets.