Hopefully Papanikolaou's been practicing his 3 pointers and will make them at a better clip than when he first joined the team. He will for sure be an active off the ball cutter and space maker, just need him to hit some shots as well and hopefully Dwight/Smith/Jones can hold up healthy without DMo He was the perfect player for minutes respite for all our bigs, just have to gather themselves and adjust playoff plans now
You acting like D-Mo is our 2nd best player on this team. Don't get me wrong, he stepped up his game when T. Jones and Dwight went down, but if it wasn't for Harden, we'll be a lottery team. You were probably the same person whining that our team is screwed when Chandler Parson went to Dallas. Look at us now! #2 in the West. Just means that someone else has to step up
In fact, low post plays were not called very often for this Rockets team, even when D-Mo was healthy, he didn't always get chance to iso and play at low post. Defense, rebounding, transition fast break and JH iso are the key factors of success for this team through out the season. It would be wonderful to have healthy D-Mo as an effective low post threat for playoff run, but truth is, D-Mo's post play will not be a regular weapon during playoff. It could open more space when he is at high post though... still, very sad...
D-Mo has his liabilities. He may be one of the worst rebounders for a 7-footer I've ever seen. And he doesn't block many shots either for a dude his size. But his offensive game was vital for this team. We can make up for it somewhat since T-Jones has bulked up and can finish pretty well around the rim and Dwight does have a postup game(albeit a streaky one). The Rockets will have to refocus their energy on shutting other teams down and not outscoring them. Dwight, T-Jones, and Smith will get more minutes now to make up for D-Mo's loss. Shoot, they already were since the guy's been out for nearly 2 weeks already. So make sure that interior D and rebounding remains solid, and then figure out where to make up for the lost scoring.
Well, I guess the plus is that we won't have to watch him get pushed around when he's trying to box people out? Golden State doesn't exactly have a lights-out post presence either?? Maybe K-Pap can come back draining 40% of his 3's? I don't know....I'm all out of optimism when it comes to injuries now. **** this city's injury history.
I'm at the point where I'm convinced the Rockets will never be truly healthy heading into the postseason. It's just impossible for them.
No post game left.....great. This offense is going to get so stagnant..... Nothing but Threes will be raining in the playoffs.
Dmo couldn't grab and HOLD onto a rebound to save his life... Dmo may be a better 3 point shooter than jones or smith but those 2 are way better defenders and rebounders which is what we need more of in the playoffs than the occasional dmo 3 or hook shot
Classic rockets bullshat. He's done and I bet you it will take another year just for him to return to his state of play he was at this year. Now we gotta see Dorsey who will be straight trash in playoffs.
As much as I would love to have DMo back I do not think this is as devastating as everyone is making it out to be.
**** all of you who think Kostas can fill Dmos shoes. Dmos loss is INSANE for us. I can't even function anymore. My whole day and the next couple months are ruined. I hate how I take every little negative situation that happens with the rockets in a severe and body aching way but this time I honestly can't persevere or fight off this one. Dmo was going to be HUGE for us. Nobody has a legit post up game on our roster except him. We're basically a shooting team now with rebounders. Dwight hasn't shown promise yet and Im honestly Anout to start crying right now. WHY did the basketball Gods have to take Bev AND Dmo from us??! What did we ever do to piss you off Gods?? I just accidentally yelled at my mom on the phone right now and cursed at her. She already knew it was about the Rockets and Im thankful my mom already knew what the situation was. Now if my girlfriend calls me, she'll know too but she's going to have to be prepared for what's to come. I CANT TAKE THIS GUYS!! WHY WHY WHYYYYYVHJ?((66);;??!$&&8554332<>%#{{|,?! Does this mean Capela becomes our Mutombo/Camby for the playoffs??? Ughhhh Harden better take this personally and go MJ against every team and every game from here on out.
D-Mo WAS our 2nd best player when Dwight and T-Jones were out. Who else was better than him or Harden during most of the season? Ariza? Smith? I just acknowledged in another post in this thread that there are some deficiencies in his game that I won't miss. Particularly his horrible rebounding. T-Jones and Dwight getting more minutes means the Rockets will collect more boards and get additional points off of putbacks. In fact, Papa is a pretty savvy offensive rebounder himself. He always seems to know where to chase down those missed shots. But let's not act like D-Mo's injury isn't a terrible loss for the Rockets. Unless we luck into a lot of favorable matchups in the playoffs(starting with the Mavs), we're gonna miss that guy's scoring and man-to-man defense.
