Third Chance this year he did, too 4th Chance, he shot 5th Chance, he shot 6th Chance, he shot (made) 7th Chance, he shot I'm probably missing some...but not the first 3.
I'm not a big fan of Mobley or the Rockets' play selection, but I'll defend the 3 point shooting -> both Walt and Cuttino are shooting the same percentage from 3 point land as they are from 2 point land. All other things being equal, we're better off if they jack up a 3 pointer, because we're more likely to get another point AND we're equally unlikely to get a rebound on a two point shot and a three point shot.
And the pass was deflected by Fox coming in next to Willis because Willis failed to shield help defense (since Shaq left him to get Cat). Chance #2: was a 3-man strongside, Mobley working the pick and finding a beautiful skip pass to a wide open (*and* red hot) Glen Rice for the 5 point lead with 1:00 to go against the Knicks. miss. Chance #3: Mobley coming around a double pick for the pass, Moochie passes it to him at the right elbow, and he comes for the Walt jumper behind the free throw line, Moochie man leaves him and Mobley gives an instinctual 8' bounce pass to Moochie for a wide open 17'er...miss. The first 3 chances of the year, Mobley consciously sought out teammates...all failure, imo, by teammates. No wonder he tried too hard to take over after that.
So Cuttino passes up the relatively open shots and takes the hand in his face fade-away shots. How dare people question his decision making.
It could have to do with the fact that in the Lakers game, he wasn't the only one on the floor that could create his own shot. Also, when you consider Cat's playing on two bad ankles, it's probably tough for him to make a move to the basket on that play...
That shot didn't bother me much. What bothered me was that Cuttino missed about three straight wide-open three-pointers in the final few minutes of the fourth quarter. If he had made ANY of those, the Rockets would have won.
Of course, if Cuttino hadn't hit about three consecutive 3-pointers earlier in the quarter the Rockets wouldn't have been in the game at all. we do the same thing. close games when we have the ball its basically "give the ball to nick...nick do whatever you want" its usually a fall away or pull up J. its missed i think everytime. Nugz, Pretty much every team with a perimeter star does it. The Bulls did it with Jordan, and now you have Van Exel, Allan Houston, Paul Pierce, and a number of other stars that usually take the perimeter fadeaway at the end of the game. People just complain on this board because it's Cuttino Mobley, who would probably be criticized by some for being "selfish" if he scored 100 points in a game.
Those three he did make were contested. Why couldn't he make one out of three uncontested shots? It was pathetic.
like calvin murphy once said," If you can see the rim, its a good shot" Cat saw the rim, as he does on every play, and let it go
Occasionaly, one would imagine, a good/potentialy good player may hook up with good coach and the two might mesh. The first example that comes to mind for me is Cato. I consistantly wonder if Cato might be better served by a 'diciplinarian' type coach instead of the players' coach that Rudy is. From more of a X's and O's standpoint, I think back to 'the pimp'. I remeber Pippen saying that he couldn't drive in this offense, and Rudy replying that he kept telling Pippen to drive when ever he wanted to. What struck me here was that perhaps there was a lack of communication. It seems to me that Rudys emphesis on a simple offense reduces the amount of movement away from the ball which, in turn, can cause some people to feel a sense of stagination. It strikes me as well, that Mr. Mobley might benefit from an offense in where he's constantly moving, and taking his shot in the context of that motion. Astheticaly and technicaly, Cuttino's shot is not lacking. In fact, it is IMO the most tehchnicaly consistant and sound 'j' on the team. It just seems that sometimes he might loose a feel for the tempo, and begin to stagnate. Sometimes, coaches or players will have a 'blind spot'. That will come back to bite them. Some coaches refuse to see the value of big guys, or fail to see the value of comunicating with players. For these people, no matter how much the need for change hits them in the face, they won't listen. For a while, I wondered whether Rudy had become one of these, perhaps rooted to the half-court, unathletic types. This year has given me some hope. The influx of athletecism shows me that eventualy, Rudy will catch the blind spots. I am confidant that eventualy Rudy will incorporate more off-ball movement. Until then, however, I am not going to expect a consistant jumper from Cuttino.
Try again. <strong>Game #2:</strong> Against the Clippers, Mobley drove and missed badly at the 1:20+ mark with the Rockets up 3. Brand scored (again), then Mobley, with <em>less than a minute to go</em>, again drove and missed. Game went to OT. Mobley was 8-24 on the night. [Francis later wins game in OT] <strong>Game #4:</strong> Against the Suns, with the game tied at 100-100, Mobley isos and misses a fadeaway jumper with 37 seconds left. (Still a great night for Mobley - 6-7 from long range, 9-16 from the floor, 26 points) . [Moochie later wins game on three at buzzer] <strong>Game #6:</strong> Against the Sixers, with less than a minute to go and the Rockets up 4, Mobley immediately goes down and fires up a short-armed jumper, terrified by Mutombo who didn't even jump. Mobley was 5-13 on the night. Lakers game, which you say was the first chance Cuttino had in the final minute, was <strong>Game #9</strong>. I'm sorry... what was that mocking potshot about <em>knowledgeable</em> fans? Way to make it personal, jackass. Odds are (literally) for Cuttino Mobley to score 100 points in a game, he'd have to take about that many shots at a 30-40% clip, and the Rockets would lose 142-103. And yes, I'd call him "selfish". However I think this speaks volumes about your mindset and that of others who refuse to see what Cuttino is doing. The name of the game is points. You think Mobley is a court genius, so long as he scores 18-20 points a game, which would make him an "All Star" caliber player. 41 minutes a night plus the complete freedom to shoot in an isolation-dominated offense will get <em>many</em> players those kinds of points per affair. Never mind Finley or Kobe... is Cuttino much better than Quentin Richardson or Bonzi Wells? Not shooting from the field he isn't. Comparing him to Michael Jordan? PLEASE. For his CAREER Jordan shot over 50% from the floor. Of course the Bulls are going to go to Jordan, even isolate him, when it counted. Bad comparison. Facts are Mobley is shooting 30% from the field in his past 5 games. He's shooting 27% from inside the arc. Passing is rarely an option. Yet in two of those games we put the ball in his hands, without running any kind of play to get a high percentage shot, and said "Win it Cuttino". Hence, how smart of a coach do you need to be to do this? That's bad basketball. He's supposedly a better shooter this season, and I would think to agree, yet he's putting up a career low in field goal percentage. If he's injured, he's not helping the team and needs to rest to get to full strength. If not, this tells me his shot selection has gotten much worse this season. If you've watched the past two games, even Calvin Murphy blasted Mobley in each of the games for <em>really</em> bad decisions. If a baseball coach puts in a struggling relief pitcher and he gives up a dinger for the loss, he's going to be second-guessed. Rudy CAN be second-guessed without saying he needs to be fired or that he's not a championship coach. What IS a coach responsible for? What is his job? Does he only get credit if he wins, nothing if he loses? I'm telling you that as a fan, I find our play selection down the stretch to be boring and lacking in creativity. crispee says Rudy's plays actually make NASA engineers drool. Great. While the other 4 Rockets are doing 'Lord of the Dance' out there, I see one Rocket, in isolation, milking the clock and trying to win the game. shanna/Major said it best -- some of you are degrading the BBS with Ashcroft-like "you're not a Rocket fan!" or "you just hate Cuttino!" statement posts to anyone who criticizes or doesn't pull <em>your</em> marketing sled. Suddenly we're not fans? Pffft. Idiots. But hey, never mind numbers. Keep going with the "mass hatred" angle. Probably work better for you since it's a WitchHunt-esque accusation, based on nothing factual, that no one can prove to be true or false.
I would love to see how the Rockets fared in five games without Cuttino and with Francis. Put Cat on the IR for five games so he can rest his ankles, and I bet you anything that the Rockets would score over 100 points in at least four of the five games. The offense simply clicks when Steve runs things and Mobley takes a back seat.
I wouldn't go that far. Cuttino is certainly important to the team, even moreso considering how few weapons we have these days. I just wish he played more with his head sometimes and let shots come to him from an offensive set rather than forcing shots (those times where Cuttino gets the ball, and whether he can get himself free or not, he's going to shoot it). BTW, the Rockets are 0-1 when Francis plays and Mobley doesn't (<a href="http://www.clutchcity.net/game.cfm?gameID=172">90-86 loss in San Antonio</a>). A good, hypothetical question would be: How would the Rockets do with a less explosive but more efficient guard.... like Brent Barry for example? <font face="arial" size="1">(No, I'm not saying we should trade Mobley for Barry... )</font>
It would still be interesting to see how they did with a lineup featuring Steve and Oscar in the backcourt. Oscar thrives when shots are created for him, and Steve is the perfect person to do that. Cuttino rarely plays off of Steve, even though I think he would be much more effective if he did.
Great post Clutch. Good to see you posting. I agree with everything you said, I hope the people here fully read and understand that about Cuttino. He is not all that.
As long as Cuttino is the 2nd best option/player on this team the Rockets will have offensive problems. I think if Rudy would show some tough love instead of always mentioning Cuttino as a top ten player in the league, you would see a drastic improvement in his play. Its like giving Vernon Maxwell, Vinnie Johnson, Reggie Theus, Chuck Person or any of the notable "gunners" in the NBA a blank check to do whatever the hell they want to do! Without any impact veterans, which player will take Cat aside and give him some words of wisdom? It doesn't seem like Rudy can influence/control Cuttino.
First, you try again for saying "EVERY close game" we run ISOs. I see your not defending your exaggeration on that one. Call what I do a crusade against exaggerated blame and poor critique, but not being personal. I said, "how knowledgeable does a fan have to be" to see that you are exaggerating. I did not call you that "fan." You said, "how good of a coach do you have to be." OK, so you are getting personal with the abstract coach, and I am questioning the abstract fan who questions the coach. Am I supposed to be a sunshine follower of any beat report's or columnist's critique. I like critical discussion without exaggeration and frustration. The challenge is to try to describe last minute plays better. I contend we are not ISOing hardly at all in the last minutes, especially when Francis plays. <b>as for Mobley's last minute plays...Try Again Clutch</b> I assume you are basing this off your Recaps, because I'm using notes, too, if not tape. Anyhow, I took the context of BGM's question to mean the big plays...you know, the ones everyone talks about, and the ones you alluded to in "EVERY close game," those after timeouts when both the defense and offense discussed what they'd do. The first big plays called for Mobley were the Lakers and then New York. The majority of the rest of the big plays were called for Francis before he got injured. Nearly all of them. The reason I'm mentioning this is because Mobley seems to have tried early to get teammates involved in the memorable plays, and got nothing out of it. It is like he is second-guesses that. He even said it in the paper. But no, let's not discuss that, because Mobley is just a selfish fool, and I'm the one exaggerating. You mentioning an in-the-flow PnR for Mobley against the Clippers or a Secondary Transitional shot against the 76'ers that would have been a kiss of death is just going to make me point out two other plays <b>that you seem to conventiently forget,</b> despite your rigorous research. If I were to discuss *any* possesstion, then we have <b>Game One</b> Mobley hitting Thomas for a layup is a PnR in the last minute of an OT game, and Mobley getting the secondary transition drive for a monster dunk against Minnesota to tie the game with 14 seconds. That was <b>Game Three</b>. "personal," bah! This is just another example of exaggeration.
