Agree on the talent part, especially when your missing a 7'6 in his prime all star center who averages 24 pg, 11 boards and 2 tap outs a game. The Spurs were making every shot they through up (ie.Jacque Vaughn shot to beat the buzzer at halftime). I still would not be afraid of playing them, but I wouldn't alter my lineup with Battier coming off the bench. I think that really through the rockets defense off a bit.
Don't you think playing league's elite teams at their gyms had anything to do with the blown-outs. Granted, we did look deflated after the losses to the Spurs, Suns, Hornets, and Celts, as any team would look after being kicked hard. IMO, our chemistry is just fine, we are just not good enough to beat those teams without Yao.
t-mac's passing skill is overrated. rafer's ability is overrated. scola's weakness is exposed. landry is lost. at one time, they all look so beautiful with loads of confidence. but in reality they are not changed much. it take some time for them to realize it. all in all, rox is not top tier team w/wo yao. if they can make playoff, it's an achievement.
so when they "realize it" what are you expecting, they'll just pack it in and go "gosh, we really suck...no need to play anymore" Its funny how none of these posts came out during the streak...I wonder what changed... What was Scola's weakness anyway that was so obviously revealed in his 24 and 7 performance?
Adelman made a huge mistake this game you can blame him and Alston the most. He should have stayed with what worked and not allowd certain individuals expose our weakness. He should have based the match up primarily in the flow of the game to see who gets hot and who is not and force San Antonio to change rhythem of offense. They just could not be stoped even with Duncan not being the primary force inside he was used as a decoy. It was one of those games that you just can not afford to not start Battier because we no longer have Bonzi. And Adelman based his line up in trying to cancel out there best player off the bench which indeed turned up to be in the starting line up. If i was Adelman i would have kept T-Mac at the 2 and started Mike Harris.
If chemistry is the problem, then Rockets need a chemistry professor on the staff. Maybe he can teach the guys something about covalent bonding!
I believe fatigue and injuries are more important then chemistry is, they proved they get along with each other, but they seem really tired.
This is a very good catch and shoot team the problem is when T-Mac gets the ball the offense then stops moving unless he attacks and for the most part find somebody inside for a easy layup or a dunk. When the offense becomes stagnant then the other team's defense playes the role players a little tighter and forces them mostly to shoot off the dribble which indeed is something they are not too good at.
T-Mac is one of the best sg passers. How could you say that he s passing is overrated? A part James, do you know any other 6-8 or 6-9 that can pass like him?
San Antonio is a fragile team they are a team you absolutely must put a body on. Mike Harris would have over powered Finley and keep him in a shooting funk. The fact that Finley is a decent spot up shooter and decent shooter off the dribble was too much for Head.
u really think we would be even close to this position if tmac was out and yao was playing? we've obviously have fallen back to earth a little bit but it's b/c of us. our defensive intensity was porous last night, including battier. JVG criticized that he was not himself and that's strange. we just gotta focus on what we did well during the streak (defense, rebound...) and we'll be fine. no team will play well forever. the spurs, if i remember correctly, lost like 4 straight (and 7 in a row on the road) b4 this current winning streak. we just gotta bounce back.
exactly, fatigue and minor injuries (esp. for tmac) are the main reasons here. jumpers aren't falling anymore, defense is slower... hopefully we can get a second wind b4 the playoffs start.
