Last time we were missing Ariza AND Lowry (and let's not forget Yao), we tied the franchise low for points in a game and got blown out by a struggling Miami team..... This time, missing Ariza and Lowry (I think we all see how integral they are now), no Yao to counter Howard (who had a monster game with 30 pts, 16 rebs, 3 asts, and a block, mostly against new teammates who are still trying to learn our system) and with Scola having probably the worst game in his career (zero pts, 3 rebs), we were still in the game up until the last few minutes against the second best team in the East, who went to the Finals last year. Martin had his best game as a Rocket so far (19 pts), primarily in the 3rd quarter when he was ACTUALLY GETTING THE BALL (he's gonna need more touches). All in all, we had a pretty good game (albeit a loss), and with a few more games and practices to jell more, I see good things in our future, we can only move up from here.
I'm not worried. Adding Yao next year completly changes everything. We made this move for Yao, not for this season. We all knew coming into the2009-2010 season that it was going to be rough. just push though and next year lets dominate.
I expected us to lose but it was sickening to see how many careless turnovers we were committing and the lack of hussle on the court. I saw loose balls where a magic player was like 5 or 6 feet away run across and grab it while david anderson was like a couple feet away just standing there staring at the ball. I also saw a play where brooks drives right into 3 big magic defenders and loses the ball, plays like this happen over and over again where he's just reluctant to pass the ball. Plays like that are inexcusable.
Right. I also see short term improvement coming up soon too. Martin is going to have a breakout game soon, as long as Brooks stops being a ballhog.
Honestly could care less if they lose every game from here on out as long as they continue improving and Martin gets into the offense. As a fan I think they will turn it around and win more then they lose from here to the end but its all about next year, its always been about that. Instant gratification takes too long. - Carrie Fisher
I think Brooks is used to being the star and the best player on the squad, feels like it's his team, and he doesnt wanna let that go. Case in point, last night he scores 24, was reluctant to pass to Martin, and we lost.
That's what I'm talkin about. We were never supposes to make a title run this year. But with the new sqaud, we need to give them more time to work out the kinks and learn how to dominate together. I see it as very possible for Brooks AND Martin to avg 20 a game, theres enough cake for everyone.
We were down 20 points at half time, when Kmart was 0-7 shooting, and Scola was 0-4....mayhaps he was a little tired of them bricking and decided to shoot a bit more himself. It happens. DD
If anyone's expecting the team to win these games without Ariza, Lowry, Yao, and with Landry traded, they're just delusional. The results of these last three games have been predictable. The team will get better when it gets healthy and the players are used to playing together. No worries.
man you guys are really optimistic! rockets fan always say wait till next year, i'm tired of all that! the rockets went to the 2nd round in the playoffs last year and gave the lakers more of a fight than any team they faced and more than half without yao. you shouldn't jump the gun on yao because he's coming off major surgery, it didn't look like we needed a whole new roster after last year just inside help. now the rockets will be paying luxury taxes because of our free agents and new additions and no money to get help where we need it and are not even better. and everyone's optimistic!
Brooks has been hogging the ball since the trade. He also threw up a lot of bricks himself, not to mention the horrible turnovers.
This time you don't pick on defense anymore? There reason we were down 20 had more to do with defense. Rockets was down by 4 when AB replaced Temple to play with Martin. Rockets only made 1 or 2 stoppers rest of the way in that quarter. 37 points for Magic in that quarter.
All four new players played in last night's game. I'm not sure that's the hallmark of a team looking to make a serious playoff push. It was just agonizing to watch; the Rockets have lost their mojo. Just going to have to keep throwing them out there, I guess.
I can't wait to see how Kevin Martin does with Kyle Lowry and Yao Ming. With Lowry, they'll be running all over the place; I think it'll be very exciting. With Yao, Martin should get lots of open looks and should knock 'em down. Unfortunately, both are out. Hopefully we'll see a Lowry/Martin combo soon.
