Griffin was open.....again

I have a new level of disrespect for Rocket fans. All you guys complained about the other night against the Jazz was how we should've taken the 3 for the win (which would've been a difficult shot), and not the two. We were down about 10 points at the time, I believe, and Cuttino had just made a three the possession before. Why not take the three? We needed points and we needed them quickly. Carter just came into the picture and blocked a shot. It happens. If Steve Francis had taken that shot, some of you would be congratulating him on taking a "big shot" and showing leadership. And by the way, Cuttino had 4 turnovers tonight. Where were you when Steve had 7 last night?

BTW, as I've said before, only here can a role player have 28 points and 9 assists, and be bashed immediately after the game ends.

 

The first 3-4 minutes of the 4th quarter, Cuttino was drunk! He kept driving into double teams and lost the ball ...

 

All I remember reading was complaints that there shouldnt have been an outside shot taken at all (He should have drove), but if he was going to take a guarded shot right in front of the 3 point line, then why the hell not step back and shoot the 3? How can that even be argued.

A lot of players stepped up today. But he is just mentioning some of the stupid moves. Mobley shouldnt have taken the 3 because everyone in North America knew he was going to. He had just taken 2 from that spot. The smart ballplayer (be it Mobley or Francis) would have faked the shot and got his man in the air. Griffin was wide open again on the Moochie play in contention.

Anyway, it was a great performance overall by Moochie, and KT, although still shy to pass occasionally, has really turned up his game, in a good way, the last few weeks. Griffin showed up in the end too. Its night and day when this team passes the ball versus iso plays (2nd/3rd quarter vs 1st/4th quarters).

 

Great. Another "BashRudy/Bash Mooch" thread.

Sh*t happens, people. Without Steve (a major drawback for Rudy) the team was close in the final seconds. They fought back from what would have been a blowout. And Mooch had an excellent game.

The inclination that some have to blame every lost game on a single play or a single player mystifies me. Where are you guys when someone plays horribly, but we still win? Sh*t happens. People miss shots on hot shooting nights, they lose plays that are well coordinated because defenses actually react, other people who aren't on camera blow plays, they trip on a banana peel...

These things happen. I for one am glad that 1) Moochie did have a good game, and 2) the Rox fought back towards the end. It would have been beautifal had they won, but I'll take the good with the bad.

 

1. Bashing moochie? What the hell are you talking about? I started off by giving him props for having a good game. The only complaint I had about him was not finding the open man in crunch time. You can't deny that mistake.

Moochie had 28 points and 9 assists in place of Steve. When we were down 7 and the shot clock running down, he made an incredible shot and got the foul to cut it to 4. On consecutive possessions he found Eddie wide open for the 3's that kept us alive. Mooch was absolutely brilliant tonight... I'd think that would exclude him from the quote "Now I know these were the two guys that kept hope alive for a win, but why does that matter when the same two guys were the ones that lost it for us?"

2. That third shot when Cuttino got blocked, he was well-defended the whole time. Carter didn't "come in the picture", he was there the whole time. A typical Cuttino shot, which led to a dunk.

A typical Cuttino shot? Imho, it was a heatcheck type shot. He had made his last several shots, so why not try another one? I don't know if there's one NBA player who hasn't done that before, when they were on a roll. You may not have intended to do so (and I sincerely apologize if you didn't), but it just gets old seeing Cuttino blasted for things that almost everyone in the league does. (without criticism)

3. Not to excuse Steve's 7 turnovers last night, but playing with a migraine headache isn't exactly the best time to be playing basketball. Cuttino's turnovers came at a VERY crucial time in the game, and they came consecutively.

Again, don't take this personally, but I can remember Steve dribbing the ball off his foot and out of bounds when the game was on the line in the final seconds at Dallas last year. That turnover was much more costly than any tonight, but the majority of posters shrugged it off as a bad break.

 

My nomination for post of the year.

 

Maybe because Vince Carter was in his face. I don't know, I haven't been a basketball player for 8 years, but I do know two things I could've done that would've resulted in my testicles being placed in a vice:

1. Shooting a three pointer on a fast break when a guy taller than me is right in my face.

2. Trying to dribble through a teammate and two opponents.

You can try and defend Mobley all you want with your flawed arguements like "well, he made two three pointers before that" or the classic "if it wasn't for him, we wouldn't have been in that position", but the fact of the matter is that Mobley is easily one of the dumbest players in the league, and a couple of plays tonight cemented that fact.

 

There's several methods of response to that, but I'll just go with the most compelling.

If Cuttino was so stupid, don't you think other teams would be talking about it? Don't you think the entire league would know about it? If he did it so often, wouldn't opposing fans give him a reputation? Go to the Kings BBS, the Spurs BBS, the Lakers BBS, the Mavs BBS (if you don't know the link, ask), or any other basketball BBS around. Look at all the threads that talk about stupid basketball players. Why isn't Cuttino Mobley mentioned? Why don't the announcers talk about his lack of intelligence when a national TV game is done for the Rockets? I'd be a lot more tempted to believe the "Mobley's the biggest dumbass in the NBA" argument if that opinion was prevalent on any other sources besides this BBS.

 

Tierre Brown was a big reason we lost. We were tied after the first quarter, and he did a TERRIBLE job running the team. Absolutely awful. It was no coincidence, IMO, that Griffin didn't score and we got behind in the 2nd when Tierre was playing.

Mobley did not have a good game. But, he's getting bashed way too much. Steve heard nearly nothing after his 5-20 7 turnover performance, except "Well, he played OK in the 4th quarter and OT". Mobley hit some big shots. He made some bad plays. He was our best scorer going into the game w/o Steve, and had to guard Carter. The guy gets destroyed for a less than stellar game, and nothing for his great game in Philly.

Moochie played very well tonight, IMO, as did Kenny. Eddie didn't have his 'A' game, but based on our unit, how could he only get 3 shots in the 2nd quarter, 2 of which were somewhat forced. Tierre is an NBDL level PG, not NBA. Those 3s in the 4th were ICE.

 

I guarentee you if Steve Francis didn't make that pass, you would see me talking about it too, so don't think i have something against moochie..... I remember that game, and believe me, I, for one, did NOT shrug it off as a "bad break." You seem to think that I'm biased to the stars of the team. Believe me, I am not. I get mad whenever one of our guys make stupid mistakes, regardless of who it is.

My apologies, then. There don't seem to be many on the BBS with that philosophy, unfortunately.

By all means, take another shot - if you get a good look. Cuttino was surrounded by like 3 guys. Don't give me that "everyone else does it" crap. Does that excuse Cuttino from doing it?

No, it doesn't. I actually agree with you here-- I'm just sick of seeing everyone else do it without complaint, but people are quick to jump on Cat when he does it.


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Yeah, it's that one play Moochie had. That lost the game. Blew the whole thing out...

Someone said it before: 2 points are just as valuable in the first quarter as they are in the fourth, or something like that.

No single play ever loses a game. You lose games by making a series of bad decisions/bad plays. Miss a FT? You lost the game if you lose in OT. Miss a shot? you lost the game if you lose by 1... It's the game play that counts, not any single play.

Tonight, Moochie couldn't be blamed for losing it just because he made a single bad play (or a couple of them) on an overall good night for him. I always say blame the guys who missed their FTs...

 

This is one of the most flawed arguments I have ever seen presented. Weren't you the same poster that descredited fans ["I have a new level of disrespect for Rocket fans."] in this very thread? And since when do basketball fans keep track of dumb players around the league? Since when did it become a hot topic?

The thing I find quite amusing is that "The Cuttino Mobley Fan Club" continues to blatantly ignore weaknesses in Mobley's game in an attempt to support him. The bottom line is that Cuttino is now well into his 4th year in the league and he still makes the same stupid mistakes he was making in his rookie season. If we can no longer blame it on youth, and the trend of bad decision making has sustained, the only logical conclusion is that Mobes is a dumbass, would you not agree?

Look. Few players in the league player harder than Mobley. He is incredibly talented, but nowhere near the talent level he perceives himself as having. He will never be all-star caliber, but if he smartened up, he could become a much more efficient, productive player, thus making the Rockets a better team.

 

I've had the NBA League Pass for 4 years now, and I've never heard an announcer say an opposing player was stupid.

I guess, according to your theory, there are no stupid players in the NBA.

 

He's #4 in MPG, and is playing on a bum ankle(s). He's played 40+ minutes in his last 6 games, and in 10 of his last 11.

I think it's not valid to judge him right now, because everyone is saying he's a roleplayer, and probably the eventual #3 option behind Francis and Griffin, and going in between being the go-to guy who makes things happen, and #2 possibly soon to be #3 guy is confusing. With the addition of Griffin, the Rockets have gone into a rebuilding/reloading stage. The offense will probably be tweaked to accomodate Griffin, and its affect on Cat is unknown.

What I'm saying is, those were errors where he was trying to be the man, and make things happen. That's not his role, but it was his role for tonight. Still, he put up 22 pts, on 50% shooting, with some big shots down the stretch, and some bad plays.

How do you know how talented he perceives himself? Are you sure its not his chip on his shoulder talk to the media, or as Allen Iverson said, every player in the league should believe and act like he is the best player in the league? As you said, he works as hard as anyone, so he surely isn't taking his talent for granted.

 

Back to the original topic, EG was wide open, but you can hardly fault Moochie's offense tonight....now his defense...well that is another story all together.

Also, I have finally figured out why Cuttino does not pass, because he is a HORRIBLE passer, he gets so many turnovers trying to do a fancy pass when a normal one would suffice.

Cuttino is not stupid in an intelligence sense, he is just not court savvy, and seems to be too stubborn to realize that his mistakes REALLY hurt the team.

Heck, the problem is that our 2 supposed leaders are our most mistake prone players, and that ain't good.

DaDakota

 

The thing I find quite amusing is that "The Cuttino Mobley Fan Club" continues to blatantly ignore weaknesses in Mobley's game in an attempt to support him. The bottom line is that Cuttino is now well into his 4th year in the league and he still makes the same stupid mistakes he was making in his rookie season. If we can no longer blame it on youth, and the trend of bad decision making has sustained, the only logical conclusion is that Mobes is a dumbass, would you not agree?

I think the only way to fairly judge someone is against his or her peers. I agree that Cuttino isn't always the smartest person on the court, but I don't notice him making mistakes significantly more than other NBA players, or other Rockets.

BTW, don't think I'm blind. I know Cuttino Mobley has weaknesses, and if you want to talk objectively, send me an email. However, on this board, there are a great number of fans who blatantly ignore his strengths in an attempt to bring him down. Whenever he has a great game, they ignore the great things he does and nitpicks at the one or two things that kept him from being perfect. Yes, I know some people don't feel the need to complement a player game after game, but some of these posters are the same ones that do just that for Steve. When Cuttino gets unwarranted criticism from the BBS, I try and make it a point for me to give him some praise.