no jesus h christ his ability to finish in the paint is affected by utah's physical play. you dont get international players strong across the board as NBA players. and utah is stronger and more physical than most NBA teams in fact looking at fouls in the paint, they're the MOST physical team. slight shots to the body that knock you off your shot just enough to rattle around out of the rim. just enough not to be called for a foul but hard enough contact that for a normal sized guy like you it'd put you on your ass. EVER PLAYED BASKETBALL? scola isn't used to it and is in the process of adjusting. you try this and try that so that you dont get blocked or miss and you end up 2/10 but it's better than getting blocked necessary as a learning experience for the next game scola's been the most mentally tough guy out there. did you not watch the first game where luis scola was the only guy competing out there and almost singlehanded got us back into the game? the announcers were even saying scola was the most impactful player on either team in the 3rd quarter. did you miss all this I was LMAO @ noobs crying about scola in teh game thread last night. alston obviously was a major factor so they couldn't cry about him. tmac was doing enough to be off the hook... so the noobs go after scola a guy who's been playing balls to the wall all year. it's like if you dont have someone to cry about it's not worth watching the game? scola's a solid competitor but just as early in the season in the playoffs you see an adjustment period. scola's 1)fouls 2)inability to finish in the playoffs is a direct consequence of this. anyone who's played ball and gone up a level (jr high to high school, high school to college) knows this first off. you can be mentally there but there are guys who are bigger, stronger, longer than you're used to and even gimmie baskets roll off and you get rejected going for a layup. everything that scola missed were solid shots, but fatigue, wear and tear and contact make you miss those. AND there were a couple obvious fouls that as a rookie, stern's officials will not call on behalf of scola. as he gains experience scola will hit those just like he reigned in his fouls during the course of the regular season. trying to look pretty are you on crack? scola is trying not to get blocked since the refs aren't going to call contact in his favor. there were a couple times he went inside and got mugged no call. so being a smart player he knows he wont get any calls and finishing while getting mugged isn't going to happen. so he creates separation from contact by going away from the player. that doesnt work so he goes back inside. that's what I saw. scola is an NBA rookie at the end of the day, he is in the process of probing exactly how much he can do and how much the defense will cover that shot. all that unorthodox ginobili does do you think he was BORN knowing exactly how much he could exploit NBA defenses? or do you think it's something he had to learn the hard way like scola scola's FTs were wack but that's a minor issue. scola's only fault is that 1) head got jack playing time. 2) alston obviously was the difference maker. 3) tmac fueled that 7 point lead in the 4th quarter. 4) RA's rotations were solid. 5) there's also no yao to cry about TOs or "softness" there's no one else to cry about so people are jumping on scola despite a solid performace
Utah players are in his head right now and he is forcing the issue trying to punish them and it frustrates him even more when it does not work.
What I see in Louis Scola this palyoff series is a rookie. Hey I bet a lot of you forgot that! I think it's going to take some time for him to adjust to the NBA playoff mentality. Harder fouls, fewer calls... especially against the Jazz. Say what you will, but he's playing much better in the playoffs than Kevin Durant.
he was trying to miss. Sometimes when you try to make you miss and when you try to miss you make. I mean you cant undermind the fact that he is a roockie new to the nba and new to the playoffs and the different style of play. i think he has done exactly what we expected of him and probably ,more.. The guy has heart and passion and a desire to win that rivals the big stars. You have no right to critisize Luis he gives it all he has all the time.
People that is bashing Luis Scola seem to not be able to see the whole picture. A- He has carried all the inside scoring since Yao was left out, so from being a Rookie with time to learn he had to somehow became a reliable scorer for a contender (yes a contender because he wants to win not just to be there). B- He had a hard time adjusting to fouls in regular season now he has to adapt to the call change that is made in PO. C- Refs are not calling the game even, you can see that in both Houston games and in that first quarter yesterday they were plain awful, Scola is the one that suffers more from the no-calls because he is at every time banging around Boozer and Okur. D- The Rookie treatment given by the refs seem to be more evident in the playoffs, it took to him the whole season to get respect from the refs and now it seems that he has to do it all over again. E- This is his first playoff, as a rookie, he is demanded to bang up, score and rebound against one of the teams with the best interior defense, they held Rasheed Wallace to .157 shooting, i think Overall Scola is still being guarded strong by Utah, so this means he is still getting the attention and that´s why he is there. Many complained about the "go strong let the refs decide" i think that is wrong, i prefer him to be able to release the shot with chances to go in that to release the shot begging to go in or the ref to call the foul, i remember at the end of the first quarter he an Okur went to a rebound and the refs let him know that he was not getting calls, so is fine for me that he avoid refs calls as much as possible.
He didn't initiate contacts just because he is a rookie. How many times was he fouled under the basket without a whistle?
That's the problem of most international players including yao. Those players are taught to finish with a layup, most american players are taught to finish with a dunk. How many times have we seen yao go up weak instead of dunking the ball?
Scola cannot dunk most of the time because he plays mostly in the paint but not low in the paint. He usually has a defender between him and the basket and needs to lose them to even get a finger roll.
Scola and Landry were really big, last night. Rafer helped a lot, as did Shane - and thank you, Tracy, for coming through! Way to go, Rockets! BattiersBaby.
Yeah I dont see how you can get mad about a rookie playing as hard as Scola does. I mean he's been thrust into a starting role on a playoff team in his first NBA season. He didn't shoot great last night but he competed his butt off and I applaud him for it. One thing I love is the way he handles a bad call. While I'm screaming my butt off at home, he just smiles a little incredulously and walks calmly back down the court. That's poise you don't find in a lot of NBA veterans, much less rookies. That said, he needs to stop picking up cheap fouls.
To me Scola offseting Boozer in the rest of series is the key. He did that last night. Tmac and D.Will's production is a wash. Battier and Harpring is wash. Brewer, price, AK47 and Rafer, Bobby is a wash. The front court is the key. I just have to hope Memo, Boozer and Milsap continue to suck and fail to take advantage of our undersized front court. But I almost certain that Sloan in the next game will have their backcourt force feed Boozer to open up out of the gate.
but one thing u have to love about scola is his character his such a fighter and has so much confidence i love what he said after game 3 On the Rockets confidence after tonight : “We knew that we could win. One thing is knowing you can win, and the other is doing.”
I agree with the sentiment that he's got some work to do. However his finishing ability if I remember correctly has been great all year. He shot over 50% for the season and consistently was making some impressive lay-ups. It's possible that fatigue of an 82 game season is weighing on him, or the pressure of the playoffs. Two things that are unfortuante but to be expected from a rookie, even when with years of proffessional experience. He'll learn to be more physical around the hoop. Anyone remember Yao in his first few years? Regardless I am happy to have him and can't wait to see what he can do for a full year next year. CARLUIS SCOLANDRY FTW!!11!!1
Here's the most important thing that yall aren't mentioning: HE NEEDS TO STOP LEAVING OKUR AT THE 3-PT LINE! Watch the game, he'll leave Okur to go pack the lane when Williams is driving. Why?? All that's going to do is force Williams to find the man you just left. I love his hustle, energy and heart, but his basketball IQ is very low.
I like the way he played outside of taking the ball up strong in traffic, but damnit when he made that second free throw with 0.02 seconds I was livid. How hard is it to miss a darn free throw on purpose.
Yeah he sometimes tries to get too cute with his up and under, dribble behind the back stuff, and by the time he's actually at the rim, he'll just jackknife his body, throw up a wild shot and hope to get a call. Of course, the refs won't call that. That and RA should tell him to stay home on his man. Scola always tries to help out on Deron, leaving his guy exposed. See: Okur on that 3
