I thought the worst thing about the game was the complete lack of effort on defense. I can't remember a single stretch during the game where the team tried to pressure Indiana. I was really expecting at least a little scrappiness when the forth quarter started, then about halfway through the forth quarter, then with about 3:00 left... The only effort on defense occured in some isolated moments during the game with Cato and Hawkins. Hawkins drawing the charge stands out as the only scrappy play of the game for us. We're like Dallas without the offense. New York without the defense. Personal Fouls: Indiana - 21 Houston - 17 (2 of Yao's 3 were wasted) I would have actually liked to see some fouling considering how pathetic the other facets of our game were.
I cannot agree more. But there was a big mismatch tonight. But I believe if we had kept Yao instead of Jason in some of the first and second half, we could have cut down the scoring from O'Neal. Yeah, he made some jump hooks but I think Yao did a pretty effective job on the paint in the defensive end. They just needed some more chemistry.
