The Rockets team I saw tonight is FAR different than the one that I watched the last 3 years. Tonight, they were tough, the closed down the middle, hustled back on D and I swear, my eyes may be deceiving me, but Steve Francis pulled the ball back out to set up a play. I loved Rudy, but it is clear that he was not getting through to these guys, and they are doing what a good maturing basketball team should do.... Play hard D, inside out offense, and get out on the break when you can. Only one game, but I like the toughness.....Carmelo, welcome to the league courtesy of Jim Jackson. Let's hope the Rocks keep it up.... DD
I also agree. Good post. I'm in Ohio, & only get to see a few games a year, but dudes, it was like night & day out there from the past couple years. Hope they keep it up.
when did that happen? i saw Carmelo acting like a disrespectful punk when JJ tried to see if he was ok after a hard foul. Carmelo also got a nice welcome from Yao who rejected his dunk attempts
Agreed, the Rockets showed a lot of toughness tonight. Loved the rebounding. Great tough defense and the team got out on the fast break. I really like the addition of Jim Jackson. He does all the little things. Reminds me a lot of Mario Elie. One game does not make a season but I loved what I saw out there!!
It is not one game guys. It is five games now. If you think that the team's approach to last night's game was substancially different to its approach in the earlier four preseason games, you are mistaken. What you see last night is a continuation of the makeover that has momentum and will only get way better. It is safe to say that we will be top 3 defense in the league this year. On the offensive side of the ball the makeover is almost just as amazing. To lead the league in fg% last year we would have to be at or above 46% and to lead in def fg% we would have to be at 42%. If that is the case this year we are going to be at least top 3 on the offensive end and tops on the defensive end when you consider we were at 43% last year good for #5.
I think the toughness and attitude is now pretty apparent. I love the new stye and I agree DD, It is only one regular season game, but I see a new saltiness in aggression...and I like it!
The toughness and concentration were the biggest things to me. They really beat up Carmelo and Nene last night which was awesome. They also didn't have those lackadaisical spells they seemed to have so often in the past. They really played hard, tough, and smart for the most part. Moochie is still a waste but great game!
I'm the biggest pessimist on the board, but I was really impressed. The one thing I can say is that this is the kind of game the Rockets would have lost last season, against an overmatched opponent. The Rockets exploited every one of Denver's weaknesses perfectly...
Yeah! Big on D, and like you said....Francis pulls back, and resets the play, if the first one fails! I love it!!!!!!!!
There were still a few chaotic moments on the floor, mainly after Yao sat in the first half with foul trouble. The third quarter when the Rocks started to pull away was beautiful to watch, however. All in all, it was a good effort. It's great to see some actual heart out there at the PF position now that Eddie's not in. Cato and Braggs aren't going to win any scoring titles, but I dig their hard-nosed play and board grabbing. Mo should start looking more comfortable as the season progresses. Even Boki hit a couple of nice shots... he may yet round into a nice backup. Lots of fouls out there on both sides, though. Yao's going to have to learn how to work when they take it at him. On the negative side, Moochie still had about 90 bad passes and turnovers. We had a few too many technical fouls, too. Ouch. Miller still got his points despite a pretty decent job by Steve. Anthony's going to be a great player, and he's already very good at drawing fouls. The Rockets did a decent job of gaurding him. He and Nene got knocked around good on the fouls they did draw.
Good point- how we played down to the lower teams in the past. We would have lost the lead in the 4th qtr. last season and probably lost the game. This team is playing different. They actually put the Nuggets away. What is great is when the other team makes its run this Rocket team showed toughness and mental strength and got back to the basic things that were working. I don't think Denver ever led last night . Start to finish this team played tough defense. Whoaaaaa! Van Gundy what have you done to our Rockets. Man we may be flying under the NBA radar. I hope we put a win streak together.
We outscored our opponent in every quarter too, and I think this only happened once or twice max the entire last season! -G'day-
Yeah! Like that one possession when Mobley was dribbling around like a headless chicken trying to go one on five...(wait, there was definetly more than one time)....and steve got the ball back and pretty much told Mobley to chill out, and let the team catch up and reset. It's obvious that Steve is adjusting quicker than Cat. But Cat's showing signs of improvement.
AWESOME! Jimmy-J is gonna put the clamps down on the ball, I see him frustrating top-notch NBA players, not to mention the scrubs! I LOVE "D"... Hers to Scott--I hope he will be our Eduardo Najera nuetralizer-I HATE HIM!
Yeah, I saw that!!! No more Mr. Nice Guys... Loved how Carmelo was getting his ass whooped in the paint. And how Nene got shoved around by MoT and Braggs to the point he was getting really pissed off!!! We definetly used to lack that killer instinct and toughness, and I love this new identity!!!!! On another note, I loved our Defense!! I noticed now that almost every player on D had their arms raised above their waists all the time and putting hands in other players' faces!!! In the past they'd just have their arms down to their side and rarely got a hand in the face. They're definitely taking defense seriously. KILLA!!!
I definitely noticed a difference in offensive philosophy. It's like the translated interview with Yao; saying that the offensive strategy is to get the ball to him. They seemed to do that when he was in. I didn't like the way Yao was playing without the ball other than help defense with blocks. He wasn't very aggressive on the boards. I thought Cato started slowly with the blown dunks and errant long jumper, but he still showed he's a force on the boards, and he can guard other big power forwards......Is it me or did Boki shoot 100%?Hopefully there will be more good performances by all to follow.
I think it was in the third quarter, it was after a Rockets make and Stevie made a play on the inbounds, stole the ball and went up for a dunk and Nene fouled him hard right under the basket. Nene leaned down as if to lend a hand, but Stevie rolled over in the other direction and got up on his own.
