but I really, really need to vent after this loss. Why is Walt Williams on the Rockets? Why was he in the game in the 4th quarter? Why in the hell was he guarding Michael Finley? Rudy is a very good coach, but this was a decision I just don't understand. Mo Taylor was having a good game and I realize that they needed to calm him down, but he should have been right back in there for the finish. I just can't think of a reasonable explanation for having Walt in the game. He's not Vernon Maxwell in where he could go 0-22 for the game but then break out with a clutch shot. He's either on or dead cold. It was like we were playing 4 on 5 with him out there. I think it was a valient effort by the Rockets and Rudy, playing without Cuttino, but some bad decisions by the staff and the players cost us this one. Oh well, if/once we're mathematically eliminated from the playoff race, we can always count on Walt to catch fire. Always gotta look forward to that. ------------------ It is no rumor that Matthew Bullard is 30th on the NBA's <i><b>all-time</i></b> 3 point accuracy list.
thacabbage -- Agree with you 100% except one thing. I started to think that about Mo not playing also, and was writing that in the recap, but I remember just before that play Mo was kind of pushed down while driving on Howard and was called for travelling (I think that's why he was so upset) and it looked like he hurt his leg again. I'm betting he was too hurt to ocme back in.... but not sure. Just giving Rudy that benefit of the doubt. Walt? NO FRICKIN' CLUE why he was in there. ------------------ NOTHING BUT .NET CLUTCHCITY.NET
Why was the rotation only 7 deep? I found a box score that shows Cat out with injury and everybody else on the bench as healthy. Mango ------------------ Get it right or just don't do it! [This message has been edited by Mango (edited March 03, 2001).]
Is Cato injured again? ------------------ PrEsident of The Danforth Langhford FAN CLUB... He IS our future All-Star Small Forward
I dont understand why Kenny wasnt in there at the end. He has a knack for getting big rebounds when it counts. Walt wasn't a part of the offense at the end. Dream and Steve ran the show, which means walt is giving you nothing. ------------------
Also... what's wrong with Hakeem's ft shooting? I can understand the two late misses because I'm sure he was exhausted, but what about the beginning of the game, not to mention the entire season? Whenever he goes up to the line, I get a feeling that says "Damn, I wish he wasn't fouled." He's too good of a shooter to be shooting so crappily from the ft line... duncanitis. Also, whenever Francis drives to the hole, I get worried. He just flies in the air, and like today, sometimes takes a hard fall. I wish he would develop that little thing that all white point guards have (just playin) : the Bryce Drew/Stockton/Nash floater or pull up jumper. He's already got the ability; all he's gotta do is work on it some more and use it more. All this flyin acrobatic stuff is tight (and I love his dunks), but he's gonna get hurt and inevitably shorten his career cuz all these hard falls and things are gonna catch up to him. ------------------ PrEsident of The Danforth Langhford FAN CLUB... He IS our future All-Star Small Forward [This message has been edited by alaskansnowman (edited March 03, 2001).]
Your right about Mo, Clutch. I don't know if they showed it on TV but I was at the game and when Mo got up he looked like he was limping pretty bad on both legs. ------------------
Cabbage, I totally agree. When I saw Walt on Finley, I started jumping up and down yelling 'Help!Help!Help!', but no double team came. Later on, he tries to take Nowitski in an iso. This time i am jumping up and down yelling 'Pass!Pass!Pass!', and luckily he lost the ball trying to get around Dirk, and Hakeem picked it up. Walt is a great spot up guy, most of the time I don't have a problem with him taking those types of shots. But he can't dribble or play defense worth a crap, and is thus a liability while he is on the court unless he is shooting lights out from behind the ark. ------------------ "You couldn't have stuck a pin up his @#! with a jackhammer. Yeah, I'd say he was pretty tight." -- Barkley on Minnesota's Chris Carr(thx RocksMillenium)after he missed a game winning free-throw.
Well, well, well..............where were all you guys when I was posting a few weeks ago saying how horrible Walt is. Remember my column titled "is Walt Williams the worst player in the NBA." I continually got ripped by one fan after another saying how great Walt was and how horrible I was for saying he couldn't dribble, shoot (the 95% of the time he is not on a hot streak), play defense, or rebound offensively and defensively. The guy either gets a defensive foul or offensive charge about every 2 minutes he is on the floor. Oh well, at least a few of you are finally coming around. By the way.....Walt actually is playing much better ball now than he was earlier in the year (but that isn't saying much at all). Waltsucks.com will be opening up in a few weeks (just in time for the playoffs). Take care all and remember there is still plenty of room on the Waltsucks bandwagon! ------------------ Walt Williams is the worst player I have ever seen start an NBA game
Where have you been people have been complaining about Walt for weeks. Maybe you should read a little more. ------------------
I would also have to agree with you guys on this one, walt on finley, damn.. it just sounds scary, no wonder we lost the damn game ------------------ against all odds
Great points, guys. But we should have known that it was all over when MAD MAX came in. ------------------ Don't look at the feet
thecabbage, I think everyone understands this vent against Walt. I certainly was shaking my head. When I see something like that, my first instinct is to give Rudy the benefit of the doubt enought to try to figure out the big picture of what is happening. Dallas went with four guards. The moment Howard got his 5th foul, Nellie went with Nitwitz and 4 guards the rest of the game. Can Mo' or Kenny guard Finley? Hell, Hakeem sucked at guarding Nitwitz, so what good is a PF on Finley. We really needed Mobley to match up with what Nellie did. imo, we had no choice but to put Walt in. Should Shandon be guarding Finley instead? I'd agree, but he did in the final 2-3 minutes. In giving Rudy the benefit of the doubt on that one, I realize that All-Stars like Finley are getting around their man in the 4th, Shandon or not. What is most important is the help D. Maybe Rudy positioned the matchup so Walt would drive Finley into Shandon's help defense? Shandon was always around Finley. This is similar to Sprewell guarding Mobley. He is great, but Mobley still blows by him. NY must play great help D on Mobley in the 4th. How is that any different than us guarding Finley? I think we had fine help D on Finley after he blew past Walt the first time. The big mistake was Hakeem leaving Nitwitz; that was not supposed to happen. That makes the Walt decision by Rudy less important of a reason for the loss than Dream leaving Nitwitz, the free throws, the technicals, and Francis bringing nothing in the last minute. Even with all the missed free throws, we had a chance in the last minute, and Francis slipped and bricked at clutch time.
I'm still sure I saw Cato coming off the bench to enter the Mavs game when they had Nowitzki and Bradley in the game. Then a timeout was taken, the mavs went small again and so Rudy didn't put Cato in. For a major portion of the season Rudy used KT, Mo, and Olajuwon for the frontcourt rotation. I can see why he didn't use Cato in the Mav's game since the Mav's play small ball so much. I didn't see the Bucks game so I can't really say why Cato didn't play in that game. Do they play small ball? I know very little about the Bucks, if they do go small alot then I can see Rudy not using Cato in that game either. Of course I'm probably wrong and Cato pissed off Rudy in the last week. I hate seeing dissention amongst players and coach's on a team, so I'm hoping Rudy has a good reason for not playing KC. ------------------ Cause I'm a twenty first century digital boy. I don't know how to read, but I got a lot of toys. My daddy's a lazy middle class intellectual. My mommy's on valium, so ineffectual. Oh Oh, ain't life a mystery?
Mobley is out... Cato is in the doghouse (I'm convinced, though have no proof) Rogers really could add nothing in those matchups that Kenny couldn't there you go...7 guys.
