Are we allowed to do late Recaps after reviewing tape? I just got my VCR out of the shop; they've had it since November...bastids. I've had to use other's tapes and losey players without jog shuttles. 2:00 up by 4 Marion ISO strong move straight over Mobley, likely yelling "stay down" at Cat. Swish from 10-12 ft 1:45 up by 2 Francis ISO right side. This is the 3rd to last possession for us. Francis got the call by Rudy. A clean, simple ISO blow-bye-bye by Kidd baseline, just like Mobley did against Sprewell. We are up by two with 1:40 remaining. Francis gets a clean baseline lane shoots a right-handed layup about from the same distance like Mobley vs Sprewell, but it is up too hard with no spin and bounces off the glass w/o hitting the rim. Mo' gets the scramble for the rebound and misses a point blank put back. rims out. Point blank. 1:20 Up by 2 Kidd attacks with a fastbreak, but our 4 out 1 system has that stopped with 3 backpedaling defenders. Kidd loses the handle for a backcourt violation....turnover. Timeout 1:15 Up by 2 Mobley ISO against Delk. Simple and easy move baseline to the paint for a very controlled 6-8 foot jumper with Delk still moving towards the baseline to prevent the layup. Mo' gets prime rebounding position in front of the rim, but not a clean passing candidate, imo. Mobley could have passed over the top to Walt in the corner, but why. He had a controlled 6-8 footer with his feet under him. Take it! Francis, Finley and Marion would have. The ball is dead on and bounces softly from right side of rim over to the left side. Mo' with prime front of rim position can't read it and doesn't even get a hand on it as Googs gets it on the left side. Mo' jumps late and with no purpose. 1:00 Up by 2 Kidd brings it up, and they set up an ISO for Marion again against Mobley, left side. He tries to go baseline, but fails and brings the ball up to shoot over Mobley, again. This time Mobley gets enough of a finger on the ball when Marion tries to bring it up for the shot that Marion loses control slightly. The ball ends up in his right hand at the hip, but he's jumping and must shoot. He throws up slop from his hip for a banker and the tie. :45 Tie Game Last possession it turns out: Mobley ISO against Delk. Counter clockwise you have Marion at the top, Kidd, and Gugliotta, Robinson protecting the lane. Let's slow this one down: Mobley fakes Delk and takes him left hand towards the lane. Marion makes a quick drop and jumps but with no real chance to block the shot. IMO, this jump from behind Mobley is to prevent the pass out to Moochie who has now taken up position at the top of the arc. Kidd stays on Francis. Gugliotta starts flashing out to the free throw line, since apparently the game plan was for Marion to drop down and Googs to go out. This action gets Mo' diving for rebounding position (but imo, he is not a passing candidate as he is more coming around Googs in behind Mobley like Marion is). Robinson and Delk also jump with Marion to create a triangle around Mobley, but none of them have a real chance to block the shot, and Robinson is actually fading backwards. Walt is wide open in the corner. He is the only true passing option, imo. Mobley chose the finger roll from inside the circle (2 feet) over Robinson. The correct decision in my strong opinion. Mo' successfully follows Mobley for prime in front of rim rebounding position, with Marion behind him. The ball hits the back of rim and comes towards Marion, with Mo in front. Marion outjumps Mo' on quickness and Mo' doesn't even get a hand on it, again. Last play Shandon is back in and Moochie sits. Shandon on Marion does a fantastic job and Marion still gets over him and just barely rims it out...just barely. I actually thought shandon got a piece of it in slow mo. In my opinion, that is three Marion ISOs with him showing no ability to get by his man or pass. Anyone who says the Suns had better play calling than us at the end is either a one-sided Rudy basher or is just not remembering the 3 ISOs to Marion that had no secondary options, because he does NOT require a double team, since he can't get by his man. What can I say about the rebound on the Marion rim out?! Delk jumps too soon, and Walt gets a strong right hand on the ball for a classic ripping rebound. Nope....Delk clearly grabs Walts right wrist and rips it down. This is clear. Mobley did not grab Walts hand. Delk did. The ball indeed bounces off Mobley as Walt swats it with his free left hand in desparation. On hindsight, if Walt's reaction is to just fall to the ground and not use his left hand...we probably get the call or Mobley gets the scramble. Still it was a grab above everyone's heads. It wasn't hidden. damn. 8 seconds Kidd inbounds from under the basket to Delk on the left wing and runs Francis around a pick by Googs at the free throw line, so he can get the pass at the top of the key. Googs sets a clear sliding illegal pick that trips Francis so both hands hit the floor while Kidd is catching the ball. Kidd immediately breaks for the basket as Francis is recovering. Francis catches him, but Walt (who is on googs) instinctively slides down to help Francis. Walt mentioned this in the paper, too. He left Googs because he thought Francis was going to lose Kidd. This was not a good play without the trip. Francis was going to force Kidd to hit a runner. No one was open if Walt can stay with Googs. Would Kidd have hit the runner. Dammit. Summary If you want to say, we "don't have what it takes", just say the Rockets simply are too young to know how to cheat and get away with it. We had all the better looks, and used clean basketball. Garbage basketball is cheating like Googs sliding a pick that trips Francis, and Delk yanking down Walts hand. THAT IS GARBAGE BASKETBALL. Francis got his clutchtime play call at 1:40. He was not ignored by Rudy. Mo' got prime at-the-RIM rebounding position on both Mobley ISOs, and fails to even get a hand on the ball. He also allowed Marion to rip one out of his hands with about 3 minutes left on the 3rd to last Mobley ISO. (btw: I did not describe the 11 pt run by Mobley. For the record, it started with a wide-open 3 ptr and then was all pick n rolls, 4 of them, not ISOs. And there was an awesome alley-oop play to Mobley that was thrown just a little too high to end the run. Before the run from 9:30 to 5:30, Moochie and Francis alternated sets some ISO some pnr, and twice Moochie on his sets swung the ball to Francis, who decided to continue swinging it, rather than re-set or drive; Francis deferred rather than attacked. It is simply inaccurate to say Rudy did not go to Francis. And it is inaccurate to say we had nothing but ISOs. Our last 4 possession where ISOs, but really so were the Suns.) In the end, Mo' did not show up with clutch time rebounds when he had superior rebounding position to anyone on the court. Hakeem gets those rebounds, and Mobley and Francis will not miss two layups in the last three possessions, and Mo' will not miss a put back like that again. Why would Rudy change a thing with those last 3 possessions?! I just don't get it. We are absolutely the fastest improving team in the NBA, that is missing a center who can rebound in clutch time. Oh, and Marion does not make the lose-the-handle hip shot slop again, with 50 seconds left for the tie. The game sucked. And our free throws against Dallas SUCKED. And Portland had an unconscious Wallace and an unfair fresh-leg defense to beat us. This is a good team we have. I am pleased. [This message has been edited by heypartner (edited March 13, 2001).]
partner-doesn't go against a Francis quote, in regards to the double team he got in the 4th quarter, from today's Chronicle: "That's good," Francis said. "That opens everything up. I mean, they're not stupid enough to play me one-on-one. That would be stupid. So they double-teamed me. That was good. I felt that guys on our team were open. Sometimes we missed the shots; sometimes we made them. I'll take a lot of those shots we had. Those are shots we normally make." ------------------ "That's been a lifelong dream of mine." -Vince Carter, after laying it in on a breakaway, much to the Vancouver crowd's displeasure.
That was an awesome post HP. Me having ADD and all makes it nearly impossible for me to take time to read such a long post but I did! IMO I think that missed alleyoop really hurt the team's momentum (if I remember correctly). Then if I recall a timeout was taken and I knew after the TO Mobley was gonna lose his unbelievable touch that he displayed during his streak. As far as the rebounding issue all I have to say is this... Webber would have gotten those boards. ------------------
Outstanding! The best brakedown I think I have ever seen of the last two minutes of a game. ------------------
HeyP GREAT POST Did you see those plays in Question The two that Moochie got hacked on [once in a back court another in the lane] and Francis's 'charge' Rocket River ------------------
HeyPee, at risk of further swelling your head ,that was a nice post. I didn't have a problem with the offensive plays at the end. My tired old beef is the same one SamCassell and OT brought up. You said Hakeem would have probably got those boards that Mo didn't, even though he had position. I agree. I think the reason Mo doesn't board real well is because he is not that quick a leaper. That's why Marion takes the boards away from him. Googs gets the board because it goes to the left when Mo is in front of the rim. My complaint is that Cato or Carlos or even KT should have been in the game. IMO, Rudy has sacrificed defense and rebounding for potential offense at the end of games. Rebember how much 4th quarter pt Bull got before he went on IR? This board is really polarized about several things. If you critisize Rudy in any way, you are a Rudy basher. Same thing for Mobley, Francis, Mo, Walt, Bull or whomever. You take the good with the bad, and overall, I can't think of another coach I would rather have than Rudy. However, I think a good case could be made that his personnel decisions have probably cost games this season. ------------------ [This message has been edited by Moe (edited March 13, 2001).]
You rock, Heypee. Keep it up. Gascon ------------------ "One ring to rule them all, One ring to find them; One ring to bring them all and on the court unite them. In the land of Houston where the Rockets lie."
There have been several games this season that left me second guessing Rudy's rotations. I can not think of anyone I would want to replace him with...but sometimes I wonder just what is he thinking? It would seem to me that you would always want your starters in there to finish a game out...especially a close one. But sometimes he waits until we are down by 6 points before he sticks them back in...if at all. I will trust that he has some master plan I guess, because I certainly do not think I could do a better job than him. ------------------ [This message has been edited by Rollinrockets (edited March 13, 2001).]
thx guys. I'm definitely going to be taping each of the last games, and with my jog shuttle back, I can review a game at 2x and review it in like 45 minutes. I'm concentrating more on the 1st 3 quarters from here on out to say some things about how Francis is running the new plays. This is in no way a knock of Clutch's first to press recaps. There is no way anyone can beat those. It is amazing how fast he gets those out, with no time for a VCR review. Nor is this a knock on anyone else's post game recaps that are based on memory. We all contribute to those. I just love doing tape reviews, mainly from my wannabe-scout mentality. It is different than a wannabe-coach mentality. Scouts don't question coaches. That's why I rarely question Rudy. I like to see things that show change and growth, and the things the other team is doing to beat us. I got frustrated when we had no center, and I had no VCR. IMO, those games last year and Nov to Jan without a center this year were just Rudy trying to win with whatever would give him a good shot, hence all the ISOs. Now I expect to see more in closing out this season. I am excited, and hope to report the exciting, not the "who has the best argument". My goal is to let those who don't see games, or who don't use VCRs to get a taste of what the scouts and coaches do in breaking down a game, to learn objectively. cheers
The Rockets are just one Danforth Langford away from being special. ------------------ PrEsident of The Danforth Langhford FAN CLUB... He IS our future All-Star Small Forward
"I will trust that he has some master plan I guess, because I certainly do not think I could do a better job than him." RollinRockets, I think you can do a better job on the player rotations in the 4th quarter. Rudy is a great coach, the best Houston has ever had but he needs an assistant to do the rotations because he just does not do what makes sense. HeyPartner, I feel better about the game after reading your post. I think I will tape the SA game if it is close in the 4th. I want to see for my self how bad Walt is on defense. I do think what Walt brings to the offense outways his defense. Maybe I just need to watch Walt on video so I can see why all these Rockets fans hate his game so much. Finally, I really think that the Suns would not have used Marion on the ISOs that scored had Shandon been on him. Also Walt being on Googs just keeps coming back to me over and over... ------------------ Tennessee is a suburb of Houston. Go Oilers....
Did you watch the part right after that timeout with 1:15 to go where Scott Skiles aparently goes to shake hands with the officials, but upon closer inspection, he was handing them each a couple of Ben Franklins? ;-) ------------------ Founding Father of the Refs Suck Club
Good breakdown of the last 2 minutes, now take it back to the last 4 minutes, and see how we blew a larger lead. I think some of you have missed my point about Mobley, I think he is a very skilled player, my MAIN point is that I think we would be better off with a frontcourt player to compliment Francis, as I hate that he defers to Cuttino late in games. As for Rudy, I love him as a coach, but to not put your best defenders in late to protect a lead is silly. DaDakota ------------------ If you like RTS games, check out this one. www.frontierwars.com coming soon to a PC near you.
Before i even start this post, i have to say that I hate Walt Williams. That said, I decided to watch him and pretty much only him on the defensive end during the fourth quarter of the Suns game. He is a lazy defender who is always watching the ball and never his man. His main defensive ploy is, once he is successfully out of position, to reach and grab and then whine when called for a foul. On at least two occasions, he let his man (googs) go right around him for what would have been an easy offensive rebound on a free throw, had it been missed. Finally, on the last play, his quotes in the Chronicle were BS. He wasn't even close to being in any position to "help" on kidd, and if you watch the replay, all he does is turn and WATCH francis recover on kidd, and then WATCH the pass go out to Googs, who had drifted back about 3 or 4 feet while the Wizard was WATCHING kidd. Probably nothing new here but I beg anyone who thinks Walt had any business being on the floor for the last 7.5 seconds (12 minutes, really) to focus on Walt's defense tonight against Indiana. If you can stomach it. ------------------
I hear chirping. Are those crickets??? Where are all the complainers? Hmmmm..... ------------------ "Don't waste it. We're here."
here, i'm here, consistent rudy basher! Rudy has no clue how to substitute. It's an issue that's been beaten to death -- how many times can you ask where Shandon is in the 4th, or why C-Rog never plays, or why Walt is still in the NBA . . . I don't complain about ISOs except when Cuttino screws them up by just standing amid a double team, when he should immediately attack it or swing the ball. ------------------
Great post, HP. That email was a pre-post thank you for this post. ------------------ Behad Sergeant at Arms of the Clutch BBS
heypartner, that is why you're the best poster on this site. That is why I actually read all of your posts. You always have a better argument than the Rudy/Cuttino bashers. As someone that doesn't get to see many games, I thank you. ------------------ "We've never been very comfortable with praising ourselves, but we're so proud of our new album, The Great Eastern, that we've got no problem telling people it's an absolutely fantastic record." EMMA POLLOCK of the delgados.
Well good friggin job! I miss being able to watch the games, but you did a great job decribing those last few minutes -- something that was impossible on that damn chat. Thanks. ------------------ Whitey will pay.
