Last nights game was one of the most amazing Rockets games I have ever seen. My question is, and I am sure it is alot of others questions as well, why can they not play like this all the time. THe shots were falling, there was ball movement, their defense was tight, it was amazing. Imagine if they could play like this every game. What is the reason for the inconsistencies? Is it Steve, Yao, Cat? Is it JVG and his coaching staff? Or do the players seem to slack when they know they are not on national TV. Maybe some of you guys could answer these questions.
In case you guys haven't noticed, the Knicks just remade their team and probably haven't had a full practice together and the Lakers are in the middle of a losing streak, in which their second loss of the streak was to the Rockets. Lets not get carried away with these wins. The Dallas game was also on national T.V. and that didn't turn out to well.
I think the defensive end has been pretty consistent. It's the offensive end that's a problem. To beat the mediocre teams, you can specialize on one end of the floor, but to beat the elite teams, you have to be excellent at both. I think the ball movement is relatively consistent. The problem is no one (for whatever reason) is consitently knocking down shots. So then defenders can play off our guys a little bit more, then they start playing the passing lanes & sending a hard double down on Yao, and we get in trouble. The solution is we hafta start making teams pay for playing off our shooters. Guys simply need to knock down their shots, spread the defense out more and we'll be firing on all cylinders.
I agree with you TOAST...The defense has been consistent but the shooting is what has been lacking. In the Detroit game for instance, they got good shots but for some reason just couldn't throw it in the ocean. I think the other problem is that they don't seem to play comfortably on the offensive end. They don't know when to go in to Yao and when to run the pick-n-roll. I think Francis' is starting to get his shot back alittle and that is going to help alot because he is missing shots that he used to sink easily. We can only hope that they keep improving. Peace.
My theory is........... The Rockets are playing defense so intensely that it is hard on them, not enough energy left to always focus well on offense. They let down a bit, try to relax, but get sloppy. When they get more comfortable playing D like that, the offense will improve. I think that JVG is relentless and will do great things. Look at how drastically the defensive stats have improved......... I'm proud of our team - GO ROCKS!!
Why not? Maybe we want to get carried away. I'm still a little pumped about the Rockets play right now. They win, I get pumped. They lose, I get down. Its the ups and downs of Rocket fanatacism. This mellow attitude of yours is not going to cut it. I get pumped after a win and then I get this nice peaceful easy feeling till the next game. Rocket victories do that to me. I say get carried away with every victory. Each victory is a victory closer to the playoffs and a fresh round of near heartattacks in early May.
lol I'm totally like that too. When we win, I'm the happiest person in the world. I'll go on and on about the game.. but after a loss, I won't talk to anyone. I get all grumpy and blah, esp at school. It's weird but there are only certain people I talk to about the Rockets. I can't stand fairweather fans who bash our players and our team when they don't know anything about basketball. When I'm talking about 'don't know anything about basketball', I mean they don't know anything. Some girl claimed she's a huge basketball fan when she didn't even know that a regular basket is 2 points.
And there you have your answer. It has little to do with the Knicks defense, or anything else for that matter. The Rockets just happened to hit their shots for a night and make it all look so easy. Think about it this way, if the Rox don't have nights like last night (and christmas, etc.), then they would be one of the all-time poorest shooting teams in the league. Nights like last night come few and far between for the boys in red, and it's much needed to make their regularly pathetic shooting numbers look "average". Enjoy it while you can because the moment will be fleeting, I assure you.
