Good statement but it also depends on your coaching. Look at Sloan and the Jazz. When AK and Harpring went out, they still had a .500 record because nobody is scared to take shots away from the stars. Sac is the same way. In the Rocket's case, Cat and Francis insist on taking most of the shots while the coaching staff wants the emphasis on Yao.
I don't have access to the game. But based on what you guys said here, this might be a better circumstance to call them "playing without heart".
Sure... coaching has something to do with it... but also your personel, and the talent of the rest of your team is a major part as well. The Rockets don't have the talent in their scrubs that Utah does. Why are we better than Utah? Because of the Stars. We don't have great shooters... we don't even have good shooters. I thought Pike would help that, but he has lost all confidence in his shot. Maybe its b/c of the "emphasis" on defense that takes away all of this team's shooting abilities, but we have guys who have trouble hitting a wide open shot. Sacramento has great shooters... and great shooters can mask a lot of problems. They also have good ball-handlers. Nobody confused Houston as this team as one chock-full of talent at every position... just look at the fact that we have guys that no other team even wanted (M. Jackson, J. Jackson, Weatherspoon, M. Wilkes). We're a team built around Steve and Yao... if they're not there, we have problems.
When Kelvin Cato is shooting the best percentage on the floor, you know it's going to be a long night in H-Town.
I dont believe i can recall an nba player, or a player in any other sport admit that he missed a team flight to attend another function. Furthermore Steve (to heck with the team) Francis makes me want to puke with that whiney, babyfied attitude he displays on the court when things dont go his way. I cant wait until we trade this overpaid chump.............sincerely, rockets fan since 1972
And who would you rather have taking the shots. Jim Jackson. The guy has gone like 1-9 earlier in the year. There is no reason we can risk benching Cat. Nor should we bench him.
Mobley cant even make a freethrow now! Poor guy, Francis must have takin some other guy to the super bowl with him...
I'd rather root for Mark Jackson or Mike Wilks and lose by 20 every game than root for somebody who chose the superbowl over his responsibility to his teammates. How can you be a Houston Rocket fan and root for this guy who bailed on his teammates so he could go to the superbowl. Lose by 20, I don't care. It's much funner root for guys who want to be there for eachother. And not some guy who is sitting at home probably hoping his team loses so he can, in a way, show up Jeff Van Gundy. I'm sure he's having a good laugh at this.
im not to much of a steve fan either, i meant to say it looks like the team think they cant win w/o francis, i reposted to correct myself look on the page before.
Damn, yo. All the rockets are ****faced from Superbowl parties. God damn, I woulda been happier had they all been suspended. Right about now the damn Development League Teams could tear us apart
That's a great point. We don't have the depth of a Utah or Sac. In fact, we may have the worst depth in the entire NBA. We have 4 guys (Pike, Wilkes, Weatherspoon, Nachbar) who are expected to get DNPs on most nights. I do think we have more talent than a team like Utah but you take away a guy like Stevie in our 8 man rotation, it really hurts.