ok right before i go to the gym i just wanna say i could not agree more and the "that didn't cost us the game" may piss me off more than anything in sports. it's like fans decide to side against their own team just to maintain some sort of "tough fan" persona or something. i'll never get it. if you get clobbered down 1, hell yeah it cost you the game.
He was basically open though. Granted, it was a stop-and-pop Jason Williams type of shot, but I don't think it was a bad decision. The defense was retreating, and Steve left time on the clock. I don't understand the criticism at all.
Yep. He was open. Know why he was open? Because the defense didn't expect him to shoot while still in motion and from that range. Because it would be stupid to do so. Francis shoots below 30% from the 3pt line this year, right? Well, this shot was probably on the high-end of the difficulty level of the ones he generally takes. There were 8+ seconds left. I find it very hard to believe, only needing a 2 to win... that we couldn't have done something a little higher %. I'm done arguing though, since I just don't feel as passionate about the issue... given that it ended up moot anyway .
I'm not really sure how moments get more critical than being down 1 with 6 seconds left. If we'd called the timeout, it would have been for the last play so we wouldn't have needed another timeout. Given the unkowns, a timeout and a drawnup play seemed more likely at the time to lead to a win than a pull up 3 by Steve to save a timeout when the clock could have easily ran out after the rebound. Whatever. Who knows, if we'd called the timeout, we might have missed and lost the game.
i'm with you. when he pulled up for that three even my girlfriend, who doesn't know THAT much about basketball. was like WHAT? why not drive it in and try to get a foul? I was freaking out... I said "if there's still a timeout then that was the stupidest play I've ever seen." but yo. looks like it worked out. steve was pretty cold blooded after that. but geez... imagine if that had cost us the game. the rockets really needed this win.
A dumb play is a dumb play. The play which SF played at final 9 secs was a dumb dumb play. As a pg he should have called a time out at that kind time. The lucky thing is they only made one FT. A great play is a great play. The play which he played at final 3 sec was a great great lay up. It was lucky but it was really great. If he was not the PG of the team, he should be the hero of the game. However , before he became a "hero" I just hope he can be a real PG who can make those easy open shots and make the plays reasonable. Playing some good P & R, give the reasonable pass to the world's second best big man in his team, be a real leader in the team and lead the team become a champion.
Yes, I know what you mean.. I remember Mike Newlin doing one of the Rockets post-game shows on TV a few years ago, and the topic of conversation was some player, I don't remember who it was, who was not doing well for his team at the time.. Newlin brought out the phrase 'Ignominious Physiognomy', to describe the player.. what he meant was, the player's facial communication was that of an unhappy, frustrated person, and everyone could read it on his face all the time. I see that same kind of thing in SF. He has RARELY looked like he is having any fun at all out there this season, and, for better or worse, at least over the last few years when Rudy was coaching, SF at least looked like he was having fun playing the game. Now, that part of him is either gone, or in hiding. And sometimes he looks like a player who is deliberately trying to play himself out of town. That three at the end of regulation was an example. It was either A) an incredibly stupid decision, or B) an incredibly calculated one, in that he might actually have felt like it was a win-win situation for him - he makes it, he's the hero, he misses, well it's just one more nail in his coffin out of this jail JVG has him in. Would he do that? I don't know, and I don't know which I would prefer to believe.. that he is just really really REALLY stupid in crunch-time, or that he is so calculating that he literally places himself above the team's winning and losing. That young man has some serious demons he needs to kill, and SOON.
Francis got 22 CRUNCH POINTS today! Link: http://www.nba.com/features/nestle/crunch_time_stat.html Steve Francis epitomized a Nestlé Crunch Time performer on Sunday with his high-flying game heroics in the Rockets' 111-107 overtime win over the Bucks. Houston's point guard sank a buzzer-beating shot at the end of regulation and then took over in the extra session. Francis did it all, stealing, assisting, rebounding and scoring, including a spectacular jam off an alley-oop pass. All told, Francis earned 22 Nestlé Crunch Time points
Here is some funny post from Official Buck/Rockets Thread on RealGM(in page2/3 dunleavyjr/VegasVic/rilamann)
Correct. The Rockets shooters run hot and cold and cold and cold then hot then cold. That's why opposing coaches dare them to beat their teams from the outside. More often than not, the Rockets will respond with a major brick laying exhibition. Piatkowski has proved that he's an ex-Clipper. Boki's shot might as well be on a milk carton somewhere. JJ is the most consistent but even he runs hot and cold. SF is simply horrible and getting worse. Mobley shows up every 6th game or so. So what does JVG & CD do to address this? They go out and pick up Charles Oakley - a move which does NOTHING to address this discrepency. That is so typical of this organization. Poor outside shooting is what will spell their demise in the playoffs.
This game should put to rest that whine that the refs are costing the Rockets games. They (refs) gave this one away to the Rockets. First, they swallowed their whistles on Yao after he picked up his 5th foul. In the last 2 minutes, he commited foul no. 6 at least 3 times but was never called for it. Had he fouled out, I believe that Milwaukee would have won the game. It was Yao's presence in the middle down the stretch that allowed the Rockets to rachet up their defensive pressure and force those 4 critical TOs that helped them climb back into the game. Next, the no-call on JJ was simply gawd-awful. The inbounds pass was very poor (so what else is new?) and he had to run into traffic to get it. He just kept running. The so-called "foul" occurred after JJ took a stroll. If the refs make the right call, it's Bucks ball with 2 secs to go. Not to say that they still would have won but they definitely would have had the last shot. Milwaukee got hosed on that play. I expect the league will really take notice of this and that tonight's game will be officiated MUCH differently.
But, the only reason Yao had 5 fouls were because he was called for THREE phantom offensive fouls, all by the same official, and all when he was guarded by the same defender (santiago). Those kind of trends NEVER happen in any NBA game, let alone against a superstar vs. a scrub rookie. Thus, if Yao only had 2 fouls, they would have called those final three in the fourth quarter... it was the refs problem for putting him in that situation uneccssarily, and as a result, the Bucks got screwed as well. I do hope the officials change their way of offciating... stop calling flops by 7 footers, and then you won't have to protect Yao later.
Don't count on it. The officiating is universally bad now and the players simply have to play right through it. For what it's worth, the Bucks missed half of their FTs so in the end, it was a wash. Also, if they were to stop calling flops, then where would that leave the Kings, Jazz & Mavericks? As for BS calls on your center, see Lakers, Shaquille O'Neal. They don't know how to officiate his play either. I'm afraid that Yao has joined Shaq's "club" in this respect.
Then why were you so suprised the Rockets got the calls at the end? If you agree that they're going to officiate the game, and Yao, this way, you shouldn't be on here saying "Yao should have fouled out..." Shaq always gets his 5th foul early, and most of the time, he manages to stay in the game as Yao did last night. If we agree on the fact that they are BS calls against Yao, then we also have to agree that they're going to make some BS calls for Yao... especially when it means he could be tossed from the game.
All I can say is I vehemently disagree with all of your points and wonder if we're watching the same games. You are suggesting that Francis is trying to throw games now? I've seen some pretty original Steve-bashing on this board, but this one has to take the cake.
So, to make Yao more efficient, let him pick 5 fouls as early as possible, then the refs will pretect him like a panda.
Oh, I was not surprised - just stating the obvious. You misunderstood my post. My point here is that Yao appears to have the same problem that Shaq has - that the officials simply do not know how to officiate his play because of his size. That's why their foul calls on Yao - particularly the offensive ones, are so inconsistent. Shaq's strength and power is such that he can physically over-power anyone trying to guard him even when he does nothing more than make the moves one normally makes on the court. That's the problem the refs face when evaluating his play: If he's simply playing the game, albeight at a higher physical level, how does one account for his play? Exactly what is "normal" for someone like Shaq? I think that Yao presents a similar quandry for the officials. Until now, there has been no one with Yao's size who could actually PLAY at a high level and I think that has caught the officials completely off guard. Abdul-Jabbar comes the closest at 7-4 and I recall that he faced some of the same problems early in his career as well. All of the NBA players over 7-4 have been either marginal players or curiosities at best: Manute Bol, Shawn Bradley, Gheorghe Muresan. Unfortunately, I do not have an answer for this situation. The best we can hope for is for the officials to somehow get a better handle on how Yao plays the game and to make calls accordingly.
