I wish someone would post the video of the referee so excitedly announcing that the review favored the Suns followed by the wild cheering from the fans. It was at this point that I turned off my tv since the game was predetermined by the officials from the start. The NBA officiating is one of the worst this season as any that I have seen since I started following the league during the Russell and Wilt era.
Ya I always root for Jalen too! Unfortunately it's his m.o. to start out hot and cool down at the end, or when it gets "winning time". I thought of a couple of benchmarks at the half when he had 21 points on 50% (7-14). He actually started off at 75% (3-4). My two benchmarks were: 1) Would he get to 30 by the end of the game or would he just TOTALLY disappear? (I've seen it happen many times). Other than that last 3 he BARELY made it to 30 (31). 2) Second benchmark was would his fg% stay above 45%? Well he didn't even finish above 40%!!! (10-27). NO ONE played good tonight! Just different shades of bad. Even Booker though cooled off after 10-14 finishing 13-27 so that makes him with a Jalen-like 3-11 2nd half with the REAL JG being even a tad worse at 3-13.
Looked at our logs. It appears to be the worst % at 33.3%. There definitely some other stinkers though.
And that right there, the bolded, is why NBA coaches despise these guys. Thinking that 3 point defense is imaginary. If coaches believe that, just leave most players open then. It's all just luck any ways right? It's largely a component of luck so is that why guys are more consistent from three than others? Why is Curry's 3% higher than Greens? Where is the year that Curry shot horribly, he just had very good luck all of his career??? So why are they still much worse on the road than at home? You're also arguing with me, this is not one sided. No I see it pretty well but I'm not sure I can get into defense with a guy that thinks three point shooting is 'largely' due to luck.
To me, here's the sad thing.....because we are not winning CF is fragmented. Everyone has seemingly adopted a player or two who is the next All Star, next 1st or 2nd option on a championship team. Here's the truth..EVERY SINGLE PLAYER has warts and has an area of needed improvement.Personally, just me, I am disappointed with the veteran leadership that we have paid so dearly for. I don't see the steadying influence that they are supposed to bring. Most of our opponents know that we have assimilated an incredible core of young talent..emphasis on young that should serve us well for years to come if we don't get stupid.These guys will mature and get better...MUCH better ! The biggest under valuers of our team are our own people. Only Jalen I think is possibly going to be moved. But, who knows ? No one is not expendable. Better days ahead.
Totally agree re: the vet leadership. Maybe it's happening behind the scenes, but I see no evidence of it.
There's a lot of grass is always greener syndrome. If you talk about the Rockets in a more general forum most other NBA fans are very positive about the future of this team. I think the general consensus is the Rockets are a young team a move or two away from contention. For a lot of the moves, the draft moves, Stone drafted exactly who people wanted at the time. Now the FA moves...the commitment to KPJ....that's where Stone failed. No one will convince me that Harden makes this team worse in any way. Ime might have thought so but so far Ime is not looking like a genius when it comes to offense. Going into the season as well without a true paint defending big was a big mistake.
Just like last game, the Rockets were good defensively, they just couldn't shoot again. 33.3% from the field and only lost by 5. Jalen 10-28, he started well kept us in it, but he just kept chucking.
Ok, the Rockets unguarded 3 point shooting "defense" is substantially better in wins (31.5% - league leaders ) than in losses (42%) Since you rely on coaching rather than luck - how do you think they should play better unguarded 3 point shooting "defense" - you know the successful kind of unguarded defense they deploy in wins, rather than the bad kind they have in losses?
BTW...being on CF while the game is going on makes you feel like you are part of a family (which you are) even when there is great disagreement on opinions. Loved Cam standing up to Booker ...that was some cheap arse stuff he did to Cam running down the court. Cam would have slammed him into the floor if they let him go at each other. Booker didn't want any of that. We are COMPETING most games, though losing. That alone is worth watching.
Just going to say, if you listen to actual coaches and players, its more about rhythm. If you let a guy get hot, he'll get hot. NBA guys say this ALL the time. You let a guy start feeling himself, he'll tear you up. You'll always here a coach say "We let a guy get going..." It's why Ime always stresses starting the game better and with more force. He wants guys to never find a rhythm so that they are cold and don't hit the shots they usually hit. A lot of basketball is confidence and rhythm and defense at its core is about taking away both of those things.
Biggest failure was standing pat at the trade deadline....what ROI are we getting on Tate sitting on the bench? Holiday has his moments but ditto. Despite Landale tonight, add that in. You can either say we aren't scoring enough (true) or we are giving up too much defensively (true). It's a tough call which is worse. We are handicapped offensively, but, most nights I'll be danged if the defense isn't a bigger problem. JMO but when you have to guard best players on other team(Bari and Brooks), it takes some of your legs away defensively on the offensive end.That was mentioned on the post game is absolutely true.I don't want to look up down the road and be saying I wish we had Cam, Bari, Tari, Amen back because we were impatient. It is looking like Jalen will be moved..but there are mixed emotions even on that...I do think that will happen though.
Yeah you forgot to mention 'take it one game at a time" and " give 110%" How does coach Udoka approach unguarded defensive contests? Prayer or telekinesis!?
