...and thought we played well enough to beat the Kings last night. Some unbelievable/kinda lucky, as expected, shots by B. Jackson, Songalia?, Stojakovic, and great bench play were the difference OVERALL. We still were very much in the game (at Arco, the toughest place to win in the NBA IMO) despite committing over twice as many turnovers, giving them over twice as many offensive boards, playing without Ward/Sura, and T-Mac shooting 1-7 from 3. I just can't complain about shooting 52% from the floor and 42% from behind the arc (Barrett/Lue combine 5-5 3's!!!), Yao owning the paint all night (late TOs really did hurt, would we have won the game though?), T-Mac contributing nicely at 50% from the floor (can get to the line at will, needs to get more FTs!), and already having won the previous meeting in OT at Houston (last year we were swept 103-74, 99-94, 100-95, 99-94). Obviously, the King's depth is why they won game 2 and is why they are a better overall team than us and will finish higher in the standings than us at season's end... In general, I really like our team though. Losing gimmies and blowing 4th quater leads still seem to be the Rockets MO, but I'll take early wins against the Kings, Blazers (road W), and 2 against the Grizz already (let's not forget T-Mac's absence against against Kobe and KG, BIG difference). The Yao/T-Mac combo will be intact for the next 7 years with "roleplayers" coming and going year after year simliar to the Lakers. The Nachbars, the Wards, the Pikes, the Bowens, etc. will be recycled every summer MOST LIKELY, even when we find something that clicks and gets us a championship (mostly due to 2 max contracts). I just think all this wishful thinking about bringing in this taller, younger, slashing, dishing PG and powerful, bruising, defensive, rebounding, PF is getting a little old. The Lakers had to make do with Horace Grant, AC Green, and Samaki Walker for several seasons... They also had to make do with Brian Shaw, Ron Harper, and our very own Tyronn Lue at the PG (granted DF turned out to be great for them). Hey I'll take this "juggernaut" of a team we're all trying to build in our heads too, but realistically, no matter what the adds/subtracts, we're just going to have to make due with the best 2-man core in basketball and hope for the same success the Lakers had by 2010. Now is JVG a PJ, well no, but again we have a lot of time to find ALL of these "roleplayers" that we need. *Not trying to turn this into another anti-JVG thread by any means* Simply put, we all know that there are just 2 current members of the Rockets that won't be going anywhere anytime soon...
agreed...i thought we played very well last night. we lost to a really tough team on the road. to me, we're clearly improving. much more aggressive on the offensive side of the ball. i'm not satisfied with a loss...i was disappointed we didn't win. but i'm encouraged by the progress i've seen in the last few games.
The Kings are a much better team as compared to the one we beat in OT at home. They have won 5 straight in a row. I really like what I saw from our guys last night.
Last night actually was the first game that was enjoyable to watch this season. However I doubt Yao will have games like this all the time. Brad Miller was not fronting and was letting Yao get any spot he wanted. Few teams will let Yao do this. If JVG shows that he can adjust his offense to exploit our mismatches, I will be the first to admit that I am wrong about him. Until then, I will have my doubts about him.
They played like men last night! I was impressed by most of the team's play...especially Andre Barrett.
It is a shame when people who have something positive to say actually feel they have to apologize for that opinion.
I'm assuming you're referring to my "outside" opinion against the overwhelming amount of negative threads here...
I was very impressed by Barrett's play. He played like a PG. Bringing the ball up and pass to the open man. Plus he had hussle. Please start him in the next game or subitute him quickly for Lue. We have our shooters now we need a PG.
Though it was a bit painful to watch us score 1 point in the last three minutes, I was impressed by the Rocket's tenacity on defense and their tremendous passing. We got open jumpers all night long and Yao was simply unstoppable.
I knew there were going to be a lot of "Barrett is great. He should start!" threads and posts. I liked the way he played and he definitely will get time while Ward and Sura are out, but let's at least let him get a dozen games or so under his belt before we annoint him the next coming of Jason Kidd.
I completely agree with most opinions here. Right now (early in the season) i would much rather have losses, where we look good and show our potential, than a win, where we look like absolute junk. Of course we cant take too many losses...but i was pleased with last night. Anybody else notice the great Yao pic from the front page? "Yao is playing like a man posessed!"
I unfortunately didn't get a chance to see the game, so I won't really comment on your summary, except to say we need to find a way to score a couple points in the last 6 minutes of freaking games! But I wanted to comment on your thoughts about the team overall. If we're going to survive with 2 max contracts, we're gonna need to be able to get some value out of our draft picks. We need someone who can contribute while working within the confines of a rookie contract. It looks like that guy might not be Nachbar or Gaines.
One adjustment I noticed last night was that Yao did not have to set picks 30 ft out on the floor. Jeff had the PFs set some of the picks up top. Most of Yao's picks were much closer to the paint, around the elbow area. That helped save his energy toward the end I think.
I'm kinda gettin the feeling that Yao is starting to find his niche in the game. Hopefully he can make this consistent.
As long as We keep playing like what we did last night, good things will happen. Yeah, We might lose more couple of close games, but our players and team as a whole are improving.
I was impressed as well I am so glad they have taken this out of the offense. But, the one thing that I wish they would change now is how soon in the shot clock to throw it to Yao. Most of the time, Yao has his man posted only to have the guard pass it around the 3-line and pass it down from the other side. I'm not sure if this is to try to get Yao better position or what, but I don't like how many time Yao has to rush something becuase he only has a few seconds once he gets the ball/ That hook shot from the baseline is really becoming a unstoppable shot and looks like he is using it more and more. Me likey!
I think the team is starting to gel. Once that the role players start making open shots, the team will improve tremendously. I am happy to see the potential of this team unfolding. Go Rocks!
Wow. You know, being a part of this forum for some time now, I am shocked this season with the amount of positive threads after LOSSES. Last season, I would skip the forum entirely after losses from the amount of bonehead threads, trade threads and overall negativity. This is the third/fourth time I have come in here to be pleasantly surprised. Keep it up people, i'm glad to see that we're not in panic mode yet. Stuart
