What a mess at PF last night.

Believe it or not, we were only out-rebounded 48 to 43. Of course, this is Sacramento, one of the worst rebounding teams in the league. There were a lot of long rebounds. How else does Bonzi get 18?

We seemed to have good position all night but we tipped a lot of rebounds instead of grabbing them. But we were crashing the boards. We tipped a lot of rebounds last year too. I wish someone would step up and GRAB one every once in a while.

 

I think you answered your own question.

 

Sacramento is one of the better teams in the league...well, at least I thought they were.

I don't disagree with what you're saying. The thing is in today's NBA, there are more long rebounds because there are more (missed) long range shots. Guards are going to get more long rebounds. You can box out all you want, but if the ball bounces over your head all the way out to the 3 point line, it doesn't do much good.

I think the art of rebounding is becoming a lost art because of this, but that's another thread.

Stro will come around. He just needs to get more comfortable out there. T-Mac took about 20 games last year before he started to establish himself. Don't worry about Stro.

 

The only thing that upset me was Howard taking another hook in the middle of our 4th quarter drought. YOU ARE 0-8 on hooks. And you think you are the one to get us out of the drought and put us up 8. That was just bad judgement. Luckily Yao was called on next. Other than that, I expect Howard to play old cause he is old. Swift was lost but he's on a new team. No big deal. But they should at least give the ball to the scorers when they are sucking.

 

Howard looked real active to me last night, he just couldn't buy a bucket. I'm not worried about his shooting at all, but it was strange seeing him pull an 0-for.

Stro looked like a ping pong ball trying to play D in the sencond half, he really looks like he's having trouble with the rotations.

 

I'm not worried about it. JH played OK except his shot wouldn't fall. There is no reason to think that will continue. Stro admitted he was lost at times and, the fact is, he is not an instinctive rebounder. His only real instinct on defense is blocking shots. But I expected him to start off slow this season. If he hasn't made decisive improvements by January, it will be time to get worried. But give the guy 20-30 games to show us what he can really do before we write him off. He can't play much worse than yesterday (I think).

This is why JH is so valuable to our team. There is no way in the world we can put all of our PF eggs in Stro's basket. He hasn't shown he can handle it. Hopefully he will play well enough later to earn 30+ minutes per game. Both JVG & T-Mac have said they will push him this year like he's never been pushed and let's hope he responds to it positively.

 

That's silly. The hook shots Juwan was taking were open, good shots. He just missed them. It's not a shot he was forcing or that is outside of his offensive repetoire, he was just a little off. But that doesn't mean he shouldn't be taking those shots if they are there. Come on, people, we won last night. And I don't understand the rebounding concerns either. There were sequences where our defensive rebounding sucked, but they hit the offensive boards hard and I didn't see a lack of effort. This team will be fine on the boards.

 

Howard and Swift grabbed 1 fewer defensive board than SAR and KT. Find something else to whine about. If you truly watched the game, Abdur-Rahim didn't push anyone around. Howard was missing point blank hooks with little to no defensive pressure from SAR. Abdur-Rahim on the other hand benefitted greatly from bad Rockets' defensive rotations especially in transition where Yao picked him up.

Nothing personal, but I'm taking the Rockets' positive post game comments about JHo and giving them more weight than your knee-jerk reaction.

 

I tried to keep things in perspective.

As bad as we were, we still won. That has to account for something.

When this team starts running on all cylinders, it's going to be a blood bath to the opposition.

 

I came away from this game firmly convinced that Howard should not be starting period but then what choice does JVG have here? Swift looked absolutely terrible on defense and was virtually owned by Miller. Bowen? Yeah, right. Between these two, their interior defense was a joke last night and that has got to change fast. Worrell was dead on when he stated that opposing teams will continue to test their interior defense until the Rockets demonstrate conclusively that they can clamp down on defense.

I am not jumping to conclusions just yet but Swift has got to show me a lot more before I climb on his bandwagon.

 

its going to take sometime to get Stromile into the groove. This reminds me of Robert Horry. It took him sometime. Its going slowly, not SWIFTly!

Juwan still has not reached Carl Herrera in my book. Both Juwan and Stromile need to just concentrate on defense and clean up shots.

Happy to see Juwan stop stopping after going 0-9!

 

Indeed, both PF were playing like a kindergartens.

JGV decided to use Ryan Bowen in the second period and that's when the rockets started to make a run closing down the 9 or 10 point deficit in the first Q.

Howard was ok defensively but he struggled big time offensively. Whereas Swift was like a kid lost in the middle of the street, wandering a couple of times leaving a clear path for Miller to the basket. That was defense -101.

This brings me to wonder. Aside from shotblocking, how was Stro's team defense back in Memphis?????

 

It was the 1st game guys c'mon cut stro a break. New team New city New scheme. Remember when tmac started out last year ? I dont recall our record by nov/dec being so great UNTIL he got comfortable. From all the reports Stromile seems like a mild mannered timid guy. When he gets used to the situation here he will show his true colors and be that front court authority that we lacked last year . Cut the guy some slack

 

Finally.......

Someone has hit the correct spot... A win is a win....

This was the first game and people are already complaining...

We didn't score enough....
We didn't gt enough rebounds....
McGrady shot too many shots...
Juwan missed too many shots...
We still need a point guard....
Yao is still too soft...

Man... Can we please just enjoy a freakin win....

It's the first game and WE WONNNNNNNNNNNN!!!!

Not every game will not be perfect and some will be down right ugly... But a win is a win....

So sit back take a drink and get a smoke... And enjoy the ride.

If you don't drink or smoke... Then go to the post about the power dancers and enjoy the pictures...

 

Ditto. I was very late to come around to the acquisition of Stro, but anyone who knew anything about him had to think he's the kind of player that's going to drive JVG crazy for awhile. I wasn't unhappy with his effort last night but his former coaches have hinted (and I think one said it) that he's a slow learner and he's going to need time in a new system.

Not a big deal, but with his history of foul trouble JVG's decision not to play Deke in the 1st half didn't help matters either.

I can't believe how much some are dogging JHo for going 0 for 9. His defense wasn't bad, he boarded and he seemed to go inside last night more than I think I saw him do all last season. In the long run that will help us.

Besides Howard was praised for his performance by Barry last night. Maybe some people need to watch the game again or remember how good he was last year before he went down.

 

Howard's offense was a little off last night. The shots were good shots, but mostly fell short. Howard is going to watch the tape and adjust to that, so I am not too worried.
The things concerns me is both Howard and Stro's D. Especially Stro. Wasnt he supposed to be the one to protect Yao? But looks like he can hold on his own either. Yao was esposed several time while helping out from weak side and I believe he picked up at least one foul in doing that. I think their D is the key to keep Yao on the floor long and hence be more productive. Of course, we would be talking about it if Yao is a enforcer down low, but we just have to live with it. But still JVG needs to slap Yao if he keeps taking those charges not trying to go up blocking.