Well, it's just one game but I have to admit that I'm nervous the team is being trained to choke on big leads. Young teams have too many games like this, pretty soon they stop playing to win and they start playing just to avoid losing and they tighten up no matter how far ahead they are. I've seen it happen to Houston sports teams before...
The loss would be good only if the team will learn. This is not the first time the spurs blows us out in the second half.
Its amazing how slept on Duncan is -- he's been nothing short of amazing throughout his entire career and has the hardware to back it up.
You get some and you lose some. Yao was owning Shaq and Morning the second half of last game. Duncan owns Yao the second half of this game. The best big man in the league? Not soo soon. Not until Yao figures out winning the game while his shots are not falling.
JVG is not too blame. The Spurs have for clutch players on the bench in horry, barry, finley, and udrich. They can have a dozen plays in hand that their starting 5 doesn't run for the entire game to surprise us. It doesn't happen everynight that a team makes 4 consecutive threes when trailling double digit. When it happens, we have to take it, just like the spurs took Tmac's 35 in 13s.
Maybe so to your optimism, but you damn well better include more effective coaching in the mix when we are getting killed, and nothing is done down the stretch to stop the bleeding! Face the facts, we did not have to lose this game, regardless of what paltry lessons we need to learn. We could have capitalized on our lead and done more to sustain it!! This was a perfect opportunity to beat the Spurs and we needed to do it and could have done it, but we blew it...plain and simple, without any spin to the positive or any attempt to justify it! As I said, in my owm thread give this loss to JVG!!
I don't think one game negates the dominance we've seen from Yao in 2006. The torch is on the hand off if not already in his hands. He's going to have nights like tonight, its up to his team to pick up the slack and carry us on through. We were one quarter away from that against a team who quite frankly should've beat the ever living sh*t out of us.
The Rockets seem to play their best with the following lineup: PG - Alston SG - McGrady SF - Battier PF - Hayes/Howard C - Yao/Mutombo When Battier got subbed out late in the third for Snyder, that's when the Spurs made their run. We never got back to the above lineup the rest of the way.
I am not saying who's the best paint player. All I am saying is that Duncan a 10 year veteran has something that Yao can learn from. Vice versa, Yao shooting touch is not to be matched by Duncan and Shaq. HOWEVER, all due respect, I HATE SPURS!!! The most boring powerhouse with the dirtiest player and the dumbest superstar ever. Plus they are the spurs.
I didn't say he was to blame; I said he seemed unresponsive when the lead was shrinking. Consecutive time outs might have helped. How about shaking up the lineup for a few plays? Many, many other factors were responsible for the loss, his play calling, player selection, and clock management was just ONE of them. He never missed a shot, missed a rebound, or turned over the ball. He wasn't responsible for SA playing championship level defense in the second half.
with chuck hayes in there, there won't be many nights such as these from yao. really i don't remember any second chance buckets in the 4th quarter? long shots, 3 black jerseys underneath the hoop. yao gets boxed out consistently, really if anyone to blame, blame shaq for taking down hayes.
with chuck hayes in there, there won't be many nights such as these from yao. really i don't remember any second chance buckets in the 4th quarter? long shots, 3 black jerseys underneath the hoop. yao gets boxed out consistently, really if anyone to blame, it is the injury get well soon HAYES
Not saying this cost us the game, but the spurs' basketball IQ is superior. It would be interesting to see if V-span can bring some inteligence down the road.
the key to the game is bunch Spurs Field Goals Rebounds pos min fgm-a 3pm-a ftm-a off def tot ast pf st to bs pts T. Parker G 29:38 4-13 0-1 0-0 0 4 4 5 0 0 1 0 8 E. Ginobili G 16:31 7-13 2-5 3-4 0 5 5 2 1 1 2 1 19 T. Duncan F 37:02 7-16 0-0 5-7 2 13 15 2 4 0 4 3 19 B. Bowen F 35:52 1-3 0-0 0-0 2 2 4 3 2 0 1 0 2 F. Oberto C 05:22 1-1 0-0 1-2 0 2 2 0 4 0 1 0 3 F. Elson 23:18 6-8 0-0 0-0 2 5 7 2 4 0 0 1 12 M. Finley 18:46 3-8 0-2 2-2 0 5 5 0 0 0 1 0 8 R. Horry 17:48 3-4 2-2 2-2 1 3 4 1 0 2 2 1 10 B. Udrih 14:55 4-6 3-3 0-0 0 3 3 2 1 0 2 0 11 B. Barry 05:51 0-2 0-0 0-0 1 1 2 0 2 0 1 0 0 J. Vaughn 00:00 - - - 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 M. Bonner 00:00 - - - 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 Total 240 36-74 7-13 13-17 8 43 51 17 18 3 15 6 92 48.6% 53.8% 76.5% Team Rebs: 4 Total TO: 15 Rockets Field Goals Rebounds pos min fgm-a 3pm-a ftm-a off def tot ast pf st to bs pts R. Alston G 11:22 5-10 2-4 0-2 0 4 4 2 1 2 2 0 12 T. McGrady G 39:53 10-25 4-7 2-4 1 7 8 6 1 2 1 0 26 J. Howard F 24:00 2-4 0-0 1-1 2 4 6 1 2 0 0 0 5 S. Battier F 19:26 2-7 1-4 0-0 0 3 3 4 2 1 1 1 5 Y. Ming C 14:05 7-21 0-0 6-9 2 4 6 0 4 4 1 1 20 L. Head 12:00 2-8 1-5 1-2 0 1 1 1 1 0 4 0 6 S. Padgett 07:52 2-4 2-3 0-0 2 2 4 1 0 1 0 0 6 D. Mutombo 11:49 2-5 0-0 0-0 4 0 4 0 1 0 0 2 4 K. Snyder 09:08 0-0 0-0 0-0 0 0 0 1 1 0 0 0 0 V. Spanoulis 00:00 - - - 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 J. Lucas 00:00 - - - 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 S. Novak 00:00 - - - 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 I think it's the time for JVG to activate the bunch players or there won't be a chance for us to win the champion. Plus,why I can't post a new thread?
Give the Spurs credit. I hated the loss but their defense was effective. It's not a surprise that the Rockets went ice-cold later. Missing Chucky Hayes hurt. Also depth of their bench vs. ours really showed. That's why I want to see Novak and V-Span playing now vs. later. Let's get them over the learning curve now.
I was completely on the "JVG's" fault bandwagon, but after cooling down, I think I can see the positives of today. 1) Staying Humble, Staying Hungry. Today was absolutely a glimpse of the playoffs. The entire game was played with a playoff-esque intensity, and our inexperience showed. By driving home the point that we need to continue to work hard, I believe that we will continue to raise our level of play over the season. 1a) Championship teams are refined in the fire. Remember Clutch City? We became a championship caliber team through the struggle and the struggle made us stronger. 1b) Championship teams almost never "cruise" through the regular season and continue to coast throughout the playoffs. The one exception in recent history is the 2nd championship Lakers, but they were built through comebacks to the Kings and Blazers the year before. Hence my theory goes back to the playoff-esque intensity of today. Only through consistent exposure to the pressure involved in situations like today's, can we begin to improve that which we need to improve upon most - experience in pressure situations. Now there is the argument that we will become accustomed to losing ala Chris Webber. Every team must run this risk. In every ascent to greatness even greater risks must be taken. The true colors of our team were not those that shone today. We will not know if the colors that we want will ever show until they do, but the more that the Spurs treat us to such experiences, the better our chances are at realizing a championship-caliber mentality earlier than expected. I am proud of my team. They gave it their all today. Even if we fell short, and although several "what-ifs" are still in effect, today's loss may prove to be even more beneficial to our team than a victory. A friend next to me at BW3's summed today up nicely when he said, "Even if we win today, I can not enjoy it, for we did not deserve to win today". While I would be lying if I said that I would not have basked in the glow of a victory, I still see the value in rewarding the Rockets for acheiving true championship-level play, and appropriately pulling that reward away when undeserving. Let's stay Humble, stay Hungry, and enjoy the evolution of our Rockets, wherever it may lead.
Actually this has happened b4, remember the bucks game? We were leading the bucks by so much that they bench most of their starters and launched a late comeback in the 4th quarter and lost by only 4 in the end. Our starters in that game played similiar minutes as in this games as well. Only difference is we had a bigger lead in that game, 23 points late in the 3rd quarter and the bucks aren't spurs. Seems like we didn't learn anything from that game.
