This is a big win, Bonzi, JHO, Lurther, Rafer, JL3..........they all did very well. But I think we should give more credit to Shane, he played very well, both defensive and offensive. The so called defensive expert Bowen was owned by Shane, 2stls, 3blks, 10pts and several rbs, he made several shots at clutch times when Yao was out. This guy is so nice, how do you think of him?
I need to just look at Rudy Gay's performance today: 8 min, 1 pt, 1 pf, 1 bs. Yep, everything's perfect.
Shane did very well. He played great defense... 3 steals and 3 block shots. 6 rebounds and 10 points. He really didn't shoot the ball that well. 0-4 from 3 pt range and ended up 4-11. Great all around game though. It seemed like someone told him to step it up on the offensive end b/c ususally he doesn't take 11 shots.
He is solid and he is very likable, but he needs shoot a little bit more and being more aggressive on the offensive side.
He looked hesitant on offense to me whenever he has the ball.. But his overall game is undeniable though. He is just a great all around player. His stats might not show it but he is just awesome.
where are you when battier went 5-5 from downtown on his game? (well i forgot who the opponent is, and when) but that was 3 weeks ago i think
Battier is not atheletically gifted enough to take his man off the dribble his ball handling ability can be improved but he does soo much during critical times that all is forgiven and forgetten
Let's compare their game performances on a random day 7 years from now .. I like Shane and what he's doing. But to compare Rudy Gay to Shane Battier after a bad game by Rudy and a good game by Shane isn't even fair..
Its not a matter of fairness, but accordance to the win-now strategy. Shane is solid. Besides, 7 years from now Shane prolly will be running in office already.
Bobby Sura was also "not athletically gifted enough to take his man off the dribble", but he still did make a good number of slashes. Shane's problem is that he's not aggressive enough on offense. His first step, especially, looks way too slow. I don't think he's really that slow, he just needs to really get that "I'm gonna blow by you and lay the ball in" mentality. Other than that, he's been solid. But that's what's advertised about him. Solid.
I've wanted Shane to take more shots, and even if it was at a lower % I'm still glad he did. You need to at least show that you might be a scoring option to sperad out the defense. I think Shane only wants to take VERY high % shots. It's a great idea, but at Shane's rate, he's only going to get 5 of those a game, and they're all probably just going to be wide-open 3's. Great players make tough shots. I'm not saying Battier has to be a superstar, he just needs to take a few more chances. There's was the one drive on the baseline for a layup. Just as it was about to leave his hands he passed it off as there was a guy going up to block it. No one knows if it would've been clean or a foul. But at that point it was a little late to make a pass and the possession desolved into nothing. Not to mention, he might gain more confidence and make more shots the more aggressive he becomes.
Seven years from now, the Rox should have at least 3 rings. It won't matter what Rudy Gay is doing then.
The Crucial Play of the Game came when the spurs where trying to make a run. Parker drove the lane and dished to Duncan for the easy dunk... However Battier stuck his nosy @$$ in the lane and drew a charge from Parker as he was passing off. Result...thwarted the rally, no basket, turnover...Rockets' ball!
