3 for 3 behind the line, amazing. He also hit the last clutch 3. Too bad for a losing cause. I'll stop now cuz i don't like to praise Drew that much. Hope his value keeps going up so we can trade his butt for the likes of McGrady.
i know that SUCKED that he missed that free throw...urr...u could see it on his face when he sunk that 3 pointer at the buzzer he was thinking about the free throw he missed...and damn mobley..i'm gonna smack that man...
Ohh yeah I forgot. DAMN DREW LOST THE GAME!! THAT SORRY ASS b****.. Just kidding. Mobley cost the game for us. He didnt even pass the ball. Mobley needs to learn, or he wont become a good player.
Too bad he missed every other shot he took (something like 0-7 from the field when it wasn't a 3) As close as I can remember anyhow. And in 32 mins he managed to get what, 1 assist.
1 assist? OUCH! Thats not pretty. Drew is a backup point guard. I think he is a pretty good backup point guard. But backup point guards NEVER play in the final minutes of the fourth quarter. It's like putting Randy Livingston (who?) in instead of Jason Kidd..you just don't do it! Are you reading this Rudy? [This message has been edited by 2Sandwiches (edited December 28, 1999).]
Randy Livingstone is Jason Kidds backup at PG. Too bad we didn't keep him, he had the best court awareness of any young Rocket that I had ever seen in 27 years of rooting for them. DaDakota
I watched the game tonight out of the corner of my eye, so be prepared to correct me. Mobley as we all know is a talent and the question at this point is what does he need to do to grow as a player. Calvin Murphy tonight hit the nail on the head. He said something that I have been repeating. Mobley needs to learn how to come off picks to shoot. Mobley needs to learn how to get himself open without the ball in general. We know he can isolate, but that stagnates the offense. Ohh yeah and who deserves the bigger contract Bullard or Williams? Williams looks like he's resurrected but doesn't Bullard do the same thing? Is there really a need long term with no Charles and Hakeem for a 5 mil shooter who can't shoot, defend, or run. Well sometimes he shoots. All just the ramblings of the Caucasoid and his new musical theme for the Rocks - "Jimmy crap corn, I don't care." Ohh and don't you kids get any ideas about keeping Walt.
Well Caucasion, Williams is like an upgrade Matt Bullard. He can basically shoot as good as Bullard(I think a little better actually but that's my opinion), but Walt can also drive. And good point about Mobley coming off of picks. He takes that tough 18 ft jumper with a defender in his face, and I know it would go in if he was open coming off a pick. When Drew hit that last 3 pointer, I don't think the Raptors were playing very tough defense. The Rox had already lost pretty much. There's no guarantee that Drew would have hit that 3, or anyone else for that matter, if Drew had made that crutial free throw that he missed earlier.
Alaska, buy you do see that Walt is gone whenever Hakeem is retired don't you. He was the shooter that was supposed to keep balance with all the slashing starters we have. He was the designated shooter. Also he's getting a starter's salary, Bullard get's a third or fifth of that and produces nearly the same results. Both these guys should be history as the Rockets offense of old slowly expires and retires. Make way for runners, slashers, defenders, and hustlers, but set shooters, who are solely set shooters don't fit this teams coming and somewhat already here offensive style.
Drew only had one assist, because once he passed it to Mobley that was it...he never got it back. And we all know that Mobley didn't make the shot. Francis had the assists because when he's in there they don't run that stupid A$$ iso play for Mobley - Francis runs it and actually passes to Cato and/or Rodgers. If they ran that play when Francis was in there, he would have had only one assist as well.
lainey- you're exactly right about why bryce doesn't get many assists. there weren't that many times that bryce was in the game and mobley wasn't...and unless they get a fast break rudy calls the iso for mobley which creates only the sound of his crappy shots clanking off the iron
i hope we aren't making excuses for "nice" bryce's apathy. first of all, bryce does suck. sorry. he's a miniature bullard. nuff said. also, the reason rudy runs the "cat" play when bryce is in there is because someone has to be the offensive impetus. someone has to be able to create something offensively so that the defense has to react. "nice" bryce can't do that. what i want to know is why not run the iso plays for francis in the 4th quarter last night? i mean, what rudy? was cuttino's shot doing that much better than francis'? is francis' passing ability not better than cat's? and who would you rather attack on defense: vince carter or alvin williams? think about it.
Mobley played 41 mins. There wasn't "too many" minutes that Francis played (30) that Mobley wasn't in the game also. Drew doesn't know how to get his team mates involved. He is nothing but a quicker Maloney to me. In the game all he can do is shoot. I believe in Maloneys first two years he shot better than Drew.
Dreamshake, I think Drew recently seems to get people more involved than Francis. I'm not talking about last night however. The problem is Francis often like Mobley plays a game unto himself. The only player I have noticed that Francis seems to see very well is Cato. Francis brings the ball down and dribbles for a long time and then waits on picks (often ignoring the guy rolling to the hoop). Francis is more likely to have 24 second shot violations as well. The offense when he is in is usually penetrate and dish. And big men are usually the recipients. He directly creates the offense when he is in the game. Drew comes down and usually passes to the first open wing and then cuts somewhere without the ball. More players touch the ball and Drew is less likely to get an assist because he intiated it instead of directly created it. Also Drew, because of his speed often does a very poor job of running the break. But Drew gets other people involved in the offense (they get more touches), where at this point of Francis's offense he is still dribbling the ball.
Caucasoid... What the heck are you talking about? I'll be the first to admit that at times Francis does dribble to much, but do you realize that 2 of the 3 three pointers that Bryce got were from passes from Francis. One was from a pentration and dish and the other was late in the game when the ball was being rotated and Francis, instead of taking the shot himself, passed to Drew for the better shot. You guys make so many excuses for Drew that it is sickening. Are you aware that Francis has averaged 10.2 assists over the last five games(Francis-12,7,11,7,4)whereas Drew has averaged a dismal 1.4 (1,2,2,1,1) while playing significant minutes. Come on people even for a backup point gaurd that low an assist average is awful. Your Drew moving w/o the ball and not getting credit for getting people involved excuse doesn't hold water. If he is really getting people involved then the stats should show it. And as for Francis only seeing Cato, I guess Bullard, Walt, and Drew himself (as I noted earlier) have not recently been the benificiaries of his pentration-n-dishes. The simple fact is that it was bone headed of Rudy for him to have Drew in there period. At crucial points in last nights game we needed someone who could create thier own offense besides Mobley. Someone who could get us easy baskets by taking advantages of mismatches in size, speed, or off the dribble, none of which Drew can do. So why was he in the game? [This message has been edited by O-dawg (edited December 29, 1999).]
o-dawg, Are you aware that Francis has averaged 10.2 assists over the last five games(Francis-12,7,11,7,4) I agree with your opinion that Francis distributes the ball better than Drew, but your stats are off. Francis' has averaged 8.2 assists over the last 5 games. Looks like you divided by 4 instead of 5. Still, he's averaged 9.25 assists over the last 4 games. Pretty impressive numbers.
Lets play a game called, 'WHICH ONE DOESN"T BELONG?' Steve Francis, John Stockon, Allan Iverson, Stephon Marbury, Bryce Drew, Jason Kidd, Jason Williams, Gary Payton, Tim Hardaway, Sam Cassel, Rod Strickland, Damon Stoudamire.... I swear some of you beleive that Drew is some great point guard or something. I mean his a okay backup, he may be a good 3rd string! But I don't understand how you can even compare Francis and Drew. Maybe I don't watch the same Rocket's games as some of you do!
