I had work Christmas party #1 to go to last night, and I'm pissed that I missed a whale of a game (you miss something like the Chicago or Detroit game and who gives a damn). Anyhow, that's the reason there's no recap yet, and I don't want to make stuff up like I saw the game.... so let me know who you think <B>Rocked</B> last night and who <B>Got Rocked</B> with a 2 or 3 line explanation why and I'll post the best one and credit who wrote it in the recap.... Thanks!
Tmo rocked!! I didn't see the game, but 2-4 for 4 points in just nine minutes of action=banner night!!
Oscar rocked. BTW, is it just me, or does it seem like he either gets fouled on every 3 attempt or just falls down after the shot release? Moochie's D was El Crapo. Tinsley didn't really score, but w/ the Mooch letting him get by him at will Tinsley was drawing the defense and setting up Pacers for wide-open layups all nite. Mooch lost him in transition about 19 times too. KT had steady game I guess.
Rocked=Clutch Proved once and for all that no one, but no one can outdrink him at the Christmas party. Got Rocked=Clutch What goes in, must come out. Unfortunately, Clutch gave his own personal touch to the Christmas tree by decorating it a mixture of tequila, 151, and partially digested shrimp en brochette. disclaimer: I know you probably don't inbibe, but this seemed funny to me under my current circumstances (I just found out my mother-in-law and her sister are going to spend the four day New Years Eve weekend with my wife and I at our house)
what really hurt us is the easy baskets they got because we didn't get back. Simply inexusable, especially when Harrington beat us down the court twice in a row late in the game. I'd say they got at least 5 baskets on those baseball passes throughout the game. That's around 10 points in which they didn't have to earn.
This game is a tough call. I just looked at the box score, and it seems to be OPPOSITE of what happened when I was watching the game. I think the ones with the best stats were the ones that lost the game. Willis had good rebounding but missed crucial free throws. Mooch has good stats, but let Tinsley run all over him. Oscar missed the last second three. On the other hand, the unit that really worked hard (Tierre, Eddie, Tmo, Walt) got us the lead in the first half but somehow didn't have good stats. Give it to Oscar. Why? He was trusted with the last second shot, and got off a good one. A couple years ago, a rookie was given the ball in the final seconds of the playoffs vs. the Lakers. Got blocked by Shaq. Lost the game. But it was him, not a veteran, that got that final look. I have the feeling that this game is Oscar's version of this. He will see the ball in his hands more when a crucial play is needed. Rudy believes in him, and it has gone beyond the 'surprise rookie' phase. That will be the biggest impact this game has for our future.
Got Rocked: Our transition defense. We gave up 31 transition points including two crushing ones in the end of regulation from long bombs. Rocked: At 7-18, Torres would probably be our worst FG% for a Rocker. Had he made one of those last two, I'd give it to him. I give it to KT for the HUGE block of a two-handed slam by O'neal, that helped us have a chance at the end of regulation. Or Tinsley. The guy schooled us on how to push transition even when nothing looked available.
ROCKED: Oscar Torres. How he managed to score 2O plus points after hounding Regge Miller off picks all night I'll never know. Contested Miller all night, forcing him into throwing up prayers that were unfortunately answered. Simply, this kid is amazing. GOT ROCKED: Its a toss up between Eddie and Refs. But I'll go with the Refs. Two horrendous calls that may have been the deciding factor in the loss. The first was a obvious three-point bucket that was waved off as a two point score. The second was even worse and came during a more crucial part of the game. Moochie pump faked the opposing player in the air so bad that the player use his head as a park bench -- surely that is a foul in the rule book somewhere -- But no call. Timeclock expired. change of posession. Rockets lose again.
Rocked: Not calling glass! Got Rocked: Kevin Willis. He's somewhat in my doghouse because of the missed freethrows. I know he's 'older' but don't shortarm those freethrows at that point in the game. Got Rocked2(jobbed): Kevin Willis. The technical foul at the end of the game did not help, BUT, why do the refs pick on Kevin and his elbows. He throws a fraction of the elbows that Karl Malone throws, but the Mailman never gets cheesy techs like Kevin did. Got Rocked3: Reggie Miller...this guy deserves an Oscar.
This is legend building at its best. Torres was schooled by Rose all first quarter. Torres was on Rose, and Mobley was on Reggie. If we switched later, it was because Rose was schooling the rookie. Mobley is a better defender right now.
That may very well be crispee. All I recall is the 4th quarter and overtime periods and seeing Oscar fighting through constant picks in his best attempt to guard Reggie. I agree Mobley may be the better defender. He obviously has quicker feet and is super fast in reacting while defending a more 1 on 1 player like Jalen Rose. But running after Miller through them Indiana picks is much more tiresome than standing down Rose, imo. Thats all I meant.
Mobes was frustrated most of the game. The Pacers simply covered him by getting inside that three foot personal space he usually enjoys. His footloose-fancy-free offense was in disarray all night. That made him frequently balk at the attack, hold the ball inordinately far too long (a la Mooch) and sometimes pass the rock like he was carefully handing over the family jewels to a crooked pawnbroker. His shining moment was on defense when he covered Miller for the first 30 minutes or so. He squelched that grinning California fool at the perimeter and effectively stuffed his surfboard when he tried to drive inside. I loved Mobes positioning on Miller. Can’t understand why RT switched off with Oscar/Rose during the dying moments. And, I mean deathly dying moments as Miller side stepped Oscar and picked us apart over a deciding stretch in the final segments of the game. Offensively, Oscar had a good night as the Pacers seemed not to even know he was on the court until the late fourth quarter when they eventually keyed on him. Defensively however, Oscar had the desire but not the finesse to outsmart his man. Malik Rose certainly didn’t see him all night as he seemingly passed by him as wistfully as a flatulent infant through his diaper. Swish! Oscar answered several scoring onslaughts with his own Swish! impressions, but he is still a lightweight when it comes to covering players as talented as Rose and Miller. Credit him as being tireless in the effort as he started his first game playing a Tonka Truck full of minutes. It is a credit to his poise at the offensive end that he got as many nods for the ball as he did. RT has grown to like this guy and he will be a fixture for the season. Mooch was … well Mooch was Mooch. A little more intense, and little less dribbling, but his hesitation and stutter-step (is that a requirement to play PG for the Rockets now?) are clearly misplaced in the kind of fast paced game that was played last night. His defense on Rookie Jamal was worse than Oscar’s on Malik. I mean, he disturbed Tinsley’s shooting game to be sure, but 20 assists by a rookie PG kinda takes it’s toll after a while. My living room looked like a Stephen King movie set as I sputtered – spurted - growled and tore the hair out of every frizzle-haired, Mooch-lookalike doll my daughter owns. There were carcasses everywhere. I etched “Moochie – decide who to pass it to and then PASS THE DAMN BALL!” all over the screen with her genuine “Barbie’s Makeover!” lipstick and eye shadow supplies. Our transition game sucked for the most part and theirs seemed to sizzle at all the right times. The key ingredient missing for us … quickly transitioning from a defensive mode to an offensive mode … seemed to have been lost in it’s interpretation for the luckless five Rockets that happened to find themselves on the floor at the time. I think our fast break scoring ratio was something in the neighborhood of 1:5, in the Pacers favor. They attempted to breakout and follow the chalk marks just like they were shown, but got stalled about half way down the court. The referees’ lack of cognitive acumen and knowledge of the laws of spatial physics seems to have caught up with them. I mean, really, just who was watching what game last night. Dear Refs: Lesson one: The inside game in professional basketball does in fact involve some contact. The Rockets (Kevin Willis in particular) couldn’t occupy the same zip code as a Pacer without getting called for impeding the game. Lesson II: Two bodies cannot occupy the same space at the same time. When a player (Norris) gets body-slammed while shooting you can’t let that go as incidental. Especially when it was flagrant and visible. I mean, a blind inebriated melonhead from DeMoines Iowa could call that one from the backseat of his 78 Camaro, for Gawd’s sake!. It’s simply against the law of gravity AND common sense. Lesson III: Those red, swollen, scratched and trembling wrists indicate that someone has been whacking away at them all night. No physician’s exam is required. Mobley has a legitimate call. He has the evidence. They are right there in the same basin filled with ice water that he’s been soaking them in since 10 PM last night. We have the tape. We’ll show you. Look it’s simple: Do the right thing. Get your IQ checked. Get your eyes checked. Take a sobriety test. Read the “ The Peter Principal” again. Don't cheat and read the Cliff Notes. Then when you've settled down, fill out that resignation slip and accept that McDonald’s Application with a smile on your face. You've arrived. Your now positioned just slightly above your most optimum level of competence. All in all, the cardiac kids did all right in the hall. There were some real tangible improvements from five games ago. They took the game to the Pacers all night, they pushed the ball and made the hoosiers work very hard for the overtime victory. In between the faults and follies there was a sense of symmetry that reminded me sometimes of the seamless legwork, and ball movement of the more experienced 1995 Rockets. They seemed to have some sense of their other teammates court presence and a couple of intuitive plays and moves surprised the hell out of me. Dang, but Oscar Torres moves very well without the ball in a half-court set. Cuttino, despite the lambasting I gave him on his passing ability, threaded some nifty needles inside, that were so sweet and delightful they would have tickled a nun’s vow of celibacy. The perception that we were watching a young team take hold of something kept banging around my thought process all night. Maybe the only telling statement that need be said is: …..they didn’t look as hapless this time around. And, sad to say, if they were going to take a loss, well …. it didn’t feel like a loss when it was all over and done with …
Excellent read, pops, but you didn't give it up for K9's huge block... <font size="1">quick oeilpere. From one dyslexic to another, edit "Malik" to read "Jalen," before a 14-yr old cyberpunk makes fun of you.</font>
%$&*^@#%$^%$ ..... man, I do that far too often. I was having an argument/discussion/debate/close-to-knockdown with a media writer/"sports expert" about Malik Rose the day before I posted that and .... duh .... dyslexia is a hard row to hoe ... or as i usually write ..... flondot ist a fard man blow to stow .... arrrrgghhhhh!
