I think we have all heard the story of the low point of this season, when Yao said the rockets were a sinking ship after a horrible loss to Philadelphia. That became the battle cry for this regular season, and we know what happened after that. Improved play, sharing the ball, focus, determination, 22 games in a row, 4th best record in the west . . . and a playoff berth vs. the Jazz. it is time. it is time for the rockets to remember philadelphia again, but in a new way. yesterday those same 76ers beat a bigger, stronger, tougher, more experienced detroit piston team. Nobody thought the 76ers had a chance. nobody thought they could win in detroit. Nobody thought that when the game slowed down and every possession was gold, the sixers would stand tall. but they did it anyway. with a bunch of rookies, some tenacious defense, some easy points in transition, even while bricking FTs (philadelphia is a worse FT team than the rockets), getting outmuscled, and fighting against the pistons home crowd. they did it. they didnt bail out. they didnt give up because "nobody expects them to win". THEY expected to win. and they did. maybe the rockets need to remember philadelphia again, but for a different reason. maybe the battle cry of this regular season can become the battle cry for the playoffs as well. maybe, just maybe, they'll remember what got them here in the first place.
Detroit gave them that game. One thing I will give Utah over virtually any other team in the league not named the Spurs is their 'discipline'. They don't take games off in the playoffs, Detroit does and has for years.
I think he meant remember the Rox-Philly game where Yao said he was on a sinking ship after the Rockets lost to the 76ers. That's the mentality we need to re-capture if we're going to turn this series around. It's Time!
i know what you mean, but at the end of the day it goes in the books as either a W or an L. this isn't about detroit as much as it's about Philadelphia. Philadelphia had no business winning that game. they had every opportunity to give up with Rasheed raining threes on them, Maxiell dunking on everyone, and mismatches on strength, experience, and toughness at every position. if philadelphia can beat detroit in a playoff game, the rockets can beat the jazz.
Our offense was crap, we were overmatched the last game, it wasn't due to lack of effort. It happens when you have Luther Head, Aaron Brooks, Chuck Hayes and Deke getting heavy minutes in a playoff rotation. This ain't the regular season anymore. We don't have the luxury of facing the Bobcats or Clippers every other night. This Jazz team is a damn good team, has size/strength and talent at virtually every position, and has enough 'quality' depth that can be problematic for a team depleted by injuries, which the Rockets are.
detroit is deeper than utah. they are bigger than utah. they are more experienced than utah. their core has won a chip. philadelphia just found a way to win with an inferior team. that's what i want from the rockets. everyone here knows we are the inferior team. but that doesnt mean we should be okay with our team playing like they know it too.
Yes, but comparatively speaking, although they have more talent, they don't necessarily 'outmatch' Philly from a physical standpoint. Philly also has size but, most importantly, crazy athleticism that gave Detroit trouble last night. Compared to the Jazz, however, we're out-matched in terms of size, strength and talent, and we don't have the requisite athleticism to cause them any problems. They can easily grind out a game when playing us, and without Yao to play that half-court offense we're very good at, they always have the advantage in that matchup. Again, for the umpteenth time, playing a 'bad' game doesn't mean that they played like they were the inferior team, or that the team has a psychological problem that needs to be addressed. That's the problem with this board, way too many people are way too happy to jump to unsupported conclusions way too fast. The Rockets didn't 'lay down' and take it, they put in the effort but down to a player they didn't play well. They make a few more shots and make the necessary defensive adjustments and we may not be talking about that right now. It demeans our guys to keep insisting that they didn't "try" or that they just gave up on the game. I strongly disagree with that sentiment.
i think you are making it too much about "not trying". there is a difference between "not trying" and playing like you can play. when the rockets were under .500 at the beginning of the season they were still "trying". they just werent playing like they were supposed to win. i feel like that's how they are playing now. like that team. a team that is trying to figure out if it CAN win, not a team that feels like it is supposed to win. not like the team we saw after philadelphia. that team had a swagger. did you see that swagger in game 1?
i disagree. detroit's physical advantage over philly is comparable to utah's physical advantage over us. i dont recall seeing philly display any athleticism as they made wide open jumpshots. they simply contested every attempt by detroit, played swarming defense without fouling, and made the big shots when they needed to. so yes, while I agree that philly is a more athletic team than the rockets, i disagree that it was athleticism that earned them the victory yesterday. there were no open court sprints or high flying rebounds or huge blocks or dunks or layups in traffic that turned that game in their favor. as a matter of fact all of those plays were created by detroit. philadelphia just played like a team that knew it could defend, rebound, and score when it had to. did you see them use the tip rebound? did you see them trap? did you see them contest without fouling? did you see them not bite on the pump fake? did you see them not get rattled every time detroit surged? none of that required athleticism.
You may have been watching a different game, but OK. It really does nothing to compare our situation to anyone else's. Let's just focus on dealing with the Jazz. I just don't think Detroit played well at all, it was by and large their own doing. They did get up by double figures and then just mailed it in the rest of the way. That's not uncharacteristic of this group over the years since Ben Wallace left town.
philly is very athletic, we are not, that is why we struggle so much against utah's D. philly is also a great fastbreaking team. they forced turnovers then were able to ram it down detroits throat. i have no doubt if we had more athletes we could beat utah even without yao but we aren't. utah is just a bad matchup for us even WITH yao.
