being able to win ugly games is what good teams do. my only concern for this season is whether we will be able to have an integral and healthy team by the end of the regular season. i really want to see these three guys in action in the post-season.
Sure we'd like to see Yao rest, but the game was in the balance until the 4th. I didn't watch the game, so I don't know how his minutes were allocated, but once again; if it's a close game, I don't mind him going in the high 30's and up to 40min. Though this was a game we should be able to close out by the half, it's the NBA; teams aren't gonna just roll over for us.
Notes ***Starting lineup still isn't gelling well together. Give it time. ***Brooks and Landry are beasts ***Tracy seems to be coming around despite a poor outside shooting night. Driving to the basket and getting fouls. That's what we need. ***Our second unit kills the other teams backups and even their starters.
If Rafer hits 2-3 of his shots earlier maybe the game opens up for the Rockets... His shooting has been holding them back.
First time poster. I agree, we are so good that our worst beats most teams any given night. I hope we bring our A game against the Celts though.
Good wins. but cautious optimism. We haven't played the elite teams in the league, i.e. the lakers, hornets, spurs, celtics, pistons, etc...
dude, come on! it is obvious he's rusty tonight. just look at his legs! I wish he just took this game off.
I totally agree. Our starting lineup is relatively unathletic all the way around. We need to execute in the halfcourt, keep the TOs down and take smart shots. If we don't do that, we will get burned in transition by most opponents. Since our starting lineup lacks athleticism, it needs to take advantage of it's strengths. One strength is size. Yao is the biggest man in the league. This needs to be exploited just about every game. McGrady is longer than almost every SG in the league. We need to exploit that. If the other team's SF is on McGrady, Artest needs to abuse, out muscle the other team's SG. Scola has got to hit those open mid-range shots and continue to follow up on the offensive boards. Our 2nd unit can play uptempo with Brooks and Landry in the game and Yao out. Otherwise, we are the prototypical halfcourt team no matter what anybody wants to believe. Alston, McGrady, Scola and Yao are all relatively slow for their positions. Even Artest is slow compared to most SFs, especially after bulking up this season. We need to abuse matchups with that group and run more when Brooks and Landry are in the game.
The first 3 games, Yao play average 39.5 mins DAL W 112 - 102 41 mins MEM W 82 - 71 38 mins OKC W 77- 89 39 mins That's our next 9 games, who can tell me how long he gonna play??????? Tue 04 vs Boston Thu 06 @ Portland Fri 07 @ LA Clippers Sun 09 @ LA Lakers Wed 12 @ Phoenix Fri 14 @ San Antonio Sat 15 vs New Orleans Mon 17 @ Oklahoma City Wed 19 vs Dallas
Wow, the Jazz only turned the ball over 4 times tonight w/out their starting PG handling the ball. I don't care who the opponent is, that is crazy. We turned the ball over 16 times against one of the worst teams in the league.
Yao played below his average in the first 3 Qs, and I think he was just careful there not to get hurt. TMac's aggressive, the whole team escpecial artest and yao tried to give tmac's shots and let him going. However, TMac is still al ittle bit out of sync with the whole team on the both ends.
Sloppy game, like the ball was greased up or something. Even when the Rockets didn't turn it over, the didn't handle the ball very effectively. Oh well, good teams beat bad teams even when they have off nights. Rafer has a big impact, when he hits a few shots, Rockets can roll over anyone. When he's missing, they struggle.
they need to extent more minutes for yao ming...the dude needa get ready for the real game that's coming up good for the lung guys
It just seems to me when we need a swing shot, or a momentum or momentum stopper shot, rafer is there. He hasn't been shooting very well though, but he hits the shots when needed. Hopefully he will stop sucking soon and we can play to our full potential.
Just got back from the game and it was my first regular season game in years. Something that really bothers me is the fact that our crowd is so quiet. It seemed like i could study in there half the time.
Yeah, I'd like to see him get 40 minutes a night, and not practice at all except to shoot free throws and jumpers and walk through with the offense.
