And we didn't have T-Mac. And Manu played in 3 previous games before houston. blowouts Dallas. New Orleans. Phoenix. And SA.
It's pretty simple. The Chronicle has an article on it right now, and it's almost surprising how much the numbers agree. Yao. Ming. You feed the big man, you win. You don't feed him, you lose. With the exception of the Memphis game, the Rockets have been able to take control of every game whenever they run their offense through him. Yao is one of the top 10 players in the league in adjusted +/- this season so far. What stands out to me is how much he has improved on the defensive end compared to last year. With Yao on the court, the Rockets are scoring 107.2 points per 100 possessions and holding opponents to 97.7. Without him, they score 98.3 points and allow 108.5. When they get the ball to Yao, teams are forced to double leading to either open jumpshots or reposts for easy scores in the paint. When they don't, they shoot poor quality shots and open themselves up to fast break points. It's really that simple. Get the ball to Yao, and you can control games. Go away from him, and you lose.
the bad teams mainly do iso plays, and we're just not good at defending those. our defense is more team orientated. also bad teams are great at transition offense with their young and athletic players, and we're just horrible at transition defense.
What JVG said in his last year still applies: we don't have a killer instinct. It shows up when we get huge leads early (Atl, the second SA game) and allow the other team to crawl back in and make it a 4th quarter game, it shows up when we play bad teams neck and neck (Was), it shows up when we lose with major choke jobs (Ind, the first SA game). And that starts from the top down--no matter how many hard working high energy reliable guy Morey adds to the rotation our play at heart will be dictated by the ones with the ball the most. And frankly if I were not a Rockets fan, I would find rooting against the Rockets all too easy. They have so much talent yet their top two players shy away from pressure situations with a palpable fear about what to do with the game clock winding down. Let me ask you this--since when have we even executed well in a HALF-TIME clock-winding down situation? Since when has Rafer's "chunk it up because there's 35 seconds left on the half" EVER worked? Yet we continue to do the two-for-one, let the other team fully execute on the other end, then dribble the air out of the ball and get a horrible horrible shot out of it. Disgusting.
Rockets lack a killer instinct. Underdog teams that aren't too dysfunctional want it more and look to prove themselves. Maybe seeing red gets them inspired
I think it is mainly becauxe Rox doesn't have an efficient defense system any more. RA only focus on offense, & leave defense on the players's own hands. When all players don't have the scoring going, his response would mostly be "I have no idea".
The reason why the Rockets lose to bad teams is because they don't play with a sense of urgency. They tend to play to their opponents level.
Obviously because we only stole the power of earth, wind, fire, and water. We forgot to steal the power of heart from Ma-Ti.
One word: Defense. Bad teams don't play defense, but they still have offense. You can't stop them, you may lose. JVG's team rarelly get beat by bad teams. This year Rox team defense just doesn't exist for so many times.
