Largely Yao and Artest, unfortunately. Reserves were great, Scola was good, Brooks was good. Did Yao do anything in the second half?
BUILD THE TEAM AROUND YAO OR AB?THEY ARE NOT MATCH.AB CANT MAKE A GOOD PASS TO YAO,EVEN EASY ENTRY LEAVEL PASS.
At the end of the day it is as simple as this, and I have been saying this since the get go. We need a healthy Tracy McGrady to succedd. Not the lazy, out of shape player we saw this season, but the team oriented, playmaker, we had last season. We will not win a Championship without him at this best. Yao and Arest have shown they make boneheaded plays or dissapear in the clutch. Brooks turns the ball over and makes the wrong decisions. This season will not be our year. We may get out of the first round depending on match-ups, but we will not beat the Laker, the Spurs, Cavs or Celtics in a 7 game series without a healthy Tracy McGrady!
Lakers played great 2nd half defense. Their defense on Yao really worked so well that broke the Rox offensive rhythm. Offensively Kobe was being himself. Clutch and playing hard. Good game for LA. They deserved this win.
We had a season high in turnovers, thanks mainly to poor passing and Yao not sealing off his defender, another 2nd half collapse in scoring, too many 3point shots particularly when they are not falling, there should more attacking the rim by Artest and Battier once the 3 pt shots are not falling.
"What's scary is that Artest doesn't know his limitation. Like Reggie Miller said, "Artest thinks he is the best player in the NBA"." That says it all right there. Also Adelman is also to blame. Can't let Artest stay in the game when his shot is off, hes getting lit up by Kobe, and making boneheaded plays.
Rockets needed to get the ball to Yao and Scola more in the 2nd half in better positions to score. They needed more shot attempts than they got. I thought this game really turned when Artest and Kobe got into it. After that, the Lakers and Bryant in particular put it into another gear. While Artest tried and couldn't do the same. I love Ron Artest, but Kobe is mentally tougher than he is and a better basketball player. Ron shouldnt've tried to do so much after that altercation. We need to put this loss behind us and move on.
Live and die by the three, simple as that. Yao was dominating in single coverage. They adjusted at half time with quicker double teams and we didn't hit the open three point shots. (5-28 behind the arc). If we hit our normal%, we win by ten. Not over-reacting, but the JVG system would of worked alot better tonight than the motionless motion offense.
This team cannot win it all and we are dreaming if we think that. Its like the Astros we already know they will suck this year they have no pitching and we have no Superstar ! They Have maybe the best player in the league in Kobe and a really good player in Gasol with a bunch of solid players around those two guys. We have a good but not great center in Yao and a sometimes great but mostly average player in Artest. Scola is the most consistent player on this team and we just hope that one game either AB or Wafer will be hot. To me the missing link is Battier. We let him off the hook because of his defense but he used to shoot lights out and now he hardly scores. So Where do you get your for sure points every game night after night ? Yao ? Artest ? I don't think so
We were spoiled by winning at home, so this lose feels even more sour. If I have to blame someone for the lose, it would have to be coach. I hope we can get back into a rhythm when we play Charlotte.
we played hard and tough. gotta be proud of the effort. but this game reveals a lot about our team. we'll close games by committee, but some nights you just need that one guy. wafer tried really hard today but all he can do is shoot. we need that playmaker. we have around 15-20 games to find it. or else even bill and clyde are resigned to the inevitable fate in the playoffs. 1) yao still makes the SAME simple mistakes he made in his rookie year. i don't think he'll ever learn from those mistakes. they're habits now. 2) the bad ron came out tonight. the good thing was he WANTED to take over. i appreciated that about ron. the bad thing was he's not good enough to take over a game by himself. gotta know his role. 3) shane battier straight up SUCKED. he had literally ZERO impact on this game whatsoever. the positives: 1) yao was good at blocking shots once again. got 2 tonight. and he made the shots he has. 2) kyle lowry was a beast. tough, strong, GREAT playmaking/vision. he needs to play more 3) scolandry were BEASTS tonight. and yet they only took 15 shots COMBINED. i'm speechless when i saw that stat. get those boys some more touches please. i think all rocket fans know what this team lacks. let's hope we regain that shut down defense and face denver/portland so we can get past the first round at least.
