Ya, Yao shouldn't have been blocked, but you could tell by the end of the game his ankle was killing him. He was trying his best out there and was probably the only Rocket that really showed up (or tried to) for 4 quarters. If you're going to point any fingers, I still think you point them at Aaron Brooks. I mean, COME ON, little man. Every time we start putting together a run, he turns the ball over and the Lakers get a free dunk out of it!!
We played with the intensity of a pre-season game tonight. It was disgusting to watch. If this weren't a playoff game I might have changed the channel. Brooks and Yao were pathetic at holding onto the ball. Yao is the biggest, strongest guy on the court and he's going up with one hand and getting it knocked loose. Adelman screwed up in the 3rd quarter. After a quarter and a half of piss-poor offense, he left the starters in way too long while we lost any chance to turn the momentum. He should've had Landry, Lowry, and Wafer in halfway through the quarter, if not sooner. What a letdown. A pathetic display of basketball and heart. The first 5 minutes of game four will tell the tale for this series and if we're going to make anything of it.
Classless Rocket fan to the max! Take your beating like a man. You would give your left nut to have the best player in the world on your team. Don't be a punk!!
One thing that Aaron does that pisses me off is at the end of quarters. When we are setting up for the last shot. It seems like he turns it over every other time during those situations. I can't lie about that.
I think if we expect to be given credit for how well we played, we should also give credit to our opponents when they play well. The Lakers came out executing almost everything they planned well, in particular putting pressure on our perimeter defenders by hitting their 3s. They had 11 3s tonight compared to a total of 8 for the 1st 2 games. They also defended us well, forcing some turnovers and, at the same time, limiting their own turnovers by playing in a more controlled manner. They only had 6 turnovers tonight compared to 13 and 11 in the first 2 games. Kobe didn’t shoot as well as he did the previous 2 games, hitting 11 of 28 (39.3%) from the field, although he did shoot some heart-wrenching 3s (4 of 6 tonight compared to 3 of 10 in the first 2 games), including a crazy one at the 3rd quarter buzzer. For the record, he shot 14/31 (45.2%) and 16/27 (59.3%) from the field in the first 2 games. The Rockets did at least one thing they planned to do well, grabbing 19 offensive rebounds tonight which was more than the total of the first 2 games (6 plus 12). In fact, for the first time in 3 games, we outrebounded them - and by quite an impressive margin (56 to 43). We dropped our efficiency and intensity offensively, shooting only 41.7% from the field (we were 47.8% and 45.9% in the first 2 games). As everyone witnessed, we had too many turnovers particularly unforced ones when we tried to rush things instead of being patient - although with 17 tonight, that was only 1 more than the 1st game and 2 less than the 2nd. Yao missed some shots he normally would have gotten, probably making Artest feel that he had to try to pick up the slack since the rest were also having a poor offensive night, particularly Wafer and Brooks. That led to Ron taking 23 shots from the field but getting the same total (25) as the previous game when he took only 14 shots. The Lakers didn’t really defend Yao any differently from the 2nd game, so his low offensive efficiency would have to be put down as just a poor shooting night, exacerbated perhaps by the injury to his left foot/leg. Overall, we played rather poorly by our recent standards whilst the Lakers did manage to succeed in their adjustments, particularly their perimeter shooting and reduced unforced errors. Still, we were only behind 84-90 at one stage in the 4th quarter which, at least, showed the resilience we’ve all along demonstrated. The sad thing was that with the Lakers shooting only 43.9% from the field, this game was really one which got away. Without taking anything away from our opponents, it’s probably fair to say that in the final analysis, we lost this one more than them actually winning it.
I think its time to use Ron exclusively in the post now. Same with Scola. This game was yours for the taking with all the fouls on the Lakers early on but the Rockets couldnt execute offensively.
aaron's decision making was horrible. on championship teams there was always a veteran experienced PG to lead the team when the starting PG is a young PG. Rajon Rondo --- Eddie House Tony Parker ---Speedy Claxton, Jacques Vaughn, Damon Stoudamire. but where is our veteran back up PG??? aaron's turnovers are horrible to watch...for goodness sakes he can't even make a simple entry pass. stop blaming Yao...he got blocked...so what??? everyone gets blocked...is he meant to be unblockable just because he is 7'6 aaron brooks either just dribbles into traffic panicking for a offbalance shot or he just offload it with 5 secs off the shot clock hoping he'd get a last second assist. when under pressure, we need a veteran PG. we had way too many turnovers at crucial times of the game...its playoffs...every possession counts... and lakers were off to the races doing what they do best---fast breaks and dunks galore... one key thing to win: we need the game to be played at our pace...not lakers pace...we don't have a star offensive finisher to close the game out every time............... just reduce those turnovers and we'll be all ready to fire...how can yao ever get into his groove when every second pass is either stolen due to bad pass or aaron cant get the ball into him or doesnt want to to save his career???
Why do you think Brent Barry is on this team? He's a veteran, that's his job. And for the games, I think Rockets will bounce back next game and have a chance to steal 5th game in LA...but one game at time. Lakers did some adjustments going to Houston, Rockets need to do the same thing if they want to win
You've said it yourself, he got blocked TWICE, twice does not make much difference, whereas brooks and artest consistently make really bad shots and decisions.
Yeah, I always think that Barrys experience can help us. I don't know why Adelman didn't use him, his experience and 3pts are very important to us.
Baron Davis, Andre Miller, Jason Kidd, Mike Bibby. Add any of these PG's and we NEVER lost to the Lakers like this. I am still on the Tracy and Aaron Brooks for Baron Davis and Marcus Camby bandwagon...
