Morey has quietly assembled a team of undervalued and unheralded players that plays tough and(/or) smart. They might not be the most physically gifted players out their, but their heart and toughness are unmatched. AND, we have a coach that is excellent at making everyone play team basketball. Everyone understands his role, and everyone trusts each other. This league, the NBA, has been made too much about superstars lifting their game to another level and succeed, and almost everyone forgot that basketball is a team game after all. This team reminds us of what basketball is all about, cooperation, teamwork, trusting each other, sacrificing yourself for the greater goods of the team. Just like last year's 22 game winning streak, this victory is a reminder for all of us what basketball is really about. BTW loved that idiot who gave this thread a one star before even reading it.
we had mutumbo that game i believe. Plus we didnt really blow them apart like we did today. also, its PLAYOFFS against LAKERS that we did it... so this game has lots of differences than the hornets game
I think this Rockets lineup has more heart and will and desire than any of the Lakers...that is why they prevail. Spirit will always win if you allow it to manifest. Rockets players have great spirits and will in them...
We're 4-0 against the Lakers without Yao on a 22 game winning streak without Yao, without Tmac we push to win the division we're in the second round first time in twelve years and challenging the Lakers. We will put both our franchise players on the block for players with heart an hustle and that aren't household names lol.
The problem is when Yao is on the court, everyone want to give the ball to him. The teammates are so dependant on Yao. We should change the way we play. Move the ball, whover got the open shot, just shoot it. Today's game just proved that everyone in the game has the ability to put the ball in the basket. So when Yao comes back next season, I hope the coach and Yao himself both adjust to integrate the whole team. With a good backup center, we are championship calibre team. Everyone has his own advantage and weakness. We should put different person in different situation. For example, Chuck did a good job on Gasol in the first three quarters, but in the forth quarter when Gasol explodes, if Yao was on the court, Lakers would not have that run.
The Key is Brooks, he has so much room to operate without Yao on the floor. Yeah Battier was great today but Artest shot terrible so all of that will balance out. We need Brooks to play at this level, beyond the Lakers (if we pull this off) we will have a very hard time getting past Denver.
altho the stat says one thing, i also think it has to do with the team coming together when they know yao is out and playing even harder, everyone has to contribute and they can't rely on the big guy. i'm just happy for us now!!
Nope, just 4. It's official on espn sports center discussion when it came up during Magic's ripping on the Lakers. I don't think these stats mean much yet. I'm pretty sure we have had the healthy and functioning McGrady in a couple of those games, and this win is probably our first win against LA without both McGrady and Yao. Like I said earlier, perhaps RA functions most efficiently when you give him high quality role players like Scola, Brooks, Battier etc. Maybe this might be a blessing in disguise, and RA's traditional motion offense might put us through this round.
Laker's don't guard athletic teams that run PnR well. That's why they've had so much trouble with Portland. That's what the Rockets are now without Yao. It's just a matchup thing. Without Yao Rockets wouldn't win the Portland series and probably can't win the Denver series. With Utah and the Lakers it's a different story.
Man . . you folx ALWAYS LOOKING FOR A REASON THE ROCKETS CANNOT WIN yet they continue to win Rocket River
I think most teams base their tactics on shutting down Yao. It's like "Nullify Yao, win the game". And we often fail to utilize a Plan B when he gets fronted and/or has a bad game. So when he is out, i suppose it throws the opposition gameplan out the window, and we become terribly unpredictable, Artest, Wafer, Brooks, Battier, Scola, they are all capable of stepping up and having stormers
Really it's how Rockets can't transition to Plan B seamlessly when Plan A is rendered ineffective. It's on Adelman foremost, and to less extent, Yao and his teammates.
To be fair, it's not like Coach did not have plan B. Plan B can only work without Yao on the court. So far Adelman's plan B is validated in game 2 and 4 of this series
