Thanks for the kind words, Clutch. I agree with all that. But I'm not sure we necessarily need Artest to be an offensive force. At least not as much as we need him to be a defensive one. I know game 4 was an anomaly as the Lakers laid down and they're not likely to do it again, but they're more likely to soften up if they're getting swarmed on defense. Tonight, more than anything, was a sucky defensive effort. On offense, give me Brooks, Lowry (at the basket please), Battier (who never jacks it up unless its the best shot we can get), Wafer (that's what he's there for), Scola (from anywhere on the floor, then the follow, then the follow after that, since nobody chases an offensive rebound like he does), Landry (because he shoots at a better clip from anywhere on the floor than anybody except maybe Yao) or Hayes (yes, I said it, Hayes! because Hayes never shoots unless he's under the basket). I like the Artest that focuses on assists and defense. Actually I love that Artest. That Artest makes me love this team. The Artest that needs to produce on offense scares the **** out of me. We have enough offense and enough defense to compete with the Lakers or anyone else if it's managed properly. Tonight it just wasn't. That's fine. Let's get em on Thursday. Then it's a series.
Can't give up hope now... Let's just make sure there's a Game 7! I really wish I had gone to bed a little earlier, though. Today is going to be a very long day.
I am dissapointed. Why? Because we literally quit tonight. We have been saing this all series long. Lakers are a better team. They have more talent and remember we don't have Yao or T-Mac. So there is no questions on paper we don't even have a chance against LA. But it doesn't matter, you win or you lose. Just play hard. Give 110% effort and show fans that you really care. I don't care how shorthanded you are, but when you lose by 40 it simply means that you quit. Brian Cook is trash and Ron really sucks. I don't want him back next season. This guy usually stepps up when the team is playing well. And his shot selection is kiling everybody. Gotta do \better that that. We got owned.
Well, surprise surprise surprise. The Lakers actually countered our small ball lineup with...............SIZE! Imagine that! After playing Odom the whole series and sitting down Bynum in favor of a smaller faster lineup against our bigger/slower interior of Yao/Scola. You see, every game in a 7 game series is a counter move. We countered with a small lineup in Game 5 and all of a sudden we were faster and quicker than the Lakers. How do the Lakers counter? They come back in Game 6 with more SIZE, they slowed the tempo down and worked the ball into the paint. As I felt would happen, Hayes got into foul trouble and that is where the whole thing unraveled on us. That combined with the fact that we decided to play slow and concede the tempo to the Lakers. Then when the game is out of hand, we keep turning the ball over off a bunch of dribbles instead of running, cutting, and moving like we were in game 5. We finally lit a fire under the Lakers fast break with all the turnovers we handed them. Artest dribbling around like a r****d, then throwing the ball away. Just terrible! Why did we not counter by getting smaller and faster and forcing them to play uptempo and run against us? I don't understand it. The matchups, our injuries, and our roster of available player's size all pointed to we have to run, run, run. We hardly saw the Brooks/Lowry backcourt in the game. And we needed their speed and penetration. As I felt they would do, the Lakers shaded Brooks the whole game. Instead of capitalizing on that with Lowry in the lineup, we hand the ball to Artest to initiate and he tries the ole "dribble through 3 guys" play that never works. No ball movement, too much dribble, no player movement, not enough speed. Why can't we made adjustments midgame instead of playing the entire game in a certain mode and then making the adjustment for the next game? This game was winnable. The Lakers are not going to win a championship. If Denver does not beat them (and I think Denver might), then the Cavs are going to take them apart in the Finals. They are soft on the interior and very inconsistent. We should have run Lowry out there early when Hayes got into foul trouble and it was obvious that Landry was going to get sacked defensively. After Hayes got his 2nd foul, we should have played Artest on Gasol, Scola on Odom or Bynum, whichever one was in there, Lowry on Ariza or whoever their SF was, Battier on Kobe, and Brooks on Fish. Then when Kobe sits down, bring in Wafer for Battier, and when Gasol sits down, we can get Landry some minutes for Artest. We bring in Landry and Gasol burns him up like nothing. And it was obvious they were slowing the game down. The answer was to speed the game up and force them to get smaller to be able to run with us. That is why if we are going to win game 6 it will have to be with Brooks and Lowry on the floor together for about 30 minutes, forcing LA to play smaller and faster and negate their big man advantage. The tables have turned in this series. The Lakers are now the bigger team that has the advantage in the half court game. We've got to keep the game out of a half court game and turn it into a track meet. It's the only chance we got.
Still proud of the Rockets nothing to hang their heads about, we knew LA was not going to lie down and let us beat them in front of their home crowd. Bring it back to Houston Rockets and win or lose you had a Great season! Go Rockets!!
I am calm. I am just dissapointed. You don't lose games by the margin of 40 points. Not in this level, not against a team you have beaten twice.
anyone complaining about this loss and blaming anything other than: a. the lakers having SUPERIOR talent b. the lakers having an INCREDIBLE SIZE ADVANTAGE c. the rockets unable to hit open shots d. the rockets turning the ball over 17 times (some on consecutive trips down the court) needs to pull their head out of their ass.
terrible: 1 good strategy by lakers to go post on us 2 referees with quick whistles get our only good post defender sent to bench 3 TURNOVERS 4 rockets settle for outside shots yet can't hit the broad side of a barn 5 TURNOVERS 6 ron ron tries to take over ( ) 7 TURNOVERS 8 poor bench management 9 rockets energy level below that of lakers 10 ball game
That is exactly what happened. We lose if we don't pressure from hitting outside shots, and if the ref's are quick to whistle game over. Add in the turnovers and it becomes blowout city. Ever notice how our slow shooters are getting their shots blocked/stolen while it is positioned over their head. The Lakers are particularly picking on Wafer and Scola.
Despite the fact that we are now facing elimination, I still like our chances. A loss is a loss. I would have been more upset, if they had the lead then blew it, ala Orlando last night. 32% shooting, lazy passes, atrocious transition D, RonRon's bad shooting night(again) and getting murdered on the offensive glass. have shown that we can win on the road in LA. We have shown that we can win w/o Yao. Gut check time for Game 6. In a series that has been as wild as this one, we can still potentially do this. We are outgunned and outmanned yet still very dangerous.
