Their TOs were forced...by the Rockets D...... The Rockets have to play D on the bounce and the perimeter, lord help us if anyone has a low post threat. The Rockets shot really badly from 3pt range....really badly....they can do better. They are NOT contenders but they are not that bad..... To me they are a +.500 club. Join the club...Webster would have been ok too....Ariza AND Battier...YUCK ! DD
ab played 42 minutes, or 87.5% of game time. i don't think w/ and w/o ab tonight was a deciding factor. again, i am keeping my expectation low this year with the entire team. outside of yao and mcgrady, our total payroll figure was a pity. can't expect this team to be a playoff team.
No, I'm fairly certain it was always just a straight sub between Hayes and Andersen. I don't think defense was the issue with the two guards on the floor, it was rebounding. I remember they compared the two teams with about 10 mins to go and I think Portland had 20 on us. Maybe Pops would have been good in there for Landry? Though Hayes did somewhat well in the 1st on rebounds. I think either of them would have been an improvement over Landry in this game and made us feel a little tougher in the paint.
Give them more time to get used to playing together. After the 10th game then the team could try to tweak the line up if the present line up does not produce.
man, watching the rox tonight was frustrating..... Landry--give back 1 game's salary for not showing up. Scola-did nothing, no refund necessary Budinger had the butterflys which is to be expected, had a nice cut to the hole with a slam... Andersen with a 3 ball, loved it Brooks--calm down bro Pops--did nothing Shane--did nothing Chuck--all heart, all beast Ariza--did nothing or tried to do too much Lowry-fearless, heart
i agree, i like the lineup i suggested...you have 3 shooters who can hit ALL OVER the court in Budinger, Brooks, and Andersen, who are all solid passers, which should keep the defense honest on chucky or he can just cut inside or give and go...then on D you have two good defenders inside and out in lowry and chuck, some size in DA and Budinger can be solid. Might be the most well balanced lineup we have..
Whaaaaat? Outlaw/Miller toched us repeatedly. They obliterated us in the 2nd quarter and our bench only showed some worth in the fourth. We still were out-scored 42-39 and their entire bench has a positive +/-.
I'm not so sure the second game of the season, and the second night of a back-to-back, is really that telling. The rebounding margin wasn't as terrible as the stats indicate -- its hard not to get outrebounded when you shoot as poorly as the Rockets did. I expect the Rockets to be an above-average rebounding team by season's end. They'll struggle against bigger teams like the Blazers and Lakers. Lots of teams do. The Blazers are a very good team, and the Rockets are still searching for what works. Lack of a goto player in the post or on the perimeter means they need to manufacture good shots the old fashioned way -- by playing good, team basketball. I think they'll get better at it over the next month.
I think alot of them were careless and pressing, but it goes down the same. When i see outlaw, i see a athlete that molded and worked on his game. I don't think he will ever be a 20ppg guy, but i think he can be a consistent 15-18 kind of dude. He has great shot recognition. He knows where his shota can come from and how to get them. Thats rare for a young guy, but he has it. He doesnt have the top shelf bbiq, but he's effective,long, athletic and can do things. When you compare he and gay, gay is ahead of him offensively, but they're equal talents.
Agreed. The atmosphere was frantic out there towards the end too, and that caused a lot of agitation in Portland's shots. But yeah, there were a lot of deflected and stolen balls in this game for our side, whereas our turnovers were mainly Ariza or Landry trying to make their way through a crowd of people much larger than them, bouncing it off defenders' feet or some other random body part. Oh, and Battier could use some work on his layup, but I was really pleased to see him try and be a bit more aggressive, especially down low.
But, would you need a post threat to free up the shooters? The opponent could adjust and play man to man defense and let the team's front court beat them. Both Andersen and Hayes would have a hard time creating their own shots in the low post. Andersen could because of his jumpers but it remains to be seen if He could do it consistently.
