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Shane-Lowry combo isn't working.

Discussion in 'Houston Rockets: Game Action & Roster Moves' started by No No Mutombo, Nov 18, 2009.

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  1. No No Mutombo

    No No Mutombo Member

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    http://basketballvalue.com/teamunits.php?year=2009-2010&team=HOU

    According to this website, our two worst lineups that get significant play involve the Shane-Lowry combo. The rest of our lineups are in the green! I've noticed this trend for multiple games: Immediately after Shane checks in for the second time (when Lowry is the point guard), the opposing team will go on a big run.

    http://www.popcornmachine.net/cgi-bin/gameflow.cgi?date=20091117&game=PHOHOU

    Last night's Suns game is a great example. The Suns went on a 9-0 run right after Shane checked in. Then Adelman substituted Brooks for Lowry to close out the half, which stopped the bleeding. Anyone have an explanation? Like I said, this happens often.
     
  2. H-TownBBall

    H-TownBBall Member

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    Lowry hasn't been playing well as of late. He is forcing the issue too much instead of running the team and getting the ball to people in the right spots. Brooks is supposed to be the scorer, yet I feel like Lowry might be trying to put it in the basket more to earn more minutes?
     
  3. yobod

    yobod Member

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    Lowry is in his contract year and its not looking too good.

    He's probably just thinking about it too much and trying too hard.
     
  4. arif1127

    arif1127 Member
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    The obvious reason offensively for this is that Lowry likes to push the ball and in the half court set, drive and dish, and Shane doesn't get out on the break with Kyle like Chase does, nor has he been shooting the ball well. For that reason, Kyle's effectiveness on the offensive end is partially negated with Shane on the floor.

    We have seen how well CBud and Kyle play together, and that is obviously b/c Chase gets out on the break as well as anyone on the team and can finish extremely well, and also, for the most part he has been shooting the 3 ball well.

    On the defensive end I would think that having Kyle and Shane together would make the back court defense very good, but usually when the Rox offense isn't clicking, the defense tends to fall apart as well.
     
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  5. ibm

    ibm Member

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    neither lowry nor battier has been playing particularly well as of late. but those 2 are not a "combo" per se.
     
  6. No No Mutombo

    No No Mutombo Member

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    Whether he's playing well right now or not, the team does well when he's on the floor. Using the same website, here is how Lowry's lineups are doing:

    http://basketballvalue.com/player.php?year=2009-2010&id=579

    What's worth noticing here is that all of Lowry's lineups do well except when Shane is on the floor with him. Similarly, we can check out how Shane's lineups are doing:

    http://basketballvalue.com/player.php?year=2009-2010&id=198

    While Shane's lineups aren't performing as well as Lowry's, his lineups still do well when he's on the floor EXCEPT when Lowry is also on the floor. I haven't noticed this trend for any other combo of Rockets players.
     
  7. AXG

    AXG Member

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    Neither one of them is much of a scoring option. Shane needs someone to set him up for the open three in the corner and Lowry usually runs the floor and passes it to a cutter, which Shane is not.
     
  8. Naija Texan

    Naija Texan Member

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    Neither of those two are exactly offensive weapons, Lowry is good on some drives but outside of layups and getting to the line he isn't exactly a scorer and Shane is mainly a jump shooter at his best.

    Ultimately, the two most well rounded players both defensively and offensively are Carl Landry and Trevor Ariza, and having so many players that are so often limited in one of the two can at times be a detriment.
     
  9. jopatmc

    jopatmc Member

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    Yep.

    Yes.

    Yup.

    Bingo.

    Lowry forces the ball up the court. He needs two wings that can fly. That is CBud and Ariza. Shane is just not fast enough or athletic enough to run and finish.
     
  10. No No Mutombo

    No No Mutombo Member

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    You're right that they're not necessarily a "combo." However, when we look at the website, the Rockets only have two lineups that get significant minutes and don't perform well. Shane-Lowry is the common denominator of these two lineups.

    http://basketballvalue.com/teamunits.php?year=2009-2010&team=HOU
     
  11. Seven

    Seven Member

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    What are you waiting for? Hook Morey up.
     
  12. TXRoxBBall

    TXRoxBBall Member

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    The only thing that stopped the bleeding at that point was the end of the half. No one was hitting their shots on the Houston side. This is only gonna get worse as the season progresses and the legs get more tired. They can't keep up the type of pace they've been playing at.

    By the comments, I'm the only one that thinks this, but I'd rather see Brooks in the second unit and Lowry with the first unit.
     
  13. Blake

    Blake Member

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    great post. I agree
     
  14. cheke64

    cheke64 Member

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    C-bud stops the bleeding all the time he takes shane spot. Shane offense is so predictable. He runs like steven siegal minus the ponytail.
     
  15. RV6

    RV6 Member

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    i dont think fatigue is going to be an issue, they're not really playing as fast as some teams do, it's just fast for Houston compared to before. We got enough young guys to keep the pace going. Now if they're doing something that's specifically bringing on fatigue, like practicing heavy the day before or too much in the morning shootaround, then any team would be tired. Phoenix doesn't even do conditioning i believe, or do do very little of it, games are their conditioning.
     
  16. Bob Sacamano

    Bob Sacamano Member

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    Clearly it's Lowry's fault.
     
  17. H-TownBBall

    H-TownBBall Member

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    Actually let me expand on this. They are both playing pretty bad recently. When you have 2 guys playing bad at the same time instead of just one of them then it is twice as bad. It is harder for the other players that are playing well to cover up the mistakes of 2 guys than 1. If either Lowry or Battier started playing better, the numbers wouldn't stand out at all.
     
  18. RV6

    RV6 Member

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    it looks like its the mixture of the first and second teams that causes the problem....meaning when the first team starts the game they get on a roll, then subs start sprinkling in, it causes some disruption of the offense, then when all subs are pretty much in they get going...then the starters sprinkle in, causing disruption, then they go on a roll when most of those guys are in....so i think the "combo" of battier and lowry just end up playing the most time together during those periods of disruption. So they need to let these guys practice in more different first and second team combos or adelman needs to sub more guys in at a time instead of one or two.
     
  19. DaDakota

    DaDakota Balance wins
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    Lowry needs finishers, Shane needs guys who draw double teams.

    They are oil and water.

    DD
     
  20. RV6

    RV6 Member

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    technically that would be true, but in this case the question is why they play badly as a "combo", so what you're saying my not apply. For example, let's pretend they both are playing well for the most part, individually...but during short stretches in the game when they play together, let's say it's only 2 or 3 minutes every game, they may still have below average play.
     

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