Charley Rosen has something nice to say about rockets effort for a change. Game time: Spurs 92, Rockets 84 Even though Houston played a gritty game and never quit, neither could it get over the hump mainly because of its offensive insufficiencies. Still, it was an extremely interesting contest, primarily because of Rich Adelman's substitutions. While Luis Scola played extremely well in the opening quarter — scoring four points on four post-ups and six points on timely cuts and catches — his pass work and his defense were inadequate. That's precisely why Scola logged only 27 total minutes and barely played at all in the second half. Chuck Hayes was similarly benched for most of the latter half for two significant reasons: Tim Duncan mostly ate him alive, and Hayes, 6 feet 6, was simply too undersized to finish relatively easy shots. Hayes was 0-for-8 in his 18 minutes of daylight, including three missed layups and three layup attempts that were blocked. Aaron Brooks also had an uneven performance — 5-for-16, four assists, two turnovers, 12 points in 31 minutes. Brooks was repeatedly chumped on defense by Tony Parker, but even worse, Brooks forced a total of seven passes/shots. For the Rockets to be competitive, Brooks has to score 20-plus points and do so in an efficient fashion. He is the motor that makes Houston's offense purr, and his poor production is a big reason the Rockets shot only 35.9 percent and never established a productive rhythm. With these three starters not playing up to their capabilities, Adelman wasn't afraid to rely on his bench, and for the most part, it delivered. Kyle Lowry didn't shoot particularly well — 2-for-6 — but played an incredible floor game, made good decisions on the run and his physical defense virtually took Parker out of the game. For a brief period late in the game, Adelman played Brooks and Lowry (23 minutes) together. Indeed, it could very well be Lowry is the best backup point in the league. Shane Battier was totally invisible — 0-for-2, three rebounds, zero points in 25 minutes. Two bench-mates filled out Battier's and Scola's unused minutes: Dave Anderson made a couple of nifty turnaround jumpers from the left box and nailed a trey, but had a minimal presence in defense of high screen/rolls. Also, Anderson often overreacted to the Spurs' ball penetration, thereby leaving Antonio McDyess unguarded. McDyess responded by depositing several mid-range jumpers — his specialty — in critical situations. Rookie Chase Budinger showed good quickness, some artful creativity around the basket, and a soft touch. But he also played rookie defense. Instead of using Scola as the go-to interior scorer, Adelman went to Carl Landry (one of my favorite players!). Landry scored six points in nine post-up opportunities and came up with a huge put-back in the waning minutes — literally ripping the ball out of TD's hands. This guy is a warrior. But he also had difficulty containing Duncan in the pivot without the benefit of weak-side help. Which is just about par for the course. The only starter who got starter's minutes was Trevor Ariza — 6-for-21 (ouch!), 11 rebounds, five assists, 17 points. However, Ariza's decision-making was miserable. He forced a total of nine combined shots and passes, shot two air-balls and had two of his shots swatted. Worse still, he executed a poor closeout on Richard Jefferson in the last minute of play that resulted in RJ's making 2-of-2 from the stripe — and allowing San Antonio to ice the game. So what to make of this Rockets squad? Without Brooks being dynamic force in the attack zone, they have difficulty scoring. This situation was aggravated by poor shot selection on the part of Brooks and Ariza. What kept them in the game was Houston's never-say-die hustle that was manifested in part by its 17 offensive rebounds (to the Spurs' eight). The Rockets certainly scrapped on defense, but they were doomed in this game by the absence of a shot blocker. With Parker, George Hill, and Jefferson consistently able to get into the paint, Houston's attempted defense-of-last-resort resulted in the home team committing too many fouls. This explains the lopsided advantage the Spurs enjoyed in free throws — 34 attempts to Houston's 14. Given their lack of sizeable interior defense, as well as Brooks' erratic play, Houston has very little room for error. Indeed, considering the Rockets' shortcomings, their current record of 8-8 is extraordinary. On any given night, their courage and sheer determination will earn then wins against the NBA's elite teams. Indeed, as the team is currently constituted, it's hard to visualize the Rockets winning more than 40 to 45 games over the course of the long season. Nevertheless, whatever their final win total may amount to, Houston will always earn an A for effort. http://msn.foxsports.com/nba/story/10435266/Effort-will-have-to-power-Rockets
I hope either T-MAC comes back at or close to 100% or a trade completed real soon. We really need that go-to guy ... bad.
+1. i know the effort thing is a nice story to read, but it gets really tired. a lot of NBA teams try hard (look at the hornets right now). we looked awfully bad the last 2 games. and 6 of the next 7 games are on the road, and all those teams are on the upswing. it could get out of hand really quickly here.
This time Tmac won't take Rockets too far. Our defense will always be mediocore without a Yao or a Deke in the middle, and I don't see Tmac can be consistent or good enough after being away from basketball for so long. He might bring Rockets several more wins, but what's the point? Just come back to play for a lower draft pick?
tmac is not going to be with this team next yr, or even this year. showcase him, increase his value, and hopefully do some damage via trade. from what we're hearing, this team is still building around yao. this team with yao is not a championship team. we still need to get more pieces for next year.
The problem is, is he ready to showcase yet? It could backfire if he's not ready. Without him playing, teams might think Rockets is holding him back. If he doesn't play up to his standards, his value will go down farther.
his value is an expiring contract. the last image of tracy was that of last year, which was not a very good player (and getting blocked by his own shot). his value cannot go down anymore.
If his value is his contract, then there is not much difference play him or not, except that might just cost Rockets a higher draft pick and took valuable time from next year's players away, for example, Chase Budinger's playing time.
tracy is going to cut into shane's and ariza's minutes, not cbud. ariza is averaging 39 minutes a game. that's way too much. and battier is averaging 32 minutes a game. that's way too much. ariza should play around 30 minutes, and battier around 15-18. tmac will probably play around 20-25 minutes for a while when he first returns anyways.
There is noway Battier play 15-18 minutes, otherwise Cbud would play more now. RA is not that type of coach to do that. Tmac won't play 20-25 either if he's healthy, that won't help the team much, why bother? If you are GM, you'd know Tmac at this moment does more harm to the organization than help it. He's going to be in another uniform next year, play him now to take Rockets players away, no matter how much minutes, is a foolish to do in the big picure. It's a good time to let current players jell, get more familiar with each other.
The rockets' goal is our young players can gain some playoff experience this seaosn so that the rockets will be ready to contend next season when Yao comes back. I believe Tmac is able to help the rockets to reach that goal.
That's not the goal. Every young player excpet CBud has had 2nd round playoff experience already, Ariza even had final experience, and Tmac won't help this team pass fist round even if they reach the playoffs, and that's a big if. Plus, they'd ship Tmac out as soon as the right deal comes. Let these yound players jell seems to be a more reasonable goal at this moment.
Well,from your perspective of view,T-Mac is more a curse than a blessing to this Rockets organization,but don't forget he's a veteran who's been in this league for more than 12 years. It's not gonna hurt us in the big picture imo,his talent,his skill and capacity to help this team come the crucial moment could either help us or dismantle us from within,if he does well,he's the catalyst for us to advance to another level to speed up the growth of our young players.
I meant " play Tmac“， not Tmac. Tmac is still better than any current Rocket active player if he's healthy. But since he's left the court for so long and he's likely to get dealt in mid season, it is quite clear he will not able to help Rockets in a long run, so play him doesn't make much sense at this moment even if he does well. That only mean a soon-to-be exRocket player took minutes away from other young Rockets players.
I agree if the GM is all out to help the team he needs to help the players by unloading the bench full of millions in couchs. Some trades need to happen now, either if there are not tmac and yao, it's obvious that barrier and ariza are redundant (and battier should be the od man out) and that we cannot stand 40 millions watching in the stands. Move the ass and get someone.
That's the rockets' goal. Morey and Adleman mentioned N times. CBud, Andersen, Taylor all need the playoff experience.
That's politics. What else can they say? Tell the media we don't care about this season that much? That' not gonna happen. Taylor doesn't even see minutes. Andersen won't see many minutes once Yao comes back either. Cbud is just a role player. You could see all of them get traded if Rockets can get a middle fist round for those 3 guys. Their playoff experience is the least concern at this moment.
I could see Taylor being traded easily + fillers. Well, I could see Andersen getting minutes once Yao comes back cause I think they would try to limit Yao's minutes to 25-30 minutes a game to be more careful to avoid injuries. I agree that playoff experience is the least concerned right now for the Rockets.
