I don't agree with that at all. The momentum was shifting, and Adelman wanted to steady the ship at the beginning of the fourth quarter to prevent the Lakers from taking a big lead. Having Yao on the floor early in the fourth quarter also helps put us in the penalty faster. Yao doesn't help you as much if you're fighting to come back from a deficit in a few short minutes, because you invariably play a more slowed-down, half-court style with him on the floor. Its not like the Rockets have been a great finishing team in the past with Yao.
I'm really trying to resist having a knee jerk reaction or get on my soap box....BUT... First off, Brooks was obviously fatigued and frustrated all night. On top of that Curry was lighting his a$$ up and frustrating the hell out of him. From the moment that Brooks picked up that offensive foul for retaliating on Curry suffocating him, his head was out of the game and became a huge liability. I dont think Ish could have done that much better defensively but you have to give him a chance and believe that his head would be in the game better than brooks to the extent that he can make something positive happen on either end of the floor. Lowry was badly missed. Second, this is going to hurt some tender Rockets fans feelings, but BATTIER is not who we need him to really be on the court. He is no longer a STARTER. I'm not quite sure that "Hard G" is ready yet either. Battier has naturally and obviously lost several steps and can no longer affect scorers to the extent that originally earned him significant minutes on our team as a defensive stopper or a 3-pt shooter. (I think the shooting will eventually come later in the year). In 2 nights our "Defensive specialist" basically gave up about 73 points...yeah yeah I know he was not responsible for all of the points that Kobe and Ellis scored but the game plan going into both games was to put battier on them to control their scoring...DIDN'T HAPPEN...He is a SITUATIONAL DEFENDER AT BEST LIKE CHUCK...oh... BTW - I guess we are not going to mention how Ellis BROKE Battier's ankle on the sideline with a simple hesitation move...WOW... that looked so bad Bill Worrell said "he just undressed Battier"... Thats just MORE proof that Battier's defensive expertise is about done! Lee is the better defender HANDS DOWN. Lee has to get more PT with the starters. LEE is the Defensive stoper. Let him play with the first group. Third, Jefferies suprised me a bit, primarily because he was not a LIABILITY that I thought he was going to be when he entered. He was active enought to kinda justify taking some of Hill's possible minutes. Fourth, Miller should have started and Hill should have been the second center. Or even better, START Hill if there are motivation problems...STARTING should ironically fix that for a younf player, and play Chuck and Jefferies as Scola's replacement. EITHER WAY YOU HAVE TO FIND A WAY TO GET HILL ON THE COURT. Everyone questions Hills defense but did we not just give up 130 pts...how much worse could Hill have done...the problems on D are obviously not his fault. Sixth, MARTIN is doing his job, our losses would be blow outs without HIM. 17/17 at the FT line is beyond efficient or smart. He should never be included in a trade. NON-NEGOTIABLE. AND we all need to start giving him some credit for his new defensive minded effort. He has seemed to care more about his defense on a 1-on-1 basis this year. Seventh, COACHING...we obviously have not seen the best of Rick this season, but I think that we have to realize that HE HAS NEVER BEEN A DEFENSIVE ORIENTED COACH AND GO FIND A DEFENSIVE MINDED COACH. We need to go out and do what other teams have done by getting former defensive head coaches and get them to come in an focus ONLY ON OUR DEFENSE. Rick needs to put his EGO aside and accept that !ANYONE CAN PREACH DEFENSE, but you need a DEFENSIVE COACH TO TEACH DEFENSE ! Eigth, GO GET DAMPIER ASAP !!! We sorely need a presence down low when Yao is not in. We can not over look the importance of getting pounded on the boards. Yeah Scola is doing his part, balling like a beast, but there needs to be more size down low to try to discourage a lot of these easy points that we keep giving up. Ninth, I think that there is no question who the Rockets should TRADE for soon and it AINT MELLO...scoring the ball is not the problem obviously. IGGY (aka- Dre) !!! He is the athletic defensive 3 that we need. Plus, he is NOT an offensive Liability, he can be a go to guy. He is accustomed to creating his own shot, getting to the free throw line and taking the pressure for final shots for his team for years. He also can adjust to the necessary roles of the team he is playing for...refer to Team USA where he played the defensive minded 4 role. More importantly, he can rebound his position. He will be the perfect fit for our team without demanding or pounding the ball. I think Morey has to go all in for him...Battier + Jefferies + 1 or 2 picks for him. Right now, most importantly, Iggy could defend the other teams best perimeter player along with Lee.
After I defended Battier's defense in another thread yesterday he looked lost guarding those guys. He can guard Kobe effectively but Ellis' speed in on par with Brooks and he couldn't guard him. In his defense it was a bad strategy by Adelman to put Battier on him to see if he could slow them down. He would have has a better chance defending David Lee than Monte Ellis. I agree that Bud and Lee were better options. Just putting the fastest guys out there and switching everything is the only thing that came close to working.
Yao is a bad matchup simply because he's slow and a bit of a klutz, he always ends up getting run ragged, with the ball stolen from him by the more agile and quicker warriors. Brad Miller oth has good coordination and very fluid moves. He would have slowed the pace and clogged the paint without turning the ball over or wasting valuable time trying to fight for position. Jordan Hill is a very athletic shot blocker, a game like this is right up his alley. Of course all this is just theory, and we'll never know if Miller or Hill would have won us the game. The point is RA should have taken a look at the very least. If he doesn't like Hill, then what about Patterson? Wasn't he 6th on our board? Or are you saying you support Adelman playing Jeffries and Hayes over Brad Miller, Patterson and Hill?
I kept thinking, "No way they can keep this up all game." I was wrong. Almost nailed my prediction of a 133-129 win though. Definitely would've taken the over on this one.
i like the yao-hill duo in the line-up, i wonder if miller-hill would be simlarily effective (oh noes! i no spell gud!) or if miller would hav jst got run outta the buildn
All of those points can easily be countered or looked at from a different perspective. If I didn't have so much on my plate I might do it myself but there are plenty of capable posters here who can do the same. Someone make me proud.
Another Rick Adelman thread. He messed he has 80 more games, and if he screws up it's his contract year and he won't be back. Period. Let's hold off on all the Adelman threads we still have 80 Games left!
<<Second, this is going to hurt some tender Rockets fans feelings, but BATTIER is not who we need him to really be on the court. He is no longer a STARTER. I'm not quite sure that "Hard G" is ready yet either. Battier has naturally and obviously lost several steps and can no longer affect scorers to the extent that originally earned him significant minutes on our team as a defensive stopper or a 3-pt shooter. (I think the shooting will eventually come later in the year). >> Glad to see folks are starting to wake up to that realization. Father time has come a bit early for Battier but it has come. It takes nothing from the fact that he is a terrific leader.
I love Chuck Haye's but I'm sorry he can not be the starting center and play that amount of minutes when you got two seven footer's just sitting on the bench even if it is against the warriors. Not putting in Miller or Hill until the second half of the Warriors game I was baffled at this move. KYLE, HURRY THE HELL UP AND GET HEALTHY MAN!
The question is what kind of team we are building, a title team or an above average team. If it is the first one, why we need to stop it?
Yao was fumbling the ball all over the court at will. You REALLY wanted him in the game in the last six minutes when the intensity picks up and fouls are called even less??
Did you watch the game last night, or just check the box score? Our defense was horrendous on all fronts. We didn't get beaten bc Monta Ellis was on fire, we got beaten bc we can't stop ANYONE. I miss the so-called "boring" basketball we played during JVG's tenure as coach. This fast-pace, no d style is getting old really quickly.
People really need to calm the hell down. Lost to the defending champs, with Kobe looking a lot better than anticipated, and by a slim margin. Had to play a second road game the next night, without Yao, against a high flying team in their season (home) opener. And we slapped 128 on them with tired legs. We need Lowry's defense at the PG position. That's loud and clear. But the team hasn't come out and dogged it. We didn't lose two home games against the Wolves and Raptors to start the year. 82 games. Sometimes Nov and Dec sucks.
