So I threw in a poll to kill 2 birds with one stone but my title is what I most want to discuss here. This week I looked at the schedule and I thought it would be tough but maybe we could split. I mean New Orleans and OKC would be tough victories but at least we had them at home and we've beaten consistently at home. So my hope was we would go 2-2. Of course after to losing to Utah last Saturday in a tough game and then having to travel across the country to play Boston I never expected a victory there. Absolutely not. ANd then Atlanta, I had that marked as a loss long ago. Not so much because they are better than us but it was the 9th game in less than two weeks, on the road and the second on a back to back. Which made me think the Cav's could have beat us. (Funny how the Cav's are now my worst team reference... Yeah Lebron is that good ) So this Rocket team as me so baffled. After we lost the second game to Portland I was ready to tank. I still am but Portland looked so much better than us in every way. I accept that we don't have a big to help out in the paint. But I thought we could out score most teams and we would have a decent month slightly above .500. And Morey would make one trade and give us a little more size and balance our roster and we would take the 8th seed and do some damage or at least scare the Lakers or the Spurs. But after that Portland loss against a team who has had their own major losses we looked pathetic. And then we win 2 games I expect us to lose and lose 2 games I have some hope we might have won. Ay Dios what is a Rocket fan to do. Analyze of course. I know it was a lot of things but the biggest factor was down the stretch Brooks took over in both games. Brooks became the go to guy we've been missing. When games are on the line teams do 2 things. They go to their clutch players and they play lock down defense or at least they try and in many cases against us they are somewhat successful. And since are lockdown defense is almost non existent and we haven't had any consistent clutch players we tend to choke at the end of games. In the 2 victories Brooks has given us a go to guy to close games. The night before we had a 14 point lead late in the third and we lost. Lowry had 28 points and fillled the stat sheets but we lost. Yeah our defense sucked but as good as Lowry's number looked, his play down the stretch is just not clutch. I do not even know if Brooks is the answer but what I do know is almost all teams have at least 1 go to guy and many teams have 2 and a couple have 3. We had zero until Brooks arrived in Boston and last night. As for the poll, I just came to the realization I enjoy watching the second group more than the starters. I don't even mind missing the beginning of games because I really want to see how Patterson, Hill, Lee, Bud and Brooks are going to perform. I do not care if we lose so much but if are second unit outperforms the other team than I enjoy the game.
I am the same way as you. The second unit is a lot more fun to watch. The first unit is boring, and the only player I enjoy watching on that unit is Chuck Hayes. I love defense, and my second favorite player to watch is either Courtney Lee or 2pat. I think offense is the boring aspect of the game. Blocks, good one on one defense and long rebounds leading to fast breaks are the most enjoyable part of the game.
Brooks has looked phenomenal playing off guard with Lowry. he might just be the shortest go to guy in the league. our starters are boring to watch because Martin and Scola would rather draw fouls than finish plays. in fact, our whole team is boring to watch. the only time we look great is when brooks and Lowry are in together.
Would like to see Brooks, Lee, Hill, Double Patty, Williams, think this is a better line-up and chance of winning, with Martin rotating in. Like Kyle, but hurts the team at times when he tries to take over. Scola does some good things, but hurts the team with poor defense (he scores and his man scores twice) an missed pressure shots.
He is the Rockets best chance at winning and is the most offensively skilled player, and hardest to defend. He is not a superstar, but he is this team's alpha dog. He should be on the floor more than 30 minutes every single game. DD
Phenomenal? Come on man Brooks has only had like 3 solid games since his return from injury (Lakers, celtics, and now last night against Hawks). He's not even starting how can you say he looked phenomenal? Last night the rockets were hitting their shots in the second half and pushing the ball on offense. I agree that the Rockets were missing a go to scorer late in games while Brooks was out, but if he is our "Alpha Dog", this team has no chance of making the playoffs. Hopefully over the next couple of weeks Brooks can keep improving to a return to form before his injury, so his trade value can keep rising. Come on DM this team needs some length down low. I know you got something up your sleeve.
Can't compare We had Ariza for most of the season, and the lineup with Brooks and Martin had a losing record. In fact, if I recall correctly we started losing a lot more games once Lowry was out with an injury. And to add to that Chase Budinger still had a penis last year. That being said I don't mind Lowry starting with Brooks finishing. I don't understand why a change is necessary at this stage. From what we're seeing, our PGs are thriving at where they are. Lowry has continued to be terrific whiles Brooks is playing back up to form. Brooks is simply better off the bench when he can have his own fair of shots.
I have said all along we need both Brooks and Lowry, but Brooks is simply better, albeit not as much as I originally thought. DD
AB is the key because unless the team is shooting lights out, we won't have a shot vs half way decent teams and AB is the most explosive shooter. If he doesn't play well then it puts that much more pressure on everyone else to be hot from the arch. This version of the Rockets are a poor team, the ONLY way they normally win is by out shooting their opponents and hoping they don't destroy them in the paint. Playoff teams have variety of ways to win games and can call upon them when needed, Rox are a one dimensional team that will struggle most of the time against good teams unless they get hot.
True, Brooks is definitely a better scorer than Lowry. Down the stretch, Brooks is better as well. That being said, Lowry is better than Brooks in every other aspect of the game, which makes him a much better fit for the starting job. Brooks on the other hand is much better off the bench where his shots won't be taken away by the likes of Kevin Martin. JR. Smith comes off the bench for the Nuggets and he is often in the closing moments of the games. JR smith has his own fair of shots not taken away by Anthony or Billups. Despite the fact that we have been losing games, our PGs have been terrific at their current positions. I blame our losses on RA's failure to make better substitutions as well as our other players' suckage more than anything else. Lowry should start games, Brooks should finish. Simple as that.
You have no clue what ur talking about. When the team had its first 2nd round playoff in 10 years it was BROOK'S alpha dog mentality that lead us. Brooks will be an Allstar, if ur not gettin Paul or Williams, trading our best clutch player is a HUGE setback
AB may be a better shooter than kyle lowry. but I think in the other aspects of being a point guard, Lowry is better. He runs the offense better and his toughness and leadership is something that can't be measured on the stat sheet. The team clicks better with Lowry at the point, and Coach knows that. That's why he tries to put both of them in the game together in the 4th quarter, because they are both so valuable. I put Lowry slightly ahead of Brooks in the pecking order, but Lowry and Brooks I say are the 2 best Rockets this year.
Lol... Dude that was 2 years ago man can you even say Brooks is the same player he was this year before his injury? I didn't think so. Hey I like Brooks just as much as the next person, but your forgetting that team had a healthy Yao, a younger Battier and Ron Artest. It was our good defense that year that got us to the second round. If Brooks can get that extra little bit of explosiveness back, the team will improve, but not by much. We have good point guard play brother, we need size. We need a rebounder. That will push us over the top or get us closer. But to make an omelette, you gotta crack some eggs man. You wanna get better or what dude?
Most of that difference can be chalked up to Lowry's improvement and not Brooks decline. I would even go so far as to say if not for Brooks injuries he would have continued to improve and the difference would still be more distinguishable between the 2. Young players improve almost every year for the first 5 or so years. Brooks was MIP last year and there is no reason to think he would have plateau'd this year.
I agree, Lowry's shooting has surprised me, but so has his decline in one on one defense.... I simply believe that Brooks is a better basketball player, he is a lot better as an offensive threat, and he is not as bad on defense as some people think. Lowry is a better defender but not that much....he gets beat just about as much as AB does... And I think Brooks and Lowry are about equally good in passing....and setting things up.... I personally think Brooks speed and shot making ability in the half court set is a unique skillset..... Actually, I think both of them are good players, and we are lucky to have them both, but I still believe Brooks should be playing more often than Kyle... DD
Rockets are too complex a team to say one player. Its so complex you can tell a math genius built this team. it relies on everyone doing their part from the starters to the 1oth player off the bench. Some guys from the bench need to contribute each night for us to win. Thats not true for nearly every other team in the league. This team relies heavily on each guy playing the role specifically they are here to play. Scola, Brooks, and Martin need to score for us to win on some night. That means Battier, Hayes, Hill, and Lowry have to do their roles in defense and moving the ball. Someone off the bench has to fill in to score like Budinger or Miller. If one of these guys have an off night in what they are specicially supposed to do? We lose. Thats a team relying on Battier and Hayes to cover up Martin, Brooks, and Scolas weakness on defense. These guys are all extremely one dimensional so if anything is off? They do absolutely nothing else if they are off in what they are supposed to do. Thats why the only multi skilled guys like Battier in multiple categories seems better than he actually is compaired to everyone else who only has one skill set each. Overvalued by us. In reality a guy sitting Patrick Patterson is probably better than him. Hayes is playing better than him and out of postion.
