Eddie's just not ready to be a steady contributor on the offensive end. I know he worked hard on his game over the offseason but from what I've seen, his game seems just the same as before except he posts up every now and then. His handles seem just as lousy as before, and his post-up game consists of 1.) a face up jumper and 2.) a turnaround jumper. Not a very brilliant arsenal, however I think that turnaround could become pretty lethal as he as been able to get it off consistently w/out gettin blocked, but he needs to actually HIT the shot. What was Griff's shooting % in the preseason anyway? Wasn't it like 40% or something... maybe even lower. The point is our offense is INEFFICIENT if Griff takes a large amount of shots at sucha low %. That is low for a guard, much less a forward. I know he's young and will get better, but for RIGHT NOW, we need to figure something out b/c Griffin on the offensive end is hurting our efficiency. His shot just seems inconsistent - I personally think his form is ugly and has always been ugly, but I was hoping that he would develop into a good shooter regardless. Maybe a change of form is required for him to reach the next level as a shooter? Maybe i'm just making too much of one game?
I did wish other players could score, but when they did have the chance they couldn't hit. Bill and Calvin both noted that the team had to ride Francis' and Mobley's backs b/c no one else could do anything. They actually did hit a good percentage. It would have helped if we had an inside presence but Eddie was off today. We ran a small team out there today and they clearly had the size advantage. Not only that but the Pacers had a deeper team and out rebounded us, well played more scrappy. What else can you say when our bench had what, 4 points?! This should be a learning experience for the team, hopefully.
Azadre, It's not that they lost. It's how they lost. The style of play. The lack of hustle. The lack of defense. The lack of boxing out. No energy. The same ISOs. What? Are the Rockets waiting for the start of the NBA season to start playing defense? Oh, wait, it is the start of the NBA season...heh....
Good point. Why not just put Yao in the last 5 minutes just for the heck of it (garbage minutes; REAL GARBAGE minutes! ). I know that Rudy wants to take Yao along slowly...but please. At least give him more touches than ONE!
I've seen 14 point deficits overcome in 3 minutes or less. The Rockets and Rudy were still trying to win the game in the 4th quarter, which is why Cato was playing instead of Yao. Personally, I would have been more upset to see Yao and others get "garbage minutes" when there's still a shot at winning. Additionally, Rudy shouldn't just "give" Yao minutes. Yao needs to earn them. I'm sure if Yao seemed to have more of an impact in the short amount of time that he played, he would have gotten some more time. Granted, he won't necessarily improve without some more playing time, but you've got to do it in a way that won't cost your team an opportunity at a win.
Why do they have to when they have 3 other players on the team who can take the load off of them? All they have to do is look up, see who's open, and swing the ball around to get a good shot. Didn't seem like that last night....
I didn't understand that either. It was lethargic that Rudy didn't play Yao and let him try to experience the REAL NBA SEASON... Instead, it sucked that he was on the bench, just sitting there watching Francis throw up shots...
Bunch of freakin crybabies around here Man lets wait about 15-20 games before we throw the dirt over them.... All this whining is making me sick
Rudy went small and Thomas went big. At one point a very critical point in the game, no player for indy was smaller than 6'7 mercer. During that point when the game was in the balance,they killed the rockets on the glass. Its the same old excuses that are starting to be used already in the season. Sure the rockets missed some players, but so did indy. Is taylor ,rice or thomas any more important than reggie,tinsley, or croshere? I know everyone want to blame what they didn't get out of Eddie and the rest, but how easy it to stand around and not touch the ball for 6 or 7 minutes and then try getting into some kind of feel for the game.Anyone who has ever played hoops know its very hard when you never touch the ball more less shoot it. When you get into a situation like that, you will shoot the ball no matter if it is a good shot or not.Eddie will be ok maybe, but it would be nice to see him get the ball a little closer to the basket. It would be nice to make more than 1 pass 8 or 9 possessions in a row. I don't know what to say because i'm trying to stay positive as possible, but from the looks of it, our team might lead the league in lowest asst total again. 9 asst after a couple of those 8 asst games in the preseason and it just doesn't look good.
