Rockets are last in the league in assists per game!

Uhm correct me if I'm wrong, but you are saying that the Rockets guards are just as incapable or unwilling to pass to Ming as the guards from the Chinese National team were? That says a lot windandsea.

 

You assist "haters" are shocking. Don't hate the assist, it's your friend.

 

I read this one month ago. When I read what this expert said I was wondering too. I think he means that Ming will not be frustrated by no-passing to him. This person interviewed Ming after his first game with pacers. And Ming told him he will focus on defence.

 

We haven't fed Ming the ball a lot so far, but as the season progresses and Ming becomes more familiar with our plays, he will get touches consistantly.

 

Indeed. I just added up team assist average per game for our two championship years, and in each case the Rockets averaged nearly 30 assists per game as a team! (maybe I made a mistake, but it was definitely well over 20). I don't know how it ranked in the NBA.

(As an aside: it's very telling that most NBA databases only give individual stats)

 

I actually noticed a little bit of that also. I think we need to work more on our high pick and rolls. The rockets need to set some good picks to make it work (like OT in the hay day). Most of the PNR's are so ineffective the last few years, I've never seen it work once...well maybe one...When our picker pick the pickee (HeyP, help me out with the terminology man ), he always roll to the basket without even touching the opponent that should be picked! Especially Yao! So many times that play broke down and we have to jack up some last minute shots before the shot clock expires...

 

Im tired of hearing stuff like "Look at Cuttino and Steves shooting %, theyre shooting 45% and 50%"

LOOK AT THEIR TURNOVERS ALSO! Between them, they are averaging 8.5 TOs a game! Add those to their shooting percentages because a turnover might as well be a missed shot!!!

Steves shooting percentage with TOs = 39.7%

Mobleys shooting percentage with TOs = 38.8%

Not so good when you look at it that way.

I know some of you are gonna blame this number on injuries and the season only being 3 games old. For their careers, Steve and Cuttino average around 6 or 7 tos a game between them. Also, IMO, TOs cant be blamed on injuries. The TOs I am seeing, are coming from bad passes, lack of passing in general and forced shots.

 

I guess the inside out iso post up works a little better than the dribble dribble chuck. You know funny thing people don't seem to remember is that they moved in the three point line those years we won the championship. With our constant post ups we were so dependent on making people pay with the three and maybe if they don't move that line in we don't hit as many 3's and Dream gets smothered a little more and we never win anything. Things that make you go hmmmm....

 

Yes, and using the Denver game as an example many of the turnovers came when trying to use more ball movement. I think that kind of ball movement is new to this team. They just need to keep practicing.

The TO's will probably keep happening until the whole team is more comfortable with that kind of offense.

Hopefully they won't abandon it though.

 

I was mainly just trying to make the point that its not fair to bail Steve and Cuttino out for their poor passing performances so far this year by looking at their PPG and shooting% and completely dismissing their TOs per game.

 

almost all turnovers are caused by the player's carelessness...all could be prevented easily if they play smarter, no excuses please...

 

I remember Pat Riley saying something like "rebounding wins rings."
What rebounding does for you (especially offensive rebounding)
is give you that extra chance to score; higher probability to win. It's that
"extra knife" in the heart. That extra edge.

It's not necessary though (when you have a high FG%: open-three
pointers and Hakeem one-on-one).

In 1994, the rockets depended on defense, and 3-pointers (wide open).

See, if you make your three-pointers you don't need to rebound.
Plus, if you are missing your shots, and also the offensive rebound,
then you clamp-down on defense (something we had in 1994).
It's a selfish way of thought, "If we can't score, we wont let you either."
It worked for a while.

Remember that phrase about the Rockets, "Live by the 3, die by the 3!"?
Well, that was true. We WERE unbeatable when we were hitting our three-
pointers. But when we weren't, we stunk!

It's not like we could depend on a 5-man offense, offensive rebounding
(put backs), or team assists. We had NONE of that.

We never played high-percentage basketball. We played low-percentage
basketball. That's why all the games were such nail-bitters; we won by
the skin of our teeth most of the time.

Notice how the Bulls were able to blow-out the Jazz and Sonics
but the Rockets could never do this; it was always nip-and-tuck with us.
All, or nothing (no balance).

 

Hey we improved. Steve Francis only had five turnovers and Cuttino only had two turnovers.