How have gone to being one of the best defensive teams to mediocre lately? Also, what has happened with our assists? Have the Rockets converted back to their old ways of isolation offense? Whats going on?
It is all about the selfish guard play and crappy guard defense. Our PG's can't guard a lick. I mean come on guys...back off your man, invite them to shoot the jumper, then when they pick up their dribble and commit ...ATTACK. Simple really, but not for out PGs. DaDakota
LOL..A-T I still blame DaDakota for the current mess. Please start a new thread with 0-6 result in next 6 to atone.
I think the problem starts with our guards... for 1. Not setting the proper tempo 2. Not looking to "get people"involved (check assists, you'll see what I mean) 3. Making each game into a PG vs. PG showdown It's one thing if isolations lead to easy buckets, but quite frankly, given our inconsistent shooting, I'll take the extra pass and open look anyday over the crap we've been seeing. I'm not sure who's calling out these plays, if anyone, but the decisions SUCK. CAT had a wonderful game until the 3rd quarter where he started hoisting senseless threes. Also, it's one thing to drive and draw a foul, intelligently, it's quite another to just go 1 on 1 and throw up bad shots. The Rox are getting lulled into that trap of "score score score." So many more dimensions, not least of which is passing and D. Time for some major retooling. theSAGE
If the Search function was enabled, I would pull up a thread that I did a couple of months ago in this forum that asked how our defense was going to be. Everybody here was focusing on Yao, Francis, Rudy sucks, etc., but I told you guys that defense would be important. Until Rudy or the Rocket players actually listen to him make defense a priority, we are going to continue to be frustrated. Letting Andre Miller, a great PASSING PG, have like 27 points is a frigging joke!
What, me killing people because I beleived (WRONGLY) that this team had matured? Come on, I could not have predicted that Mobley's coming off IR would bring back the Stupid ISO ball that got us killed all last year. I thought the team had made a committment to get Ming the ball and to run the offense through him. If that had happened, they would have won all 5. Too bad our guards have the IQ of a turnip. DD
Yup, this has been the biggest story of the last two games. The defense that had shown so much improvement this yr has reverted to last yr's form. It really bothers me that this didnt get any run in the paper after the Memphis game. Just one stinking quote. The rotations have gone to ****, but the bigger problem is that the defense at the point of attack is atrocious. Jason Williams and Andre Miller met very little resistance and sliced and diced the Rockets defense. As critical as I have been of Kenny on offense at times, I have to say that his defensive effort is taken for granted by some including myself. The Rockets defense was exposed big time tonight. In addition, they simply got outhustled on the glass. The Clippers got 15 offensive rebounds and a total of 44 boards compared to 11 and 36 for the Rockets. This is the same team that outrebounded the Spurs by a LOT. Kenny was sorely missed tonight on defense and on the glass. If this team is going to start winning again, the defense better not crater like it has the last 2 games. One other point, the Rockets have been relying way too much on the guard iso and high pnr game during the last 2 games. Yao's role has been way less the last two games and tonight the offensive continuity was crap. Does the offense stagnating cause the defense to stagnate? I have heard this theory many times before that players that stand around on offense tend to stand around on defense.
Rudy forgot about Jaoquin Hawkins. He got a "DNP - coach's decision" on Friday, when we desperately needed some defensive intensity, while Glen Rice got 40 minutes. Saturday, Hawkins again languished on the bench, with only 10 minutes. We've only got one player on the team who's a bonifide defensive stud, and that's Hawkins. Why the hell isn't Rudy using him when he's really needed? He's our Jeff Van Gundy, humping the leg of the opponent's hot hand to slow him down.
Our rebounds was off tonight because our big men were out of position to get the rebound. They are too busy tried to stop the other team penetration and cover for other teammates' mistakes. One thing I feel the Rockets should do tonight was going to zone defense. Obviously Miller is picking our defense apart with his penetration and mid range jump shots, we probably fare better with playing the zone. Miller is not an excellent outside shooter and by playing the zone you can control Brand somewhat.
All I know is that the team struggled early, Cuttino got hurt, them showed life, Cuttino gets better, team struggles. I don't think it is entirely Cuttino's fault, but the team just gets WAY too guard oriented when Mobley and Francis are on the court.
It's by no means an inverse correlation with Cat. If you think so, you're overlooking the other problems the Rox have. The overemphasis on "guard orientation", I agree, but it's not simply about Cat's return that leads to this problem. Other than Mooch, Rox lack a legitimate passing PG.
