ClutchCity.net Game Thread: Jazz @ Rockets 12/23/2002

I didn't want to make my first post in anger, ah well.

I'm always angry but never surprised when we lose to the Jazz - Sloan has always gotten the most out of his players.

Where did we get beat? -5 on TOs, and -5 on the offensive glass. This gave Utah 9 extra shots and 3 extra free throws. Both teams were executing their offenses well, so it came down to possessions. The Rockets simply made more mental mistakes - Moochie pulling up as Steve throws the inbound, Yao passing into traffic after getting back his blocked shot, and Cuttino pulling back to chuck up 3s instead of taking his man off of the dribble.

My positives and negatives for the game:

+ James Posey showed some great hustle, and fit into the offense as well. He'll get more minutes at both the 2 and 3 as the season wears on. Side Effects: Rice gets more time to rest, and fresher legs will help the aging veteran at both ends of the court. Moochie's time should go down a bit - he's just making too many mistakes lately.

+ Steve is taking advantage of his midrange jumper more. He's a good shooter and can get hit a high percentage off of picks and spotting up.

+ Rice can obviously hit his open looks. He's the only player other than Steve to consistently make teams pay for double teaming. And since Steve is often involved in a double, I still say he's an important part of the offense.

- Steve is still throwing out too many turnovers. Not all of them are his fault, but too many regardless.

+ Yao is dumping in free throws at a torrid clip. Very nice for a go-to big man.

- Yao is getting just a bit too fancy with some of his passes. He needs to make better decisions whether to pass off or take it to the basket.

- Yao also needs to learn to protect the ball better. He is still extremely vulnerable to the help defender dislodging the ball just before or while he puts it on the floor.

- Yao needs some strength training to maintain inside position better. He's just catching the ball too far away from the basket now to keep his FG% as high as it was earlier this season. This would also help in establishing positition for defensive rebounds.

- Last Yao point: he is getting his shot blocked more frequently than it should by 7'-ers. He needs to go to the sweeping hook or up-and-under versus decent shot blockers, because he just doesn't have the elevation to face up. (I know this seems like a lot of criticism, but these aren't things that he can't work on, and he will be even more impressive once he makes these adjustments)

+ Taylor is showing some hustle now that he's got playing time but:

- Taylor's shot is still a bit rusty, and he has trouble elevating when going to the basket, which caused problems for him a couple of times tonight. Hopefully this will get better as he recovers from his injury.

- Cuttino got eaten alive by Cheany and Harpring. Neither of them respected his defense, and the Rockets paid dearly. Cuttino just doesn't have the size to stop them.

- Rice also got thrashed by them when he was on them, mostly on picks. More on this later.

- Cuttino needs to stop trying to create his own threes. He is much more effective creating a shot when he drives toward the basket, and better when the recipent of a swing pass for his outside shots.

+ Eddie started off great. I haven't seen him look this good driving to the basket for a long time. He needs to play inside more to help out on the boards.

- But where was Eddie in the 2nd half?

- Eddie needs to establish position on defensive rebounds a little better as well.

+ Cato just has a total nose for the ball this year. I love him playing limited minutes coming off the bench. His liabilities in technique aren't as apparent, and he can put that much extra effort using his physical talents where they matter the most: rebounding and defense.

+ The offense was pretty good and getting any shot it wanted tonight but:

- lack of poise led to too many desperation shots down the stretch. The system only stops working when they play outside of it.

- Picks just killed anyone who was involved in them. Which was most of the 4th quarter. Most of the players on the Rockets just don't have enough experience to defend the pick properly, or just don't have the lateral footspeed to go behind the pick and pick their man up on the other side.

- The Jazz were just all over the passing lanes and took advantage of almost every passing mistake. The Rockets might be able to get away with lazy passes against other teams, but Utah really made them pay tonight.

- The matchup zone is by far the biggest difference for the Rockets this year. Man to man, they are either average or below average defensively at all positions. Consistent outside shooters are constantly filling up the basket against the Rockets so far this season. They can face up and take shots practically at will. If there's one thing to work on in the offseason, it's perimeter defense.

- The Rocket's transition defense is absolutely atrocious this year. A significant amount of this is due to poor outside shots resulting in long rebounds. The big men are in bad position after this and just can't make it up the floor quick enough to affect the shot at the other end.

- Plays almost always end badly when the guard brings the ball up and dribbles for 10 seconds before starting a play or going into iso. The Rocket's offense is based on passing, and the less the ball is put on the floor, the better (unless attacking the basket). There has been huge improvement this year in that regard, but I still scream at the TV every single time I see this.

There are some more things during the game that I noticed, but I'm pretty sure everybody is getting bored at this point. I don't want to make this too long.

I still think that we're ahead of where we should be on the season overall, so I'm not going to sweat this loss too much. The Jazz have just been possessed over the last 3 games and never gave up tonight.

We're going to see some more tough losses as the year goes on, but as players settle in to the new offensive and defensive schema, their play should be more consistent, and we should start to pull away from the older teams hanging around us.

I wish I didn't see so many complainers and bandwagon-jumpers out there, but hey - that's Houston sports for you, eh?

 

I knew we'd lose by the third quarter. We'd keep trading shots, and not making any stops.
Hey Rox, do you know how to score more points, even if you have a lesser percentage than your opponent? GET MORE REBOUNDS! TAKE MORE SHOTS than your opponent! Sheesh. Pitiful. Mo Taylor couldn't draw a foul in this game at all, as he obviously tried to do a few times. Yao seemed to be looking for his teammates a little TOO much at times, passing up easy shots to make an extra pass, which often ended up being a turnover or a bobbled and blundered possession.
To many TO's. We need to pull it together at some point. C'mon ROX, this is pathetic.

 

i can probably count the number of times i've complained about rudy on this bbs on one hand (hell probably one finger) but i have to give him the most credit for the loss tonight. that lineup for about 5 minutes in the 4th was ridiculous (what was it, posey, cato, mooch, cat (or was he even in), taylor). how there be any defense for this lineup. i just don't understand this new francis thing where he leaves the game with 10 minutes in the 4th and comes back with 6 minutes. why the hell is our best player out for 5 minutes of the 4th, especially if yao isn't going to be in there to soften the blow. if you have to, rest francis right at the beginning of the 4th and bring him back with 8 minutes (i would still prefer the 4 minutes of rest be at the end of the 3rd) left, but do not let him be out in the middle of the 4th, that is was to $#%#$%^#$^#$ crucial to have him out. and worse, we had just started the quarter on a 6-0 run and gone up by 7 and he puts in the damn scrub unit. i was amazed and stunned. rest francis the last 4 minutes of the 3rd and yao the first 4 of the 4th or vice versa, but don't bring them out at the same time and don't rest either in the middle of the 4th, that's stupid. we could have kept rolling if steve had stayed in and kept things on track then have him and yao in too finish.

now other things:

moochie burn in hell

posey, sorry you didn't get to play D on harpring, we needed all the help we could get, but apparently rudy didn't think so. and what was up with harpring by the way. don't tell me he wasn't taking the same shots he always takes, what did he hit, like 75 friggin percent.

karla. he was even worse than matt. he shot a lot of outside jumpers (hell most of his misses seemed to be short shots he forced or layups he missed then tipped in) and they all went in. those are the same shots he always gets and shoots 40% on this season, but for some reason he goes crazy in the second half on us.

yao did not have it tonight. he could not get off a clean shot most of the time and that straight rejection from osterfat where yao immediately grabbed it and threw it right to AK47 (an extremely cool nickname when i found out his number was 47, just thought they threw that on there b/c of his initials to make it good, but it all goes together. that's the only thing about the jazz i may ever like) hurt us a lot. anyone saying we should've given it to yao more today should be shot.

steve should've probably taken over even more than he did. he was having his way tonight. being at the game, i didn't get to see final stats but i know he was 7-10 fairly deep into the game, should've shot more, flopton had no chance against him.

we shot 57% and were perfect on ft's, how often does that lose you a game.

finally, both teams combined to go 30/30 on ft's in the second half. that has to be a record. each 15-15, incredible.

 

Quit making excuses for these little sugers. These little honey pies need a good ass whoopin to wake them up. Tell them to come talk to me and the dream when they decide to start playin like they have some nuts.

Thank you...

 

Exactly!!!!

 

Got to love constructive criticism.

 

This was the night the guard position should have had the ultimate advantages over the opponents. Ironically, SF took only 10 shots.

 

Chew on this:

Yao Ming averaging 4 Turnovers a game for the past 7 games, and had 5 tonight.

Teams are figuring out where he likes to hold the ball and just swatting it away from him sometimes.

This is just like every year for Francis. Plays excellent basketball, but can't keep the turnovers down.

Common Yao, if you're tired, then just protect the ball and when you get it, throw it back out for the guards. Or, just sit for a while.

We would've won last night's game if Yao sat. We needed a Cato-like presence, and we would've gotten lots more rebounds, and Malone would've taken a lot more of his sissy jumpers. How could you say anything about MoT's game when Mr. "Only 2% body fat, all musle, best PF ever" Malone is taking the same jumpers?

This loss is unacceptable. We didn't NEED the win or anything. Teams are very close in the standings, and we can claw back, but, frikkin hell, we've wasted a home game. We have to protect the homecourt.

Phoenix and San Antonio, and the Jazz all won tonight. That means we're slipping further.

 

It is a tough loss. But I don't blame the Rockets. Rudy seemed to have made a mistake by benching Francis for so long in the fouth quarter. At crunch time, Rockets offense didn't falter like they used to. Not many bad shots. It just happened that some of Rockets shots did not fall, but all Jazz's shots in the last 6 minute went in. It is true that our defense didn't count at crunch time, but Jazz moved the ball very well. They seemed to know how to play smart, those two veteran players of Jazz...

 

OK, fool. Let's also include Yao Ming in the pool then since he has been a TO machine @ the center position lately (five last night v. Jazz)...

Shut up with this stupidity!

 

MadMirror ,

Excellent, excellent, excellent, excellent first post man. I cannot give you enough props. You are the anti-newbie. Anytime you need help, I will back you.

As for you observations: I agree, I agree, I agree, and so on.

 

I am saddened and now sleepy...

Perhaps this will cheer me up:


Visit fatchicksinpartyhats for more laughs.

 

I agree with you. Steve is quickly adapting to a "passing
first, shooting second" role. He'll make mistakes at the
beginning, but later on he will form a lethal duo with Yao.
So I think he is doing all right now.

Yao is also adapting to the "inside-out" system. He has
got more assists as well as TOs recently, just like Steve.
I think that's the price you need to pay for a more
efficient play.

Now what I worry most is Cat. He seems to have a hard
time to adapt to the new offensive system and make way
too many unwise decisions. Maybe Steve is most helpful
to get him adapted to the new system.

Finally, I do think Rockets need to bring a much stronger
power forward who can bang and collect rebounds. Either
try Cato or get someone else.

 

Since no one is bold enough to say it, I guess I will. You have to be the dumbest poster on this board. Blaming Francis for last night's loss by insulting him with these lame "IQ of a turnip" remarks only proves my point. SF was nine for freakin' 12 from the field, you dumb truck -- three missed shots out of TWELVE ATTEMPTS! Francis is one of the top three PG in the entire league and in two years he will be the best @ the position, yet you seem to think he's not good for the Rockets. And instead of actually trying to come up with some CONSTRUCTIVE criticism you revert to the Junior High School (as I used already) "IQ of a turnip" smack. Did Francis not sign an autograph for you @ a game one day that you have this hostility towards him? What is it? Because your rant is childish and, frankly, it's quite sad.

Last night Franchise had seven TO -- three or four of which probably shouldn't have been his -- but Yao had five; where is the b****ing about that, huh?! There is none b/c you are so blinded by your own stupidity and criticism of Wink and infatuation with Yao you won't b**** about that I guess.

Look, get over yourself and be happy where this team is as opposed to last year's team and even the team the year before. If you -- anyone -- thought they were title contenders this season, well, you're just kidding yourself. They will make the playoffs but for things out of their control -- youth, immaturity (one in the same really), etc. -- they would be hard pressed to get out of the WCSF (provided they win a round). Their talent alone makes them a dangerous team in the playoffs but, again, youth and inexperience will make it tough for them when they get there. But be grateful for the future that's in store. The Rox will have filled the two toughest spots in basketball -- PG and C -- with the two best players @ the position, the Dynasty and Franchise. They will not only win a 'Ship, but they will win multiple ones. Quit b****ing and "looking" for ppl to blame, especially one of the Rockets best players.


*shakes head* Damn, the DaDakota's of the world seem to come out more and more durring the holiday season. Sad...very sad. *shakes head*

 

first, I am sicked of people start to bashing after a lose, I think it is a not a individual player or a coach's fault for a L, it is whole team's responsiblity. why can't we just see the postive side of the game, I am sure there are always some improvement somewhere. as for Yao's TO, he has been double or triple teamed a lot, so he has to pass out, that result his TO to go up, but also give him more assists. by the way, I just saw the rocket vs wolves game (I taped it) and I am glad to see Yao get nasty on two dunks, although, he got fouled.

 

Exactly. I also hate it when a "fan" on a MESSAGE BOARD feels the need to bash a player personally after a loss; like DaDakota. As if Stevie or anyone on the Rockets team is will read his post and get "motivated". It's like, get a grip, you tool! Post constructive criticism or nothing @ all. Hell, I'm not even arguing the right to post stupidity, but bashing one of the Rockets best players with immature smack is worthless.


Guess he gets off on it, though? *shrugs shoulders*

 

Don't worry story teller. you'll get used to it. You might even like it

 

*lol* Maybe. I guess it'll just take me a little time to get used to it; I'm somewhat of a newbie to this forum.

 

Cool, well hope you do like it, cause it feels great to vent frustration at multimillionares who don't perform their jobs accordingly, especially when they have the talent. I wish they would pay me that much at my job to make the same dumb mistakes over and over.

 

I hate posting "I agree", but I agree

I don't remember seeing a first post as good as that for a long long time.