ClutchCity.net Game Thread: Rockets @ Spurs 1/20/2003

Come on RudyLovers, just admit that Rudy made a mistake. After Cat's brick and Duncan's first 3 point play, you can just tell that we totally lost that momentum and that we should let our best players finish the game. That was the worst decision I've ever seen him make as a coach. We REALLY needed Stevie and Yao on offense when we were down by 3 with the ball with under 1 minute to go at least.

 

I agree. If Rudy always stick to his own way, Rox will only lose more games like this one.

 

Four of our starters shot under 25 percent combined and we were down by 13 in the fourth after some extremely poor officiating, yet we go the lead and then managed to lose by only 5 on the road against the best defensive team in the NBA.

There were questionable plays, decisions, etc. But, it could be a lot freakin' worse.

 

I'm not sure how many posters here actually saw the game on TV instead of just looking at the box score and start bashing someone.

I didn't watch the game myself, but looking at the boxscore:
Fourth Quarter Houston 23, San Antonio 15, tied at 82 points with 52 seconds to go. This comeback is originated from the bench players in the 4th Q, whereas Houston trailed San Antonio in the first three Qs when main players were in. To me, it's perfectly reasonable that Rudy gave the bench players a shot to win the game. They earned it.

Looking at main players:
Griffin 1-7
Yao 4-11
Steve 1-12
Mobley 7-21

How do you expect us to win with this crappy shooting? We are dam@ lucky we don't lose by 30 points.

And what do you guys really expect from Rockets? Winning ALL games versus Western powerhouse? That's just not possible. The recent 4 streak wins has exceeded my wildest expectation, so to demand much more than that is not realistic IMO.

OK, having said that, I smell at least 3 streak losses for Rockets.

 

Thank you cmellon... and a few others, hehe, too lazy to look who exactly. I don't understand so many people's bitter disappointment. This was a damn strong showing considering all the conditions against us in the 4th. I guess people are just looking for someone to point their fingers at, and Rudy seems to be the easiest person to find.

 

Alright I have watched the game on TV. At the final minutes, Taylor and Cato really did a good job on both ends. But Steve Kerr and Tony Parker killed us! Moochie had no turnovers and made several shots, but he and Cat just let Parker and Kerr hit jumpers way too easily. Bowen set a screen for Parker and Moochie didn't even try to get through...
At such time you need the strong Steve to play D and place YaoMing at the paint so other players can put more pressure on the primeter....Damn....I really question Rudy's ability. Someone told me that Rockets' O is not so integrated coz Yao missed the training camp so no offense was designed for him before the season. I can accept that, but Cato didn't miss the training camp. When we have Steve, Cat, Cato, Eddie and TMo/Rice at court, do we see any beauticul offense setup?

 

The Lakers game reminded me of the NBA finals.

The Spurs game reminded me of the pre-season. Rudy sticks with the bench for the whole 4th quarter.

 

ChenZen,

I like Rudy as a coach. But, had I been the coach I would have put them in when the lead got back down to two, BUT I have a real hard time with people who continuely call Rudy dumb and that the end of the games made no sense. I watched the game and here’s what I saw.

Cato for Ming
Duncan and Robinson were really up to play Ming. Look at the stats. Ming was very tentative. Cato was playing much more aggressively. So, Cato for Ming makes sense.

Mo Taylor for Griffith.
He was actually playing Duncan decent defense and was playing aggressive offense which pressured Duncan. He was also looking to pass when he needed to. So made sense.

Terrance Morris
If you saw his shooting he was the reason that they even had a come back

Moochie
He played pretty solid when he was in there. He was definitely hotter than Francis. (This is the one I question the most, but more along the lines of, can't we sign a better back up pg.)

Mobley
You have to have an outside threat with this group, so if you decide Francis doesn’t have it tonight then you’ve got to have Mobley. He had played well in the comeback and is a better on the ball defender than Francis.

In addition, All the players left on the court were those that had played aggressive defense. Those on the bench had not. My sense was that Rudy was sending a message about the type of defense he wanted played.

He also showed the players who were on the floor that he trusted them down the stretch. I’ve watched the Rockets for a long time and one thing that has been true of Rudy T teams is that most times when a roll player has had to step up in a big game, he steps up. That's how he won some of our most memorable games. I think some of you sell that aspect of Rudy T short. Robert Horry, Mario Ellie, Chucky Brown, Kevin Willis, Earl Cuereton, Carlos Herrera, Pete Chilcut are guys that no one at the time the Rockets had them really expected to be prime time players, but all of them produced big baskets or rebound in the playoffs because Rudy let them play in the clutch during the season. Maybe Rudy wants to make sure his main backups are ready for the playoffs.



Just as an after-thought, next person who gripes about Mobley, go see if you can dig up some Vernon Maxwell highlights and we one a championship with him. In Rudy's mind good defense covers a multitude of sins.

 

Happen to know Yao did his second commercial on Saturday,
two days before this lose. If my memory didn't fail me, Yao also flew to LA to do his first commercial two days before Rox lost to Golden State. Maybe fans should start emailing Yao-Team, telling them only good performance on the court sells.

 

Duncan scored 32 points, seven in the final period. Robinson added 14 and Tony Parker 11 for San Antonio, which won its fourth straight.


The Spurs have won 10 straight at home against Houston. The Rockets' last victory in San Antonio was a 103-94 triumph in April 1997, before Duncan was drafted and while Robinson was on the injured list.

 

You never play for the next game. Do whatever it takes to win the current game. I am upset with Rudy. He'd better have good excuse this time, otherwise we lost the game and the star players got pissed off. What was he thinking!!!!!

 

Well said, i think the rockets played very well considering Steve's lack of form tonight. It was good to see Cato and TMo playing well, and that should give them more confidence for the next game. I thought the match was very even, and even though we lost, it doesn't leave a bitter taste in my mouth.
Let's stop all this critisism of coaching and the offense and cut the team some slack sometimes.

Hopefully the team picks it up for the next game.

 

rudy stuck with the lineup that brought them back into the game. if it had worked everyone here knows that rudy would be commended for the gutsy move of leaving his 2 stars on the bench in crunch time. it didn't work however(barely) and he gets ragged on.

tough game but it was close and i'm glad the team played hard despite the refs atrocious performance in the first half. it was also good to see steve cheering his teammates on late despite his poor game and no playing time. i think this is the last time we'll see both our big weapons on the bench in the crunch.

 

Poor mermaids, without Yao Ming during the whole 4th quarter and
playing only 23 minutes and Stevie Francis having an off night, The
Rockets almost take the game without their two stars. Rockets bench
did an oustanding job by tying the game at 82 with 59 seconds
remaining in the fourth quarter.

Another reason the mermaids won this game was because the refs bail
them out for most part of the contest. In one play, S. jackson tipped
the ball out of bounds and the refs conveniently said Mobley did it,
what a bunch of crap!!

Mobley got a tech for arguing the obvious call bailing out the
mermaids..

 

I was at the game tonight. As bad as the Rockets played, some spurs fans sitting in front and around us felt really fortunate that the spurs pulled this one out with the help of the officials. I even overheard a guy said that he could not believe some calls that went the spurs' way when they should have been no call or Rockets' ball.

Anyhow, they can sense that the Rockets are for real now and will be a very tough task for them everytime. Make no mistake about it, we are gaining respects and recognitions. Now we just need to be play smart.

BTW, at the end of the game, many folks asked why the Rockets choose to leave their best player on the bench? Is SF hurt?

 

Guys be reasonable! Rudy did nothing wrong! Steve and Ming simply were worn out of Lakers game. Their mentality was just not there! Steve couldn't shoot the ball whole night, what is the chance if he made shots in last minute? If bench had not brought the game back, Rudy would have put Steve and Ming back in. Cato was hot. No reason put Ming back. Give them a chance. Rox can't win more games without bench getting deep. You can't win games relying on starters. That's physically impossible. Without bench's contribution, we are not even in the game, period.

 

Dang this game hurt. Great performance by TMo, MoT, and Moochie. Huge rally, this will really help in the long run to improve the confidence of our bench, which I thought was lacking big time so far this season. So hopefully when the bench comes in from now on they will be much stronger.

The refs were crappy for sure. The loss was big for playoff standings, we could have gotten to withing a 1/2 game of San Antonio.

I don't ever remember Steve being so cold, even when he was off before he always found a way to get others involved. It was just a bad night when Mobley, Francis, Griffin and Ming are off.

I hope that this motivates the Rockets to beat Dallas tomorrow night, we owe them one.

 

Hey tou almost got the right score!

Actual score:

Rockets 82
Mermaids 87

 

I forgot to mention Cato, the man looked insane tonight. He and Mo Taylor played awesome. Cato is an inside force when he wants to be. His hands are magnets for the rebounds.

 

Everytime we have something going, Cat jacks up an ill-advised shot. This is getting old.