I am bittersweet about the win. At the back of my mind, I feel that we should have won it in double digits..but instead, we won by a stupid play from JR smith. I am happy that Harden had an excellent game but again, I feel that we shouldn't need the best game out of Harden to win against the lowly Knicks. Regarding the 4th quarter benching of Lin, I can't justify it with his stella performance in the first half and the downgrade replacement in AB. This really makes me think that Mchale has absolutely no confidence in Lin and it also makes me wonder if Lin would have played in the 4th quarters in recent games if AB wasn't injured...
Yes, Smith made a stupid play (as if that's new for him!), which was a break for the Rockets, but what actually won the game were 2 clutch free throws by Aaron Brooks. And it was a win. That fact seems to be lost on a lot of folks around here, at least by many of those posting in this thread. I'll take a win anytime. It doesn't matter if the clutch points are made by one of our two superstars, by Chandler Parsons, Jeremy Lin, Aaron Brooks, or by one of the other guys on the team. Just in case some of you forgot, at the end of the regular season you add up the wins and losses, see where you're seeded in the playoffs, and if you are a contending team like the Rockets, you look forward to what I sure as hell hope is a long run culminating in the Western Conference title, and a shot at a championship. That's what I hope for every year, and this season we have an honest to god chance of doing that. You'd never know it reading the last few dozen pages in this game thread, a game thread following a win.
Beno should not have fouled him, which was another mental mistake. Rockets were on the ropes, Smith saved them.
Yes, a win is a win. However, do you honestly believe we are a contender with the way we have been playing (especially this game?)...I, among the many posters criticizing this win because it was a hard fought win and we definitely can't beat elite teams like that...if we are happy with wins like that, we'll never beat the top teams
The Knicks are nowhere near as bad as their record says, that entire debacle was while Chandler was out injured, they didn't beat San Antonio by accident.
It's one game. We're 22-13, and have a better record within our division than San Antonio, Oklahoma City, and Dallas. We're tied for 5th in the Western Conference. We have the best center in the league, in my opinion, and a superstar at shooting guard in Harden, with a supporting cast that is excellent, if healthy and playing. Of course I think we're a contending team. Will we make it to the Big Dance this year? Who knows? It's hard as hell to win a WC title and a shot at the championship. We play in what is easily the toughest of the two conferences, as everyone (I hope) knows, and in an extremely tough division. We need time to come together as a team, we still need to add some talent, we need to be healthy, and that's not easy. Look around the league and you'll see key players injured, some of them seriously, on teams that expected to make some noise this season. Our problems could be a hell of a lot worse.
Mac sees Lin as a back up Guard for whatever reasons. So be it, because Lin is one of the highest paid back up Guard. Just continue to improve, do best to help Rockets, and then look for another team who will not try to turn Lin into a back up Guard. Nothing else, except I hope Lin stops laughing all happy when he gets benched entire 4th quarter. He shouldn't look Angry but just chill, you know, instead of smiling as if he won a lotto. smh
I think Lin is usually happy when his team is winning or after his team has won. His mood during a game does not necessarily reflect his thoughts on being benched or even how well he himself played during the game. I remember last year when he scored 38 pts against the Spurs he was devastated because his team had lost. He is not really a stats guy or a "Me" player, even though a lot of his fans are into stats and want him to be. However, he does value efficiency. Lin knows if he moped around and complained like Asik that it would be bad for the team. So he cheers for his teammates fighting on the floor. Dwight has become more of a team player too. I'm really learning to respect Dwight a lot.
Are you high? Casspi had 5 points in 6 minutes! He also had the best FG% on the team. Why was he out all 2nd half? Go figure. You need to be on the court to contribute...
Our bench use sucks... (Let me spell it out: Playing time distribution sucks) There were 2 bench players that performed well tonight (Lin & Casspi) Both didn't see court time in the 4th, and in 2nd half in general (And that nearly cost us the game)
That's not supported by stats. Go and read read the stats summary thread and you can learn a whole lot from it.
Well the Rockets can benefit hugely from his 0-5 points outputs most of nights, huge plus positives. Who cares about stats on an offensive team, who needs high scoring bench? Who needs winning against bad teams? Actually we help them out like 3rd world countries, giving them confidence.
I couldn't find even one 0-5 point output for Garcia. However, Garcia scores at the NBA average whichever shooting parameter you want to use. Garcia is on the 5th place in 3pt-shooting percentage of the Rockets. Therefore, he should be taking the shots and continue shooting. He has so far made 140 attempts from 3pt range and made 48 of them. That is equal to 140 drives to the hoop finishing them at 51.4%. Not bad from a vet minimum player. By the way, let's do a little excercise in stats. If every Houston offense (no TOs) end in fouling Dwight for shooting and he converts at 50%, the Rockets will win by keeping the opposite shooting below 33%.
Sure. Let's continue our 26-27% percent of 3 point shooting. You are right. He is shooting somewhere near 34.3% which is above lousy shooting..... http://espn.go.com/nba/team/stats/_/name/hou/houston-rockets Yeah, take a look at one of the best veterans on the team http://www.complex.com/sports/2013/...ster/houston-rockets-francisco-garcia#gallery You know that Garcia can't get to the basket effectively because he lacks hops, speed and athleticism.
^Garcia isn't taking difficult shots either, most of them are open jumpers and he's just been flat out shooting/playing poorly. I was on the bandwagon after his playoff performance but he's been a ghost of the shell of the man that would possibly be known as Garcia
I know that Garcia is not shooting to his abilities right now. However, he is still shooting from 3pt range equal to Eric Bledsoe, Caron Butler, Jamal Crawford, Goran Dragic, JR Smith, Wilson Chandler, Paul Pierce etc, etc. We are not talking about a catastrophy here. If you want 38% 3pt shooting (3.7% better), you can have Joe Johnson for $22 mil/yr.
