Rockets come down from around 9 or so points in the first half to hang on and win it at the end. Rockets 85 Timberwolves 79 Boxscore : http://www.nba.com/media/timberwolves/jul17_hou-min_.pdf High Scorers - Lonny Baxter - 31, Dion Glover - 17, Luther Head - 17 Missing in Action - Malick Badiane Just a tease... There are times when you think Malick is going to be a heck of a backup (hee hee) and then there are times you ask yourself why is he out there? Today was one of those days where nothing offensively went Malick's way. There were times where he was out in front of the pack on a break, but nobody passed him the ball and he seemed frustrated by that. Based on personal opinion the 2 times that happened, it would've been a difficult pass to make and for the Bad Man to convert. He, as he seemingly does every game, gave the crowd something to oooh about. A Timberwolves player drove on the Rockets and tried to get a layup. A Rocket fouled the player, but he kept going up with the ball. Malick swatted the shot into the scorer's table. There really isn't much to say about Malick other than he did squat offensively - I honestly don't believe he even scored. He got limited minutes in the 2nd half. He still seemed lost at times out there during offensive sets and on defense. The most hard-nosed person named Lonny you'll ever meet... Lonny Baxter looked like the second coming of Mo Malone or Barkley out there. He was taking people down the baseline for reverse jams and layups all night. Somewhere in the 3rd quarter he had about 17 points. He cranked it up in the 4th quarter where it just became the Baxter show. They kept going to him and he kept delivering the bucket or drawing the foul. There was nothing spectacular about his game. He was the go to guy in the 4th quarter and it showed by the end of the game as he was pretty winded and breathing hard. I said in the last game thread that I thought Baxter would make a decent backup and nothing about his play has changed my mind. He does seem to get boxed out sometimes on rebounds and at times seems out of position, but I loved the fact that he continued to prove he could stick a wide open 12-16 foot jumper and if needed, drive down the baseline or into the paint for a layup. Mr. Cool Luther Head is Mr. Cool. That's the only thing I can think of when I see him out there. He's so calm, composed, and focused. When you see him, you think of a Cuttino Mobley at times. I always liked Mobes' play except when he did something stupid. I saw Head take maybe one ill-advised shot, but heck, he was open, it was a 3, and I guess that's his job - to take that shot. His shot still wasn't falling early on and it seemed like he decided not to shoot much because of it. Somewhere in the 4th somebody told him he had to shoot and he began gunning again. As I said, his shooting still wasn't the greatest, but he showed NBA range on his shot by nailing at least 2 3's. He also has great form on his jumpshot and his free throws. The other thing I still love about his play is that he can absolutely fly on fastbreaks. TMac is going to love this kid if he plays much this season. Head finished with 17 points, but it started out rocky. His aggressive defense caused him to pick up 2 quick fouls in the 1st quarter. As a result, he left the game at the 7:08 mark of the 1st and didn't come back until the 8:20 mark of the 2nd quarter. I hope his shot comes back... I'm not trying to make comparisons, but the whole "his shot wasn't there" over and over seems to remind me of Bostjan Nachbar (ok, so I pray I'm reaching with that comparison). Miscellaneous stuff... John Lucas, jr. had a pretty decent game. At times he was wild, but then you also saw him make some pretty incredible shots for a guy his size. Keith Jones was shaking hands with him after the game so you know the whole John Lucas connection was there. Chuck Hayes got a lot more playing time today but didn't stand out. Also Billy Keys played a few minutes today, but again, didn't stand out. Most of the PG duties the first 3 games have been handled by Joe Crispin and Hollis Price. They both have done admirably although Crispin got into foul trouble today. No one else on the Rockets stood out in terms of play. It was nice to see the Rockets crank up their defense in the 2nd half after trailing early. It was clear someone (Thibodeaux?) either got after them or changed up his strategy at halftime - it showed in their play. Videos See in the thread for a link.
Hmm... I wonder why. Maybe JVG wants him to have some training, since he was a little lost in previous two games. Edit: wow, already 5 stars with only 3 viewers? I thought a rating need more voters to count.
Sorry, I guess I better change that phrase for the next game. Yes, what I meant is Malick played and didn't really do much offensively. In other words, he was "missing".
As always thanks for the recap, DOD. This kind of information truly sets CF.net above the rest...where else can you get this kind of Rockets information about a summer league? How nice would it be if Baxter came into training camp, and earned a spot at PF for insurance purposes? Obviously we still need a legit PF, but it would be nice to have someone better than Spoon/Baker in case we don't find one and in case Howard's health doesn't hold up.
DoD, thanks for your incredible recaps. No one else in the world is covering the Rockets as well as you are right now. I had a few questions about your opinions if I may. Who do you think is better and who would you rather have on the Rockets? Baxter or Weatherspoon, Juwan Howard Glover or Ryan Bowen, Wesley Head or Sura, Mike James
Not even close - Juwan, Baxter, Weatherspoon. Baxter plays well, but this is only summer league talent he's playing against. He'd have to show this in "real" games to be better than Juwan. I like Glover's size and age over Wesley. I like Wesley's shot (when it's on) over Glover's. I'm not too sure about Glover's defense. Maybe someone who knows can comment on that. I think I'd rather have either of them over Ryan Bowen. Too early to tell, but they're not getting rid of Head anytime soon. From what I've seen of Head, he's can have offense, but is certainly willing to get in your face and play defense. I haven't seen any kind of "lock down" defense from him yet that would make you think "all defensive team" or anything, but he doesn't slack on defense, that's for sure.
Well.... he was still hustling and running after loose balls. Outside of that he was getting shoved around a bit inside and seemed a bit lost at times. I wish I could say more positive things, but it was hard to spot anything. That's probably why he hardly played any (if any) minutes in the second half.
Brilliant! Just plain brilliant... Can you remember who was playing for the Wolves? The Indy team was pretty stacked... Did EG play?
Yeah, it was brilliant until I figured out I'd been spelling his first name wrong all this time... lol.
D.o.D, Again, thanks for the recap. How is Baxter on defense, and on the boards? Those are the 2 things the Rockets need from the PF position, IMHO. How does he stack up? DD
Great recap DoD and thanks for the box score Mordo. This is interesting, Glover and Baxter had 18 and 19 free throws respectively and Baxter only had 3 rebounds the whole game. If I remember, Baxter was a pretty good rebounder in college playing opposite of Wilcox right?
Damn... Dion's getting bog time minutes, I am sure he is trying to catch on somewhere, but I would hope that if he's takin all these minutes with us, that we are looking at bringing him into camp
Baxter, Wilcox, Steve Blake, Juan Dixon, and that Sf who transferred from NC State-- I forget his name. NCAA champs, right?
