Was he passing up good, open looks to find teammates? Checking the boxscore, the team only put up 15 in the quarter. the different Steve I want to see is the one who understands how to get teammates involved without having to make it obvious, if that makes sense. It shouldn't be forced (not saying it was here) but should almost be natural, you know what I mean?
I watched all but the first couple of minutes of this game, and I have to say that I didn't see that big of a difference in Steve's game tonight. He maybe passed out of a couple situations he normally would have shot in, but it wasn't THAT big of a difference. To me, the biggest difference tonight was that his teammates were hitting the shots he got for them. Rice shot well from 3 point land, and generally others took what was given and didn't force too much.
Whether it be in Chat or on the BBS, for whatever reason you persist in hounding me with your latent frustration with your life. That's okay though, I will just turn the other cheek. I already feel so bad about your pending techy job layoff anyways.
That would be great,but I'll have to actually see Mobley playing unselfishly first before I'll believe it. Even then I'll have to see a replay of the game and check the BBS to make sure it really happened! On topic...Steve was outstanding today getting people involved and they actually helped him by making some shots and staying involved for the most part. Off topic...can someone please,please tell Yao to increase his aggression around the offensive rim even more than he has already? He seems to lose 3-4 baskets a game just by not going to the hole stronger on shots and putbacks.
I don't think Steve is ever a selfish player. Actually he has no reason to be selfish. He's an All-Star and recognized as one of the best players in the league. He doesn't need to fight for a contract. He has more than enough endorsements. IMO more of a case is that sometimes he doesn't know how to win. He thinks he needs to score 30 odd pts for Rox to win games. But that's not the case. Hopefully he's learnt the lesson and realised how to win now. And yeah hopefully he taught Mobley as well. Well done today Steve.
Your words are strong, but your actions are weak. You failed and had to respond. Thanks for the concern, but I found out I won't be laid off and will be getting a bonus in February to boot. No need to feel bad. See ya in chat.
The deal with Francis and Mbley is that they don't read and react good. When they have in their mind they will do something, they will normally do it for good or bad. Once Mobley and Francis decide to shoot they shoot. When they decide to pass, they pass, but when the question or the fork in the road gives them the options, thats when they normally make a poor decision with the ball. Its either this or that with those two. Give them flexibilty and you're asking for a o or dumb play.
Good response CY02. I agree with this. We'll see how Steve does in the next few games. Admittedly he was playing against a depleted backcourt and team in this game. I mean he was being guarded by Igor something or other for a bit of the game and Troy Hudson isn't exactly the world's greatest PG. I'm wondering if Murphy talked to him. For Steve to have only 4 FGA's in an entire game seems like somebody placed a challenge towards him to help him realize something. This is the change I'm hoping gets carried over to future games. The fact that he doesn't have to score 25-30 pts a game for the team to win.
If other teams fear a pass to an open teammate, they have to lay off him more. If Steve has the tiniest opening, he can corkscrew into it and make that game-winning shot. I hate to see him tossed to the floor night after night by the big guys in the paint. It always reminds me of the ending scene in Jurassic Park when the ferocious Velociraptor charges the T-Rex and gets mauled and tossed across the room for his (actually her) effort. My point is that we don't need Steve all banged up. We need him healthy throughout the season doing all the things a good point guard should and must do. But, yeah, I'd still like to see Steve score at least 22 on a nightly basis.
Steve was great tonight. But it was just tonight. I am not going to hold my breath that this type of play will continue. Also, keep in mind that tonight is the first night in a while that the Rockets were hitting shots. That has to be more consistent before Steve plays like that every night.
I don't want Steve to do this consistantly. 4 freaking shots! I bet Jason Kidd's is around the 15 mark, I haven't checked so my bad if I'm wrong. Until we have other players who are consistant in contributing on offense, MoT, Rice, etc we need Steve to be one of the first options. It is total stupidity to think otherwise because he has so much offensive talent, why not use it?
Actually it's not 4 shots, I think he also took 12 (?) FTs so he actually shot more than 4 times. The point is that if his teammates hit their shots, there is no need for him to force the thing all the time. Of course if his teammates are off, he's free to take over. That's no waste of talent.
I didn't see much difference from Steve passing wise, the only thing was that he took less shots and his teammates decided to hit some shots for a change. I'll tell you one thing, the T-wolves played a horrible game and it didn't take many points to beat them, but we can't win against the Nets, Kings, Blazers, Mavs, etc with Francis only taking 4 shots. What's the deal with Ming? He's been shooting terrible lately, has anybody else noticed? I mean he has gotten zero heat on this bbs for his contribution the the crappy play during the last 2 weeks.
IMO, the biggest problem with Yao is that he's still not aggressive enough. That one play where he was right under the basket but missed because he didn't go for the dunk. His passes are raved and they should be, although I say he still passes up too many shots. I can't believe I'm saying this about a NBA player, but he needs to get greedy. He needs to get in a groove where he can shoot 10 plus shots. If the guy's taking 5or 6 shots a game, he's gonna be cold throughout the game.
he wont get alot of heat about it as long as he keeps getting boards and blocks and good passing.. Hopefully he snaps out of the slump soon..like tonight would be nice.. I also hope SF can be this efficient in his assists, while still retaining the ability to take over if needed ..
SF went with what worked. Watching, however, I thought I kept seeing SF go to his forehead as if this were last season all over again. I hope he is OK. I hope he keeps getting all the guys involved. I hope he starts the All Star Game, with Yao. I hope he starts the NBA Finals this June, or at least the 2nd Round...
