Strangely enough, the previous couple of scores for the Rockets were an Aaron Brooks layup and a Chuck Hayes layup on a nice pass from Brooks. I never really liked the PNR late. Only seems to work when the picker's man is too big and slow to do anything(like Shaq in last year's Suns game).
What a difference a loss makes. Some previous threads and many posts along with them were ready to throw Yao under the bus and were almost at the verge of awarding the championship to the Rockets. Well, reality is a ....
Fisher played Brooks physical and tight, and the Lakers were quick to double at any sign he'd get loose. Brooks seems to do better when he's given some breathing room; he sees the floor better and creates momentum for his drives. Lakers did a great job taking that away from him. He had a hard time driving and couldn't see his teammates through the trees. Plus, for whatever reason, Brooks seemed a step slow all game. Maybe he was a little under the weather, I don't know.
it's almost mandatory to bump this thread after every close loss, same story, brooks and ariza taking turns doing stevie franchise impressions. the reason that the rockets offense is so good is that they run the offense, however down the stretch, they totally get away from that and go into top of the key iso mode. especially brooks since he is the point guard, i would prefer lowry finishing close games since he is a much better defender and we got killed today by nash on pick and rolls cos brooks gets lost on the pick.
sad display of knowledge. Were you watching the freaking game?!?!?!!? Pretty much ever big advance Phoenix made was with brooks out. Lowry was crap tonight. Especially towards the 2nd qrtr when we had 0 penetration and phoenix went 15-0 run. THe man had 13 assists and hit big shots to maintain the momentum we carried. Your logic is flawed, I don't understand where you are trying to get at. Ariza made the stupid play. Aaron is our best shooter, it makes sense for him to shoot that shot.
Maybe I need to watch the game again, but with the game in the balance, time running out, possibly needing a 3 to keep within reach, why do you pass to Chuck Hayes from 5-10 feet?
ariza couldn't do anything. AB couldnt' beat a 35 year old steve nash off the dribble. shane is always stuck in the corner chilling. i guess they were desperate
we'll see what aaron can do since he's being figured out as a 3 point or layup kind of guy, he's got no midrange game at all, and teams are learning all they have to do to defend him is jump him beyond the 3 point line and then sag all the way back. If you can't see that aaron has terrible game management as a PG especially down at crunch time, our offense basically turns into 1 on 5 at crunch time. le's also not about his defense which steve nash abused during crunch time.
That play is designed to get Brooks the open 3 if thats what you are referring to. I agree with you though, but i doubt lowry would have done a better job, it seems he was stagnating the offense all night long. The approach I would like to see the rockets do, it place more offensive firepower without losing too much on the rebouding side of things. Cbud seems like the perfect guy for that, bud in crunch situations he would probably crumble. One thing is forsure though, ariza doesn't need to be taking last minute shots, or try creating them. (Also truguy I'm sorry about the wording on my last post, it sounds a bit rude, that was not my AIM at all and I apologize in advance)
Nash is a smart team defender, he was playing him for the 3 pointer or the layup, aaron's attempts at a midrange shot this game was horrendus.
Its not so much just brooks, obviously he is a contributing factor, but the blame cant rest squarely on his shoulders. The reason I am letting it go was because he was a stud on the playmaking end all night. When you have guys like Hayes, battier, ariza (whose playmaking we witnessed tonight) you're not left with much to deal with. Neither one of those guys can create. That makes it easier for the defensive team to devise a play to get us to force up a shot or do something stupid. That hayes pass was supposed to get kicked back out I believe since I have seen it many times. Either way, this loss deff. hurts
The thing is we do have good options at crunch time but aaron sees a red mist or something, he is OK during the first 3 quarters or during a blowout, but if the game is close in the 4th quarter, he tends to settle for the 1 on 5 at the top of the key play. It's obvious that a scola or landry postup is the best play during crunch time, but the ball rarely ends up there, it's not just this year, remember last year, aaron also did this some games freezing out Yao.
Thats what you get with an inexperienced PG just about all i can say. He has been starting for a little over a year and coach needs to work with him i guess.
I can believe that except watch Brooks after the pass was made to Hayes. Brooks backs away from the 3 point line as if he's done with the play. Hayes never thought twice about taking it back up. There's no way Brooks could've gotten the ball back because he was doubled at the 3 point line. Nash was still on Brooks even after the 2nd man left Brooks. Amare didn't even bother coming out to guard Chuck when he got the ball at the free throw line. The play looked doomed from the outset. Interesting to see on that play that Battier I think was calling for the ball on the opposite side of the court from Brooks and was wide open. It would've been a risky pass, though.
If we had defended beter, did not give up so many fts, we would not be in that situation, we played ok on O, but terrible on D................
