Don't forget one of the most underrated aspect of the game: Hustle. Do you remember one game ago, late in the 4th quarter against Warriors, Lowry stole the ball away from the Warrior guy after he got the rebound, result in a flagrant foul, virtually sealed the win? Do you remember when Rockets was leading by something 4 points, Martin missed a shot and Lowry got the lose ball on the ground then called a TO tonight? That could very well be the difference between up 1 or down 1 with 18 seconds left. Lowry makes those kind of plays almost every game, Ab rarely makes one of those in every five games.
there's a difference between controlling the ball on the court and chemistry in the locker room, and in the locker room one player alone most certainly does not create and control the team's chemistry. --- and all those comparison team stats with lowry starting versus brooks starting is one of the laziest arguments for lowry i've seen. the team was still coming together when brooks went out... imo the team playing well recently is more of a reflection of the TEAM PLAYING WELL than an effect of lowry's improved play. a lot of the people here have absolutely no patience. how about we wait and see how a HEALTHY ab plays with this squad (not the team from oct) before we dismiss his ability to run the point effeciently. for all we know the team could play even better with brooks starting... i mean pre-injury he played a measly 4 1/2 games, the team has evolved and he's trying the catch up
So you don't think brooks still trying to regain his strength in his legs have anything to do with him not playing in late games? What about the fact the guy mised 6 weeks and had 3/4 of a practice? Whats confusing to me or not really confusn is when yao makes the right pass and the guy hits the shots, its a pass anyone couldve made, but when lowry makes the same play, its court vision,lol. I would be the first to tell you lowry see the court better than brooks, but players have to make shots when they get the open looks. This is really a senseless debate to me. It doesn't matter what we say one way or the other because adelman will make the final call. If its lowry, its lowry, if its brooks, its brooks and it doesn't matter as long as they're winning. The team is behind the pace it had last year with brooks starting, but i guess that wasn't because of brooks either right?
Excuses after excuses. It's been like that for 2 seasons in a row, not just happening now. Lowry had a + starting this season, Lowry has a + off the bench last season. AB had a - starting last season, AB has a - off the bench this season. The team is playing well, but it has a lot to do with Lowry, Lowry makes players around him better, no matter it's 1st unit or 2nd unit. PG is very crucial for a team to play well see that Kidd/Marbury trade. For all we know that isn't happening. For Rockets, the sum of offense + defense with Lowry/Martin is going to be greater than the sum of offsne +defense with AB/Martin. It's been predicted since last season and it's been proven right.
No, I'm not sayng Brooks trying to regain strength has nothing to do with not playing in late games. What I'm saying is playing Lowry late in the game and taking majority of the minutes has been proven to be better than AB taking most minutes. It doesn' matter as long as we are winning, true. If you are all for Rockets winning as you said, you should root for Lowry starting for a while now. The result has proven Lowry starting is better than AB. When it comes to late game situation, AB is only good for special moments, when we need somebody to create a shot for himself. AB is better than anybody else on Rockets in that department. But anyway, you AB nuthanggers never look at the WIN/LOSE fact, just claim you are all for winning and still making the losing choice.
Last year's team was ahead of the pace because 2nd unit running Lowry was saving the day. Starters were losing ground. It again proved my point. Lowry win more game for you as a PG than AB. When you can gain more ground with Lowry strting, , why are you trying to start AB so you lose more ground in 1st unit but gain less ground in 2nd unit? Are you really all for Rockets winning?
I definitely think Brooks is still a step slow. It is obvious. However, what does coming off an injury have to do with getting an 8 sec violation? What does coming off an injury have to do with constantly calling off the plays and going iso? If anything, since he is still regaining his strength, he should be taking it slow and just run the damn offense. Instead he is clearly forcing it. Don't you see how our offense stagnates down to a contested 3 when he is in the game? He cannot get by his man at all right now, yet still insists on pounding it. It is only hurting the team, like how Yao hurt the team earlier. It has nothing to do with court vision and everything to do with decision making. He can see the court fine, he just chooses not to pass it. Meanwhile Lowry is pushing the ball every time down and lazering in on Martin with the slightest opening. You think it is a pass that anyone can make? You're right, the pass itself doesn't take any skill, unlike a behind the back or rap around or flashy pass. But to look for that pass to begin with, and execute it, is obviously not something everyone can do. Lowry is top 3 in the LEAGUE in 3 point assists for a reason. If you watch Boston, Rondo's 15 or 20 assists aren't all difficult passes either. The majority of them are just from running the offense like Lowry. But there is something to be said of these PGs that are steady and simply execute the gameplan to perfection. This is the one part that I definitely have faith in Adelman. He may be stubborn on certain things, but not if it jeopardizes winning. We are behind last year because last year we had both a healthy Lowry AND Brooks. While this year its been 5 games of only Brooks and the rest only Lowry. Having a healthy Brooks this whole time behind Lowry would have helped the win total, right?
I already told you what I think the problem was with the slow start, Yao. Plain and simple, new season and the team playing one way last year and trying to play another way this season killed everything early. Like I said in relations to tonight game, the guy had 5 asst in 16 mins and probably could have had a couple of more. I don't see how he's not running the offense and I just rewatched the game again. Sure he had a bad moment or two, but is that any different than how terrible lowry looked when he was out of shape trying to come back with a upside down asst/to ratio? I think not. Brooks has a ways to go conditioning wise and etting back up to speed. After the break and even before the break and when the team practice will tell alot about how the season will go. make no mistake about it, neither will like coming off the bench. They may paint a pretty picture, but both think they should start. Its no differnt than jackson and strickland in ny at the same time. Kidd,nash,and kj were in phoenix at the same time also even if kj was on his way out. If morey feels like he can get value for one at another position of need, he may deal one. Like I said before, it doesn't matter, it never has. I will deal anyone on the team, i don't hold anyone too high to be bronzed and bowed to. There are not great players on this squad and in the end unless they make upgrades, they are a .500 team with brooks or lowry starting in my opinion. If they make the playoffs, thats fine, if they don't, thats fine too.
LOL. AB can't do nothing wrong in AB nuthangger's eyes. Now it's Yao that got us 0-5 start. Guess I need to remind you some fact again. So what about the games Yao didn't play in that 0-5 start? We lost too. What about the games Yao played without AB even played? We went 1-1. Nothing really supports your argument if you look at the FACT.
You're right, but the poster I quoted seemed to be talking about on court chemistry. What you're talking about is something the coach is most responsible and honestly I have never heard of disgruntled players (besides Tmac) with RA as the coach.
The problem with some posters is that they appear to be hardwired to either love or hate certain players. I have no idea why this is so. The starting unit with Lowry running the point runs like a freaking machine, at times. Could the bench use Lowry's skills as their pg? Absolutely. However, why mess with chemistry when things are not broken? Brooks is not in game shape. No speed or quickness to turn the corners like last year. We will need him to be last year's MIP Brooks just to be competitive in Jan. and Feb, and if he proves that he is back, then Aldeman will have a tough decision to make. Right now, it is Lowry's job to lose.
Its nothing wrong with that. Clearly he does have his legs under him nor the practices and the team is playing well. My deal is, i dont care one way or the other, but majority on the anti brooks people are yao people too and they think brooks waved him off/took too many shots or whatever. He's not a pure point,but the guy i compare him too,parker has pretty much identical so called stats. I watch the spurs alot,and parker enters the lane for the sake of scoring also. He doesnt get fouled alot,isnt a high asst guy,and takes the same amount of shots. Even with neal,hill,manu,and jefferson, you never hear that the spurs dont need his scoring. Havent we learned in the past playoff failures? Remember the yao/mcgrady teams in the playoffs? Oh we have those 2 and dont need anymore scoring. Well as we have seen this year, against playoff level defenses, martin ppg drop to 16 and his fg drop to about 35% plus they didnt foul him. I'm looking at the bigger picture. Now maybe adelman will use brooks off the bench to end drought or to create when the really good defenses cut scola and martin down,who knows? I know in the playoffs, you need players who can hit contested shots. Call it a bad shot or whatever, but thats what the playoffs are about. Just like late in 6he 4th against the clippers, the fast break was gone,the closeouts were quicker,and the ball pressure was real and they're not even a good defensive. Imagine playing dallas or n.o.?
This notion that parker is similar to AB is complete nonsense. They are completely different players, the only thing similar is that they are both speedy. AB is primarily a jump shooter, a 3 pt specialist, he can't really get into the lane to finish at all. He is not good in transition, passing or finishing. Parker on the other hand is a transition monster, he can't shoot 3s at all, but can finish at a high % in the lane and break down the defense, he doesn't get a lot of assists, but he gets a lot of hockey assists, where the spurs move the ball to create defensive rotation breakdowns off of his penetrations. we've never seen martin in the playoffs, in fact he has only been there once in his career, so we don't know what he will be like.
Nope you're wrong. The starters playing better is a directly related to Lowry starting. Or have you forgotten how at the beginning of the season when Lowry was coming off the bench, it was the bench who kept the Rockets in the games? Now that Lowry is a starter, the bench isn't doing too well. When you have Scola and Martin, you don't need a poing guard taking the majority of the shots which was what Brooks was doing. The point guard's job is to get them the ball and control the tempo. All Brooks can do is shoot 3s and turn the ball over. Can’t wait until he’s traded.
Whatever happens to either I do hope the Rockets keep both of them, because as a tandem they are the best PG combo in the league bar none. People say you can't win with a PG by committee, but again that is utterly false. The Rockets won with two starters manning the point (Cassell and Smith), and neither of those two are as good as Lowry or Brooks (Cassell became better later in his career). AB still looks out of sync which is to be expected, but last night he distributed well and ran the offense decently.
That is complete bull****. The bench has only started playing well recently. During the first 10 games or so, Budinger, Lee, Miller, and Lowry were all playing terrible. Lowry only started turning it around after this point as well. During the 0-5 stretch the starters played well and eventually burned the lead because of the BENCH's inability to sustain it for long periods of time. Now the bench has come around and its no surprise the Rockets are a better team.
NOW the bench has come around? You must be watching a different team. Did you not see what has been happening the last few games? The bench has not increased or held the lead since Lowry was moved into the starting lineup.
Again that is completely untrue. Last night the bench held the lead for a while until the 4th quarter, where the starters came in and CONTINUED to lose the lead. Only after a few minutes did they pick it up and close the game out. Ever since the first 10 games the bench has played well. Jordan Hill has come around, Chase is slowly getting better (although he still is not playing as well as he should be), Courtney has been lights out, and so has Brad Miller for the most part. What evidence do you have to suggest otherwise?
I feel AB will come around after a few days of practice over this mini-break. This is also perfect for Terrence Williams to get some good practices in.
