It was painful to watch the Rockets play last night. They kept committing turnovers after turnovers. T-mac, M.James, and Rafer threw up enough bricks to build a mansion. Yao played like Vlade Divac. I used to think T-mac had a better outside shot than Kobe. Well, I was wrong. When T-mac shoots, he usually misses even though he is wide open with Yao setting those screens fro him. In contrast, when Kobe shoots, he's going to make 80% of the time. So, Kobe is like MJ while T-mac is like Pippen.
The problem that Coach'A' has is that he must learn to make quicker substitutions in the first qtr. Point Guard and Power Forward initial substutions should get the playing time with our best starters. I would like to see Landry in uniform rather than Snyder. I think he should get a few mins. to help his development.
kobe didn't make 80% of his FG, in fact it wasn't very close. 13-32, tmac was 10-20. mike james was 5-10...
One thing I noticed about Yao on the high post is the cutters stop right in the middle of the lane and stands there waiting for the pass. Things will get better as we learn this offense, and I think if they do learn it Yao will average several more assists.
he put them in at the right time in my opinion, scola and james both came in and the offense looked good. adelman's first substitution was good
I disagree the team looked more like a JVG team than a RA team last night. The Rockets finished last season averaging 95 points in the regular season right? Right in the middle of the pack. They scored 95 last night. The offense started incredibly slow and the first 5 minutes of the game they only managed to put up 5 points. JVG's offense also had scoring burst in most games having a few 27 point quarters thrown together with at least one quarter with a low scoring stagnant offense. The inconsistency is still there and that's what rang true of JVG's offense and our first regular season look at RA's offense. There are some differences though. There were more fast breaks, and the bench was facilitated more and produced better than last year's bench did. There will be growing pains, but if you notice the Rockets had their biggest scoring streaks when they dumped the ball into Yao in the post and let him do his thing. Who's offense does that seem more like to you? JVG or RA? What I will say that was positive about last night was Yao and T-Mac seemed more fresh last night than they would have under JVG's offense. I think that does have something to do with RA shaking up the looks and possessions both players are getting. Truth is its easier to play 40 minutes when you're not backing up into double and triple teams with elbows pounding the small of your back. In turn Yao seemed fresh starting the 4th. However I don't necessarily think that was all because of Yao exerting less energy. It was the first game of the season in which Yao had a lot of downtime to rest. He better not be tired in the first game of the season. I'll give the Rockets one season before really setting any expectations. At this point and I know I'm going to be in the minority here but I wouldn't be surprised to see them out of the 1st round again. The RA honeymoon has ended far too soon and any expectations of the offense being fluid right at the start are unrealistic. Right now I think they'll win their games merely from talent alone through the next 20-25 games and we won't see this team in full form til around March or April.
I didn't say how much i thought the rockets played like VG was the coach, I disagree that it was a "great deal" like the old rockets. they were not. and after the first quarter, you can chalk that up to nervousness trying to find ones way, whatever, the offense was flowing, and there was more to it than just yao playing in his usual position. if the proof that the rockets are the same team because they scored 95, just on par with last year, then people weren't watching the game. i thought it was a very exciting fast flowing game, relatively speaking to last year, and if it wasn't for the slow start, the score wouldn't have been on par. i am not saying that there isn't any facet of vg in this team. all of the current squad with the sole exception of scola, landry and brooks have worked with him. but last nights game for me was clearly under the direction of a different coach, if i wasn't told beforehand that vg wasn't fired, i would say that the team looks different. again, this does not mean that vg has no imprint, i am not saying that
this is adelman's masterplan for tmac (props to batkins) <object width="425" height="355"><param name="movie" value="http://www.youtube.com/v/JABlkbw5cGs&rel=1"></param><param name="wmode" value="transparent"></param><embed src="http://www.youtube.com/v/JABlkbw5cGs&rel=1" type="application/x-shockwave-flash" wmode="transparent" width="425" height="355"></embed></object>
does anyone have a vid of Luke Walton's own basket which gave t-mac 2 points? i laughed a good 10 mins at that
