After last night...how about this... Could the Rockets win by letting teams with dominant front lines (center, PF) score about 50-55 points and holding everyone else to 8-10 each? That would have other teams scoring in the 85-90...95 max range. Essentially keeping teams under 100. I am not worried about perimeter teams like the Hornets or the Nuggets, etc. I think those teams will be lucky to hit 75pts. The big teams like the Lakers, Suns, Boston, Detroit. Thats what I think about when I dream of rings! Can the Rocks win even if we have problems scoring? Can Scola continue to improve to the point where we can say he is a reliable second scorer especially in the interior?
We will struggle against teams with big athletic front lines...... Landry being back is a HUGE help..... But the fact that the Rockets can go small now...and with athleticism and speed...the 2nd unit really evens things out. The Rockets can beat anyone. DD
if the bench plays like they have the past 3 games, i have no doubt we'll be a scary team. yesterday's game shows that if alston sucks, adelman has no problem playing him just 25 mins a game (which was what JVG stubbornly failed to do). we know tmac will get it going at one point or another. scola will give us at least 12-15 pts nightly. it's all about the bench: head, brooks, jackson, landry, and hayes. that's a strong bench. HOWEVER, if they disappear like last yr, it could get ugly.
If things stay the way they are I think facing Utah will be good for us, I know they're a very good team, but I really think we have what it takes to go through to the 2nd round. And if Dallas face the Lakers in the first round we might see an upset and see a first round exit for the Lakers. Dirk is back...
the one glaring weakness of this team is our lack of size and problem with scoring. we sometimes can't put the ball in the hoop for 5-7 minutes even when we had Yao.
It works on paper (and occasionally in games), but you can't rely on a strategy like that because 2nd chance buckets and extra possessions would kill us.
I think last night was another revealation that we can beat any team regardless of who is not playing on ourside. We've won without T-Mac, Yao, Rafer, Landry, and even Shane.
ANother thing to point out is just because we are undersized agaisnt other teams, doesn't mean are going to lose the battle in the paint..... Even though, we're undersized....our Cs, Pfs, and Sfs are all above average to good rebounders, and pretty decent defenders. Mutombo: great rebounder Hayes: good rebounder Scola: Very good rebounder Landry: above average Battier: good rebounder T-Mac: good rebounder It's not always about size, just because you have a bigger front line that doesn't necessarily make you better. In fact, the only front line that scares me alot Phoenix.
Um, refresh my memory. If Van Gundy didn't play Rafer, who was he going to bring in? He didn't have Bobby Jackson or Aaron Brooks.
That seems to be the strategy. The Rockets did almost no double teaming last night. Consequently, the Suns had few open threes.
The team we are likely to face is the Jazz and thats with homecourt, I wonder how we can expose their weaknesses, we need to play Brooks and Jackson a bit more, especially if their hitting because Deron is a bad defender.
it's just simply amazing how well this team is playing. The team chemistry. The defense. And this offense is ripping apart teams who don't have primetime defense. Amare has to be the worst defense PF in the league, along with Gasol. haha They have no chance against us. I really do not believe Pho can beat us. Their defense is just not good enough. Tracy is going to rip those teams apart with his passing. He and the team are clicking now. He sees everyone. I still can't believe how underrated he is as a passer. He is ... right now ... the best passer in the half court game in the league. bar none. Only JVG and Adelman seem to be saying that. Funny how the coaches know, but the media doesn't. We are #1 seed material. I'm serious. Go ahead at tank SA. We are taking your spot. What annoys me is
...uh, what annoys me is few teams seems to know how to beat the Lakers. You know Adelman does. His freaking entire career...the reason he is coaching again...is to shove it down Big Chief Triangle gloating glottis. I have no fear of NO, LA, and Pho. They can't beat us. We deserve to be ranked higher than them.
Last night, we did a little bit of what I expected offensively against Phoenix. We spread it out and let Tracy run the PnR with Deke. Only thing I figured was Shaq would be on Deke and McGrady would be able to go 2 on 1 with Amare. But the Suns played it a little smarter. They put Amare on Deke or whoever was out high and left Shaq down low. It worked out just as well though as Mcgrady got the matchup on Shaq and drew the fouls from him. Then Phoenix was in the hole trying to figure out who to go after. Our small lineup really got to them as they couldn't defend anybody out there, then when we got the penetration, we had either Shaq or Amare isolated. The great thing about Adelman offensively is he is an adjustor. He's gonna keep probing the defense for it's weaknesses and exposing them over and over. Then when the defense switches it up, he recognizes it up and switches up his offense to take advantage of the new matchups. Phoenix had no answers last night.
Just giving them a taste of their own medicine, also Adelman is an all time great coach, who is a master on offense and underrated defensively.
Gotta make free throws though! 9-19 as in the game with Phoenix is just terrible. We can't even blame it on a Shaq/Dwight type player.
