The point is these guys are being beat where its most important - psychologically. Dallas will have to reinvent their whole mental makeup to win this series. Their coach even knows it, he wants give them a little hope so much that he implies 'they came back and would have one that series if Rodman did not go crazy' which he knows and everyone other than madmax knows is not true.
Rodman actually showed up for big games & the 4th quarter of big games, accomplished galaxies more in the playoffs, and was flat-out better than any player currently on the Dallas roster. So AJ really needs to STFU. And how 'bout this reason for losing that series, Avery......Game 5, Sam Cassell lit up your monkey ass on your home court. Where the hell the were you?
Does anybody here think AJ is overrated? I do, he's a nice guy and all but way too many people pulling for him not to fail, AJ hadn't done squat, and all you've been hearing is AJ this, AJ that.... A lot of coaches had to toil in anonymity for years before given a chance to be a head coach, AJ was just automatically groomed for the position, what the hell is that, sounds like affirmative action to me! That makes me appreciates JVG even more(Jeff, I took back everything I said about you earlier in the season, I was wrong about you), JVG came up the coaching rank the old fashioned way: HE EARNED IT!!!!!!!!!!!
overrated by who? by the dallas locals maybe, thats to be expected. but its his first year,or first 20 or so games. the guy has a nice balance to his game and against anyother team his team would seem to be a well coached squad, but it just so happens his team ran into a F5 Tornado. and theres not much you can do when you run into and F5 tornado, its going to go where it has to go. If he can come out of it intact and stick to what got him here he'll make a fine coach.
Sam Cassell was huge. He had like 30 points and was 12-12 on freethrows. But Dream had like 42 points, 9 boards, 8 dimes, and 5 blocks and the Rockets blew out the Spers by 20. Dream also had 39 points, 17 boards and 5 blocks for game 6. In games 3 and 4 DRob neutralized Dream, even though Dream scored more, he turned it over and got into foul trouble and DRob was the man in the 4th q of both of those games. As I said, Dream pump faked too much if i recall correctly and even there was an article about that in the Chronicle about Dream going back to basics for game 5 and 6.
I happens to be a Rodman fan. I didn't watch NBA back then. I started watching NBA after Jordan came back from retirement the 1st time and had been a Bulls' fan until he retired again. According to Rodman's words in his book, Spurs used the wrong defense scheme in the first two games; then he suggested a change such that DR will play Dream straightup and try to shut down the other players (similar to what detroit used to do to Jordan and his bulls; they did so for game 3 and 4; then starting game 5, they changed the defense scheme back. Rodman was surprised and pissed about the change. I don't know how much or any truth there is in that statement, though.
Game 2 (when Robinson got the MVP) wasn't close really. SA made a late run, but Houston was in control most of the game and won by 10. Game 5 was a wire to wire destruction and blowout. Rockets led by as many as 30 that game. Game's 1 and 6 were close wins. I think out of all the series that year, SA scared me the least. Robinson was a fairy in the playoffs. Hakeem always owned him. Spurs couldn't match up with Clyde. Rodman is simply not a good matchup for Horry defensively because he loves to hit the boards and Horry is a spot up guy in the half court. It wasn't just his antics, but the matchups which didn't favor SA at all. Avery's statement is disrespect. We were the defending champs, had the best player in the planet (no player in nba history played at the level hakeem did in those 95 playoffs), we had the clutch gunners in Mario, Horry, Elie, etc, and we had the 2nd best player on the court too (Clyde). If those teams played 20 games, I'd say Houston would take about 15-17 games. We simply got overconfident coming back to Houston and blew a couple as we were prone to do. Had a big lead in Game 3 and laxed up. The Rockets were just a much better team than SA regardless of what Rodman did. No team with Avery Johnson and Vinny Del Negro as their starting backcourt would ever ever have made the NBA finals. If you listen to SA fans or players, they should have won every playoff series they played in.
Game 3 was Hakeem's best offensive game of the series (43 pts). Game 4 was the one game Robinson neutralized Hakeem. The other 5 were just domination at the Center position. Was there ever a pump fake that Robinson DIDNT go for in that series?
This I agree with. He's trying to motivate his team in an extremely lame way. And I still think he looked lost at crucial times during the last game... completely over his head. Having said that, it is imperative, as others have said, that we win the next game. Don't give them any oxygen at all. They lose tomorrow, and they're toast. They win, and they're going to take us to 6 or 7 games. With Tracy playing 47 minutes a game, we could use a 4 or 5 game series win, and maybe have an extra couple of days off. If we get to the next round, we'll need it.
Avery should have said, "I remember this team back in the 90's that lost the first two games of a series at home and came back to win. In fact, they won the championship that year and the next." Now that's motivational.
which team was that? Are you joking? which championship years in the 90s? Are you talking about the Rockets? They were down 2-0 against PHOENIX in 1994, but not at home. Please check your history. Do you even have Clutch City and Double Clutch? I'll make you a copy.
Sorry to say it bud... but the 94 team did lose its first two games at home. The 95 team went down 3-1 without home court advantage. Both of them were just as improbable to come back from.
I have neither Clutch City nor Double Clutch, but I do have a memory. In light of your post, however, I decided to go back and check my memory against history. My memory is working fine. http://www.nba.com/rockets/history/lookingback_94finals.html
Avery is just trying to keep his players in the series mentally. The '95 series with the Spurs was unusual in that the road team won more than the home team. the Spurs had losses at home - now Dallas has lost 2 at home. The Spurs players even stayed in a hotel when at home during the series to simulate being on the road to try and motivate a win at home. Anyway - we need to win at home in game 3 and not give this very good Dallas team any hope...Cut the heart out of them Rockets!!!!
The thing is, San Antonio's coach (Bob Hill?) was outcoached by Rudy T in that series. Just like Avery is getting outcoached by JVG. Knowing that the post-Detroit version of Dennis Rodman didn't guard anyone on the perimeter, because it put him out of rebound position, Rudy switched his starting lineup. Horry became the PF, Elie the SF. And Bobby Horry hit 3s all series long when Dennis refused to guard him. Without Rodman though, no way the Spurs win 62 games or whatever and advance to the WCF. Robinson was a MVP, Elliot was a former All-Star, but that team was ridiculously soft before Rodman came to town. Even with Rodman, Houston was a better team, because they had a set of role players who could execute in the clutch and the better superstars in Dream and Clyde.
Yeah, it's kind of classless for Avery Johnson to pin the blame all on Dennis Rodman. I mean, Dennis Rodman gave up because the ship was sinking. No one could guard Hakeem, but this guy to pounce on Dennis Rodman's antics which was done only after the team's back had been broken...that's a low blow. I wouldn't want him to be my coach...especially considering that Dennis Rodman went on to win 3 rings with the Bulls, antics and all...
