Got locked by Clutch coz I forgot include the link and can not edit. Here's the link: http://www.chron.com/disp/story.mpl/sports/bk/bkn/4304766.html Anyone else got tired of hearing the same words by our coach and players about the lack of intensity and effort especially in the beginning of the game? ---------------------------- More fizzle than sizzle Belated rally doesn't atone for dismal start SALT LAKE CITY - Finally, the Rockets opened the 2006-07 season — roughly 40 minutes of basketball after the Utah Jazz did. After waiting six months to salve the pain of a lost season and debuting a roster filled with renewed health and widespread renovations, the Rockets were in no hurry to do much of anything Wednesday night. The Rockets did not begin to match Utah's effort and intensity until the fourth quarter. By then, it was enough only to get the Jazz to swat them one more time to close out a thorough 107-97 win before 18,133 in the Delta Center. Despite their late chance to steal a win, the Rockets were outplayed in almost every way. "During that stretch, we showed how good we can be," Rockets guard Kirk Snyder said. "For the majority of the game, we showed how bad we can be." On the court where Yao Ming's left foot cracked for the final, fitting fall of a dreadful 2005-06 season, a new season began with the Rockets often looking just as hopeless as in the old one. But after sinking to as much as a 19-point deficit in the fourth quarter, the Rockets finally showed an aggressive, hustling defense, sank a few shots and made a move. Rafer Alston, who missed his first six shots, nailed three fourth-quarter 3-pointers. Shane Battier hit one. Tracy McGrady scored on a three-point play as the Rockets pulled within 99-94 with 3 1/2 minutes left. Alston even launched another trey that could have cut the deficit to two with 2:55 remaining. He missed, and the Rockets had done enough to snap the Jazz back to attention. So on a night when the Jazz had smacked the Rockets around the arena with stunning ease, the Rockets' run inspired Utah to simply do it again. Reverting to earlier form After Alston's missed 3, he missed on a drive, McGrady rimmed out a pair of jumpers, and Yao turned the ball over in the lane with 66 seconds left. Meanwhile, the Jazz were scoring on four consecutive possessions to push their lead back to 13 with a minute remaining. With that, the Rockets' fourth-quarter noise had done nothing to change that they were manhandled virtually all night. "We were surprised at what type of intensity they were going to bring," McGrady said. "Those guys came out with unbelievable intensity. They beat us in every category. They wanted it more. "I just think we weren't ready for this. They came out with great intensity, execution, getting loose balls, getting on the ground. They did whatever it took to win this ballgame." After a few solid minutes to begin the season, the Rockets managed to squeeze every form of failure into a horrible first-half stretch, helping the Jazz take a 20-point lead. The Rockets shot poorly overall and horribly from the line. The defense was slow and foul-prone. They committed two illegal defense infractions. They were whipped on the boards, giving up 12 second-chance points in the first half. There was a lane violation. Later, they had a violation inbounding the ball. They even lost the tip. McGrady finished with 25 points and nine assists but made just eight of 24 shots and missed five free throws. Yao had 22 points but played much of the game in foul trouble. For all their offensive problems, the Jazz tore through a Rockets defense that in the preseason had led the NBA in opponents' scoring and field-goal percentage. It was one thing when the Jazz were running pick-and-rolls and Carlos Boozer, who had 24 points and 19 rebounds, was nailing jumpers. But with the Rockets barely hanging on within 11 in the third quarter, Boozer ran down a miss and saved it to Ronnie Brewer, who sliced to the hole as if running in a layup line. Much too easy for Jazz Deron Williams, who had 18 points and 10 assists, drove to another layup and then did it again, this time driving the length of the floor after a Rockets basket to seemingly demonstrate that the Jazz could dismantle the Rockets' defense at will. "That's like getting hit in the face," Snyder said. "All you can do is get hit and fight back. It was impressive to see how we pulled together in the fourth quarter and made a run. If we played like that beginning to end, we'd have no problem. It's unfortunate we didn't play hard enough from the beginning of the game. They played much harder." For most of the night, it did not seem that the Rockets noticed. At least not until it was too late. jonathan.feigen@chron.com
Thats a very true article, I love the the Rockets started the season about 40 minutes after the Jazz did, it is soooo true.
Someone has to ignite the team's passion. Tmac can't do it, he is too passive by nature....can Yao? This is where we miss Bobby Sura a lot, and V-span could fill that role but probably not until he gets settled down some. Got to play hard each and every night......or, you lose to the Utah's of the world...... Utah played, hard, smart, hustling basketball....if I didn't hate em so much it would have been beautiful to watch. DD
yeah, i am a bit worried about the emotion on this team. if we look back to two years ago this team struggled until sura came off the injured list and we picked up barry and wesley. pure energy and hustle. it's very apparent that as good as yao and t-mac are, they're not fiery leaders. they need guys around them who inspire not only the team, but most importantly, them. i think v-span has that quality but he doesn't have the game to back it up, YET. bonzi has some fire. sura is mr. perfect for yao and tracy so lets all hope he really does have a comeback in him. a semi-healthy sure may be able to bridge the ignitor gap until v-span is ready.
I dont want to freakin hear this again You should bring all you got every single game, all your intensity, EVERYTHING I bring that to all my games, so why cant they? they are paid wayyyyyyy more than me END VENT
I think Feigin is right. they couldve won tonight easily. I was waiting for MOTHS for the season to tip off, and I am talking **** to a lot of my collegues. I was actually clowning the **** out of miami for their loss, but now what can I say....at least we didnt get blown out by 40? the Rockets(and for that matter the heat) are MUCH better than this. I think the player were not mentally prepared across the board. With that being said, I think the Rockets are going beat dallas by 13.
battier getting into foul trouble so early in the 1 qtr is why the game turned out the way it did. i'm not worried about battier against dallas. i'm will be about rafer though.
You beat me to it. WTF kind of excuse is That's BS, when has a Jerry Sloan team been known not to bring intensity, ever?!? This is the farking NBA, and for being out as long as they have, I thought they would have been fired up!
This is what I have been saying last night during the first 3Qs of the game. They lack intensity intheir offense. They lack intensity in their defense. Believe me, I was flipping back and forth the channel from the Cavs game then Rockets, I feel like watching the WNBA when I clicked to FSN. Dull game for the Rox last night. I hope they should get embarrased by their performance. No way will I be paying my hard-earned money to watch their game live for this crap.
Sounds like the Rockets bought their own hype. "Hey, we're healthy and we've got new players! Guess we can just pencil in those 55 wins and a Finals appearance right now, huh? Woohoo!" The sad thing is that this article reads almost like something you'd find on The Onion, except this one's true
it really doesn't need to be said again, but hell I'll do it anyway. The passion guys are there. Wells should know that his $$$ ride on him firing this team up, and he'll look brilliant if he does because that means the team will start fighting and winning. Vspan makes so many mistakes, but the guy is a team player with fire. his presence to say start the 2nd quarter would be a big boost. Some of these guys need that push. We have the fire, we just didn't use it last night. And chucky and battier are quieter, but their hustle will gradually infect this team as well. I've got some ease knowing that the pieces are really there.... van gundy just needs to know how to use them....
Disappointing start of the season to say the least. The season is 82 games long so I know better than to panic right from the start. Our team has a lot of new players on it and those guys will need to build chemistry before we start winning consistently. Chemistry is the key and it takes time to build it, and time is something we have a lot of right now. I would look for us to play .500 or slightly below that mark for the first 20 to 25 games, then if we stay healthy, we should start winning more and live up to the expectations that everyone has.
All I can say is that it is a pain in ass to be a Rox fan. Higher expectation, bigger dispointment. When you are about to give up on them, they make a run for a few games. When you get back on them, BANG, another disappointment. It is pretty much true for past few years.
I love T-mac but I was more than a little bothered when I read that this morning. I hope last nites game shows the Roxs the kind of insensity they need to bring in their home opener
