Shooting percentages for players, by team, career, season or whatever don't tell the whole story. Some shots are simply bigger than others. Of course, the last second winning bucket comes to mind. But what about those momentum killing misses: the blown lay up, the missed free throw, the wide open clunker. They can change a ball game. No, more, they can determine the eventual outcome of a game. On the other hand a timely swisher can excite the crowd, energize a team, or swing the momentum. What's my point? The Yao/TMac Rockets with the exception of the Sura/Barry team seem to be the master of the untimely miss: the wide open rim out, the over the back board lay up, and the misses everything free throw. I have been playing and watching basketball for a long time. I like college and the NBA. I honestly can't recall more untimely misses by one team in a season than this group of Rockets. Yes, I know they aren't exactly a bunch of sharpshooters, BUT, at the worst possible points in games, they blow easy shots and miss critical free throws. There has to be a reason. Nobody is that UNLUCKY. Concentration? Practice? Fatigue? Trying to hard? Psychological? Habit? What? After these blunders, you can just feel the air go out of their confidence. It is really a shame. Bring in a shooting coach? Have them all undergo eye exams? Bring in a sharpshooter like the Jazz did? There must be an answer.
the last real sharpshooter was jim jackson and Jon Barry. Rockets need a Kyle Korver kinda guy.. luther head is a good 3 point shooter but sometimes he can just flat out brick..
Novak's third quarter was intriguing enough to where I hope he can continue to get minutes at least semi-consistently. I think he's been under used in last possession type situations. And I really hope with some more time he'll eventually become tolerable on defense. He's easily our best shooter.
I'd start with a layup coach. Scrubola, Wells, Hayes, Alston and Head are HORRIBLE at finishing around the rim. Yao is only slightly better, but he gets a pass because he shouldn't be laying it up most of the time. Then, I'd move to a FT coach. Apart from Yao, Brooks and Head, I cringe everytime a Rocket goes to the line. I am frankly not surprised with anyone apart from the three mentioned miss both FTs. They are that BAD. Yes, then a shooting coach would help too.
My point is not just "poor" shooting overall, but UNTIMELY misses and precious few clutch shots. Just a function of poor shooting, or something else? When it REALLY COUNTS, does a lack of confidence and a history of clunkers haunt our players? Free throws are a related topic.
If you can define what you mean by "really counts", it might be possible to check what the Rockets (or individual players) percentages have been in those instances and compare it to the league average.
I dont believe in clutch shootings. It's a hit and miss league. You hit your fair share and you miss your fair too. Michael Jordan said it best. MJ said he missed his fair share of last shots but people remember mostly the last shots he made.
(1). at those so-call important shots like in the last minute of the game, the opponent's defense is much tough then in other time; (2). tired after a 40 minutes fight, at least I know the fatigue plays a big role in Yao's performance though he has made great progress this season.
As for Novak -- as far as I'm concerned he's good only for spot duty and special situations in which a shooter is needed to help space the floor. Until he figures out how the heck to rotate correctly on defense, I don't want to ever see him get more than 5 minutes in a row again.
You are tied and have a chance to take the lead, but then a series of clunkers and the opponent surges ahead. Your opponent goes on a hot streak, but you can't make a lay up or a free throw and they take the lead away from you. End of quarters. The game is back and forth, but right after a time out, you have the ball, but suddenly can't buy a basket, the opponent takes control. etc. I don't think this can be statistically analyzed. Every game has momentum shifts, critical moments, turnarounds when one team delivers a punch and the other can't. This happens to all teams, but it seems to happen to the Rockets more consistently.
Fatigue is a factor, but not early in games. Hitting big baskets seems to energize players and teams. Critical misses tend to demoralize the same.
I can't remember too many choke jobs our team has put on that could be summed up in a single play. In fact, I remember Head and Battier making quite a few threes to win us games. I think our bigger problem is just godawful execution in general. Even if you're on a roll making all jumpers, that's basically useless because when crunch time comes, you NEED to go to a higher percentage shot. That's why I didn't care if we won last night, I just wanted Tracy taken out and the rest of the guys trying to run our offense. Because when crunch time in the season comes, it won't matter how many games we won with good shooting. The Jazz had the Deron-to-Boozer PnR. The Spurs have the Tim Duncan face-up bank shot or post-up hook shot from the top. The Rockets have...Tracy McGrady off a screen from 22ft.
I remember I read somewhere indicating the layup is above 60% in term of FG in this league. What is ours? 55%?
I think that T-Mac is enough clutch. We have a great team but we dont use it well. We have great shooters like Head, Battier (Can hit open shot), Brooks and etc. We have two all-stars. Our only need is the pg position which sometimes, Alston do well. Our back-up pg is good, Brooks. Pf, Scola is very good. We have everything, but we need to use them well.
Yes, he isnt this year but he has the ability to be one. This year, he could have been but he decided to give his spot.
Adding Novak make our rotation have 11 guys.seems that the playing time is hard to be shared with so many guys.
