ClutchCity.net Game Thread: Rockets @ Sonics 11/29/2002

Thanks for telling us. Time to eat crow for you now.

Can someone please save us from this idiot?

Thanks.

 

Nice recap, ZRB.

It also reminded me that I am very hungry...might go for a steak .

 

His shot was off last night. His box score won't be pretty, but he was a major factor in the 3rd quarter, as other posters have noted.

 

You know, we talk about how Yao's shot was off last night. 3 of 7 is 42.8%, about a percent below the league average...

 

That Yao's block on Mr. Payton's layup was very very awesome!

 

Oh, I don't know, all his posts look pretty much the same to me. example:

This person is on your Ignore List. To view this post click [here]

 

Yeah, yeah. yeah we've heard this already, Rudy didn't win a championship without Hakeem, how many championships did Hakeem win before Rudy arrived? Meanwhile in the 2nd half of this Seattle game the ball movement was awesome, and other then a few ISO this team was looking great ball movement wise and it would have looked better if the Rockets kept hitting shots in the 4th. Rudy is doing a great job coaching this team, we could easily be the Clippers and be 6 or 7 games under .500 with a wealth of talent instead Rudy has this team with the 3rd best record in the West, without their #2 scorer. All this while utilizing Ming much better, and thus having Rice be utilized better. I think that is changing your game plan and showing you can coach.

 

Teams win championships, Hakeem doesn't dominate if he doesn't convince the team to believe in each other. The Rockets don't beat the Suns if Elie doesn't hit that 3 in the corner. They don't beat Utah without Hakeem, they don't beat the teams with the frontcourts without Horry. They don't play with the teams with the backcourts with Sam Cassell, Vernon Maxwell and Clyde Drexler, it wasn't just Rudy dumping the ball into the paint to Hakeem, if that were the case Hakeem and Shaq would have like a 20 championships between them. Did you see tonight's game, when Rudy made the team execute the offense looked good, the jump shooting just tailed off in the 4th quarter. Rudy can't make guys hit shots. And Rudy can't make fans come to the Compaq Center, if having one of the best records in the West doesn't bring fans in nothing will.

 

You complain about ZRB starting a thread (and whe is the last time ZRB has started a bunch of threads, does he start more the none thread per year), yet you come in and waste bandwidth and re-post Clutch's rules in the thread? Pot, Kettle, black.

 

Rockets Offense looked good in the 3rd qtr, best i've seen it in year. Of course it was atrocious for the other 3.

It does seem the Rockets Offense is trapped in mid-90's mode. I love Rudy, but sometimes I wonder if he's a bit one-dimensional offensively.

But here's the thing...he is so good with developing players and building teamwork that I am not going to get too critical at this point. At times I can see what he is doing. The cuts are their, it just seems the players are making mistakes in a complex offense.

Yao Ming made some crazy passes out to the perimeter that I was thinking...How did he see that?????

Unless of course those players were SUPPOSED TO BE THERE, and Yao knew it as soon as the double team came.

Rudy is a smart coach, he knows that certain matchups can't be beaten one-on-one and will command a double team or result in a high percentage shot. If a team commits to a double, the passing game should open and cuts then occur resulting in higher percentage shots.

If no double, he hopes to exploit the mismatch. I think what we see, with this team, is simply the learning process of learning a system.

Also, keep in mind that players like EG are shooting outside jumpers they shouldn't be shooting. We definitely need Mobley back and that will be a boost. What exactly is wrong with his ankles? He is always having ankle problems. I am begining to wonder about his durability.

 

We are now ranked 3rd in the West... But we could have held a better record.. Way to go Rockets! Keep up the GREAT D~!

 

http://sonicscentral.com/

Yao!
Rockets Ming Makes Universal Impression


November 30th, 2002
To win games at home, the Sonics must first learn how to take a lead and hold it.

After shooting 64 percent, hitting on 14 of 22 attempts in the second period, the Sonics seemingly had control of a stagnant Houston Rockets team, heading into halftime with a solid 46 to 36 lead. But Yao Ming and the Rockets took advantage of a horrible performance by the Supes in the third quarter, as they levelled the Sonics with their own Sonic boom, shooting 13 of 18 while Seattle stumbled, making only four of 23 attempts resulting in a 32 to 11 thrashing in front a national television audience.

Early in the third, confusion began with two misguided jumpers by Vladimir Radmanovic, both came up short, which caused Seattle to chase after the Rockets transistion offense. Scrambling for a resolution, Nate Macmillan pulled Radmanovic out in favor of stalwart Desmond Mason, hoping that his team would then finally be able to instigate some interior scoring. But the Sonics continued their poor defensive rotations, and nonexistent half-court offense, proving to be the launching pad for Steve Francis and Glen Rice as they combined for 22 points in the frame, including 13 from Francis who finished with a game high 21. Still, much quarter belonged to the talented giant Ming who's stunning agility and awareness allowed Houston to hold Seattle to to their lowest scoring output for a quarter this season. Seatle's Peja Drobnjak was thoroughly outmatched by the towering phenom. With Seattle's mishaps, Ming took charge, guiding the Rockets with three assists in the quarter as well as a pivotal block of a Brent Barry layup attempt that led to him feeding Kenny Thomas for a crucial basket that broke a string of four straight missed shots by the Rockets as they rallied for a 68-57 edge with a quarter left to play.

After dominating the third, the Rockets were only able to manage 15 points in the final period. But it proved to be inconsequential as the Sonics were unable to find a lasting rythym in the final minutes of the game.

Seattle managed just 26 points on 9-of-37 shooting in the second half.

"Twenty-six points in the second half?" Sonics coach Nate McMillan said. "We are a jump-shooting team. We have to learn to mix it up, attack the basket and not just rely on the perimeter game, because you just can't shoot the lights out every night."

The Sonics were held to 38 percent shooting for the game.

Gary Payton set a franchise record by playing in his 964th career game but was held to only 10 points on 3-of-16 shooting, he also handed out 14 assists as he continues his unselfish play and leads the league with 10.6 assists per game. This was his 10th double-double of the year, good for third best in the NBA.

Desmond Mason continued his strong play in thirty-seven minutes, scoring 19 points while Rashard Lewis contributed 18 for the SuperSonics who fell to 9-8 on the season after surging to an early 8-2 mark. They have now lost six times in the last seven games.

Glen Rice scored 12 points and Kenny Thomas had 12 points and 10 rebounds, while the rookie standout Ming had six points, four rebounds and five assists for Houston.

 

I thought that was the best team game this season. There was ball movement, and people moving without the ball. Steve maybe is a little too unselfish at times, but it's a great improvement over the pass. Yao adjusted and played with what the Seattle defense gave him.

The whole team was having some great ball movement last night.

Our defense is miles ahead of where it was last year too.

The more they play this style of basketball the more comfortable they will be with one another, and moving the ball around. That can only improve things. I hope our shooting becomes more consistent. Once that happens the Rockets will really be a force.

 

I have been thinking about that. What are position in points allowed a game? first being the lowest, we are probably up there

edit:We are third, only behind portland and phoenix.

 

Currently Rockets are fifth in the league in points allowed. That's pretty good. I think we will keep moving lower. Rockets played great defense last night agaist Seattle, who averaged 96.7 points per game.

http://www.nba.com/statistics/sortable_team_statistics/00002.html

Team Points Scored Points Allowed
1 Detroit 86.1 81.7
2 Denver 76.9 84.9
3 Phoenix 84 85.9
4 San Antonio 91.5 85.9
5 Houston 89.4 86.7
6 Portland 88.4 87.5
7 Miami 82.5 88.4
8 Washington 90.3 88.8
9 Indiana 97.6 88.9
10 Dallas 103.4 90
11 New Jersey 96.9 90.2
12 Philadelphia 96.6 90.5
13 Utah 93.8 90.6
14 New Orleans 96.1 92.1
15 Sacramento 99.6 93.8
16 Seattle 94.2 93.9
17 Toronto 87.6 94.4
18 Boston 96.5 94.4
19 L.A. Lakers 92.1 95.4
20 Minnesota 94.1 95.5
21 Milwaukee 98.8 96.3
22 L.A. Clippers 93.1 96.9
23 Cleveland 83.9 97.7
24 New York 91 98
25 Golden State 97.1 98.8
26 Atlanta 99.1 98.8
27 Chicago 91.5 99
28 Orlando 99.5 100.6
29 Memphis 95.2 101.7

 

thanks for telling me that exists, now ive permanently shut tommycatluvsme up . i recommend others do the same, ive seen way too many people waste words on the poor guy/girl. he's/she's very, very bitter that he's/she's a loser, dont give him the satisfaction that people actually care about what he/she/it says.

 

I was out of town and missed the game and CC.net. It figures that the Yao Will and some of the rest of us thought would pop up did it then. I honestly believe we're going to see high assist #'s from Yao on a regular basis. It's really taking less time then expected, if this game was an accurate indication of him and the infant system growing and coming together.

Congrats to ZRB for getting the official CC.net recap... great job! Good stuff from zenithnadir, NewYorker and some of the rest of you. And thanks for that read, ron413.

Now, if the several pages of **** I waded through to find the good stuff hadn't been there, I could have caught up easier, but that's part of the BBS too, I guess.