ClutchFans Game Thread: Grizzlies @ Rockets 10/23/2007 (PRESEASON)

Totally disagree on your judgement on MJ. He's NOT a good point guard.

When he's on count running the offense, you can easily find the chemestry is a huge problem because everyone know you won't get a pass from him unless he has nowhere to go.

He's a poorman version of AI. They do get assists since they can penetrate. But that kind of pass is more like "I have no way to go and I can't shoot, so I got to find someone to pass". If you look back those all time great PG, Magic, Stockton, Nash..., they look for pass, their top priority in a game is to make their teammates involved, get them easy shots and control the pace of the games. MJ, on the other hand, is only an undersized SG. If you let him handle the ball, it would be disarster for the rest of the team on offsense, especially for those big men.

Yes, Yao was floppy tonight. But if I was him, I wouldn't try hard as well. If you know you won't get any good pass from him and this is only an experimental preseason game, nobody would play hard.

MJ is a ballhog. You can mark my word: if he is our starting PG and/or is the PG of the team in the clutch time, Rox will never be able to win a championship. Never!

 

Wow, the end of the game with Steve handling the ball was like a flashback to the older Rocket days! With the same results too.

He can still take his man one-on-one, but not without taking up too much clock. And is his defense actually worse?

 

I think at the end of the game STeve was passing as well. Most of our final baskets came off of Steve assists.

 

you have to be kidding. steve kept them in the game. got novak a game winning shot. played good d on lowery at the end of regulation. and you hate because he dribbled.



LET IT GO

The same results, its a preseason game

 

It is true, the threat of a knife slash to the throat helps motivate.

 

i'm pretty sure coach wanted him to just take over and play. there was no other options. no one else could have createt shots for him, or himself. then at the end of regulation or 1st OT, steve had wide open shot, but listened to coach, and passed it to novak. great game for stevie on the offensive side, little worried about his defense, though.

 

U G L Y

 

I aree only Steve was the real option, with maybe Head sometimes. And he had some great plays.

If only Steve could do that within the context of the offense. But he can't, which is why he is behind Rafer, MJ, and Head on the depth chart despite being far more talented.

 

funny, he seemed to be ahead of head on the depth chart, and if he wasn't playing in the offense why did adelman leave him the game and continue to let him run the offense.

the only time the offense slowed was when luther was playing point, dribbling off his foot, leaving clyde to call for steve to go back to handling the rock.

 

All of a sudden PF looks shaky again and they need another one there for nights like these. Landry did put up a good showing but it was up against some stiff and a 30 pound lighter SF (Warrick) masquerading as a PF. He wasn't effective by the second OT anyway. Landry's part of the Rocket's future but he won't help this year.

This is why they should of kept Harris, he was pseudo-second year player that could've helped now.

 

Luther shouldnt play point. But I think he will play more minutes than Steve overall. At the SG positon.

Luther had a good game as well. 14 pts and 7 assists.

 

I am disappointed in Yao's mental approach. It looks like Adelman's laid back approach is rubbing off on him too much. He was way too lackadasical, just not into it, missing Free Throws, standing around, dangling the ball out there for the defenders.

It will be interesting to see how these guys do tonight in Memphis, especially if they stick Rafer back in there. Mike James sure can shoot it, but our first unit looked terrible out there for some reason.

 

If anything Steve got his teammates involved more than Mike James. People who were just listening on the radio are just basing it on biased commentary from the radio guy who was going to slant everything Francis did one way no matter what he did. Francis was attacking the rim hard almost every time in the late stretch, drawing defenses and then finding his teammates. He showed why he can still be a big help to this team. He's still the best among our point guards at attacking the rim and creating his own shot. You could see what a difference when Head ran the point for one possession....I was like "NO! give it to Steve." Steve can still take over games. Francis and Bonzi would be our instant offense. If the rest of our crew are having trouble scoring....I'm pretty sure they'd get you a shot...they were attacking the rim. If Battier and Scola are the Charge brothers...then Franics and Bonzi are the take it to the hole brothers. I was kind of disappointed in MIke James today.....I don't think the commentator should have given him the award for the night. He really didn't involve his teammates....even if they are having an off night....he should at least look to get them easy shots. Also, some of the passes to Yao were terrible passes. Brooks might be our future...he can penetrate with speed, create for others and hit the 3. By the way, we might have added another guy that can take charges--Landry to our collection: Scola, Battier, Hayes. If Landry can develop even more and be consistent defensively.....he might be even more help than Hayes because he's got quite a nice midrange game and moves around the basket that can either work well with Yao, be our post threat with Mutombo, or work well with Scola or Hayes.

 

If it was just an energy thing/off night the best way to tell is to start the same games then bring Rafer on if it continues to be mush.

I really hope they don't start Rafer. By not doing so we can have a clearer picture of the situation.

 

I guess what I'd like to see is the same 4 starters run out there with each of the PGs to see how they gel. But it' so hard because in preseason, nobody's playing hard.

 

The starters totally were half-azzing it out there...you could totally tell by the way they wanted to leave and didn't want to see another overtime.....whereas the guys on the bubble and guys who's standing in the rotation is not secure who fighting hard. The energy started to pick up once the C team got out there.

 

PLEASE CLICK HERE FOR MORE PHOTOS

 

Clutch (the bear) is so cute.

 

We can only hope Yao's problem last night was just mental. In addition to his slowness, what bothered me the most was how little he fought to seal him man so he could receive a pass in the post. It was nearly impossible to get him the ball. And that ugly move when Yao tried to attack the basket from the top of the key was just crazy. He barely got one dribble down before being stripped clean. It's been a while since a healthy Yao was so easy to guard.

I was also uncomfortable with the number of shots MJ took, but the more I think about it, the more it seems if he hadn't shot so much we wouldn't have scored at all to start the game. Yao was terrible and Tracy was clearly disinterested much of the time. Can Shane shoot much worse than 1-8? If MJ hadn't shot the ball well early, how many points would we have scored in the first quarter? 10? 12? And in all fairness, I realize MJ had zero assists, but nobody else was hitting anything. For that matter, MJ was the only starter who was pumped and ready to go at the beginning. It was like the other 4 starters were fat and happy with what they did to Seattle.

Speaking of Seattle, don't forget my favorite lineup of MJ, Tracy, Shane, Scola & Yao blistered the Sonics 38-19 in the 3rd quarter.

 

MORE game photos of the Rockets in this double OT loss to the Memphis Grizzlies.