ClutchFans Game Thread: Grizzlies @ Rockets 11/01/2003

Pike would be idea. He has range and he is also tall enough. They still need to work on the lob pass, otherwise Yao will keep getting fronted. If SF, Pike, JJ can pass high quality lob pass to Yao, then opponents will be in trouble, because they cannot front Yao and they cannot leave the passer open either.

 

Good idea.

Do JVG and his staffs read this forum?

 

Reasons why we lost this game:

First, look at our shooting:

24-of-66 (36 percent)

STEVE FRANCIS 6-16
JIM JACKSON 2-10
CUTTINO MOBLEY 4-9
Bostjan Nachbar 0-5
Maurice Taylor 2-7
KELVIN CATO 2-4
YAO MING 7-11
Moochie Norris 1-4

Second, look at our turnovers:

22 Turnovers! Steve lead the bunch with 6 of those turnovers. Jimmy Jackson had 4. Cat had 3. Cato had 3. Yao, Mo and Moochie had 2.

It frustrated me to watch Steve try to do fancy, no-look pass only to turn the ball over or watch Cat dribble the ball off his foot.

Here's a quote from Mo Taylor:

"Dribbling off our foot, throwing passes to guys that weren't there. ... We just turned the ball over too much," forward Maurice Taylor said. "When you're turning the ball over on your own and they're causing you to turn it over a couple times, that's just bad on top of bad.

"We can't be a team that only wins one way. We have to find a way to win when the shots aren't falling, when the shots are a little raggedy. It wasn't a pretty game."

 

I can't say I watched the game, but I would rather Steve be shooting 6/16 then 4/9. His reponsibility is to be the 1st/2nd option in offense which involves shooting the ball. EVERYONE has off shooting nights, people must realise this! Especially when no one else is hitting their shots and Yao is being tightly defended. People are saying Stro... a 6'9 guy fronting a 7'6 guy should be no problem lobbing over. Anyone here know that Stro has like a 40 inch vertical? Not to mention lob passes are volnerable to being poked away from the defender on Yao's back (Gasol was defending Yao's back? 7'1?). The thing that is troubling the pass in this situation is either bad positioning by Cato or whoever is playing the 4 spot, or just having no offensive threat at the 4. If we have MoT hitting jumpers then I guarentee that Yao will not be fronted by anyone and spacing will be alot better to run the offense.

I must admitt that our handling of the full court press was horrible, we must have people spreading the court for passes and not dribbling into trouble and throwing it to a big guy who can't dribble. 14 seconds on the clock to run a play... terrible!

 

Whats up with your text? It was giving me fits reading that big crap!

 

We own the Toyota Center!

We now are tied with the highest NBA regular season wins for any team in your house

All jokes aside...good game and see you guys in Memphis!

 

what took you so long?

we will beat you next time
good luck in the season

 

Down by 4 with 40 seconds left . . .

AND YOU DON'T FOUL??

The game was in all likelihood already lost at that point, but nonetheless - we better not see that kind of stupidity again. There is no excuse for not fouling immediately in that situation (opponent with multiple-possession lead and ability to take clock below 24 seconds simply by sitting on the ball).

Even church league coaches know that drill.

Fortunately, my new seats are well within earshot of JVG et al (when the music is off and the crowd is quiet), and I let him know what I thought of that move, which made me feel a little better!

 

MemphisX,

Didnt you come in here giving us a hard time last year after winning the 1st game??? I mean, you remember what happened the rest of the season right??

Seriously though. If you guys play defense like that all year long, youll be in good shape. I was very impressed last night.

 

Read the quote, I did not say Cat by himself. And I don't care if you only take one shot, if it is not a good shot then it is one too many.

And I can certainly see your logic, make sure Cat and Steve, who by the way are only shooting 40% and averaging 8 freaking turnovers a game, should continue to dominate the ball and shoot even more while ignoring the one player on the team that is shooting almost 70%. Yeah that makes a lot of sense.

 

I sure hope NBA League Pass will not be like last year where we never got to hear Calvin and Bill. Those Memphis announcers sucked big time.

 

Great so that explains it. There were many times that Yao Ming was ignored when he was not being fronted and of the times that he was being fronted the weak side help was not for his defender. This game comes down to one thing and one thing only. Stupid Guard play. Our guards looked more like the Keystone Cops, dribbling balls off of their feet, behind the back no look passes that went off of the head of the defenders and errant lob passes. Dribble, Dribble turnover.

 

You guys played a great game....Hubie gets the most out of his players. I love Hubie Brown! Damn Rockets! Yao, be more aggressive! Steve, stop trying to make sports center top 10! Cat, I hate you right now..this very instant.

 

Why do you foul, put the team on the line, and give them an easy 2 points which makes it an EXTRA possession to make up for? Remember, under JVG, sometimes our best offense will come from our defense.

 

Hubie coached his team perfectly last night. His players listened to his scheme and executed well defensively. It is very difficult to win in this league with 22 turnovers and 14 assists. The Griz basically had the reverse of that (12 TO--24 assists.)
-Yao needs to take fewer "finesse" shots and dunk more.
-The guards need to dribble less.
-Moochie needs to be off the court "cheerleading" (why does he run/skip down the court clapping his hands all the damn time?)
-We must convert easy layups/dunks and the fastbreak.
-The Bench must step up.
Wilkes must be terrible in practices. That's the only reason I can see why Moochie gets so many minutes. I realize our bench is pretty depleted with injuries/suspension, but why in the HELL is Moochie on the court in the final ONE minute of the game when we're down by less than 5 points?!? Somebody please help me understand...

Ok, I feel better getting that off my chest. Every team in the West has at least one loss except the Lakers and the Sonics. It's just the second game. We'll get our bench back soon enough. I'll still be watching every game on NBALP and pounding sauce every time Moochie touches the ball ...

 

To be precise, there were 44.7 seconds left and 4 points is a 2 possession game that could be tied with 2 two pointers.

Assuming you stopped them defensively, you had a minimum 20 seconds to score 2 (or 3) and then foul with the game a 2 (or 1 point lead).

Using your logic possibly puts you down by 5 or 6 with 35-40 seconds left. And if it's 6, both possessions have to be 3's on a night when the Rox were 2-14 at the 3 point arc.

So which FT has more pressure...up by 2 or 1 with 15 seconds or up by 4 with 40 seconds?

Sorry, but I'm with Van Gundy on this one. The problem wasn't Van Gundy's logic, it was having Moochie abused by Earl Watson when he made a difficult shot just inside the FT line at 22.5 seconds. On the floor for that possession with Watson were Gasol, Battier, Posey and Miller who were a combined 13 for 36 at that point.

 

...and MOOCHIE is on the damn court!!!

 

The old Rox was still here. Never easy to change. Man.

 

I think Padgett needs to work quickly in the rotation to take Nachbar's minutes so he can put some shots down.
The Rockets underestimated the Grizzlies after the Denver win and got punished.
Van Gundy needs to get a hold on the guys so they start executing the game plan and cut down on turnovers. The interior defense was poor and Wright got too many points even though he isn't a physical player. Yao,Cato and Mo have to play better defense in the paint and the guards have to do a lot better as well, pass the ball to get good shots and run the fast break.

 

I feel sorry for moochie... he lost his fro.. lost weight.. and still can't play
I think he has lost his swagger..
NOw, he is a backup pg who can't dribble.. can't make a pass... and get scored on in his face all the times.

I really think when pike comes back, cuttino needs to be move to the bench. so He can play with the second unit.. and iso, where it seems the only time he is effective.