The way Artest played last night, there wasn't too much more Tmac could do, he didn't have any physical advtg against Artest, and Artest just had his best game of the year (maybe his entire career). Actually if he did more, he could be foul trouble and had to take the bench and we would be screwed. His defense on Artest already comsumed way too much energy for him to contribute on the offensive end. But somehow he did tune up a notch in the 4th quarter. Tmac was good, as was Battier, Head and Hayes/Deke did their jobs, but Alston and Howard were back to their previous self. Alstons shot selection was horrendous, Howard was dreamwalking on the court. Bonzi was not effective at all. JVG should be really happy instead.
I haven't read this whole thread, so if someone else already addressed this, my apologies. Did Clyde actually say last night, 'Rafer is an excellent finisher around the basket.' Does Clyde ever think before he speaks? The one thing Rafer needs to work on about 30 hours every day during the offseason is : HOW TO MAKE A LAYUP for dummies. He COULD be a good finisher around the basket if he wasn't so scared of any contact. But as it is now, Rafer is, at best, a random crap-shoot around the basket - far from what Clyde said.
This game totally sucked from a Rocket's fan standpoint except for the run we made in the end of the 2nd half and of course the last 4 minutes of the 4th quarter and OT...the finish was awesome though! It was a must-win game and the boys came through. Disliked: Rafer's teardrop, it's not even close to the poor man's Jeff Hornacek's teardrop...now that was a teardrop (don't get me wrong, I hated "Horny"). Chuck Hays blowing layup after layup. It ain't new but it isn't any less annoying. Luther Head any time he dribbles or passes Rockets total lack of intensity for most of the game Liked: Rafer hitting some big 3s to keep us in it Battier T-Mac ripping Artest at the end of the 2nd half and then bringing it up the court and dishing for an assist with Artest draped all over him Chuck "Windex" Hayes T-Mac's scream after faking John Salmons out of his shoes and swishing the jumper from the top of the key T-Mac hitting that turnaround over Artest. Every time he shoots that turnaround it's like, "Man there is now way that is going in," and then it goes in. Luther stepping up in the 4th quarter and his ability to shake off the mistakes he makes.
Yeah, seriously. I heard him also say that Chuck Hayes was a great finisher around the basket, too. I love 'em both, but no, JUST NO! I'm pretty sure he also made the comment on Chuck after he had already missed a couple layups. Oh, Clyde....
maybe it was both... tmac does turn it on and off when he wants to...you can see that...rafer has his moments on defense but overall he can't keep his man in front of him, thus he resorts to stripping the ball as his main defense. i think if we play a 3 guard lineup we should go to a alston-mcgrady-snyder lineup...kinda like last night except he used head instead...
jvg was about to bring rafer and i think juwan back in right before luther started going nuts; when the rockets were making the run, rafer and juwan left the scorer's table and returned to the bench. those are the tough decisions i'm glad i don't have to make, because you never know if you're going to end up looking like an idiot or a genius.
I think one of the people he's calling out is Head cause he has trouble guarding his man at times. For instance, the Kings were going to Kevin Martin most possessions when Luther was guarding him, and it was working. Plus against Dallas, he was having problems with the bigger and athletic SGs.
