ClutchFans Game Thread: Rockets @ Blazers 11/21/2003

I say the Rockets try to recruit Jesus. Jesus would make a great power-forward, or maybe a point guard. There's absolutely no way, another player would try to rough up Jesus in the paint (well, maybe the Muslim players). Not to mention that refs would give Jesus all the calls He wants.

Though I am worried about a game against New Jersey. Alonzo Mourning might touch Jesus and Jesus would accidentally heal Mourning of his kidney disease, which would result in a rejuvinated Mourning.

But with Jesus on the roster, the Lakers have no chance. Absolutely no chance. All Jesus has to do is turn to Kobe and say, "I know what you did last summer" and Kobe would scream and run out of Staples center.

I say we try to offer Jesus a contract with the Rockets so he can stop playing for the Florida Marlins.

 

I had already addressed that point not soon after my orignal response to the 8 second violation in the thread. The post you quoted was in response to yet another reactionary post; if people aren't going to read the thread before reaching for the keyboard, then they deserve absolutely no respect from me.

I do think JVG has been working on how to attack the press; they did have one good possession where they were able to get a good, wide-open look. But the other times were a little dicey. You always need someone past the midcourt line to recieve a pass during a two-man press, and during that possession, there wasn't anybody; both JJ and Cuttino were both behind the line. That's fine if you have, say, Yao or Cato around the top of the key to recieve; but he wasn't there that time. I have a feeling they'll be working on it again in practice.

The one thing I really don't like is that once the first pass is made to break the press, they just give it back to Steve to set up in the half-court again, sans the time needed to get around the press. I want to see them attack the press more aggressively; then teams wouldn't resort to it as often. But it looks like it'll take a bit more practice as a team to recognize the press and be ready for it, obviously.

 

I definitely agree with this poster. Jesus would definitely be the missing piece of the puzzle. Jesus would be more than a match for Novitski, Duncan, and Webber in the West.

 

I cant say anything else but i hope they beat the clippers

 

I looked at the entire game from last night again today. The final score was extremely misleading, Rockets was within 3 points with forward momentum until the mishaps happened with 2 minutes to go. Turnovers and missing good looks cost the game. Mo looked bad in the beginning but redeemed himself at the end.

 

On the other hand, Dallas won tonight. If you look at the league ladder now, it looks like Rocket will be passed over in the playoff picture soon. As it stands right now:

LA Laker
Dallas
Sacremento
San Antonio
Minnesota

are almost surely in, while

Portland
Seattle
Houston
Denver
Phoenix

fight for the remaining three spots. That is why losing to Portland is a big deal because Portland and Seattle appear to have a better hand in two of these three spots. Well, it may come down to the final game to decide the final spot again.

 

I don't think there is any point in arguing about this anymore. You see what you want to see and I will stand on my point of view. If you consider Ruben Patterson as a PF, then by all means do so. By my count, the Pfs and Cs (including Dale Davis, Zach, Stephania, and Rasheed Wallace) got in total 8 offensive rebounds (and remember, Wallace and Zach can be both Sfs or Pfs, and a lot of times people actually consider Zach as the Sf because he is shorter than Wallace by 2 inches). I pulled out the stats from 3 previous games before The rockets played Portland, in which the Rockets gave up 9, 8 and 4 offensive rebounds to the opposing Pfs and Cs, which is an average of 7 per game. So 8 wouldn't in any sense be a ridiculous number. No matter what you have seem, I saw Yao working very hard in boxing out Portland's Centers, but yes, I do believe he should stop tipping some of those rebounds to his teammates so that he could raise up the stats and shut some of the people on this board up. So once again, I have explained my stand and you can keep your comments to yourself. There is no point in arguing when 2 poeple see the same issue in different way.

 

I totally agree with you in this. But I would probably deduct Denver from the list coz I just don't think they are going to have enough steam ( or luck?) to keep their current momentum (and same for Utah, they are just not supposed to win this many games!, well, at least looking at their roster. Man, Sloan is just an excellent coach!) Further, I think Memphis is also another team that should raise our eyebrows, they are just able to beat some of the best teams up there like San Antonio, Lakers, Dallas, Seattle, etc. So you really have to watch how well they gonna do once their schedule becomes easier. Most importantly, we lost to them!, so I wouldn't hesitate in adding the Memphis to this long list.

 

tacoman82, C/PF/SF!!! It doesn't matter. We're talking about the team!!!!
You are just defending Yao!!!!

What is your point? You still haven't told me. That were not so bad? Heh...

My point is that the Rockets (PF/C/SF, you name it) have a bad habit of not blocking out; thus giving the other team extra chances. This is not just about last game, but others as well. You can bring average out of your butt all you want. The fact of the matter that is a weak point. Your standard of excellence is just that much lower than mine.

Key word: Rockets

You seem to be on the defensive about Yao this , Yao that...Please spare me. If he doesn't produce, then he will get critiqued.

Deal with it!!!

 

Who cares!!!!??? Again, you got this thing with matchig up centers stats with other center stats. Or PF stats with other PF stats.

That's not the issue. Stats alone suck! They don't tell the whole picture.

And the part about "consider Patterson a PF" or "Zach a SF" or "shorter than Wallace..."blah, blah, blah...

Again, big deal! It's not that important. It's about the total output of the team. A bad game plan. Bad technique and execution. Not my PF got X rebounds and your PF got Y rebounds. That's only looking at one small portion of the equation.

 

Yeah...

tacoman82 = Rockets giving up offensive rebounds is just fine

me = Rockets giving up offensive rebounds is a team weakness!

 

I agree on the respect factor about Yao - teams have respect for him because he's 7' 6'' but I don't think that their respect is based on the fear that Yao alone can & will beat you. Yao is getting doubled now almost as a matter of routine because teams have seen that he doesn't react well and that by doing so, it completely ruins whatever offensive scheme the Rockets are trying to run.

We agree about the rest of the team standing around. Often, Yao fights through the double teams and looks to pass the ball only to discover that no one has rotated with him to receive the pass from the post. So he's stuck in the teeth of a zone with the ball and nowhere to go. You can see that game by game, his frustration level is rising but there's nothing he can do because this is going to continue until the Rockets start making their opponents pay for employing this strategy. With the current personnel makeup of the guards & forwards, that's simply not going to happen on a consistent basis.

As for Pike, he is not the answer - merely another warm body off the bench. I repeat my contention that if the teams fortunes rest in the hands of a bench player - one from the Clippers no less, then this will be a long and tortuous season.

 

I think the problem with the Rockets offense isn't that they are stupid people. I think it has more to do with a how they approach the game of basketball. Quite simply, the Rockets are too old fashioned!

Basketball is evolving to a positionless sport. Atleast the elite teams in basketball are discovering that. More and more the roles of the guard vs. forward vs. centers are becoming more and more blurred. In general, teams that embrace this are the better teams in the league. For example, look at Brad Miller, recently, he got a TRIPLE DOUBLE playing for the Kings!! Now I don't think that ever happened when he played with Pacers.

Now in regards to the Rockets. I think they have too much of this old fashioned position mentality to basketball. That's not gonna cut it any more in this league. Even on this board, people have too much of this position mentality.

How many times do you see Francis setting picks? Now compare this with Steve Nash. Nash is always setting picks. Steve Francis probably thinks that guard don't need to set picks. Against Portland it seemed like Steve was thinking that his main objective as the point guard was to distribute the ball. In Portland, Steve was quite simply distributing the ball too much. He needed to drive to the bucket more against Portland. I'd rather see Steve's only objective is too attack the opponent, no matter what role it calls for him to do that!!

Steve thinks he's playing football, and he's the quarterback. What he needs to realize that on the basketball court. Anyone can be the "quarterback" at any given time, and anyone can be the "reciever" at any given time, and anyone can be the "blocker" at any given time. But I always see Steve stuck back being a "quarterback" making passes and occasionally eluding defenders for a big gain. I think Steve needs to give up the "quarterback" role and play positionless.

J

 

ALWEamen...I think your on to something.

The guards should set more picks, like Flopton did for Karla all those years in Utah.

 

You think that the Rockets are "old fashioned?" You've got to be kidding me?
The fact of the matter is that Francis is not a well-rounded basketball player. He's a SG, with scoring mentality. He's been "forced" to play the PG position which has fooled the coaching staff (Rudy) that he can learn the game/position as time goes on. This is not going to happen. Not anytime soon. He's a scorer (gifted athletically) with some passing ability. Just like most SGs (Kobe/Artest/Paul Pierce). Check out their stats. Very similar to Francis in ppg/asst/rebs/steals/turnovers.

Now as far as "old fashioned..."...
The better phrase would be that the Rockets are "new fashioned (Francis/Mobley)" but WANT to be "old fashioned (JVG)."

It's a clash of two worlds. Which one will win out? Who knows? Maybe we can meet in the middle. But one thing if for sure. And that is that positions will not go out of style. They can/and have been expanded upon by elite players (Bird/Drexler/Jordan/Isiah/Walton/Archibald/Sabonis/Kareem). But the positions do not become "blurred" because the league (TODAY) somehow has worsened its shooting and passing skills.

That's just a *ucking excuse for bad basketball. By the way, 20 years ago, guys like Brad Miller were a dime-a-dozen! If our "stars" only had half the fundamentals that Miller had we'd be better off. There's just too much reliance on the athletic ability that's the game has suffered from it.

Athletic ability alone does not make a smart basketball player, nor give that player an ability to learn the game any faster.

Now, on a positive note. We can't make Francis something that he's not. I've given up on that. So, that's why JVG has him playing more of a SG role(lead guard), sometimes setting up the offense (entry pass to Yao), give and go, pick and roll, etc...But his main strengh is to attack when needed. He's a great scorer. But only when NOT forced. He has to play within the game plan. Else, utter chaos will result.

JVG said it best. "I don't want you to change your game too much. Just do it with less dribbling." Now, if we can only get the team on the same page, we'll be set. Sigh...