ClutchFans Game Thread: Rockets @ Blazers 11/21/2004

We do give TMac a lot of opportunies to practise clutch shots

 

This is a game where everything just had to go right for us to win. We shot the ball well, hit a good percentage on 3's and freethrows. Also, only 10 turnovers. I'm extremely pleased with this win. It's not an official game against the Blazers unless Yao dunks on Ratliff, and he did tonight.

Our rebounding still needs a ton of work, and we gave too many second shots late. Lue got a rebound but was LEVELED by Ratliff, resulting in a layup for the Blazers.

Tmac showed us why we got him. He didn't really light up the points column but definately controlled the game for us tonight. 11 assists, most of them layups, dunks, or wide open jumpers. And of course he hit the big game-sealing jumper.

 

Zach Randolph is a modern day Charles Barkley. He has the body of Barkley. He can board. He can stick a jumper. He's got some skills. The Blazers in general have some pretty good players.

 

Yes it's true we lost gave up leads before and lost.

But here's a few things to think about. Back 4-5 years ago the Rox had a hard time holding on to leads for most of the season. Back then, I never thought that holding a 10 pt lead was paramount (the world wont end if you give up a few points). Opponents always "go on runs" in the 3rd or 4th quarters. That's just the way it is. Yes, it's true that holding on to BIG leads is preferred. But also remember that our opponents have to expend a lot of energy to get the lead back.

But the question is this: What does our team do when their opponents go on those *runs?* How does our team respond? Do they crumble? Or do they fight back?

One of the things that drove me crazy 4-5 years ago, was that we'd work for a big lead, give it up, not by our opponent's great offense, but rather by our sloppy offense (TURNOVERS!). If our opponents happened to be hot from the field that night, then all the worse!

Could we crush teams back then? No. Can we now? Not yet. But at least we have some control at the end. Giving our opponents chance after chances to win (back in the old days) was what drove me crazy. Lets just keep those turnovers down.

 

Charlie Ward's contract is only guaranteed for 2 years. I think he's gone after those 2 years.

 

Yes,Lue has more energy than Ward because he's younger.

 

I missed the game the first time around, thank god for Channel 51 Encore.

It's the middle of the second quarter right now, and there's one thing that I notice that we are doing very well this year yet did poorly last year. When the Blazers began doing the full court press, we actually beat the press by PASSING! Last year Steve and Cat would try to break it by crossing over their man rather than just pass the ball. We had easy buckets just because we PASSED!

Also, something that reminded me of last year. When ever Steve was trapped, 90 percent of the time he would get a turnover or a time out. When McGradey was trapped, he was tall enough to find an open Mutumbo.

Basicly, I'm not worried about our slow start, because we are playing smart basketball. We still need to find a solid starting PG, though. I think that can be Sura. I watched him in Atlanta, and he played like a solid PG. I also think they should look for Bokie more. I see him open all the time when players like Mo or Howard are shooting contested jumpers. If he's shooting over 50 percent, lets milk it.

 

Nice team effort, good combined production from Yao/Deke. Clutch shot by T-Mac at the end. Good production from the bench, Lue, Boki, Howard all made some key shots, outscored the Blazer bench 38-21. T-Mac was more of a creator this game with his 11 assists. Rebounding has improved, I believe this is the second game in a row that we have outrebounded the opposing team. Good turnover to assist ratio, team has definitely improved in this area this year. Drove me crazy last year seeing all those 24 sec clock violations. I hope the Rox can turn it on the next 3 games, if we can beat the Kings, Jazz and Nuggets it will be an enormous boost of confidence for the Rox.

 

Yeah, Boki's shooting seems to have finally arrived!

Only... he's still not going to be playing much. Because he fouls every time his man has the ball. His defence isn't good, and he plays for Van Gundy...

 

Hope?

The offense sure looked a lot better tonight. They were coming down, getting into a flow, swinging the ball and getting good looks. Dont know if it was better offense or bad defense by Portland but it sure looked like we werent setting 15 screens on every posession and wasting the shot clock. Also, the team looks a whole lot better right now with Lue in the game instead of Ward. Ward isnt shooting worth anything. I think I would prefer them to start Lue or Boki right now and then bring in the other one off the bench before they got to Ward. Boki is shooting and JJs shooting is coming back to him, so it would be interesting to see a big lineup with TMac, JJ, and Boki manning the point and wings. We even ran a couple breaks tonight. Wow!

 

It is HARD to win consistently on the road in this league. Championship teams view just slightly better than .500 as an acceptable record on the road for the season.

The difference tonight was the passing. When two of your guards combine for almost 20 assists and the team only turns the ball over, what, 8 or 9 times, that is winning basketball.

What I have come to really appreciate about T-Mac is that:

1. He has the quickest first step I've ever seen. It is rare to see someone with the ability to get that kind of separation from his defender.

2. He is a very smart player. The guy just makes the right decisions out there. It isn't just the fact that he throws passes well, it is where he puts them. It's like a quarterback who throws the ball where only his receiver can get it.

Very encouraging game from the Rox tonight. Even Van Gundy was high fiving players as they came off the court. That's something.

 

Starting line-up...?

Lue
McGrady
JJ
Howard
Yao

Exactly Jeff! Well said. It's where he puts those passes. Accuracy and timing.

 

I think I saw him smile. Last time I saw him smile when he was a commentator for TNT.

 

25 assists and 10 turnover? It would be very rare for last year's Rockets. Excellent game tonight. Yao played decent, TMac made the decisive shot, and JJ made clutch free throw. Also, our bench is incredible. Lue played with a lot of energy, Motumbo was awsome, and Boki made 2 three pointer. I can't ask any more. Great win for us. Please keep it up!!

 

awesome job ROCKETS!

 

What I have really come to appreciate about him is his great court awareness and court vision. There are just time where I say to myself "How the hell did he see him over there?"

His defense has shown to be WAY under-rated from what was stated before the season.

Good win for the Rockets. Bad calls got Yao again, but he still was able to do some nice things tonight. Question - how is it that Ratliff can push Yao in the back with two arms and get an offensive foul on Yao? Anyway, offense lookes ALOT smoother and they looked to push the ball up all game which created earlier offense and mis-matches in thier favor. They need to keep this up. Lue has really come on and Howard seems to have found his shot. What is up with Ward's 3pt shooting? He has been a decent shooter in his career, but this is just horrible right now. Anyway, these wins on the road really build a team up and let's go get SacTown.

 

Uhh dude, T-Mac is 6'8". Of course he's gonna have court awareness!! He aint no shrimp like Cat and Stevie!!!

I hope we get a PG whos around 6'6". It aint easy for the smaller PG's like Lue to pass it to Yao.

 

Add jediknight94595 to Your Ignore List

 

ignore lists aren't worth a damn when people quote obvious trolls.



heh...nice win....and hey, they almost got 100...amazing.

btw...anyone else find this forum alot easier to take after a decent win?...all the chicken littles shut their mouths at least for a day.