ClutchFans Game Thread: Rockets @ Grizzlies 1/19/2004

When was the last time Mobley pop the ball to Yao after the PnR? Must be a thousand years ago.

 

This is a concern. Clearly JVG likes to play a tight rotation of the players that he trusts will make the best decisions. But the downside is that if they play big minutes in games in which the intensity is really high (like it was last night, almost playoff intensity) then it is going to sap these guys. Their legs will be gone, they wont be able to chase down loose balls as quickly as the other team and their shots will be off because of the fatigue.

Honestly this team goes about 1 deep in Mo Taylor. Everyone past Mo (Pike, Nachbar, Padgett, perhaps Mark Jackson) is just VERY situational.

This team doesn't have nearly the depth that I think JVG needs. This is something that will have to be addressed in the offseason.

We need at least 8 guys that are JVG guys that he can trust where he will be very comfortable playing those 8 guys each and everynight.

 

1) a few of shots Pau made were jumpers while Yao was no where close to him. And there was a two hands slam by Pau when Yao was on the other hald of the court. Considering Pau made 10 shots, your 8-9 count is way off even all other shots he made were directly over Yao (which is not the case).

2) when you came over to help defense, you are almost always late and your hands are not between the ball and the basket. There is nothing you can complain that Yao couldn't block many of those shots that are feet away from him.

3) this is not a direct match-up of Yao-Gasol, and you were trying to draw some conclusions in that context.

Shots fall some nights and not fall other nights. It has something to do with luck. The other night, KG shot 6-19, but I wouldn't say that was Yao's credit even though Yao helped defense KG.

 

It was a good game. Our guys played with heart. TOugh loss. But you should give credit to the home court advantage.

 

We should've sent quick double team to guard Pau earlier. He was on an roll, had some good shots some lucky shots. Past we have been pretty successfully shut him down, but not yesterday. Just one tough loss, choked down the end. JJ's missed FT and Yao's missed wide open jumper were costly. Two more matches left against Griz, we should get them all. It was a instense game, playoff like. I hope Yao should feel a little embrassed or uneasy when pau out-performed him, bounce back and have mosterous games.

 

Truly pathetic effort by the Rox...Give Yao the damn ball...Typical ball hogging and pathetic D...We deserved to lose, but on National TV?

The Rox are a lot better and it didn't show...Next up, the Pacers where we can't afford to screw up...

 

So far, two close games, real close. Observation from a Rox fan, :you guys are not that consistent just like us. We'll see next two games. BTW, we are very capable of shutting down Pau, so we will see.

 

Yetti, cant blame on SF for this one. Clearly we matched them well when we went small. Yao was not that comfortable when played fast. We led at the end of 3rd. Win and lose, that's just a part of game. I thought SF did pretty well, shut JWill down and played very very up tempo game. Clearly JVG gave green light to our guards last night.

 

Doesn't matter if you put a smiley after this statement or not... You hardly own the Rockets... we're 24-10 against the 'Grizz' all time. 2 close games where you had guys shooting lights out and still BARELY won, I guess when you're use to losing every game, every season you have a lot of frustration built up, but cmon, don't get cocky. At least get into the playoffs before you start talking crap...remember last year? Grizz start off good then suck before too long. Are you still going to be coming around when this happens? We'll see.

 

Get Hubie Brown as coach. He has 10 guys with double digit minutes. None more than 37 minutes last night. Brown is known to use a large rotation.

JVG is the opposite. Different coaches have different preferences. There are some tradeoffs. The question is how you balance always having reliable guys on the floor with keeping your guys fresh. Most teams just can't afford having more than 8 or 9 solid players. The Rockets are basically having a 6-man rotation, which is way too short.

I personally lean more on the wider rotation. Sometimes it's just a matter of trusting the bench players. In the regular season, no player should average more than 36 minutes a game. We have 3 guys over that. I understand Francis playing a lot because we are really thin at the PG spot. But there no reason why guys like Pike, Boki and Padgett can't average more than 10 a game each.

 

Did you actually pay attention to the game or are you just going off of stats?

one of the pbp guys(Thompson) was slamming SF before the game talking about how he hates to pass and always wants to shoot and stuff like you guys say evey day...

but by the end, he was praising SF for his complete game...passing, getting others involved, taking the tough shots when they were needed...

Steve was not our problem last night....he played one of hisbetter games as a PG last night.
If you dont believe me(which you wont) listen to the guy who called the game.....yall always refer to the commentators when you are slamming the guards...listen to one now when he is praising one of them.

 

uh, wrong on two points...

the team passing was very nice to behold last night..
the D was gone, but you cant say they ballhogged(at least if you want to be right)

and we dont play the Pacers till Fri night....we have NY Wed.

 

yetti!! for once can you blame someone else escpet steve!!!!!!!!!!!! The freakin anouncers were praising francis for his great feeds!!!!!!! Truly are ignorant!

 

Hmmm...I think you guys were a NBA title team when the Grizzlies entered the league so an all time record is not a fair comparison..

I like dealing in the here and now...2 and 0 and we are only 1 game back of you guys and moving up.

On last year: Did you confuse our 0-13 start with starting out good?

Oh and I have been around here awhile, even after picking us to finish better than the Rockets last season.

 

man what a game...

steve played great...

two turnovers? YES! six assists? a couple more would be nice...

good field gold percentage... smart shots for the most part... (there were a couple that I didn't like. But then he's made shots I never thought were going to go in so what do I know?)

mostly a good game except that last quarter... And not Yao's best effort but the team is improving.

I see it...

 

Im glad you also see it...could you show it to a few others around here?
I understand people being upset with some problems that occured last night....but man, even after that awesome win against the Wolves, there was still slamming and b****ing after that one..

Im starting to think maybe it isnt the players that dont "get it".

 

Of course, history isn't something a Grizz fan wants to dwell on, otherwise you would be comtemplating the lottery right now...

 

die grizzlies

 

I want to say straight off that this is the first game I've missed in a while, so I really can't comment on a lot, but I'd like to add my thoughts to Duece and a couple of others. I wouldn't be at all surprised if this were true. That trio is playing far too many minutes, JJ in particular. When was the last time Jackson played these heavy minutes? Years? By the time we get to the playoffs, we'll be lucky if those 3 have any legs left.

Van Gundy's substitution pattern sux. Either our lack of depth has been exposed, or Van Gundy is too stubborn about leaving players in that he trusts. Why a surprise when they have turnovers late in the game? Or their shots don't fall? They're exhausted, especially on the road. They've lost their legs.

When it's the Lakers or in Madison Square Garden, they might find the energy, but this is going to come back to bite us by the end of the season. JVG needs to address this. He was known for having a short rotation before we got him. Right now, I think it's a looming problem.

 

goal! I meant goal!

where's the freekin' edit button on this sob?!?

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