ClutchFans Game Thread: Rockets @ Grizzlies 11/13/2007

How ironic when I saw the "grizzles is sucking in MEMPHIS" thread on the other forum.

What a sh*&ty loss.

 

i don't think i've ever seen a more poorly officiated game. i don't see how this game could not have been fixed. they saw every little contact and a lot that weren't even there for the grizzlies. they missed quite a few for the rox. is the nba owned by wwf now or what?

 

Keep posting, this flawed logic or not, but:
http://www.82games.com/dpoy.htm

Rudy Gay already has out-intangibled Mr Intangibles in the in the intangibles department.
Do the Rockets NEED Rudy Gay? Right now i'd say nnnooo not quite, its like saying if you NEED Mike James over Rafer. Maybe not, but it'd probably be nicer to have...

 

Yao was being fronted all game but the times he got position they were at his mercy. The refs allowed them to push yao out of the post, you blow a whistle here and a whistle there then that stops all the silly push fronts and yao doesn't have to worry about committing a offensive foul to get freakin position. Once he got low post position there was nothing them dudes could do against yao

 

It's one loss in which almost all of our role players were terrible. We will lose some games guys. Unfotunately, Rafer and James continue not to be able to hit a shot. I like Rafer's play making but he has to hit an open shot. James is supposed to be our spark plug off the bench and he can't hit a shot. Battier was horrible tonight as well. Head played well in the first half and Adelman glued him to the bench in the second half. Wells played poorly too. Our weakness is clearly at pg right now. Rafer can't hit shots to start and james can't hit them either. That floater down the stretch was absolutely terrible. Oh well, we're 6-2. I'm happy. I can deal with a loss.

On a side note it kills me to watch Gay play for memphis. I like Battier's intagibles but Gay has star written all over him. He would be unreal in this offense. Battier's hustle just doesn't make up for his lack of shooting anymore

 

It may be obvious because of the new system and all, but I think it's worth repeating what I've said before: this team looks WORSE than they did at almost any point last season, ESPECIALLY in the case of Yao's "aggressiveness" (not stats, I know they're still good) on both ends of the court, especially defense.

We may have more talent, but the quintessential question coming into this season -- AGAIN -- was the following: do we FINALLY have that third reliable option every single game that will step up and compliment Yao and Mac? The answer, it seems, is still, "no." The best of the best all have at least three consistent players and the rest are "by committee" (a different guy steps up on any give night).

We still don't have that, despite the fact that we did address the bench depth issue. We still have weaknesses that will be exploited come playoff time. The record is misleading, IMO. As strange as it may sound, this team is still 'building' around Yao and T-Mac. They're not set yet.

 

We seriously need to get rid of these "Oh we lost already with 1:00 left down 2" people. Granted, we didn't play a very good game and maybe we should have deserved it, but we need some more people with arrogance/confidence. I bet if you go on other boards there will be people who will support their team to the very last minute. The negativity of this board makes the games feel bogged and doesn't do anything to help our team

 

You don't get to watch very many Rockets games do you?

 

Originally Posted by OrangeRowdy95
He got his points. He's always been laid back. That's why he can't ever put teams away in the playoffs.


This team needs a strong leader. It's probably going to be win 4 or 5, then lose. I'm just wondering can this team go on a 10 game winning streak.

 

Gay + Swift >>> Battier!!!

 

Really tho, they allowed darko and gasol to front yao the whole game without calling a hold,grab,impeding progress call. Then they called like 4 charges on chuck hayes when he was clearly set.

 

I think Luther still plays quality ball, I would question sitting him for Stevie just because Luther is able to cut so well...

 

In his fifth year, Zboy whining about the Rockets > everybody.

Go away.

 

One word to describe this game: LAZY

I missed the first 5-10 minutes of the game since I thought it was starting at 7:30.

Just like the first 42 minutes of the Bobcats game, we played uninspired, lazy basketball. Although Tmac was going nuts offensively, he wasn't making their defense work. Play after play, he was just walking up the court. This seemed to rub off on all the other players. They weren't making hard cuts and were just standing still waiting for a pass. This is a big reason we didn't get many O-boards since the defensive players were always in position for the defensive board.

Yao is still playing out of his mind. His turnaround jumper through the paint is pretty much automatic. Darko got away with a lot of extra contact (I didn't see Adelman working the refs as much in this game). Once again, fronting seems to kill Yao's touches. He needs to get more touches on the move as opposed to standing still waiting for the pass into the post (low and high).

Battier, James, Rafer, Bonzi all play uninspired tonight. They need to bring energy and defense (Yes, even Battier looked like crap tonight vs. Gay) game in and game out.

James is settling too much for the outside jumper. All of these seem to be out of flow of the offense. I don't mind him shooting jumpers, but he's been a little too trigger happy.

Rafer has been absolutely awful these past few games. Bonzi needs to be more consistant, but at least he is attacking the basket instead of jacking up 3s.

Adelman needs to seriously consider giving Francis 10-15 minutes a game. I wouldn't mind seeing a Francis, James, Bonzi, Scola, Mutombo lineup when Yao/Tmac go to the bench.

Scola is playing with zero confidence. He's constantly out of position on defense and he's short-arming every shot.

With all that being said. The refs were attrocious tonight. Gasol was flopping pretty much every play where he was near the ball. There is no reason that whiny tittybaby gets 17 free throws.

Grades:

Starters:
Tmac - A-. Scored a very efficient 40+ point game. He seemed bored when he wasn't around the ball, so he doesn't get a higher grade. Rockets lose by 20 if he doesn't play as well.

Yao- B. Couldn't stop Darko on both ends of the floor. WAS DOMINATED. However, still managed to hit some big shots when he did get his mitts on the ball. Constantly outrebounded by Darko/Gasol.

Battier - F. Didn't make a shot. Constantly getting burned on D. WAS DOMINATED by Gay. I expect him to make up for the bad game tomorrow.

Alston - F-. Besides committing more turnovers, I don't see how he could play any worse. Matador defense on Lowry (Mike James didn't do any better. Lowry has been impressive and is quietly turning into a Rocket killer.)

Hayes - B+. 2 of his fouls were charges that the refs blew. He was the only Rocket to fight for boards tonight. Played good D on Pau and did his usual job by putting himself in the right position for layups.

Bench:
James - C-. Not shooting in the flow of the offense. Matador defense on Lowry. Looking to shoot first instead of getting other players involved.

Scola - F for Facial. Gay went American Bukkake on him. He followed that up by dribbling the ball off his leg. If he doesn't pick up his play, RA should consider giving Landry his minutes for a stretch. I will still give him another 10-15 games grace period for adjustment/confidence.

Bonzi - C. Off shooting night. Still attacking the boards well. If I had a nickel for every blown layup he had tonight, I could feed him a Big Mac (maybe that would help his shot). Missed layups are from lack of concentration and he just wasn't up for this game.

Luther - C. I liked when he attacked the basket. HE GOT 5 POINTS, 0 REBOUNDS, 0 ASSISTS, AND 0 STEALS IN 15 MINUTES. I WOULD BET ALL MY MONEY AND MY LEFT TESTICLE THAT STEVE FRANCIS COULD GET BETTER PRODUCTION IN THE SAME AMOUNT OF PLAYING TIME.

All in all, we should have blown Memphis out. Tips your hats to them, the stars aligned for the tonight between poor Rockets 3pt shooting, Darko Milicic going nuts, and Donaghy-like referreeeing.

 

There really is too much emphasis placed on Rafer.

I can understand it, because when he looked bad, he really looks bad. He's got no rotation on his shot so it just ricochets off the rim, and his looks were open. I was furious at those three threes in the third too.

But he was solid. The Grizzlies didn't get a single point from a PG when Rafer was in the game. Rafer even covered 6'8 Mike Miller on some possessions -- 6 for 11 Mike Miller missed three shots with Rafer guarding him. Six assists, 1 turnover, solid. 2 for 3 from inside the arc -- and there are still talks about his teardrop?

We had much bigger problems. Yao not being able to establish himself on either end, Battier's shot, Bonzi's lay-ups, James' shot selection/shooting... it just wasn't a good night. No reason for so much emphasis on the guy who played 20minutes with the Rockets in the lead by 5.

But I gotta admit...

That was hilarious. Awesome shot too.

 

The Summary:

TMac on fire

Refs on fire

Yao fronted

Chuck played some defense

Did anyone else play? I don't recall

 

um tmac was hella clutch down the stretch . if adelman put him in earlier, then maybe we wouldn't be down 9 but rather 2-3 and thus it would be much easier to come back.

he had a kid today. no reg. season loss can dampen that.

 

This is true, it was a LAZY performance, no INTENSITY the whole game

 

oh but that dunk was vicious, by gay i mean, that was a super duper world class throw down

 

Disagreed! I don't think Bonzi deserves a C. His fouls in the 4th quarter caused the game. And, his offense was suck either 2/8.