ClutchFans Game Thread: Rockets @ Grizzlies 12/28/2007

Who else remembers the "START MIKE JAMES" bandwagon a week into the season? Funny how I havn't heard Mike James' name in the past 2 weeks.


Brooks is defintely not starting anytime soon. Rafer is still our best and most consistent PG. Brooks will get his usual limited minutes off the bench.

 

It's not about one game. It's about how we play. Feel bad to say that we play better with only one super star, but looks like it's true.

 

Brooks has played well, thats for sure. He wont be starting though. The only change I see potentially happening not due to injury in the starting lineup is Scola for Hayes.

 

Stojakovic was also an excellent cutter and lay-uper(is that a word?). IMHO, also a very underrated defender.

If Novak could work on his ability to cut and finish at the basket, I see no reason why he shouldn't play. Especially if he is hitting shots.

 

At least, we can win without T-MAC.

 

it's fake.

 

A scout's analysis of Brooks from 1/31/2007:

Oregon’s Aaron Brooks has improved his draft stock just as much, if not more than any 2007 draft prospect so far. The diminutive point guard has gone from an underachieving McDonald’s All American to a potential candidate for College Player of the Year, all in the span of one exhilarating half-season at Oregon. After leading his team to a 13-0 start and beating then #1 UCLA on a dramatic game-winning shot, that was probably the point where we should have started talking about Brooks in hindsight.

The energetic Brooks has proven this year that despite having a reputation as a selfish player, one can turn it around if placed in the right situation. The numbers back this claim up as well, as he has averaged 19.1 points, 4.5 assists, 4.1 rebounds, and 1.7 steals while shooting nearly 49% from the field, 86% from the line, and 41% from three point territory. It has truly been a dream year for a player who prematurely ended his season last year by despicably elbowing Washington’s Ryan Appleby in the face during the PAC-10 Tournament.

Brooks has established himself as the creator in a perimeter oriented Ducks lineup that consists of guards Bryce Taylor, Tajuan Porter, Malik Hairston, and forward Marty Leunen. He is easily one of the five quickest players on the college level, allowing him to penetrate against just about any guard he is matched up with. He combines his incredible quickness with shooting range that extends well beyond the NBA three point line, and he shows no hesitance whatsoever to pull the trigger if he feels disrespected by the daylight he is seeing. A lightning bug guard who can shoot the hell out of the ball is always going to be a tough player to defend, to say the least.

 

Absolutely - have you looked at the schedule?

 

Right!!!

 

Man oh man, you knew someone would bring this up.

We are not going anywhere without T-mac folks. The man creates so much opportunities. He draws double teams, he gets rebounds, he passes the ball for easy scores. He penetrates and wreaks havoc with defenses....and he can bail out a sputtering offense.

He's already adjusting and playing better within the system. Before the Denver game, the whole team looked out of whack this season. When he left against Detroit we were still in the game and our offense was looking better.

Here's the tell tale sign of how T-mac is fitting in:

1. Count how long he is holding the ball when the shot clock is above 10 seconds.
2. Pay attention to how many shots he's taking early in the shot clock.
3. Is he looking for his shot or looking to pass?

Now, if he is working within Adelman's system, he'll spend less time holding the ball - that is, he'll work less on trying to create his own shot like he's been told to for years by JVG's limited offensive vision. NOw, you will start to see him getting the ball in position and then moving more decisively. He'll have more energy since he won't work so hard on offense. That's the goal. He wants that.

Now, T-mac is our best clutch shooter - there's no doubt about that. And what that means is that when the shot clock does start getting low (under 10 seconds) and nothing is developing, that's when you put the ball in his hands and let him do something with the ball. Whether it's drive and pass off to Yao, or take the jumper. Because with less then left, you're facing a low percentage situation if the ball is back out on the perimeter and the defense has reset. Give it to the guy who can bail you most out of that situation handedly.

But with more time on the clock, we play the team ball game to look for the easiest shot.

Now, the reason this wasn't working was many reasons.....for one, we weren't bring the ball up fast enough and getting itno the offense, so the result was a tendency for guys to be more concerned with getting the ball to Yao or T-mac. But now, with the ball being pushed, it gets easy buckets for everyone, builds confidence, and gives the guys time to run an offense and look for some easy shots with the confidence that if nothing develops, there's always T-mac there to take the buzz beater shot.

That how our offense should move more, and I'm seeing it...and it runs better with t-mac then without him.

It's just that t-mac has been on the shelf just as we're making progress. Don't confuse that t-mac is the problem. He was to some degree, because it took him a bit longer to adjust, but he's adjusting - I saw it in both the Detroit and Chicago game. And maybe Magic's words did get to him, so we should thank magic, but the bottom line is - it's way way way too early to give up on our best player after a rough strecth of games.

Give the man a chance with all that's going on.

 

No, I just guessed there were 23 games before the break.

This team needs more than an easy schedule to win 17 out of their next 23 games.

There have been good signs but we need some consistency over a stretch of games.

As of now, I would guess we win 12-13 games out of the next 23.

 

If Brooks doesn't start then he should be seeing significant minutes off the bench, and I really mean significant. There have been a number of games this season where Alston saw less minutes in a game than the backup PG. Adelman has shown that he's willing to sit Alston down for most of the game if necessary. Brooks' offense, both his outside jump shot and his moves to the hoop, are much better than Alston's. There was one sequence tonight late in the fourth where Rafer bricked a tear drop on a drive to the basket. Brooks came back the very next possession and dropped in a beautiful tear drop. Brooks can penetrate. His assists look much better than Alston's and his court vision is superior. He's faster. The offense just looks a lot prettier when he's at the point. The only question is whether or not he's as good of a defender, and from what I saw tonight he looked pretty good. Alston is just plain mediocre so saying Brooks is better doesn't necessarily mean a lot. But more and more I'm starting to think that he's the real deal.

Clyde Drexler said that he thought Brooks should be the starter a few games ago, so I think I'm in pretty good company.

 

Alright, when the all-star break hits, let's see who's prediction comes out right.

I can bet we both hope you're wrong, right?

 

This season is going to come down to T-Mac and how well he fits into Adelman's offense. Yao has shown that he can be effective in the flow of the offense. He scored a bunch of points tonight but so did a lot of other guys. It helps that Yao is completely willing to give up the ball in the face of a double team.

T-Mac has shown that he can be unselfish, that he can involve his teammates, that he can get them touches, that he can score and have an impact in the flow of the offense rather than freezing out the rest of the team. Some guy over at the Chronicle commented that he thought that lots of touches meant much less pressure on the shooters, resulting in much higher accuracy.

If T-Mac can commit to the system then I think there's light at the end of the tunnel. If not then this season is probably lost and there are going to be a bunch of tough choices to make at the break. Come on T-Mac.

 

I don't really think this will be much of a question by anyone....I don't think Adelman is worried about it, nor T-mac. I think you'll see he'll make the adjustments, he had trouble adjusting to JVG's offense in the beginning as well - took him half a season....it's the same thing. He's just a guy who's actually very sensitive about trying to adjust his game yet doing what it takes to win too. Takes him time to adjust, that's all.

The real question about this season is the health of T-mac (and to a lesser degree Yao). After that, it's whether or not we will get consistent play from the pg position ala Rafer and Brooks.

I think that will be enough to get us into the second round. To be a threat for anything else, it will come down to how good Adelman is in exploiting this teams strengths...but right now, he's just trying to get his offense in place and worry about the tweaking later.

 

Very much needed win,I'm glad.
I hope we resume our progress in next games.

 

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Lets face it, the team is never going ever to succeed with mcJoke.
This clown is injured every 2 hours, constant whining and keep being a lazy noob that settles for 10 foot jump shots.

Breaking negative records over and over again, some of us dont forget the 2 road wins in the playoffs vs dallas and yet we succeeded losing the series.

Last year 7th game at home, lose. This is never going to end untill the clown is traded.

We can totaly get 2 guards or 1 guard and a forward for this clown. Every desperate team will take him (muhauhahahahaa).

Btw: Scola is amazing. Great move by the management.