There is no much team plays on this team, just give the ball to TMac, then everybody moves away. Battier only had three points, he should be the key player in the team, just can not be high on the JVG's team.
i did almost the same thing, but came back and watched the recording. it was disgusting. we had zero energy and while it's hard to knock t-mac with his numbers, he was absolutely lifeless. that was the quietest 37 he's ever had. i'm not making excuses for the team but that building was by far the quitest i've ever heard an arena on tv. even when the hawks made plays. add that to the already sh!tty energy we had, and you get this game. ugh.
Watched the entire 4th, the only problem was Luther and co. did not hit their wide open threes! And defense was kind of bad. But these are not major problems, we'll probably come back the next game playing great defense and hitting down the threes - trademark Rockets this season. We don't lose our trademark in one game.
i'm picking on t-mac because the game frustrated me, but there is a MONSTER difference between an energized t-mac and the one we saw tonight.
I'm surprised no one has started a "FIRE JVG" or "RAFER BASHING" thread after this loss. I'm so proud of you guys...sniff
Write this game off as a learning curve for the team to always be focused, no matter what who the opponents are. This should mean JVG and co should get the team ready for Orlando and make sure they are focused and know that Orlando is capable of beating them. The one thing going in our favour is that Brian Hill is one of the worst NBA head coaches currently in the game, will help the Rox win the game but as for the Hawks game, just write it off, take it as a learning curve and prepare for Orlando.
Good loss. I don't know what it is, but these Rockets always need to lose a dumb game to get the right mind state back. Anyway this can happen, win the next. Bring ya defense with ya!
You are right. I remember the game with Hornets. We had played awful but next game we were great and we won so i hope it's only single mistake and we win in Orlando
next Friday's game v. Denver will be on ESPN. i guess they respect us now, esp. w/ the way TMAC's playing. he's back to dazzling the crowd. the ATL crowd was buzzing whenever tmac had the ball. why can't our crowd be like that? the TC is usually quiet.
I have been saying that Luther is not a PG and when he plays that position, his shooting is a no factor. He is a spot up shooter. When he plays PG he is worst that VSpan and JL3. JVG is stubborn and won't change his antics. I don't understand how he even gets consideration for coach of the year. TMac is the one that should get a lot more consideration for MVP. He is the one that has been carrying the team on his back.
here we go again!!...one bad game and the JVG bashing begins...give me a break people.....JVG wasn't the one playing Matador defense out there....those of you that say to get rid of JVG or try to put blame on him after each loss are pathetic....If you watched any of the game, you will realize its not the coach deciding the outcome in a game like th is...you probably just look at the box score, see a LOss and decide its JVG's fault....
it's not that. if you know battier can't guard joe, why stick with it? give joe a different look. put in snyder. or let tmac guard him more. joe was just toying w/ battier all night long. snyder is more athletic so joe won't beat him off the dribble as easily as battier. that's all. JVG is so adamant on playing the same guys even when they suck. i'm all for consistent minutes but if something is not working, mix it up. battier was bad (sure for this game) but for this game let snyder come n to change the tempo and faces for joe.
The dirty little secret about Shane is that he really doesn't guard anyone much better than he did Joe, even when he supposedly have good defensive nights against scorers like Lebron, Wade, etc. He almost always give you enough room to shoot a moderately contested J in order to not give you the drive. His success is based on the fact that for most guys and on most nights, the contested j is a low percentage shot. So these stars often have very comfortable bad shooting nights jacking up shots. When a guy like Kobe, JJ or Lebron is on fire on these J though, Shane is in trouble. He can body up on them, but is not quick enough to prevent the drive when that happens. Such nights are somewhat rare, so playing the odds works, but last night was such a night. The moderately contested j's were falling for JJ. This is not to say Batiier is not an elite defender-- just that his man D is only good but not great. His help D and transition D are what makes him elite.
Great offensive player can not be guarded one on one, I don't care how great that defensive player is. So I would not try to blame shane on this. Actually the defensive energy of the whole team was low last night. During the time when T-Mac guarded Joe Johhson, he was worse than Shane and Joe got even more separation from the defender. It was really the defense and rebounding that lost the game for us. And when I watched the game, it was actually not that surprising to me that we lost the game since the Atlanta team is very young and talented. With the team like that, the problem is more of consistency and not talents. They will play excellently one night, like last night, and beat a good team, but will play poorly another night. That is why their record is lousy.
i do admit tmac didn't really try to get through the pick that joe called for and that's how he scored b/c deke wouldn't step up to challenge the shot. but it's a pick. that's how even tmac gets separation. tmac is too long for joe to shoot over him. so what i would do is put hayes in so he would be quick enough to rotate to contest joe's shots. but when joe took it to tmac straight up, joe could only pass. battier was just destroyed all over the place, pick, off the dribble...
there is no defensive player in the league that can shut those guys down if they're on. shane does about as good as i've seen one-on-one with elite offensive players. the only guy i see consistently burn him is ray allen. something about his game that shane can't guard.
