I don't care too much about the shots... so TMac had a "Bad Kobe" type game? It happens to all the greats. Now, if he strings 5-8 games like that together, then it is time to start worrying... but I think they will start to fall. Free throws are another story... I was disappointed in the number of shots Yao got. That does need to change. I was most upset about the lack of intensity... I saw a little bit late in the 2nd Q and a little spurt late in the 4th. That's not enough. Snyder looked OK after he calmed down, especially in the 2nd half... just wish a few of those potential 3-pt. play layups would have fallen. So, yep it was a drag, but I still like this team.
The Rockets were abused: outplayed, outhustled, outmuscled, outgunned. They were made to look like anything but a contender. It is just one game, and we all knew it is going to take a while for this group to come together, but, wow, that was ugly. I said it before, Bonzi is the difference this year. He can't start playing soon enough. And while Alston came back and had a decent second half, he shows me the same problems I saw last year. The Rockets need a bigger, stronger, more confident, better defender, surer shooter at the PG. Alston is a bench player. And wow, TMac, where is your shooting touch? What did he shoot, about 30%? Ugly. How many shots did Ming get? Not nearly enough.
Thats the thing his shot was off all night ney all preseason and his first step/explosiveness has all but disappeared in front of our eyes. I want him and the rockets to succeed as much as anybody, but if a 10 year vet still in his late 20's "prime" cant take advantage of a rookie "Brewer" then how can you expect to mentioned or reguarded here as an upper echelon player? Instead we need to post and repost Yao everytime we are on offense instead of dribble dribble jack. When the refs arent keeping him in foul trouble he needs to be shooting 75% of our shots. Rafer disappeared tonight period.
Well the REASON everyone is kinda pissed with T-Mac is because we've sat there and listened to him say how much better he feels, how he's going to bring it, how he's healthy, and then when our first game rolls around, he's settling for pull up jumpers instead of driving hard to the hoop. So here's the thing. We need to know, and Van Gundy needs to know, is T-Mac afraid to drive now? And if so, then he needs to feed the ball to Yao and become an outside scoring threat. He is still the best at creating his own shot, but at this point teams are going to understand that he isn't the same player he used to be. Lock down D on his outside game because now its common knowledge that Tracy wont drive. His game just seems to have take a step backward. Maybe it'll go away in due time, maybe hes just getting adjusted. But it was just scary seeing how timid he was.
"sb/yao for 4/5 may work on offense really well... i am just saying that when we're playing defense, i think we have a problem down low. yao can't get some of those tough rebounds and does get dunked on quite a bit. the jury is still out on what sb can do for us at the 4 in regards to rebounding and defense. he has played mostly sf in his career. if you're not concerned about defense and rebounding, let me be the first to tell you: YOU SHOUD BE!!!!" This is a quote from one of my previous posts. i will say i was pretty much dead on! I was at the game tonight (i was wearing the red hakeem jersey in the lower bowl behind the left side basket) and it was tough to stomach. why the hell was padgett playing over howard? why the hell didn't bonzi play? AND ONCE AND FOR ALL BATTIER IS A THREE NOT A FOUR! AND TONIGHT'S GAME PROVES IT! oh and our rebounding and defense pretty much BLEW
New Rockets, same as the old Rockets. The Rockets have great players but we have got to get rid of our sorry ass coach. Gundy is pathetic and he is not the right coach for this team. So much for his vaunted defense.
All in all, Yao need to shoot at least 18-20 times per game. We still need more 3 point shooters. T-Mac is just what I expected him to be. He need some time to to back. Did you guys notice how chubby he is now?
Hopefully we will see Bonzi Well playing this Saturday against Dallas. We desperately need some bench scoring
I hope y'all enjoyed your 20-point blowout win over the "not-in-your-league" Jazz; you'll have a chance to defeat them in the Delta Center in the last game of the season: could be a playoff spoiler for one or both teams.
I'll trade this loss for a win against Dallas. Everyone pray for the Rockets. JVG is officially an idiot if he gives up on our rookies like he did tonight. Why Chuck Hayes didnt start in the second half was beyond me. Like I mentioned, why was Padgett in there when he wasnt involved in the offense?
you're an idiot. anyways, should have expected a jvg sucks thread after game one, but came to the bbs anyways. i think i might have to stay away from the garm until we look a little better, and we will.
Ive said it all along - we gotta quit playing people out of position! Battier is a SF! Tmac is a SG! put them together with Ming at C....AND BUILD AROUND THAT!
I didn't get the offense. Sure we were running, but what happened to our magical touch? I watched as Alston ,McGrady, Novak ran up the court, passed the ball once or twice, and shot. Heck, McGrady brought the ball up hte court and missed a wide open jump shot. Why not take it to hte hoop instead of posting up or shooting hte ball? Oh yeah, T-Mac, no offense, but use that basketball court of yours at home and practice your free throws. Ask Rick Barry or Jon Barry to teach you, I don't care if you shoot underhand, just don't miss 5 free throws.
I can't believe this reaction to one loss. Utah will be pretty good this year ... probably will win 45+ games, and could win 50+. Losing to them on the road isn't something to be ashamed of. Issues for the Rockets: - Got spanked on the boards ... but Utah is one of the best rebounding teams in the league so that's not too surpising - Our PG play was bad. Is Luther Head going to get out of his funk? He missed two gimme reverse layups and got burned numerous times trying to guard Deron Williams - FREE THROWS ... McGrady and Snyder will be on the line a lot. They need to hit them. - Yao's turnovers are a concern for me. They skyrocketed late last season, and it's been a problem throughout the preseason.
You're kidding me right, Tmac just went through the motion tonight. He played with no fire and no passion, which is disappointing when he stated that he wanting the rockets to get off to a good start. This was a game they gave away. Tmac should've been the one to set the example and every body follow his lead. This is why he's not in Kobe's league. Another thing I like to point out is Tmac said he worked his butt off in the summer. What did he work on? Because I don't see it translated out there on the court. It's basically the same stuff. No new moves,higher field goal pct, free throw pct or 3 pt pct. To me it's not measuring out to a guy who wants to win a championship.
I know people can list tons of reasons why we lost. Like bad D,no O scheme, out rebounded etc.etc. But the BIGGEST thing i see is the Mentality. At the time they stepped on the floor we can see the difference between the 2 teams. At times the rockets looked tense whereas the Jazz intense and other times the rockets looked loose whereas the jazz relaxed. Seems that the rockets were taking the ball too seriously like they were trying to handle a hot potato. While the jazz looked like they were having good fun of toying with the ball. Geez, we know the rockets are under high pressure and have high expectations. This is not the way. I think the whole organization need to relax a bit. The management, the players, the funs and ESP. our coaches. Their faces all turned to gray color when we were 10 points behind in the first quarter. Then, Scott Padget got 20 min. of playing time. If anything i think JVG is definitely poor at motivating players to play with a high but relaxed spirit. He needs to take 100 lessons from Phil Jackson. All the technical points you have made could be valid. But this Mentality issue has to be addressed in the rockets organiztion. Otherwise, the rockets fans will have to suffer all year long with this brick-carrying team.
