thanks... i wish there was our hometown feed highlights.. but im not complaining.. on a serious note.. did anyone else notice that kid that grunts "yeahhh" everytime we scored lol! gooooo rockets fan gooooo!!!
Great game. Too bad T. Rob and Brooks didn't get any minutes against their former team. Would have been a big psychological boost to hit some shots against the coach that buried them on the bench.
Ankle injuries can mess you up for a long time if you don't let them heal proper, I really hope James isn't rushing and pushing himself too hard
McHale with another great move by giving Jones playing time when others weren't producing. This late in the season, very bold and I'm impressed. I figured he was way too stubborn for all these changes lately.
It's not a matter of being bold or being stubborn. It's a matter of necessity. The other guys who got minutes at PF are not producing sufficiently (Smith is good recently, but he can't play 48 minutes at PF and backup C especially with his tendency to foul) so eventually you gotta try another option. I hope Jones keeps it up, but if he doesn't, I'm pretty sure they'd look at other options, too (we talking Tim Ohlbrecht and Royce White now).
after the kings foul frenzy to open the 3rd, the fouls were 17 kings, 15 rockets, the final total and despite sacramento playing more physical was 20 kings, 28 rockets. There is usually a concerted effort by the zebras when the score is in that 5-10pt range to get the other team back into the game (there's been a few games where i've noticed a complete reversal as the score did as well))
I watch the Clippers a lot and Lin's shot is a lot like Jamal Crwaford's he has super high arc on his shots. Nowitzki also has a pretty high arc at times.
higher arc makes it easier for the ball to fall through the rim but increases the effective range/distance of the shot. it's a tradeoff. (also sometimes for shooting over defenders.)
I missed the game but from seeing the highlights (I know not very reliable), the thing that Jones seems to do that our other bigs don't is cut to the rim when Lin/Harden/Chandler are driving. That's why he got so many dunks. Again I didn't watch the game, but it seems like it's one of those things you didn't realize was missing until you see it happen. Your coaches will always tell you to streak towards the basket if your a big to either get a pass or crash the boards. I didn't realize it until watching those highlights, but I don't think Smith, Asik, D-Mo etc. really do that too much. It's one reason why we never seem to get any stick-backs. Correct me if I'm wrong please. Although to be fair Asik does a great job of being under the basket at the right time and he has gotten SO much better with his timing. Now we've come to expect a few flushes from him per game.
Thoughts on game: 1. Lin, Harden, Parsons looking great this game. Health is good right now, but with the Rockets you never know. Once a playoff spot is clinched I'd rest all 3 Poppivich style. You never know in the NBA these days health wise, it'd be great if all 3 could enter the playoffs healthy and well rested because you never know moving into future seasons what could happen (i.e. Trail Blazers). This team is clicking right now 2. Stands with point #1, Delfino needs to be well rested for the playoffs. You don't want very inexperienced bench players going into a playoff series when your starters are pretty inexperienced. Delfino and Garcia are going to be critical to this team's playoff success - as much as any of the 5 starters. 3. Again, related to points 1 and 2. Rest Asik too, he shouldn't be seeing more than 30 MPG now, and once playoff is clinched Smith or DMo should get most of those minutes at Center. Rarely do teams get to enter the playoffs with their top 9 players healthy, if it's even a possibility all must be ensured to make it happen. 4. Terence Jones played great. I wonder what was it that the coaches said "clicked" for him in his last stint in D-League? Always thought he was better than Thomas Robinson, even from his summer league and exhibition games. For a smaller PF, he's much more naturally skilled offensively than Robinson. Like I've said many times prior, undersized PFs tend to enter the NBA and immediately show off nice offensive skills. You can go through the list of all the undersized PFs playing 30+ minutes for playoff teams right now, all had nice offensive skill sets in their rookie season. Robinson looks brutal offensively, Jones looks polished. 5. On that note, fans are getting too hyped up about Terence Jones with all these new threads popping up about him being the new PF. He's much better than Thomas Robinson and should take his spot in the rotation. But he shouldn't be the first big off the bench over DMo yet or start. 6. Usually NBA Contenders go into the playoffs using an "8.5 man rotation", meaning 8 guys getting constant minutes and 1 guy that might see minutes in special situations, such as a need for a 3-point shooter or if a big gets in foul trouble. Who are Houston's 8.5? Asik/Smith/Parsons/Harden/Lin/Delfino/Garcia/DMo? With Beverly or Jones being the extra guy needed in specific situations? 7. Harden's gotta stop going up for shots, expecting a foul call, falling down, then whining about it after instead of going back on defense. Once the playoffs come, he won't be getting the same calls he did back in November. Especially against teams like the Spurs or OKC who are favourites. Or against a defender with a strong reputation like Igoudala. 8. Major props to McHale for being flexible enough to give Terence Jones minutes this late into the season. Someone in this thread mentioned Dwyane Casey being the NBA's worse coach. I would agree, since he's shown the exact opposite - complete lack of flexibility even in the face of losses. Nothing is more annoying than a coach going with a below-average veteran player over a rookie with lots of potential because it's "old school" or for "chemistry" or because "rookie's are tough to trust in the 4th" or "continuity" so they go with a known below-average player or the possibility of something great happening. Casey has become famous for this. McHale makes some questionable decisions, but he's got this team overperforming. And I'd say he's among the Top 10 coaches in the NBA this season.
Ummmmm what are you looking at pimpn,,,you cant see that we raised our intensity. We won 3 games in a row, in the last 10 games we are 7-3 with wins over the Spurs, Jazz, Clippers, and loses against The Warriors, Grizz, and Pacers. That is 3-3 against playoff's type teams and 4-0 against non playoff's type teams. The Laker who you say are raising up their intensity are 5-5 in their last 10 games. With a whopping 3-2 against playoff's type teams and 2-3 against non playoff's teams. The Jazz are also 5-5 in their last 10 games. LOL they are a horrendous 2-5 against playoff's type teams and 3-0 against non playoff's team. Granted they are 5-1 in their last 6 games. But when they played 4 playoff's team they lost all four games against Houston, New York, San Antonio, and Dallas. So again looking at those numbers and facts that I just posted, please explain to me how those teams are raising up their intensity verses ours...From the looks of it The Rockets have stepped up their intensity more. They had two blowout games without their Superstar James Hardin, and Parson missed one off those games as well. They just beat the Kings....lol IJS
