Although I like the effort in the second half, I'm still nevertheless disappointed. If only Yao would bring that intensity in the beginning of the game If only our guards would make even 30% of their shots.... So are the rockets still a work in progress and WILL improve some more? or have they just hit a hall or perhaps a step back?? Anyone?
LOL, I was thinking the same thing. We need to hate somebody for god's sakes, anybody will do. Imagine if this BBS existed in the early years of Hakeem's career, whoa that would be something to behold.
Anyone remember when Kobe went by TMac on the baseline and did a reverse dunk? That's gotta be up there on the highlight reel.
Yeah, I'm shocked. I thought we'd see Bowen running around on Kobe for at least 15 minutes tonight. If Gundy had put him in, we could've had an online poll on whose jumper is uglier, his or Sura's.
Bottom line: If you can't make the stops neccessary down the stretch, you will NOT go far in this league. If we continue this kind of defense when it counts, especially in the playoffs, we're better off getting a lottery pick. Tonight, we beat up on the Lakers in the second half, and it was our game to win. But our guys forgot a junior high defensive principle, rotating on defense. Doesn't anyone remember the shell drill? To the Lakers credit, they took advantage of just about EVERY open shot they got. What is Bob Sura's problem? When it came down to the crucial moments in the fourth, he didn't even look in T-Mac's direction!!!! T-Mac gave him that cross court pass for the three, he should not have taken it. When he releases it you KNOW he's going to miss. As far as the Kobe vs. T-Mac matchup is concerned, I thought it came out pretty much equal. C'mon guys, look at all the MOVEMENT in the Lakers offense. I was really impressed at how fluid it was. The Rockets are very sluggish on offense. But T-Mac's defense is piss poor, he got in Kobe's grill every time, and Kobe just blew right past him. WE NEEDED JJ TONIGHT! I'm not a Van Gundy hater, but he needs to go. Even if we had the right mix of players, he's not the coach that we need to lead us. He came here for defense, and I'm not that impressed at us on the other side of the ball. We need a Kelvin Cato-type for the Van Gundy system to work. I never see the guy smile, and his pessimistic attitude probably does not mix well with the big egos that you gotta deal with in the NBA. Just my 2 cents.
The two plays that sealed the game, and we ALL knew how they were going to turn out as soon as they left the shooters' hands: 1) Odom's wide-open three at the top of the arch 2) Sura's wide-open three in the corner. GAME OVER!
i was at the game tonight, a few observations: 1) yao at times just looks like he doesn't care or is simply tired, he doesn't jump enough and just stands there w/ his hands up on d, please play w/ heart yao! 2) sura looked great tonight, i mean i think he gave it all he could considering how weak our other guards and pfs have been playing the past few games. great game for sura 3) tmac again shot too many 3's, not as bad as phoenix but still too much.. he needs to drive to the hoop more like kobe and draw more fouls ( i think someone said kobe took 10 FT compared to 0 for t-mac, big difference there) 4)props for dikembe getting into the game, and i mean when he was on the bench - he still stood up and argued w/ jvg, it was hilarous watching mutombo getting into it, next thing you know he'll be wagging his no no finger.. why can't pat ewing at least get into it? 5) atkins is a great shooter when he gets into a groove, and i thought chris mihm had a good night, he's solid for the lakers 6) i was not all impressed at wesleys or barry's play, they look a little erratic , no control handling the ball.. go Rockets!!
I was at the game tonight. Couple of observations: 1. Yao played terrible in the first quarter and went out of gas at about 7 min. into the game; 2. Yao played fairly well in the second half. He should have played better if dunked all those soft twos. Most players would choose to dunk, yet he chose to softly put it in most of the times. I think one day when he has enough strength to dunk all those shots, he will be a great player. Otherwise, he will still be Yao. Actually, to an extent, I think Yao regressed in two areas: creativity and mid-range shots. 3. Rockets play is simply not smooth. You can feel it. Unlike other teams, it doesn't flow well. 4. Rocket players are not making the shots that they are supposed to make. While lakers are making those shots that is supposed to go in. 5. Kobe was better that T-mac tonight. Single coverage and double team all failed to contain him. Double team stopped T-mac completely. 6. Finally, you feel no life with Rockets. I've got couple of pics, don't know how to post it. I can email whoever knows how to. Good night!
They all looked tight tonight. Actually, I think they looked tight in almost all the games. Also, there must be something wrong with our big fellow. I don't remember he smiled at all in the past year. Guys, still remember how he laughed when he made a 3-pointer in his first year? Sth. is wrong. You can tell from his demeanor on the court. It's either he is not happy with sth. or he is losing interest in this game. Sad!
Superpro, have you heard those rumors that Yao's incredibly unhappy in Houston and was thinking about LA or anywhere else? Maybe there's some truth to those rumors. That would go a long ways into explaining Yao's seeming lack of interest in playing in a Rockets jersey.
Kobe is such a phony. You see him grinning, and talking to his teammates in an animated fashion. He prolly only does that on national tv games. You're not fooling anyone Kobe, we all know you're a jerk. Also, is anyone else getting sick of the overdone coverage of the tsunami donations? We don't need Tmac and Kobe to sit there and tell us about how great they are. I don't want to see a picture of Pacers players holding an oversized check made out to UNICEF on the front page of nba.com. It's great that they are donating money, but do they have to shove it down our throats at every opportunity? Jermaine O'neal shouldn't even be playing yet, and he should donate those 10 game checks to the tsunami victims. While i'm b****ing about everything, how bout that BS blocking foul on Tmac in the first quarter when LO bowled him over? Have you ever seen a more obvious charge called a block? Nowadays the refs call a charge everytime you fall down, yet they somehow blew that one. It's also great to see Joey Crawford hobknobbing with the LA elite before the game. At least give us the illusion that we are gonna get a fair shake. Wow, it feels good to get that off my chest.
Don't know. But watching a passionless team play is no fun. No wonder Toyota center is always half empty. I will not be surprised if Yao is not happy with the current situation. I guess sb's got to go. And I bet JVG will leave earlier. No one wants to work for a coach like him. You've got to feel love and encouraged to work harder. Besides, these guys are all guranteed millionaires. You've got to be really smart to excite them to play harder. And yelling, criticizing will not likely work well.
that was my thought as well yet there seemed to be no protest. no one on our bench got mad. bill or van didn't say anything. and even tmac didn't seem to disagree. i don't know, maybe he slid over right as odom got there and knew he was blocking and it was a good call.
IMO, I don't agree with JVG's defence strategy tonight. We should not double team Kobe at all! Just roate our 4 guards on him and let him play by himself rather than team ball. I think that's the only way we could win since Lakers have much better shooters than us. Shut down everyone except Kobe, which is kind of similar to "Jordan Rule".
