ClutchFans Game Thread: Rockets @ Lakers 5/4/2009 (Playoffs Round 2, Game 1)

Some VERY worrisome stats to consider..

Stats against the Lakers this season:

Artest shot 32%
Brooks, 38%
Battier, 36%
Lowry, 24%

Yao averaged only 15/10

Scoring against the Lakers is going to make us fans want to tear our eyes out. Prepare yourselves for some ugly offense.

 

are you even a rocket fan?

 

Did I burst your little bubble?
Don't act all suprised and butthurt when you see us collectively shoot 35% against them.

 

mike hunt is not pleased at all.

 

Brandon Roy shot like **** in the season against us yet in the playoffs, he was almost unstoppable

 

That's what superstars do. Hopefully Yao will show us he can elevate his game, we need him to be a 30ppg scorer this series, with how bad our role players shoot against the Lakers.

Carl landry has been one of the bright spots averaging 14/7 on 64% shooting against the Lakers, but he hasn't been himself since he's come back after the shooting. We need him to get going as well.

 

I agree with the OP entirely. Everyone will have to pick it up. Pointing out our problems may not please some people here,but there is no reason to doubt his fan hood.

 

OP, its not as simple as posting a bunch of stats and calling a it a reason to worry.

The Rockets are a team that has not been together as long as the current lakers team has been.

Its not as simple as just researching a bunch of reg season stats.

The Rockets are growing and becoming better every game they play.

Defensively more trust has been established on the perimeter. Brooks has played better on offense in the playoffs among others.

The Rockets need to play to their strengths. They have advantages and they just need to exploit them.

Your stats are misleading and im not buying your panic button thread.

This "postseason" is just not as simple as a bunch of regular season stat...

 

Regular season don't mean shyt. There are certain players that are able to step up to the next level when it comes to big pressure games...and we have a bunch of them...so no worry.

 

Sure, lets just completely ignore the regular season numbers, since they don't mean anything. Let's play the same strategies we did against the Lakers in the regular season because clearly we saw tremendous success going 0-4.

I know Morey is a stat nerd, and there's no doubt in my mind that he already looked at the season splits vs the Lakers and wanted to puke. He most definately has his scouting and coaching staff figuring out ways to maneuver ourselves out of shooting as atrociously as we did during the regular season.

Fact of the matter is, we need to be wary of guys that shoot horribly, make sure they shoot less, and give the ball to guys that are able to exploit the little weaknesses the Lakers have.

 

No, it's implied this team will take the regular season into account. the post season is a whole different animal and our young back court has gained a lot of experience.

Our backcourt is our x-factor going into this series. If brooks and lowry can play to their strengths we will be in the drivers seat.its a dribble drive league these days and (as i said in my post)we have two pgs that can accomplish that.

Negative stats are simple to post when your team has gone 0-4 in the reg season. Every Rockets fan knows that the Rockets are the underdog...

 

This is gonna sound homer and it probably is and I'm sure you'll find a way to dispute it BUT:

1) Why are you worried about stupid stats? They beat us 4-0 in the regular season, that means we are gonna get swept?

2) Rockets have not had their full team together all year (I'm not talking about Tmac) I'm talking about what we saw from Blazers. The last game against Lakers we had all but a key piece: Landry, rest of games had missing players or just not the cohesive group we had. Watch Rockets shoot 40%+ from the field in every game, book it.

3) Rockets D makes it so the Rockets don't have to shoot that good, barring Rockets don't shoot AWFULLY (which I have really big doubts that they will) they have a shot in this series, no pun intended.

Ok just so I don't sound like complete homer, I'd like to say that Gasol scares the **** outta me. Scola doesn't match up well vs. him, I love that Scola brings him away from the basket for D boards, but Gasol just straight up has an edge on Scola which Rockets need to figure out, he is Aldridge, with much more post up game and just more polished overall.

I think if Rockets can figure out the Gasol problem, Kobe is going to overcompensate and the Rockets can take this series in 6.

BTW technique Rockets need to beat Gasol is as "simple" as getting Bynum into foul trouble and making Gasol work on guarding Yao in the post. If Gasol gets worn down on the defensive end, watch the offense slow down.

 

I would say those numbers can be a big positive. We know those players all typically shoot better than that, and 4 games is too small a sample to attribute their poor shooting to the Lakers' D. If they swept the season series because our role players were missing shots they will normally hit, that actually improves our outlook.

 

Just because we shot 35% against them in the regular season doesnt mean we will shoot 35% in the playoffs against them. Our offense is starting to come around and as we play as a team and artest and brooks chucking up shots, we wont shoot 35%. This years playoffs we are shooting pretty well. Those games in the regular season are in the past and we have to let it go.

Still. I wouldn't be shocked if we shot 35% or lower. However, I believe in this team

 

To me it seems like the Rockets just don't have enough offensive firepower, height, or athleticism to really threaten the lakers.
I hope I'm wrong.

 

Here's the thing...
since it's the PLAYOFFS you can pretty much throw out regular season stats. Too many things change come this time. Teams that have trouble against other teams in the regular season seem to come at them with a vengeance in the postseason. It's just a totally different mindset. I mean look at Chicago, look what they did (yeah, the Celtics are hurting, but the Bulls are missing their centerpiece too)! That's not something you see in the regular season.

Expect the Rockets to change a lot of things to accommodate themselves to the Lakers. It's the playoffs.

 

i there gonna be a viewing party for this game??

 

@ op: 90 % is currently in full homer mode, so don't bother them with a voice of reason.

imho, the stats are not a fluke and 4 games are a big enough sample size. we definitely see a trend here.

ron artest can't guard kobe at all. he's way too unathletic. last year's shane battier could make it tough for kobe but battier's quickness is not where it was last year. if those guys couldn't really stop brandon roy then how should they stop kobe bryant? they won't. offensively artest and shane will have a much tougher time against the lakers. battier will be limited to shooting spot up threes while artest will be guarded by ariza or kobe. at the same time artest has to step up offensively because we lack talent. that won't look good unless ron gets incredibly hot.

in the post yao will be in foul trouble a lot. he can't guard gasol and neither can scola. they will exploit this matchup to the max. offensively scola might get his but he will be challenged by the length and athleticism of the lakers. he'll not be as efficient. yao on the other hand can only hope that bynum is matched up with him. we need him to be in superstar mode and it will be really tough for him because the calls won't be there and the lakers do a much better job against him than portland.

imho, the best case for the rockets is to win 2 games. i think we won't get swept but winning more than 2 games seems impossible from my perspective.

 

Odom has stepped up his game as well.The Jazz had a lot of trouble with his length and rebounding.Fisher is older but he brings leadership at the 1.Don't see Scola doing well offensively. Landry needs to move up a few notches and hasn't played well so far.How will Aaron and Lowry play is a big question?
Bynum is no Oden. We don't have a backup center anymore either.

 

Stats only tell a part of the story!