ClutchFans Game Thread: Rockets @ Mavericks 2/9/2007

Clearly, we have every reason to lose, Yao and Bonzi are not around, Tmac gets double teamed and cooled down, other guys are not stepping up, shooting below 30%, I am not worried bout a single lose to the (currently) best team at all. However, I feel really bad as I watched the game, it seems that JVG gets outcoached for 20 minutes (the late 2nd quarter and the 3rd). Man, 0 answer for Mavs run, scoreless in long stretch, zero plan to play against a double team toward Tmac. It was painful to watch.

The major flaw in JVG's coaching, in my opinion, is that his offense relies too much on superstars one on one. Tmac, Yao...the offense is not balanced. This game was really a good lesson, our defense is not good enough to stop topnotch offense teams like Mavs and Suns, when defense fumbles, the inability in offense pays the toll. In other words, we play with a "I will make you shoot worse than me" philosophy, this works for most teams except those with good 3 shootings. Yao will solve some problem in the offensive end, but I still think we need a more balanced offensive strategy. Guys like Head, Howard and Shane play well only if the superstars play well. A solid 3 option is needed, Bonzi? Not sure with his in and out style. If a good third option is not available, how about get more players involved, how about some vasitile offense, some trainings to actually run a fastbreak or two? Heck, I don't even know if I made my point clear but I wish we have an improved, more balanced offense which not only relies on Tmac and Yao.

 

It is just a loss, but it is also a loss against Mavs, which is potentially the biggest enemy in playoffs if we really want to contend. A loss against Mavs is still acceptable, but not a total collapse like that. Positives? Only one, Bill was good last night.

 

We hung with them for a quarter - but it took TMac getting 14 of our 24 points.

When he rested, we were hit by the first wave of a perfect storm. When he returned he was smothered with double and triple teams, with no help at all from his team mates. It was maybe the first time I can remember this team "submitting" in a long time...we quit. Mavs are an extraordinary team with bench players that would start for us...too many weapons and too many ways to keep coming at you until you capitulate. They ultimately expose your weaknesses.

Can we beat them with Yao and Bonzi? Absolutely, but doubt we could take them in a seven game series.

D R

 

It's discouraging to watch our rockets tumble to the best team in the'
league
But it's only one game... and we still 31-18...
I'm just happy if we win the next game

 

We will beat the Mavs next Thursday on TNT and with a packed Toyota center. We will have a 2-2 record against them, and played 3 of those games without Yao. I feel we can beat the Mavs in a seven game series. And I actually did not believe that a month ago.

 

But really this isn't the first time we have seen such awful shooting from this team. Under JVG, the Rockets try to win by primarily limiting their opponents' scoring opportunities. Offense appears to be of a secondary concern. Well, this approach can be successful against the NBA "middle pack" teams but against the top teams in the West at some point they will have to put some points on the board in order to win.

This is where my optimism begins to wane for their chances this year because even with Yao & Tmac both healthy and playing well, the rest of the players are streaky or average to poor shooters and all opposing teams have to do is clamp down on Yao & Tracy and dare the others to score. It's been that way for 3 years now and the Rockets management has yet to come up with the right players to counter that strategy. For all of their progress this season, they still remain hard pressed to raise their team shooting percentage out of the 30% range and that will prove to be fatal come playoff time. I'm not burying them just yet but I can see a definite trend here.

 

This is a very frustrating loss, because I'm sure I'm not alone but I have a great hatred for the Mavericks. ANy dallas sports teams I do not like, so I was hoping for a W last night, but it didn't happen but no reason to be down on us.

We are playing without Yao Ming. The way our team is managed is through the offense of Yao Ming. He makes our players better. Tracy does help a bit but when it comes to the open 3-pointers, Yao provides the most spacing in order for Battier, Head, Alston, Tmac and etc to hit the trey.

The Mavericks are a complete team. THis is what they are supposed to do. They're a good team, but they can easily be stopped once we get a full healthy squad (if that ever happens)

Instead of bashing on certain players, I want to do something which I hardly see anybody on these clutchfans threads do. I have to give JVG alot of credit for the success this team has done this year especially since Yao went out. Be honest, alot of you (including myself) thought we were DONE when Yao went down grabbing his knee. But, somehow JVG has still made this team gel to a "pretty good team". he's allowed us to have a great chance in advancing in the first round of the playoffs, but after that, we'll play the likes of either the Mavericks or Suns. Right now, there's no way we can beat those guys.

So guys, be positive. we are the 5TH BEST TEAM IN THE NBA!!! WOW!!!!!

 

I disagree. I see it as a struggle either way. If anything, with Yao in there the Mavericks will try to negate his impact by speeding up the game in order to tire Yao and by using all 12 of their center fouls against him. They know they have no one-on-one answer for Yao but they feel thay can reduce his effectiveness by collapsing on him to force the ball out of his hands thereby daring the rest of the Rockets to generate enough offense to beat them which is the Achilles' heel for this team. And as much as I hate to admit it, under AJ, Dampier has started looking like a bonafide NBA center who can give Yao a pretty good run for his money. The Mavericks are really that good right now and the Rockets are at least 3 good players away from taking them on in a 7 game series.

 

THREE good players away???? No way. The only way to accurately measure how we stand up against them is if their full squad plays ours. Would it be fair to say Dallas can't run with us if Dirk was out for 3 of the 4 games played and we happened to win those? Of course not. All comparisons are moot at this point.

 

I think you missed the point of Solid's post. He's unhappy with how the Rockets folded in the 3rd period. We can accept the loss because in the end the Mavericks are the better team but what is upsetting is how they appear to be so emotionally fragile and fold up their tents (so to speak) when the pressure is on and things start to go wrong. This seems to happen no matter who is playing - I've seen it occur with both Yao & Tmac on the floor and it's something they will have to overcome before they can truly contend.

 

These are exactly my concerns. In the big games our lack of "consistent" perimeter shooting is exposed. Dallas's outside shooting is not streaky because they can keep bringing shooters off the bench. We have been playing well against the mid-level and lower-level teams, and I had talked myself into a "they are rolling down hill" mentality. Wrong. Just disappointing to see this ongoing deficiency. The reality is that we don't have many "playoff" shooters and that spells trouble.

 

I think one of the underlying reasons we lost, and this may seem silly to most people. But i think the rockets were stuned by the full-house attendence and the fluorescent lighting of the arena. WE usually play in 3/4 or less arenas and with natural light.

Cuban has ingeniously constructed his arena so that the opponent would have a higher losing rate.

 

Just a loss... best team in the league and two key players missing, I'm happy we even kept it close for the half. We didn't even lose to their defense, we just missed shots, so its fairly encouraging imo.

One thing I wanted to comment on -- regarding Snyder v Bonzi, I like Bonzi for our spacing and rebounding. Last night, we were absolutely terrible on the boards, often giving Dallas three or four attempts (the play that really set the game apart was Howard's three late in the third, 4th shot Dallas had on that possession), and Bonzi gives us a big body that knows how to get to the ball anywhere inside the perimeter. Also, outside of Howard and Bonzi, we have nobody who plays the mid-game, and Howard is much more one-dimensional with mainly 15-footers. Snyder is another guy who camps out on the arc, where we already have Rafer/Mac/Head/Battier, and Rafer/Mac have been doing a great job of getting to the rim lately.

What I wouldn't mind seeing, however, is Snyder taking some minutes away from Luther. Snyder is atleast as good of a ball handler and I'm sure he could handle passing the ball off to Rafer/Mac to get the offense going. His game is also the polar opposite of Luther's -- Luther is long range, small ball and Snyder gives us aggressive drives and the option to play big -- while occupying the same position/role, so this would give us a completely new look to try out.

 

We have the best 3pt shooting small forward in the NBA and one of the best 3pt shooting point guards. We also have a great 3 pt shooter off the bench in Luther. Devean George and Josh Howard are not better ouside shooters than Shane and Luther

 

Three players: PG, PF & a real SG. Dallas is deeper than the Rox because they have used a different method to construct their team but that's not the point here. Note that last night, they won going away with Dirk going through the motions so to speak. I'm just not convinced that even at "full strength" the Rockets can beat the Mavericks but it would be interesting to put to the test the theory that you and others espouse here.

What you and a lot of the folks here refuse to accept is that this is a different Mavericks team from the Nelson years. Avery has completely transformed the culture of this franchise and he's done that by instilling a mental toughness that wasn't there before. They always were able to score - that hasn't changed. What has changed is that they now play defense with an intensity that matches that of anyone in the league. To me, that was the one thing that always held them back from being an elite team - a championship team and that spells real trouble for the NBA for next few years. They came so very close to winning it all last year and they know they blew it big time and that's been the fire that's been burning inside them all season. Even Mark Cuban has taken a low profile this year which is a minor miracle in and of itself. Believe me, these guys are for real.

Don't misunderstand me - I bleed Rockets' red as much as anyone else here but I can see they have a tough task ahead of them catching up with this team. For me what's different in Houston today is that with the change in management, they appear to have finally gotten a clue about what needs to be done in order to improve. As a result, I am guardedly optimistic for the future of the Rockets.

 

But unlike the Mavericks, on the Rockets that small forward is asked to be a small forward, shooting guard, point guard and occasionally a power forward. That is simply not the case for his counterparts in Dallas. I can agree that Shane is better than Devean George but Josh Howard gets the nod from me because he's more of an offensive threat. Luther, God bless him, is good but very streaky.

 

if anything, this loss helps us:
1. We will know what to expect come playoffs time- we know how they work
2. They haven't seen Yao enough to learn how to stop him.... i will take 3 losses to mavs, if we can hide Yao and spin him like a yo-yo at avery johnson

 

no one should be pissed off that we lost..they are simply better than us overall when we do not have Yao at C.

 

We are a 2006 pre-injury Yao Ming, a healthy/in-shape Bonzi Wells, and a legit backup point guard away from even having a chance against Dallas in the playoffs. Thats all there is to it. It can happen. We just need some things to come together for our team before we are ready to charge into battle.

 

I gurantee you we will beat them next week in houston....mark my words.