I agree 1000% He has Amare written all over him....I'm not saying he's Amare, but he can be 75% of him... Remember the 93-94 Rockets. Hakeem=Yao (Minus the blocking and only half the guts) Thorpe=Scola (actually, I think Scola is better) Horry= (Landy, minus the 3pt shooting, but that's where Alston and Head are for) Maxwell=Bonzi Wells Smith=Luther Head Casell=Alston (without Sam's swagger and clutch, though) Jent=Novak (or Bullard, take ya pick) Elie=Mike James (minus the athleticism) Carl Herrera (Chick Hayes) But then you factor in T-Mac.....he should be the one who takes us to that same promised land....but the 93-94 team had 3 things we lack: Hakeem, of course, though Yao ain't no puck Swagger and Rudy T baby!
Just got back from the game and here are some of my thoughts... - Tmac was god awful on defense tonight. It might have something to do with his flu but he would continuely stand on D and not fight through picks. The Pacers knew this and starting doing off the ball screens on him every possession hence Granger getting wide open a lot in route to 22 points. Whether or not it was the affect of the flu Adelman should have changed up the defensive matchups. Dunleavy is slower and not as athletic as Granger. Tmac should have guarded him and put Battier on Granger. - Yao seemed bothered by something. He wasn't hustling very much and complained to the refs a lot. A couple of times I saw either the Rockets steal the ball and be running down the court or the Pacers steal and be doing the same meanwhile Yao sat and watched not once taking a step towards the other end (Scola and Yao did this one the same possession once and Rafer had to pull up the Rockets had only three on O while all 5 Pacers were back). Yao's got to be moving cuase you never know what will happen at the other end. - Landry should be starting or at the very least get 25-30 minutes. Adelman didn't play him at all in the first (why I don't know Scola picked up two early fouls and Hayes wasn't do much plus coming into the game I thought he matched up well against the Pacers 4 which is Dunleavy a lot). Landry cam in with about 10:30 left in the 2nd quarter and played the rest of the half. He had 9 pts 3 rebs 1 stl and 1 blk on a breakway chaser. To my amasement Adelman didn't play Landry at all in the third despite the Rockets struggling. Landry came in with just under 10 to go in the fourth and played the rest of the game finishing with the 22 and 7. So Landry played 20 minutes but only subbed into the game twice. Why is Adelman having Landry play in such long spurts. It would seem to me playing him 5 minutes in each quarter (altering for when he is hot or cold) would work better because he would always be fresh. - Despite sucking on D I thought McGrady played a very good game offensively. Yeah he was missing some shots but it was the other things he was doing. He didn't take very many bad shots (and even made some of the ones he did). More importantly he wasn't a ball hog and rarely kept the ball for half the shot clock. He had 9 assists showing he was destributing very well, plus scored 19 which ain't bad either. - Scola had a good jump shot today but didn't do much else. Well I guess he did a good job boxing out and fighting for rebounds. His D was pretty bad (not as bad as Tmac though), and didn't move much on the offensive end. He hit two jumpers in the first but did little else other than fight for rebounds. And yes I do know he had only 2 rebounds tonight. If you saw the game he had at least 5 or 6 instintces where he affected the rebound by either tipping or boxing his guy out that allowed a teammate to grab the ball. - While Landry dominated in the paint in the fourth he started the game by hitting long jumpers. The Pacers gave them to him and he drained them. He hit three long jumpers in the 2nd quarter (13 fter, 15fter, and 20 fter I would guesstimate) That's all I got for now...
Just wanted to issue out a reminder that I just remembered. The Rockets didn't actually draft Landry, the Sonics did and then we traded our 2nd pick and money for his rights.
that was too close for comfort, i'm just glad for the victory =) Shane battier's post game interview with gene peterson: http://media.switchpod.com//users/vladthegreat/postgame.mp3
What an ugly win. I thought we had it (loss) for sure but then our version of Amare (Landry) took over. . I am confident he will get 20pts 10 rbs if he can get 30 min and he will be as good as Amare one day.
why is rafer still a Nba guard???? honestly, yes i have no idea how hard an nba guard has it but...i've played bball enough to say if i constantly shoot 3-11 every game and maybe one out of 10 nights i'll shoot 5-9 i suck at shooting trade rafer.
According to the interview the Purdue basketball team (W. Lafayette is just 59 miles from Indy) was there to support Carl. That's what I like to see out of my Boilers (tied for first place in the Big Ten baby).
I never doubt Yao's effort. He had an off-night is another matter. In any case, the current Rox relies no more on purely 111's superb performance to win games - different other players have stepped up every game, which is a good sign. Hope their chemistry is at its best come playoff time.
The ONLY team in the West that can afford to "lay in the weeds" is the Spurs. They are a playoffs machine. With the exception of the Sura-Barry team which was the only team in the Yao-TMac era that took off in the playoffs, the Rockets are no playoff machine. Last year, most of the team's players played below their regular season numbers. I think that is called de-elevating your game. The encouraging factor this year is that by the playoffs, if the Rockets make them, the rookies may be really, really good. Landry blows my mind. Scola may have the better overall game, but Landry may be star material.
How come there is no appreciation thread for Landry while Rafer and others can get one after a few good games?
Yes, this game was horribly officiated. Yao was constantly hacked across the hand/wrist area on his shots, bumped around and the refs had their whistles jammed up their collective azzes. Replays showed this over and over again. The foul on Landry when he was base-line str8 up and down and leaning away from the opposing player Indiana and their fans were such posers, thinking they were so bad azz sinking 3s and all that shiit. Live by the 3, die by the 3. We even threw a possesion away in the closing seconds and still won the game,........they missed 2 3s in the end......ha......suck it scrubs. Shane's free throws were clutch, forcing them to shoot a 3......airball! Carl Landry was freaking amazing.........dominated this game, spinning, leaning, dunking, 15 foot J'ing, rebounding, defending.....Love this guy. Yao and Tmac were ok, but Landry.....man. I really thought the game was over when Rafer mishandled that tmac pass, wow go rox.
