Back to the regular programming ... Rockets vs Suns ... Just a night after I praised the whole team ... they stunk up the place ... A game after I called Steve a superstar PG, he played like a chump. No one else could make a shot. Without Cato, this wouldn't have been that close. Somehow, I don't think we can count on Cato to be the high man in scoring many more games!
I'm sad... and drunk... That was a depressing game... What happened to passing the ****ing ball?!? I just want one big time block from Yao on Shaq and I think it would cheer me up... even though we lose by a kazzillion points. I have faith in you Rockets. Can we please move to the East? goodnight...
of course when the open man is Cato from twelve feet out... I hand it to the man. He plays with heart. now I'm really going to pass out.. er... to bed... goodnight...
The fact that they DO use it IS the issue....not that they do it all the time or not. TD, KG, and Dirk have the quickness to go up with their strong hand. BUT, if they are NOT in position, they WILL change hands. It's about being aware of the situation around you where you will move your body to block the defender. But guess what? You main hand will not be in position to make the dunk. Thus, you change hands. TD, KG, Dirk and Payton have the knowledge to do this. Payton does it all the time. This applies to all players that are ambidextrous. What you perceive as "other not doing it very much" as a reason that Yao shouldn't learn, is short sighted. He has MORE reason to learn that because HE CAN'T JUMP! He's relies on positioning, which he's not that good at. He's not good laterally. Thus, he needs to create other ways to get dunks and lay-ups in the post. Hakeem was the last person that needed this because he was sooo fast and quick. TD does change hands AND he also knows how to use the drop step or up and under if need be. The fact the he uses it if need be is the issue. Yao has NOT been using it. He's be just using his right hand, and then getting it blocked because of it. Keep an eye on this. Watch, the next time that Yao has a chance to dunk he'll use his righthand even if he's on the left side of the court. He'll use the right hand if he's on the right side of the court. He'll use his right hand if he's under the basket with a defender on his right. Results? He'll get his shot BLOCKED! It's seen it time and time again!!!!!! He's not aware of where his defender is. Hearing problem? Not sure...but.... It IS a problem!!!!!!
That's the problem with people around here. They're as hot and cold as the Rockets. BTW, i'm dying to make negative comments about Yao right now, but i'll hold off until the next game if he puts up the same type of numbers
Yes i am blaming the role players..are you hard headed or what? you make it sound like role players is a bad thing...they are not star players, not franchise players and not bench warmers they are role players...pike has not being shooting like his reputation...JJ is hot and cold, they did not do their jobs...those missed shots are a big reason why we lost... When you have wide open shots are you do not make them, your team loses plain and simple... yeah we can talk about steve or yao all night long, I am just trying to point out these role players and they are role players built a brick house, missed shots, lost assists to steve and yao...these role players are part of the team, we would have nothing to talk about if were just yao and steve... and by the way, wins or loses does mostly fall on steve and yao but tonite, it was obvious our role players missed shots...thats why we lost...
Feishen, You got that right. SF "forced" the official to make a call and it went to the home team.......as it usually does. All he had to do was stand there with his arms up. He made a dumb, stupid, bonehead play at a critical time - and then compounded the 3 point foul with a technical. When your "leader" continues to do make stupid plays night in and night out...........well, Houston, we do have a problem. I'm really disappointed in his failure to grow as a leader and floor general. And I'm pretty convinced by now that he doesn't have what it takes to improve. Swap him for a Steve Nash type and you'd see a completely different team out there. D R
The crucial fourth quarter has been the toughest for us usually in almost every game and Phoenix just blew us out. We need a steady player who can calm us down and help us execute on both ends. Unfortunately we don't have anyone like that on the team. JVG can give all the instructions but it's up to the players to get the job done. Our chances of making it to the playoffs aren't looking good even though our record is more or less the same as some other teams.
That 4-point play at the end was unbelievable. The momentum was in the Rockets favor. Phoenix was starting to panic. The 24 second clock was just about to run out. Then KABLOOEY!!!...Momentum gone All because Steve had another one of his brain farts. I sure hope after the game Steve takes responsibility for that foul and doesn’t call out the refs. That was as blatant a foul as it gets. I have no idea what he was complaining about.
Hmmmm, I didn't see the game but the radio guys were saying it was a ridiculous call, Marbury initiated all the contact, Steve was moving out of his way, and Marbury wasn't in the act of shooting when they blew the whistle.
Radio guys were being homers. Marbury tried to bait Steve, and he fell for it hook line and sinker. Steve raked him across the arm. I was trying to give Steve the benefit of the doubt, but the replay showed it clearly. Even Bill and Calvin were saying it was a foul.
Take a look at history? The guy is in his second year, cut him some slack! Yao is as ambidextrous as a center gets. I have to disagree with you on this one.
Yes, a good observation. Yao is in fact very good with his left hand. But why he used his right hand more often to dunk the ball, I don't know. It could be a habit or he wanted to have contact to get a three-point play. Or that could generate more power for him during the situation. In any case, I did not see that affect his game anyway. On the contrary, I would rather see him dunk more, whether that is right or left hand!
This is exactly what I've been saying since the season started. The other teams have a script that they follow when playing the Rockets: Double or triple Yao to force him to kick the ball out to the perimeter shooters who will more often than not, launch brick after brick. I was never impressed with Boki, JJ and Piatkowski as being dependable enough outside shooters to force teams out of this strategy. As for Mobley, his outside shot shows up every 5th or 6th game. SF is simply a disaster as a consistent outside shooter. This will continue to be the reality of the situation until they change the makeup of this team.
Cato did not hurt us in the offence in this game. He actually did a wonderful job. But our PF continues to cause damage to ourselves at the defensive end. Whether it was Cato or Taylor, he was totally dominated by Marion, either with ISO or Pick simply our PF is just too slow to catch up. That was basically how Mario and Johnson combined for 21 points in the 4th quarter. And that is higher than what Cato scored the whole game!
Marion didn't explode til the 4th quarter, and 4 of his points in the 4th came from poor passing from JJ and Francis that equated into open lane fastbreak points. The other six points, Marion was around the perimeter, faked jumpshots, and then drove in with these weird looking running shots that no one even had a chance of blocking because he just tossed it up. The PF position wasn't our weakspot last night. It was the perimeter players at fault, mainly Francis who was most at fault. Cat had a boneheaded game but considering the amount of improvement he's made over the course of the season, I don't feel as much of a need to criticize him as I do Francis who still can't seem to make the transition to playing team ball. Atleast Mobley is showing results consistently towards buying into JVG's system. Wish I could say the same about Francis. Although as much of a seasoned veteran as JJ is, he is really getting under my skin going 0-8 for 3 quarters before finally making a bucket. And his turnovers were equally as dumb as Francis' were considering he had atleast two that were unforced that could of easily been avoided. Atleast with Pike you know you'll get a few perimeter buckets at a decent percentage but with JJ you just never know.
One problem with SF and many others on this Rox team is that they don't know waht to do in certain situations. In other words, our players don't play smart! For example, they fouls when the shot clock is runing down (SF yesterday); they fouls to stop the clock and put opponent on FT line when Rox is leading (SF and Cat do this often); they pass up 2-for-1 chances with 35-40 seconds left and trailing by 3-4 points; they refuse to go inside or attack the basket when outside jumpers don't fall (they just keep shooting until one shot falls); and as shown in the Clippers game, leading 14 points in the forth quarter and 6 minutes to go, they jack up 4 quick bricks in a span of like 45 seconds (that was 4 possesions, they run down 30 seconds instead of 1.5 minute). This is the single biggest problem I want them to fix and Rox will not go far before they do so. They have to pay attention to these problems, after a win as well as after a lose. If you let them play stupid just because the game is a blown out win, don't expect them to play smart another night when the game is a close match. All the great teams try to play smart 48 minutes every night. You see Lakers, Spurs, Kings calling timeouts when they lead 20+ points with 2 minuts to go in the 4th? They try to play to perfection. On the contrary, when we had a win with hot shooting, fans here ignore all the mistakes committed, and attack every criticizer "b****ing", and claim "if we can play like this every night...", dream on!
