ClutchFans Game Thread: Rockets vs. Pistons 11/02/2004

it's gonna take this team a few months to figure out it's identity and gel...not having a legit point guard hurts, but we'll come around!

 

Yao is disappointing. Hopefully, he will change to what we want him to be..

 

i think maybe that elbow is bothering him a bit

 

That is EXACTLY my take. I view this first month of the season as a learning experience for this team.

Also, they went on the road against the defending champs and had their best two players have subpar games. They still managed to be within striking distance with 2:00 left in the game.

A team like Detroit that had the emotion of the banner ceremony and the cohesiveness of the a team that won a championship together (McDyess and Coleman, the only two major additions, barely played), not to mention the stifling defense, is VERY tough to beat on its home floor.

 

Ming had seven points!!! TMac shot 30%!! And we only lost by eight points! That's amazing. I expected a 15-20 pt. spread with TMac and Ming scoring at a much higher pace. The Rockets are not nearly ready for primetime.

 

it wasn't really a suprise, I expected the Rockets to drop this game but one thing I noticed was that Yao did not tip the ball as much, rebounding seemed better whether this is going to stay or not I don't know. Ward sucks, we need a PG.

Basically are shots weren't falling, Yao didn't seem right. I think as this team continues to play together they will improve.

When is the next game?

 

I noticed when Yao and T-Mac are not on the floor, this team sucks. They have no direction and no go-to guy when handling the offense. One of them has to stay in to run the 2nd string.

Wallace just had this night. He's a punk, but he brought his A-game tonight.

 

Yea, this is how I felt after this game as well. I'm actually not that dissapointed with how they played. They made some mistakes but, like you said, it will take some time to gel.

Yao looked more aggresive but was hampered by the foul trouble. There were a few questionable calls against him. I'm not trying to sound like I am making excuses for him, but I like what I saw from him tonight. Detroit has probably the best interior defense in the league, so it was going to be hard for him to put up big numbers tonight anyway.

PG plat reared it's ugly head tonight as well as overall team foul trouble. Add the fact that they had a player, (R. Wallace) who had a hot hand down the stretch, and you have what we got tonight.

Looking forward to crushing the Raptors tomorrow night.

 

Uh, the team came back in the first half WITHOUT either Yao or TMac on the floor. Having JJ and Howard out there, when this happens, is actually not that bad. But we all know that this situation will only happen again as a result of foul trouble or injury.

 

What game were you watching in the 2nd half when Yao and T-Mac went out? They couldn't do **** on offense! JJ and Howard couldn't handle the offense.

I also thought Ward wasn't handling the offense as a PG. He would dribble the ball up, but would stand around confused on who to pass it to. He should of just dumped it into Yao and let him work. With his injury, I can understand for Yao.

 

Funny, I used to say the same thing when MJ and Pippen were on the bench. Shaq and Kobe too.

 

Watching the Lakers tempo, I really miss Rudy T.

 

Yes. He should have dumped it in to Yao.

 

Tomorrow night.

 

Overall, I'm not that disappointed in the performance. Detroit is a wonderful team and can make you look bad. in the 4th, they did just that. Losing to Det on their home floor is no shame.

Negatives:

- we'll continue to struggle against elite defenses. Our PG situation will keep us from reaching the top eschelon.

- Yao's arm must be bothering him. Very uncharacteristic for him to miss FT's.

- Howard seems lost and uncomfortable. I think that will improve as the 2nd unit develops an identity. He must become a low post scoring option.

Positives:

- I actually thought our offensive execution was pretty good most of the game. Tmac and Ward are much better at getting Yao the ball quickly in the low post. That difference is astaounding. McGrady and Yao missed many good shots, but they were quality shots. If Yao has a better game, we might win. But Det turned the screws on us in the 4th.

- Taylor, Jax, Lue, Mutombo, Boki all played well enough. They did their part.

- Yao had a lousy game but I think we beat most teams with our play tonight.

- Tmac can be our closer, like Kobe is for LA.

Considering we lost, I'm pretty happy.

 

We will get better with time but the things that stood out were the lack of speed,poor defense, rebounding and ball movement.
We need a lot of work.
I hope Yao won't be hurting after tonight's game. If he dunks and goes for the jumphook more often he will be hard to stop.
Howard was disappointing. We need consistancy from him to make things easier for the rest of team.

 

Rockets was good but not that great, but i saw a big potential on Nachbar the most!

 

Ward seemed the most confused. He didn't know how to lead this team on offense. He really needs to figure out what to do on the floor.

Ward's stats:

13 pts
1 reb
1 FREAKING ASSIST
1 steal
4 TOs

In the case of Lue, at least he had 3 assists w/ his 4 points.

 

I think Deroit is the better team currently.

That being said, if yao does not get some calls his way during the course of the season, we're screwed. We will NOT succeed if Yao can be molested like he was tonight.

 

He looks strange. That elbow may be worse than they are letting on...