This is it in a nutshell. People don't like to hear it,but the numbers speak volumes this year. As a starter,this year, goran has played better than lowry with the ball. The primary reason is goran has an explosive factor getting to the rim that lowry don't have. That's a major reason why lowry's low fg%. He can't get by his man off the bounce. Teams have played him as a jump shooter minus the rim attack ability. In goran, they have to respect it all. In basketball, a lot of times the setup and feel from possessions earlier helps players a lot. Now that lowry is back, he's taking away some of that feel. Top that off, lee minutes have dipped and that's putting a strain on dragic who now has too guard and shoot over bigger players. Maybe not as apparent as brooks, mchale needs to play lowry like a backup and not like a star coming back from injury. Goran should get his 36 mins, lee get his 35 mins and keep that continuity they had going.
I think that will be the last time we see a Dragic + Lowry backcourt. McHale tried it the past two games to see if it would work but it based on last nights game Dragic and Lowry both arent good off the ball. I'm noticing a glaring problem. Dragic has been a lot less aggressive. He's almost second guessing himself for some reason, when a few games before he would attack the rim relentlessly.
It is really not that hard to understand, and it is not a knock on Lowry either, it is just that the Dragic and Lowry combo takes a bit away from both of their games......it worked with Brooks and Lowry because Brooks was also a good catch and shoot guy, neither Dragic nor Lowry are catch and shoot players. They both excel off the bounce, and there is only one ball. DD
What does Lowry have to do with Lee's no show in the last two games? Or the fact that Goran hasn't been hitting his shots in the last two games? Or the fact that Scola hasn't been getting anything done? Or the fact that Parsons isn't playing like himself recently? All of these players are in the starting line up. The game against Jazz, is it a coincidence that the moment Lowry subbed in for Lee we mounted a comeback? I don't know what game you were watching but Goran DID get his 36 minutes the last two games, and you are nuts if you think Lee should have played more minutes the last two games.
We've been doing this all season. Look like a sure playoff team one week, the next week look like a bad lottery team.
sorry, Lee is NOT a 35mpg player...come on. You're just saying that to make some weird point that Lowry should only get 20 minutes. As for Goran, quit making excuses, if Ginobili excelled at <30mpg most of his career, Goran can learn to explode anytime he steps on the court too. You guys are trying to apply some nerd logic to this about playing time math. You're making excuses, plain and simple. Goran can explode every second he is on the court. He doesn't need to warm up for 8 minutes of bouncing the ball. Two PGs offensive is quite common in the NCAAs due to lack of depth. If college kids can do it, so can Lowry and Goran. Can't wait to see how you guys react to Martin coming back and taking minutes back.
One thing I really don't like about Lowry's game is that as soon as he gets the ball on a pass, the first thing he'll almost always do is give a little head-fake, which does ABSOLUTELY NOTHING other than to allow the defender to close in on whatever little space he had. So then, with the defender now in his grille, he'll have no choice other than to pass to another teammate. What does this do? It takes a few ticks off the clock and kills the offensive rotations. So yes, he is a ball stopper and the ball movement has not been as good as it has been without him in the lineup. Pay attention to this next game and you'll see what I mean.
The problem is chemistry... Everyone has to adjust.. This situation happens all the time when a starter goes out for a significant time and then comes back. Basically his teammates grow without him and they learn to adjust and improvise without him. Someone stated it correctly when they said Mchale should have brought Kyle in slowly.. Not for his minutes are his play, but for the team. I stated this when Yao was out for a long length of time and when he came back.. Yao had to adjust to the team and not the team adjusting to Yao... The same goes for Kyle and McHale, he has to adjust to the team and how they are playing and not the other way around.. Since HP likes to use his scenario's I will add this one.. It's like a military guy going over seas for a tour of duty and his wife is now taking over duties and handling responsibilities that he would normally do. Now when he comes back he's trying to just take over things like he was never gone, but he has failed to realize how his wife and kids have improvised and adjusted while he's been away. He has to adjust to them and not them adjusting to him... T_Man
This is 100% true, the chemistry that they had on the road trip has evaporated, they need to get some new mojo - but I suspect kyle would not want to play 20 mins a game as the backup. DD
I still think moving forward that Dragic is better choice over Lowry. Dragic has been off on this home stand like the rest of the team but he has higher skill set and physical ability that will be more beneficial to Rox in the long run. Dragic hasn't been as aggressive on the homestand though and that might be due to deferring more now that Lowry is back.
Of course it is, he doesn't have the ball as much, that is exactly what Leeb and I are talking about, and neither does Kyle...they are both playing at less than their overall ability allows them because they are both on the ball players. DD
No. I doubt any team has had a tougher 4 game stretch in an NBA season than the Rockets. Playoff intensity games vs Utah, Phoenix, and Denver. These young guys needed it. Get the losing out of the way early. Now, just make the playoffs!
we l0st b/c 0f failure t0 match up in the paint and b/c n0 0ne c0uld hit a sh0t. m0stly we g0t 0utc0ached, they adapted to 0ur 1st half lineup and mchale didn't adjust back0
This is just who the Rockets are. Earlier this season we won 4 in a row to reach 7 games over.500, and we then lost 5 in a row. We had another stretch early where we lost 5 of 6 and then won 7 in a row.
