BobFinn, Exactly, No pictures...means it did not happen...especially around here...so pony up boys. DaDakota
Houston Rockets vs. L.A. Clippers, July 18, 2002 Rockets 82 Clippers 79 This game started out a wide-open affair with the Rockets trying to create their own AND 1 mix tape all in one game. There were some incredible moves made by people such as Tierre Brown, Eddie Griffin, and Ahmed Ishmail. The Norse God doth awaken... Well, ok, maybe not so much a "Norse God" as he is perhaps a big lumbering oaf that tries his hardest everytime out. Of course the guy I'm speaking of is Jason "Baby Jabbar" Collier. Jason was on tonight, especially a little baby hook he had going for a while. He ended up with at least 14 or 16 points and probably would have had more had it not been for Rudy calling off the destructive powers of a god (he benched the guy). Jason still looked as clumsy as ever, and his vertical was still approaching 2 inches (if you rounded up), but somehow his shots were falling today. He was getting his points on hooks, rebound-putbacks, and jumpers from about 15-17 feet. What really pissed me off is that I decided to get several video captures for highlights of this game and I swear the only ones I could get appeared to be those of Collier. I know you guys are excited. Eddie cooled off a bit... Griffin was still intimidating shooters a bit out there and he did get a couple of blocks that I remember seeing, but he missed a few wide open shots. A couple were 3 pointers, while other misses were bank shots in the 10-16 foot range. Eddie was also rejected by someone when he attempted a baby hook. The guy that rejected him was about 7' in height from what I saw. However, Eddie did get quite possibly the highlight of the game on an alley oop monster jam. I wasn't particularly watching his game, but I did notice a couple of possessions in which he was beat when he was forced to move laterally. I think this will cause him some problems during the season because he has a tendency to still go after a block after he's been beaten, and the angle he tries to block the shot will almost force the refs to call a foul on him until he earns their respect. On the other hand, I also saw Eddie make some great decisions in terms of knowing when to pass the ball and finding the open man. He's light-years ahead of most other 19-20 year olds in that respect -- you usually don't see Eddie make too many errors when passing the ball. I caught a shot Eddie threw up on video in which he shoots the ball, the ball bounces off the rim about 5-6 feet straight up in the air and comes down straight through the net. Eddie ended up with 18 points in the game. Tierre "Mix Tape" Brown Tierre was a highlight reel in motion on his penetrations today. He has a move that is a thing of beauty to watch when it works. Tierre comes straight at a defender, the defender braces. At this point, Tierre does a 270-360 spin move still dribbling the ball. He has now separated from the defender and can either shoot the ball, or pass off to an open man if he sees one. I saw him do each at least once during the game. The move generated several gasps, ooh's, and aah's, from the crowd. Tierre was still pretty much doing whatever the heck he wanted on offense today. He didn't seem to make too many overt blunders today. He handled the ball and ran the offense, as usual, much better than did Tito. One of the few times where a Tierre penetration didn't work was when he drove the ball up the middle almost uncontested and had it blocked by a defender (I have a video capture of this). Tierre also ended up getting another highlight reel shot to go in. With time running out in the half, Tierre heaved a 3 pointer from a bit outside the 3 point line and banked it in (wish I had a video capture of this). An interesting thing I've noticed while watching these games is that no matter what Tierre does, the coaches seem as if they're almost trying not to hype him up. For example, Jason Collier or Tito Maddox could fumble the ball, brick a shot, bounce it off a kid's head and kill him in the process, and the coaches always respond with an "attaboy Jason/Tito" yell. Or something like "keep it up, you're doing fine". Tierre, on the other hand, could do a backflip, 360 degree, tomahawk dunk over 5 defenders and St. Peter, and the coaches rarely even acknowledge it. I know they're probably just trying to help the confidence and egos of Collier and Maddox, but what's up with Tierre? Give him some love, too, coaches! The supporting cast... No one else really stood out this game. Oscar played pretty well. He scored around 10 points, but had some good shots. His highlight was missing a shot, having the rebound bounce back to him and popping a 3. I won't harp on Tito, but it was pretty much more of the same from Tito. He got called for an 8 second backcourt violation at least once, and had coaches telling him to hurry and cross the halfcourt line on at least 2 instances. He's still struggling keeping control of the ball once a defender decides to clamp down on him. He seems to get nervous when pressure is applied. A double-team often destroys him and causes him to panic. I have 1 or 2 video caps from this game in which you'll see him trying to drive and just end up trying to do too much. I think he turns the ball over in one of those instances, and gets called for charging in another. Ok, so I guess I did harp on Tito after all. Ahmed Ismail started the game looking like Allen Iverson. I had to laugh at some of the moves he was putting on people. He hadn't displayed any real quickness off the dribble until this game. I mean, everytime he started to dribble the ball, I would get scared because it always seemed as if he was about a step slower than the defender and so deliberate in his movement. This game however, Ahmed had one move where he crossed over a defender and had the crowd laughing hysterically. The crossover wasn't anything Iversonesque, but it was so fluid, it was funny because he put about 3 feet between himself and the defender with the move. On another move, Ahmed is on a breakaway with one guy to beat. He jumps into the air, the defender jumps as well. Ahmed does some funky underhanded reverse with a twist move that I can't even begin to describe, hits the shot, and gets fouled in the process. The crowd went crazy... all 30 of us. Fred Jonzen's only highlight...errr...lowlight came when he had a dunk attempt devoured by a defender. You see Jonzen going up only to be met before the apex of his leap and have the ball and himself blocked to the ground. Oh the shame of it. I've got that one on video. Ike Nwankwo got in and got some garbage buckets for the most part. His shot is brutal. I mean agonizingly, heinous, disgusting, brutal. I've seen howitzers in old war movies present a more graceful touch than some of the atomic bombs Nwankwo was throwing up today. Terence Morris did not play tonight. I think they were working on his knee before the game, so he may have tweaked it. He was up and walking around, so it doesn't look to be anything serious. Request to Larry Smith... Larry, dude... you're big. Could you please stop blocking my view so I can take some good videos and pics of the game? Larry's big milk dud head blocked several shots that would've been great. You know I love you Larry, I'm joking... please don't kill me. Pics... I really only took a few pics of this game, and then took about 20 or so video captures. If any of you are interested in the videos, I'll share them using Grokster when I get home on Sunday. I'd put them up online, but I'm thinking with the number of people d/l'ing them, anyone hosting them would exceed their allotted bandwidth or come pretty close to it. Anyway, if you're interested, let me know, and I'll do it. Also, if you download the videos, I hope you guys can also share them online (like leave a machine up and running to serve the files) so we have multiple machines serving up the files. Also thanks to Big E who dropped by and sat next to me for about half the game. Nice meeting you again, man! Hope to see you again during tomorrow's game. I guess that's all I have for this game... till next time dudes and dudettes.
I only took 3 still pics tonight, but took about 15 or so video captures. Like I said, I'll fileshare the video captures when I get back to Dallas on Sunday. Here are the 3 pics I took : Alvin Gentry tries to impart The Knowledge of Losing : Clippers Style on the Rockets Eddie with the satanic look during a timeout... Larry Smith coaches Tito Maddox during a stop in action...
This is great. Not only are you doing a phenomenal job describing the action on the floor, but you've got us laughing out loud at our lifeless computer screens. You sure you don't want to take Calvin Murphy's place?
Eddie needs to keep that look and use it in the NBA. "Hey Shaq, MOVE!" "Ok. Just don't kill me!" It looks like Larry is tugging on Tito's ear.
Thanks DOD. IS it safe to say now that Torres and Brown are locks to make the team? Also, you on scale of 1 to 10, with 10 being the highest, rank the skills of Brown? Would you expect another team to make him an offer based on his play in Summer League?
DearRock, I can't really say if anybody will make the team because I have no idea what else the Rockets are looking at in terms of players via trade for example. If I were to isolate the SPL games by themselves, and not know an NBA even existed, they both would make it. Will they be able to do what they do against NBA talent? That's tough to say. You have to understand that these aren't the greatest players in the world they're playing against, so it's tough for me to say "yeah, they'll make it" based upon what I've seen in this league. But... I'll go ahead and say that based upon his play in the SPL, I don't see how you could keep Tierre off the roster. He's been near-unstoppable on penetrations, and has displayed a knack for driving, stopping, and popping a jumper. Tierre's had some mental lapses, but he's still young, so they can be forgiven. I don't know if it's really his style or if he's being requested to do so, but both he and Maddox have been driving into the paint with wreckless abandon. Tierre's been far more successful once he's gotten into the paint than Tito. He's had some bonehead plays, but without a doubt he and Griffin are the studs of the SPL team. Like I said, I don't see how you could keep this guy off the roster since he's probably playing better than most 1st round PG's would play in these leagues. Oscar started out somewhat confused on offense in the early games, but he's come on. In the past few games, he's been combining the drive and the jumpshot to keep defenders honest. He hasn't exactly been exemplary in his game, but he hasn't been really horrible either. I'd say he'd be good enough for a bench spot. Again, all this is barring any trades or free agent acquisitions. In terms of skills, again remember this is the SPL : Tierre : great ability to penetrate, great ability to knock down the open jumper once he's been created an opening, awesome quickness to get around defenders or just blow right by them, defense against bigger PG's may be suspect, has dominated in the SPL. On a scale of 1 - 10, probably a 7. Oscar : quiet offense, tries hard on defense, seemed to depend too much on others getting him the open shot in previous games, recently has tried to mix up the jumper and drive to keep defenders honest, his shot has been off in the games so far. Many of the fg's he's hit have been layups. Without a consistent jumper, he may be in trouble. Oscar hasn't done anything outstanding in the SPL. On a scale of 1-10, probably a 4.5 - 5.
oh yeah! the dr comes through again! hey doc, maybe sattle and the big E will host your videos? they hosted vids for summer 2001 league games?
July 19, 2002 vs. Miami Heat Rockets 96 Heat 109 There was a surprise appearance on the Rockets roster. There's the teaser. Read on... Rockets undermanned and it showed... The Rockets tonight were without the services of Eddie Griffin and Jason Collier. I didn't inquire about why Griff was out, but I'll go out on a limb and guess he's resting up for tomorrow's game. I hope so anyway. Is anyone else somewhat concerned about Eddie's conditioning, especially with the back-to-backs we have coming up this season added to the fact he'll be facing bigger and badder bruisers in the "real" NBA? Jason was sitting on the sidelines from the minor injury he sustained in the last game where he looked like the second coming of Kareem Abdul Jabbar. On the positive side, Terence Morris did play today. Whatever leg/calf problem he had yesterday didn't seem to affect him too much, although his minutes were limited. He was still firing at his 1 airball every 8 attempts clip. Ok, so I made that stat up, but it sounded funny as I typed it. He did fire up an airball, by the way. Anyway, forget the score and the fact we lost... there were positives in this game. Did I mention a surprise appearance by a newcomer to the roster? Oh right, I did. Ahmed - The Beast from the Middle East Ooh, that may have been politically incorrect, but what the hell, that's what he was today. Ahmed rattled off something like 20 points. I iso'd my view on him for a bit of the game just to watch him play. On offense, he has moves folks. He was showing stuff today he hadn't shown in other games. Ok, please, please, please don't shoot the messenger, and don't in any way think I'm saying these guys are equal in terms of talent, buuuuut... remember how Larry Bird really had no athleticism to speak of, but he always could get open? Much of the way he did that was with ball fakes and leading the defender out of his field of vision using the ball as the bait. Ahmed showed this today. He used some sweet fakes, some pivot moves inside the paint, and some nice dribbling to get himself open for layups and other shots. I remember in my first report I said he wouldn't make the team. He may still be a reach to make the team, but I sure as heck wouldn't mind having him on the end of the bench with the way he plays. He's got an NBA body if it comes to banging and that's always a plus. The other thing I really liked about Ahmed's game is the fact that he can pass the ball. I'm still leary of him putting the ball on the floor sometimes as the quicker defenders have caused him some problems when he does so. Tierre "DearRock" Brown Just kidding DearRock. I know this is your boy and you want him to do well. Tierre had a sub-par game compared to just about any of his previous games. He wasn't the scoring machine he has been in previous games. He was still trying to do the same dribble-penetration moves he has in the past games. It's a beautiful thing to watch when it works because I don't think there's a Rocket, with the exception of maybe Francis' crossover, that has a move that causes as much separation from the defender. Unfortunately for Tierre, today wasn't his day in terms of that move being successful. Tierre had at least 2 of his shots blocked or deflected by the defender on drives and he turned the ball over 1 or 2 times on penetrations. I'm not sure what his assists and turnover count was, but he was due for a sub-par game. To be honest, if this was sub-par, I'd take it every now and then. Listening to DearRock talk about Tierre and watching him play does intrigue me about the potential the guy has. He's prone to mistakes, but then again, there's no mistaking the fact he is explosive, can hit the jumper, can penetrate, and can create his own shots. He wasn't too bad on defense, either. He was matched up against a couple of pretty quick guards (Dean Oliver and Mike James) and held his own against them. James had a good game against our guards, however. He's got hops and doesn't mind jacking shots up, that's for sure. Bigger, stronger PG's will give Tierre some problems, especially if they know how to post up. Big Ike Diesel... Ike Nwankwo had a coming out party today. Ike was actually scoring in this game. Poor Ike is so big and brutish, he makes Otis Thorpe's mobility look something akin to a ballerina's. Ike was shooting balls from 10-15 feet in some instances. Now, I don't really know Ike's game, but from the way he walks, runs, and shoots, I have a hard time believing his range extends much past the 12 foot mark. Every time he launched a jumper I wasn't sure whether I should cheer or duck to save my head. Some of Ike's early shots were either airballs or live grenades off the backboard. I'm telling you guys I heard the backboard call a timeout. Anyway, Ike settled down later in the game and was the recipient of some Tito Maddox (and I think Tierre Brown) penetrations and dish offs. Ike got about 13 points, the majority of which were inside the paint off rebounds or dishes, if I recall correctly. Big Ike. Anybody remember "The Thing" off of Marvel Comics and the Fantastic Four? That's about what Big Ike looks like moving out there. God bless the guy, he sure tries. Tito the Burrito I have no idea why I picked that nickname... I just couldn't think of anything witty to put up there. Tito had a pretty solid game early on. He still made some of the same mistakes he did earlier in the SPL season, such as losing the ball on penetrations. However, this game, good things came out of him driving into the paint. I saw him get fouled once or twice on drives. I saw him dish off to Big Ike on drives. I saw defenses collapse trying to stop his drive. Once he has his mind made up to push the ball up the court, it's a thing of beauty if you're a Rockets fan. Why? Because I don't think we usually see that do we? I can still see the talent Tito possesses, and if he can harness his ability to drive then show an ability to find an open man and not panic if a double-team attacks him, he'll be one hell of a player. I watched him play defense today fairly well. He always had a hand in the players' face when they took a jumper, at least when I was watching. The coaches are especially taking an interest in this kid's performance during the game. They are constantly coaching him as he brings the ball up. "Get it across the line, Tito", "Keep your head up, Tito", "That's ok, Tito", "You're the least talented Jackson, Tito" (sorry, had to see if you were still paying attention). I'm of the opinion Tierre has easily outplayed Tito during this SPL season, but I hope we don't get rid of Tito because he seems to have the raw tools, but just needs experience and some guidance to harness it. Unless something miraculous (or tragic) happens, I don't foresee Tito being a major part of our team this year - but hey, who knows. Who is that guy? He wasn't on our roster before! Hints : Height : 6'8" Weight : 215 lbs. No, it wasn't Nachbar. Physique : A genetic specimen with hands that could palm a watermelon. lol. Hometown : Missouri City, Texas College : University of Houston Give up? George Williams. Thanks to Big E who sat with me for pointing him out. George came into this game late. I'd say around the 3rd quarter. He may have come in late, but he came in gunning. He had jumpshots working, turnarounds working, and everything else was working. He scored 11 points in his one half of playing time and looked DAMN good doing it. Some of the moves were so sweet and fluid, they had me drooling. During some of the possessions, I had people cracking up because I was screaming "Sign him Rudy!!! Please sign him!!" I was hoping he'd at least turn around and look since I was only about 3 or 4 rows behind Rudy, but he didn't. He guarded Caron Butler and guarded him well. He hit a shot or two over Caron. Caron returned the favor. They were joking with each other during dead balls. I don't really follow college basketball much, so this was my first shot at viewing Williams. This kid is a genetic freak of nature. I mean there's no fat on him whatsoever. He's muscle, bone, and then some more muscle. I wish the kid could have played more - he was definitely fun to watch. This could be intriguing. I'm wondering if they invited Williams as a courtesy to a hometown boy or if they're seriously considering him making the roster. If they're seriously considering him making the roster, then why weren't they interested earlier? What's changed that they're interested all of a sudden? Conspiracy theorists, any ideas? To wrap it up... No one else stood out as far as I can remember. Fred Jonzen and Dane Fife got some good playing time. Like I said, the Rockets were under-manned today, so I wouldn't put much stock into the fact they lost. Even if they weren't undermanned, it wouldn't have mattered that they lost. The Rockets coaches were stressing to push the ball up the court to all the players today. Neither Tierre nor Tito seem to need to be taught how to do this. They are explosive when it comes to pushing the ball upcourt. Man, I wish I could watch George Williams play some more. I haven't seen a guy put together like this in a while. He reminded me a bit of Latrell Sprewell crossed Michael Jordan in terms of physique. I didn't get any pics during this game. I got several video captures, though, and as I said in my previous re-cap, I'll go ahead and share those sometime this Sunday or Monday using Grokster when I get back to Dallas. The last game of the SPL will be tomorrow. I more than likely will not be able to make it to that game, but we'll see. If I don't, I have to say that this has been a great experience, and I'd do it again next year if my company allows me the vacation time. It's a shame I have to head back to Texas on Sunday.
Oh, my mistake. I meant to put what I thought of him in there. To be honest, he didn't impress me too much. He got some quick fouls, and seemed to be benched a lot. I could be mistaken about how long he was benched as I wasn't paying as much attention to him. He definitely showed a combination of power and quickness inside when looking to score over bigger people. Big E and I were watching him and saying you can tell the kid is talented. He just didn't have an unbelievable game or anything. From what I've seen so far, I thought Drew Gooden was the better player. But I've only seen Butler in one game. From what I saw in this one game, I don't think he would've been worth the #1 pick, but again, only one game. Now Drew Gooden... that's another story...
thanks once again for the recap, Dr. that's awesome that george williams was out there. i'm a UH grad, so i catch their games when i can. imho, he was their best player the past two years, and that includes the year alton ford was with them. he always filled up the stat sheet, but never really scored tons of points. anyway, i was really surprised and disappointed when he came out early. there was no buzz surrounding him that i could tell. maybe there's an x-factor there that we don't know about. it is interesting that the rockets would call him in now. it's hard to imagine them flying him out there for the last two games just to have another body to come off the bench. i'm sure there are plenty of players in so-cal who could do that. i'm gonna be optimistic and say that (maybe) they wanted to give him a serious look. haha. "sign him rudy!!"
Dr of Dunk - You are one of the most entertaining people to write up reports on any sport games that I have ever read and I just like to say that you really make me laugh out loud many times not just in these reports but in your other post too. I like how you add commentry to the pics as you did to some last season, you just make a normal pic sound so funny. Thanks for the really great recaps! I try to make as many games as I can but I sure hope I get to meet you if maybe you go in the next 03 summer games. I don't know if I seen you at the games or you seen me at the games because I usually sit by myself on the opposite side of the player's benches facing them. I'm a skinny 5-9 asian guy in my early 20's with a paper and pen in my hands at all times. I when to the Clipper game on thursday with my girlfriend and sat just directly accross from the Rocket's bench. I always see a few guys ranging from I guess about 15 to 25 in age that sit together and that sit behind the Rockets bench in just about every game I when to this summer, are you and Big E some of those guys? Again thanks for the recap : )
LA's #1 Rocket Fan, Thanks for the compliments. I've looked for you at every game. I was sitting with rocketsfan34 at a game and he asked if I knew if you were here or knew where you were. All I said was, look for a guy with a pen and a big ole notebook or something because I know there's no way in hell that guy can remember all the stuff he types up. lol. I looked for you this game, but didn't see you. Anyway, I've been sitting almost everywhere. I sat right behind the Rockets bench (within 3-4 rows) for about 4 of the games so far. I always wear a blue Rockets cap and sometimes a Rockets shirt. I'm a 5'10 - 5'11" Indian guy with glasses. I'm not sure how tall Big E is. He usually just appears out of nowhere and it's rarely by walking in front of me. He usually climbs into the seat next to me from the row behind. I think he's about 5'6" - 5'8" or so. He's a white guy that is always accompanied by an Asian guy. Maybe that's Little E. I dunno... or maybe that's that guy Sattle from last year. Anyway, I enjoy your write-ups, too, because I'm so busy taking pics and video captures that I sometimes miss stuff. That's pretty strange that I'm taking pictures of the game and missing the game, but anyway. You basically do play by play after the fact, and that's amazing. I don't know if you'll come to the game tomorrow, but I may see you if you do. I still don't know if I'll be going to tomorrow's game, though. Like I said, if my company allows me to, I may make the trip again next year. California is a beautiful state and I love the weather in Long Beach!
Thanks DOD. You are very funny guy. I tend to get overboard on anybody in a Rockets uni. I was that way with Larry Micheaux in the mid 80's all the way down including Turner, Feitl and all the other stiffs. Right now I am fixated on our point guards and the fact that we could and should dominate at that position. I looked at one of the Dallas game from last season, yesterday. It was played in Dallas and we eventually lost but that was after we came back from at least a 20 point deficit. The game really shows what our pgs, Steve and Moochie, can do. I am sure it was in that game that Dallas decided that Hardaway has to go. Next thing you know Van Exel and Avery Johnson are on the team. Why the fixation? Well everytime our pgs got into the paint in that game, I would slow mo and pause and rewind. Everytime, the pg had at least 2 options for dish offs. Many times those options were Mobes and EG for threes and Cato for dunks. Getting into the paint and being able to drain jumpers are lethal weapons. Finally, although the stat suggest we do not play defense or pass the ball, I have no doubt that this team has above average ability to do both. Once again DOD, thank you very much.
July 20, 2002 vs. Miami Heat Rockets 84 Heat 100 NOTE : Oscar Torres injured I'll go ahead and start by saying that Oscar Torres was injured close to the end of the 3rd quarter. I was trying to get pictures of our backcourt in action when I heard the whistle blow. When I looked underneath the goal, I saw Torres curled and lying on the floor next to the base of the goal. I'm not sure if he hit the goal or what. He stayed down for about 2 or 3 minutes before being helped off the court. As he was walking off, he seemed to be favoring his left side, so I'm guessing it's either a shoulder or rib injury on the left side. He did return to the bench later on, but didn't play again. I saw Boylen poking around his shoulder/rib area. I don't know how serious it is, but as I said, he returned to the bench, which is a good sign I suppose. No shows/No plays Eddie Griffin was missing in action once again. He wasn't on the bench, either. Terrence Morris did not play but was sitting on the bench. Jason Collier "led" the team again... Jason "The Immovable Object" Collier finished the game with 16 points and was somewhat fun *cough* ny to watch today. Jason had the baby hook going again, and of course looked all world on his way to a humorous outing. Humorous because I couldn't contain my laughter as I watched poor Jason trying to elevate to block shots, take shots, and dunk shots. I have never seen a human being that looks like he's about to sky, extend his legs, and absolutely go nowhere -- hence today's nickname of "The Immovable Object". That being said, I do have two... count 'em boys and girls, TWO highlights of Jason throwin' down some jams. One was a feed from one of our guards (Tierre?) in which Collier takes the pass and lugs down the lane and throws down a vicious one-hander. Of course Jason did make up for that good play elsewhere in the game by being destroyed by a defender as he put up a shot and had the ball blocked down his throat and out his ass. Jason got up laughing, noticeably embarrassed. In what had to be the most bizarre play, towards the end of the game I noticed Jason was grimacing as he waited for a rebound as a Heat player was attempting a free throw. I assumed he was hurt, but he was sticking it out and staying in. The free throw went up, and as Jason was turning to battle for a potential rebound, he kind of just went down. I don't think he was pushed or shoved, he just kind of went straight down. To picture this, stand up... ok, now sit down. There you go. Only Jason didn't land on a chair, he ended up on the floor. I still have no idea what happened there; I'll assume his leg was bothering him at that point. Anyway, don't get too excited because it seemed for every good shot Jason made, he somehow neutralized it by being part of some humiliating circumstance such as getting his stuff blocked, being blocked out by a smaller guy, or uh... sitting down for no reason. Tierre "DearRock's My Baby Daddy" Brown Tierre ended up with about 15 points. He had a solid game, but made the usual Rocket guard's 1 or 2 bonehead plays in the game. He didn't get the ball over the center court line in time and was called for a turnover. I believe he also had his shot swatted on a drive. He did have yet another amazing drive into the paint on which he scored. He also executed the play required by all Rocket guards : facing a double team and attempting to split it by shoving himself between the two players. That resulted in a turnover. Tierre should make this team. I don't know how you can keep the guy off - he played very well and, in my mind, the good outweighed the bad in his play. He was passing the ball very well today and got one or two great passes to Collier in open positions for JC to get high percentage shots. Tito "The Mosquito" Maddox Tito started the game out fairly well. I was already thinking about how I would write up his performance as I watched the game in the first half. If I had only seen the first half, it would've been something like "Tito had an unspectacular-but-solid game today..." Of course I did stay for the 2nd half, so that ain't what I have to say. Tito played solid ball for the most part in the first half. In the second half, he seemed to revert back to the baaad Tito. He had that aggressive, run and gun mentality, where he brings the ball up 100 miles per hour, encounters the paint, and the next thing you know the ball is heading in the other direction at about 100 miles per hour. I don't know what to make of Tito. He tried shooting jumpers today, and it definitely seems to be a weakness. It got to the point, he was passing up wide open jumpers from about 18-20 feet late in the game. If you're a PG and you're left open, you need to be able to stick that jumper! He launched one or two absolute bricks during the game, too. He had problems guarding people today. They seem to be able to turn the corner on him at which point, it's over - he's beaten. Have you ever seen a player that's fast as hell, but not necessarily quick as hell, especially laterally? That's the impression I get from watching Tito play. If you tell him to run as fast as possible upcourt, he can do it and do it well, but he needs to work a bit more on staying with his man when moving sideways. Remains to be seen if and how he'll fit in with this team. The Beast from the Middle East back to do some damage... Ok, so Ahmed Ismail didn't exactly set the world on fire this game, but he had a pretty good game. He scored about 9 or 10 points I think, but he did so sticking jumpers and using more ball fakes to get open. I'm starting to get to like this guy. He makes good passes, knows how to fake shots, and isn't afraid to get in front of people to draw charges. He's not overly quick, but he's no Jason Collier, either. The rest of the not ready for prime time players... I was hoping George Williams would prove the last game wasn't a fluke. Unfortunately, George didn't have a great outing. He mised a few shots to start the game and Caron started by popping 2 or 3 shots over him. Williams has a robotic gait when he runs that reminds me of an Otis Thorpe. He's athletic, can jump, and can hit the 10-15 foot jumpshot which is about all he took in his 2 games of appearances. I'm still not sure what the coaching staff's intentions are with this guy. He's obviously got the athleticism, but does he have what it takes to make the team? I don't know. "You on point, Fife?" "All the time, Doc" "You on point, Fife?" "All the time, Doc" "Well, then guard Caron Butler and show us what ya got" Lame ass Tribe Called Quest reference there if you didn't follow that... Dane Fife had probably one of the 2 best highlights of the game for the Rockets. The best highlight would probably be anything involving Jason Collier doing something well. I'll just make it short and sweet : Caron Butler goes up for a jump shot. He is rejected by Dane Fife. Nice. There's nothing else to really talk about as far as this game goes. We were undermanned again without Eddie and Terrence. The Heat team was "deep" and very athletic, and we just couldn't hang. We were actually down by a bunch in the first half, came back to take the lead by about 4 or 5 points, but then got outplayed in the end. Keep an eye out for Torres' injury to see how seriously he's hurt. I'm not sure why Eddie hasn't even shown up the past 2 days; I'm hoping it's nothing serious. This was the last game for the Rockets of the SPL. I'll have a wrap-up post sometime tomorrow or on Monday of what I saw and experienced here at the SPL. I'll also have some short video caps I obtained with my digital camera that show some of our buckets and a few forgettable moments. Expect those to be up sometime Sunday or Monday, too. It's been great here in Long Beach and I wouldn't mind coming back at all. Hell, I wish I could get a job here and live here - it's that nice. The weather is unreal, too. I'm not sure what the rent is here, but maybe I should find out. I hope to do this again next year if the timing and bosses allow me the time off. I can't wait for the season to start... GO ROCKETS!!!
Oh one more thing for those that are interested. Caron Butler had a good game. He ended up with 23 points on some nice inside moves and jumpers. He's very active inside and unlike in the previous game vs. the Heat, I saw why people are so high on him. He started the game with some great passes which surprised me as well. I don't really watch college basketball, so this was really my first chance to watch him play. He's extremely quick inside and yet powerful with his moves. I can see him doing well in the NBA... we'll see if he does make other teams sorry for passing him up as he stated after the Heat picked him. Based upon what I've seen of the 2, and admittedly it isn't much, I'd say that Drew Gooden impressed me more.
