I agree on this. Suns are really fun to watch. They basically finished Cleveland in the first half last night. Steve Nash is really making everyone else better, who deserves a third MVP this season IMO. But coming to playoffs, I think the Rockets should be able to eat them alive. Mark my words.
That is one stupid mofo if I've ever seen one and what was up with homeboy's face today? Too much sun done fried his brain. Anyway, he just wanted to say that he likes those other teams better than us period but made himself look ignorant in the process...
i remember googling "bill walton quotes" one time and there are a few sites dedicated to the ridiculous things that have come out of his mouth. don't take bill walton seriously, he's there for entertainment value and says things that get reactions out of viewers, just like charles barkley.
screw bill walton he is a waffeling a$$! i remember when we won championships back in the day he would both praise and bash us in the same game. he is an idiot and has sorry opinions. hey screws in the knees shut your big horse mouth up.....NO ONE CARES ABOUT YOUR OPINION! (screws in the knees is what my bro and i call his annoying A$$)
Albeit I agree with Walton in that the Rockets are a slow, grind it out team. But he lost all creditability when he said Phoenix was a better defense team...
Phoenix has better individual defenders. Houston is a better defensive team. Leandro Barbosa, Shawn Marion, and Raja Bell are all great individual defenders with quickness and length. Battier is slow but smart and long...Rafer has been very hard at work all year...I'm super impressed with what he's doing defensively with so little defensive talent..it's like his reaction time has increased 2 fold. Imagine what defensive craziness the Rockets and JVG could have if Marion was on the team. Oh yeah, I forgot Snyder...he's a D stud and will have an impact. Mark my words. Oh yeah, Walton is just being Walton. He loves the Suns, he loves Yao, he just doesn't like JVG, but he loves Rudy T...Walton needs to be taken with a grain of salt. He's like Barkley...it's about the entertainment value.
I can see where he is coming from, he made decent points. We're only dominating the East - Big deal, which means we're only 12-11 against the West after tonight's win. Our defense hasn't provided us post season success - Spurs/Mavs/Pistons have. We DO play a slower game - But that is his weakest point IMO. That being said... HE'S STILL A F*CKING DUMBASS. Everyone knows he loves Steve Nash so naturally he's going to pick the Suns over us anytime. Phoenix barely plays defense, they just beat their opponents in shootouts and that RARELY works in the playoffs (hasn't gotten them to the finals). Even with a healthy Billups, when the Pistons lost Ben Wallace they pretty much lost all their D. I would take a healthy Rockets roster over the Pistons and we have YET to see the Suns win with their run and gun style. Not saying it doesn't work, because they're damn good in the regular season, but that playing style won't cut it when defense tightens in the post season. It hasn't yet. We still have to prove our D as well. GO ROCKETS!
That is true, but it isn't only fewest points, it is lowest shooting % that we hold the other teams to as well.
OH btw thank SOMEONE that Jon Barry was announcing alongside of Walton. Not only did he make him look like a dumbass to anyone who knows about basketball but he always has something nice to say about the Rockets. Obviously that's a little homerism but it's nice for a change, he gets the other announcers to say nice things every now and then too. I love Jon Barry.
Does Bill Walton have fake teeth? something is wrong with him.. I just can't picture what.. (other than his commentary that is)
Personally, I think our conference record is slightly misleading. 12-11 isn't great, but consider other things as well: Of the 11 losses we have against Western Conference opponents, 8 were on the road. In 4 of these road losses, we were on the second night of a back-to-back. Of the 3 we lost at home, two were against strong teams (Lakers and Spurs). In the Lakers game, we were without McGrady. The third loss at home was against the Clippers when we were on the second night of a back-to-back, we still didn't have McGrady, AND Yao went down with an injury in the first quarter.
that was then the only way phoenix beat the rockets this year was Yao's foul trouble. the built up that huge lead which was lost in an instant the moment yao got into the game in the second half. he and tracy ran the pick and roll to perfection. as soon as he got his fouls again the suns were able to run the score back up. Had yao been able to stay out of foul trouble (cant remember but some of the fouls were ticky tack/silly fouls) i think the rockets could have actually won that game
I guess this means that the Suns AREN'T the top offensive team in the league because of their style of play? Faster game means more points? This is the same line of thinking am I correct?
eloquently put, exactly correct. No, maybe we're not the Spurs defensively, and just for Walton's stupid argument's sake, we're not anywhere near the Mavs (whom, simply by virtue of their great record in the past two years [and also, the general consistent health their team has maintained within those two years], but to say we have a deceptively strong defense because we play slow-down ball is not only unoriginal (hater #1 Barkley says this almost weekly during the JVG Rocket era), it NEVER, EVER accounts for the fact that we consistently hold the lowest field goal opponent's PERCENTAGE. That's the essence of the term "percentage"...it accounts for discrepencies like lesser shots, etc. Basically, Walton speaks out of his ass. I don't know if that means he's a literal Rocket hater, which I don't think he is...he's just far too enamored with the prevailing tides of the league, which happens to be the complete antithesis of the Rockets, the Suns. No matter our allegiance, the way the Suns play ball is special, there's no argument about that. It's that we get criticized unfairly in light of the Suns is what I cannot stand, and I think that's what bugs us Rockets fans the most.
Yeah right, and the opponent teams constantly shoot below 40% and outrebounded by rox because Rox' slow ball. You don't have to be a moron to keep your job, Mr Walton.
Per Patience: "I think Walton says ridiculous things off the top of his head, and is then too proud to own up to it. Once he got called on it by Jon Barry, he knew darn well it was ridiculous to say that Phoenix is a better defensive team than Houston. He was just too proud to admit it...Or maybe I am giving him too much credit. " I agree with this take. I have occasionally done the same thing Walton did -on this board- gone off the deep end and then not want to own up to it. I loved Barry saying something to the effect later in the broadcast- paraphrasing Barry"yeah Bill-like Phoenix that defensive juggernaut"- Bill just sort of mumbled when Barry called him on it- Barry is cool. __________________
I feel like I'm the only guy who doesn't enjoy the Suns' style of play. Maybe it was too much 90's basketball, but the grind it out, smashmouth style of the rockets is exactly the kind of ball that gets me going. Every shot counts, every point counts, there's a feeling that an invisible barrier is preventing that ball from going into the basket. It's awesome when two teams fight their lives out for 2 minutes before scoring in a close game. A made shot feels miraculous. There's more tension to each basket, every shot and every possession counts. The suns play an empty and soulless brand of basketball. There's no meaning to a bucket, they're just flying left and right. It's like watching a pickup game at the Y, no intensity or defensive intensity at all. Just a flashy showcase. I see enough of it at my school's games. The Suns don't actually beat you, they invite you to beat yourselves. They play their game, and hope you play it too because they're better at playing their own game than you are. That's why I wish the Lakers had nixed them last year. Those first few games were beautiful, the Lakes slowed the game down and beat the Suns into a bloody pulp. After they went up in the series, they lost their focus and just started playing the Suns' game again and got ran off the court. This is the reason I'm a fan of JVG, and a fan of the Rockets. These guys don't show up to play around and goof off on the court. They bring the intensity every night, and it's aimed at the other team. It's not for the fans, it's not for their egoes, it's to stick the boot to the other team's neck. edit: Russell block video: http://youtube.com/watch?v=nWFsL4Y8RVA I think Russell vs. Wilt is the greatest illustration of what I'm trying to say. Anybody in the league can score in buckets, but precious few can lock their opponent out of scoring
