EUREKA!

Gross man, just gross.

 

Actually, this team isn't as dumb as you seem to think after this game.

Yes there are a couple of bonehead plays by Rafer you want back and a couple of Tmac's shot selections.

But Batt, Chuck, and Juwan all three played smart in this game. Offensively (well except for Chuck cause we all know he is not at his best on the offensive end) and defensively.

I could have had them get a few more rebounds a peice, but over all our "role" players, with the exception of Synder (who was jerked back to the bench fairly quickly), did well.

Tmac's shot selection isn't really about his bball IQ anyway, its about rhythm. Yao's posting up in the middle worked well because he was able to push in low. If Okur starts pushing back (which he did) he can't get in low enough to make that post move better. When he passed back out, it was because he was triple teamed and had no room to make a move. We know that they are going to call the offensive foul on him, and so does he, so he passed it back out.

Yao isn't as mobile yet as we would like him to be, which limits him a bit in the defensive department, but he was right where he was supposed to be and most of the time had a hand in Boozer's face when CB was taking a shot.

I guess what I am saying is, not all of the things that you saw were a lack of bball IQ. Some were just bonehead plays, some were a matter of what the defense was giving you, some were a matter of trying to keep the rhythm going... stuff like that.

Don't give up hope Almu!! I believe that the team will make missing the beach worthwhile!!

 

Clutch mentioned this in another thread, but TMac's "heat check" pull up threes with 20 seconds left on the clock in this series just aren't working. I can think of maybe 10 games this season when he's been on a shooting roll like that, so the percentages just aren't good enough for him to continue that in a tight playoff series. The chink in the Jazz armor is that they are even slower than we are and McGrady and Alston need to drive relentlessly to make them pay. If anything it will put the pressure on them to rise up at home in game 6.

 

The rockets played this game exactly like they played the entire season. You know the one where we won 52 games. sure tmac takes dumb shots, you should be glad he limited his dumb shot selection in this game, he usually takes about 3 or 4 of them a game. Yao was getting a late double team which made the shot tough. although i do agree that if they run the court (which jvg seems to encourage), they can get easy baskets, specially if yao runs down to middle then he can get the easy lay in or dunk.

trust me, apart from Yao and Tmac this team is very limited in physical talent, theyre small, slow, and cant jump but they make it up with brains.

 

I don't agree with you about this team being dumb...sure you laid out a few bad plays but there were equally many good plays that I guess you just elect to forget about.

Tmac has a green light and you have seen many times including last night's game where he pulls up from anywhere in the half court and drills unbelievable shots...who else splits the defenders like he did and gets to the hole over two other defenders save for Kobe & Jordon all the while he's twisting and turning in mid-air. How about the 3 he hit deep and late in the 4th qtr where he was fouled...should have been a 4-pt play but he missed the Free throw...due to tired legs.

How about that no-look one handed pass from Rafer late in the game to Tmac for the layup...money...or the late rebound in traffic from his guard position. It saved the game...he was fouled and made 1 of 2...again tired legs from playing 44+ minutes against a rugged team...not to mention the big shots he hit early and late in the game.

I guess chuck is dumb to for taking that charge with 14-seconds left in the game huh? Juwon's dumb as well eventhough he had a perfect game and took the right shots...

Man, this is Playoff basketball where 42% shooting against a team like Utah should be praised rather than criticized...where a gutsy win in a game 5 should be celebrated. Can they get better? You damn right they can. They will need to get better to close it out which they will and guess what? They will be doing what 24 other teams wish they were doing and that is playing in the 2nd Round!

Not too dumb after all...

 

1) While seeing head driving to the basket and kicked it out ot snyder for 3 point shot, My first response was why not let snyder driving and head shot 3 points?
2) While only 3 ' 24" left, We lead by 7 points, Alston controled the ball, the He did a quick pass and passed to Utah, what's that?
3) While Head was so hot, get 8 points in 1-2 minutes, why pulled him out?

I am really dumb to understand these? They were paid millions a year for play.

Well, Rocket win,

 

ya alright! there was a couple of posession that i don't really think it was approve somewahat by JVG. But if you come and think about it , if they can only put their head into the game together, this team is lethal. But they just don't know how to execute it well enough.

 

Smart team, that makes dumb decisions sometimes.

 

Man, if you think these Rockets are dumb... let's watch some tapes of the Steve Francis Rockets.

 

Rafer has a knack for making his bonehead mistakes at crucial times.

The worst part about the Rafer pass was that the turnover was what led to the nail-biter to the end of the game. The Rockets were up 7 when he threw that pass, no doubt, thinking it would be like a home run that would really put the Jazz back on their heels. The Rockets very likely would have gotten that 9 point lead by just taking the ball up the court and trying to score on a regular possession vs. fast break. The psychological effect on the Jazz would have been exactly the same. I think if he doesn't make that pass and the Rockets score, increasing their lead to 9 with only 2-3 minutes left, it isn't the stress-to-the-end game that it turned out to be. As it was, the Jazz caught their breath, scored 6 unanswered points and everybody in the stands and watching it on TV reached for their nitroglycerin tablets.

If only Yao could dribble better... I think that's why he never back's anyone into better position with his butt, the normal way post players do. (With Yao that's a turnover waiting to happen.) If he could learn that, he truly could get to a position of just turning around to put it in the basket. All he needs to do is get his man in the circle, turn and do his best to throw it down. In most cases he'll at least get the foul. Since he is such a good freethrow shooter, that can also be valuable to get the other team's big men in foul trouble. This is where he lacks most in becoming dominant and having the WHOLE arsenal.

 

Great post! I can't stand when people point out only the negative one or two plays that player made. And he is b****ing because our players are shooting 3ptrs? One of the reasons Tmac can get to the rack at will sometimes is because of defenders worried about that pull up three. He fakes like he is going to shoot it and then takes it to the hole. Tmac is one of the best decision makers and yes his percentages have looked ugly(an argument can be made that they have always looked ugly). There is a reason still that the defenders are up in his grill at the three point line. If he did not shoot 3's like Wade it would be more difficult for him to take it to the hole. Pretty ironic, you are telling him to quit shooting 3's and take it to the rack but one sets up the other. This was not the right game to be b****ing about our bad plays. There were way too many smart plays to even talk about the bad ones. I am surprised the poster didn't have a heart attack after games 3 and 4. Please relax for Game 6 and realize that players aren't always perfect.

 

I would say that cherry picked left handed pass to Tmac underneath the basket for the 3pt play pretty much negated that one bad fast break pass which was also during a very very crucial situation.

 

Dumbest: Rafer / Luther (tied)

 

Maybe I'm remembering incorrectly but that was earlier in the game and for the most part the teams were within a couple of points of one another. I would still maintain that the mistake at the end was more damaging than a good pass was earlier just because of the time running down. The other good passes he makes are good. I'm not discounting that, but the thread is about "dumb" mistakes and the pass he threw away at the end was "not smart" given the lead and the time left. Half-court possessions and taking time off the clock with a 7 point lead is smarter.

 

Under NO situation, I repeat NO situation, should Luther be allowed to feed Yao the ball EVER

 

T-Mac has the freedom to do whatever he wants on offense, as he should. All the great ones do. And all the great ones take 3 or 4 dumb shots every game.

I heard JVG talking about this a before the playoffs started. He was saying T-Mac is smart enough to do whatever he wants out there and he has no problem with it. Of course, being HUMAN, he's going to make some mistakes, ie. dumb shots.

If JVG doesn't have a problem with it, then neither do I. You take the good with the bad.

Besides, if I recall, a lot of those 'dumb' shots actually went in during the 3 games we've won in this series.

 

I agree. IMO those who eagerly blamed Rafer's failed pass for killing the Rockets' momentum 1) didn't know what they were talking about and 2) were overly and unfairly harsh on him.

It was only two possessions back Rafer's pinpoint pass to an under-the-basket TMac who made the layup (but missed the and1 FT) pushed Houston's lead over Utah to 5 points (89-84). One minute later with Houston's lead increased to 7 points (91-84), Rafer stole the ball from AK and took ill-advised gamble that resulted in a turnover. The Jazz took a timeout but in the ensuing trip they didn't score. In fact, another 20 seconds of the game clock lapsed (supposedly more loss to our trailing opponent) when Yao grabbed the defensive rebound on a missed jumper by Boozer.

We'll never know whether the Rockets would have duly expanded their lead to 9 points if Rafer had not attempted that dumb pass, but we do know in the next minute and half, the Rockets failed to score on three consecutive possessions that had hardly anything to do with Rafer's poor decision earlier (missed layup by TMac, missed baseline jumper by Yao, airball by TMac shooting a 3-pointer), while in the same stretch the Jazz succeeded on all their 3 shot attempts (Harpring twice and Boozer once) on a 6-0 run to cut the Rockets' lead to one with 1'42" remaining.

 

i'm so tired of our End of the Quarter play..let TMAC dirbble the ball until the clock reaches 3 secionds, and then jack up a 30 ft shot...why cna't we run a normal play...we NEVER score with that TMAC isolation play at the end of the quarter..he tries to make it more difficult than it is....

 

We all have to get some rest!

We’ve just finished the season and thats a bad new for all of ass. We have a mass in our heads. I have a request to all of you – get rest before making new threads. There’s a lot of new threads about coaching, new deals and trades. There’s no doubt about we have to make changes but it’s to early to make decision like that.