Dude, it had nothing to do with that. Again, I say watcht the tape. Yao had the ball in the same spot where he had beaten Dampier, all night long. They called the play for him, they ran it for him, he decided not to shoot it. The shot clock is ticking down at this point. The game is on the line. They went inside. Mr. Inside didn't want it. So now Mobley/Francis whoever should pass the ball to Yao, even when he doesn't wnat it, with the shot clock running down? Please; since you now blame them for his passivity, are you going to start blaming them for his poor conditioning as well? You might as well.
Is it called reposting when Yao just stands in the same spot that he previously decided that he couldn't shoot it from (evven though he had been doing it all night?) Because I personally call that "standing"
I am pleased as punch about our record. Seriously, I am. But it's fools gold. We can't keep playing like that and expect to win. I know we can't adjust overnight, but the criticism of Mobley is warranted. He has exhibited the same decisionmaking for years, and it is completely understandable for people to question his ability to improve between the ears.
All the people that are hating on Cat because of a few mistakes are pathetic. If we want to get rid of every player that takes a few bad shots a game and makes some mistakes or misses a pass then we will be getting rid of the whole team. Steve took several bad shots, had a couple bad turnovers ... Should he be "Fired"? Yao took a couple off balance shots and a hook or two that was out of his range, missed important freethrows ... Should he be "Fired"? Cat has saved the Rockets several times this season and has been our best shooter this season. For the money he gets and the production he provides you have to be totally out of your mind to want to get rid of him. Yes he takes bad shots, but he more than makes up for it with his hustle on D, and his tremendous shooting percentage on the shots he takes that are good shots. Fire Cat if you want, but I don't care what you say ... The Rockets are nowhere NEAR as good of a team without him.
No, Yao's passivity on prior nights is his fault. Mobley's decision making is his fault. I'll go back and review tape but Yao had moved Dampier back with a few dribbles, and wanted to re-post. If he had gotten the ball back, I think he further deepens his position and scores or gets fouled. But that's but one example. The foul Dampier was absolutely brainless. I don't think you believe that Mobley made a tactical decision based on percentages. It was a dumb, knee jerk reaction. Even Cynthia Cooper could see that and criticized him for it. If you review tape, you'll see other occasions when Yao is on the low block and Mobley failed to give him the ball. I recall one specific instance with just a few minutes left, when yao had position on the weak side. Still, no entry pass from Mobley. Instead, he dribbles left, shoots a lefty jumper. I don't remember if it went in, but bad move. I think this excerpt from the Chronicle's article today captures exactly what I'm trying to say: Despite this 85-83 win, Van Gundy was refreshingly candid in exploring the reasons the Rockets let slip a third-quarter lead and turned away from all the things that got them in control in the first place. Beginning with a poorly executed off-balance 3-point attempt by Cuttino Mobley with 2:35 remaining and the Warriors holding a two-point lead, all the things that were pretty got ugly. Yao had just scored six consecutive points, blocked a shot and come away with an offensive rebound. Van Gundy, naturally, called a play for his star center, and Yao posted up. But no one got him the ball. Later, Mobley missed another leaner, and the Rockets proceeded to miss all but two of their final nine shots along with three of their last four free throws, narrowly escaping a disastrous end. "You have to play freely, but you also have to play intelligently," Van Gundy said. "If Yao (posts up) after scoring four or five times in a row and you pass him up, that's not smart play." Although Van Gundy might have stopped short of jumping off a cliff over old habits dying hard -- it was, after all, a win -- his toes definitely were hanging over the edge. The free and easy golden touch of a pretty third-quarter offensive performance wound up looking only like fool's gold, because the Rockets couldn't sustain it. Most frustrating: The near disaster wasn't because of any terrific defensive adjustment the Warriors made but because of the Rockets' own mistakes. These are the things that can be impossible to stomach and the reasons why if much of the league's downward trend in scoring is because of better defense, that's not necessarily the case with the Rockets. "If your team consistently doesn't play intelligent basketball," Van Gundy said, "you're destined for mediocre ... maybe a little above, a little bit below, whatever. We've got to get smart."
Yeah, i've got the tape too, and for some reason i am seeing something completely different. Yao tried a pumpfake, but Dampier didn't bite on it. Then Yao started to back him down, but wasnt making much progress. He passed to Cat on the top of the key, established better position, and raised his hand and called for the ball. Of course, Cat has the worst court vision of any guard in the league and just blindly drives into a tough shot. Oh yeah, one more thing. When Yao passed it to Cat there were 13 seconds on the shot clock, so don't give me the clock running down excuse. In fact, I'd rather have Cat just dribble the clock out completely than miss a tough shot and immediately foul the rebounder. But no, you've already said that you would intentionally foul Dampier in that situation. From what i've seen, no team would ever intentionally foul a player with a one point lead with 18 seconds left, and that includes Shaq.
You still don't get "it", don't you? OK, so its unintentional, I guess that's why some people call him dumb. After JVG preached not to foul in this kind of situations repetitively, he still put himself in a situation where he call possibly be called foul, what do you make of that? OK, dampier isn't really a good FT shooter, but he shoots above 50% isn't he? He can, under usual percentage, at least hit one. And he's capable of hit two in a good steak, can't he? Oh, you said it, it's not like it was an intentional foul, like it was designed by coach. It's a mistake, isn't it? What are you really trying to prove? If you look around, there are posts in which Yao is criticised for missing the two key FT. Most people here are just criticising mobley for make dumb decisions, and even ignore coach's call for the play. No, there isn't a "fire Yao" thread. Since the two mistakes are quite different in nature. One, Yao missed two FT. I'm pretty sure he doesn't want to miss it. Another, Mobley didn't dump it to Yao while his coach called for the play. Do you call that intentional or unintentional? It's a bit of an attitude problem, isn't it? It's different than missing FTs, isn't it? Look, the thread title is a bit imappropriate. I guess the thread starter let te emotion get better of him. But most of the comlains here are legit. It's a problem, albeit the fact we win, and Mobley contributed to the win. I'm quite sick of you acting like a posting police here. If the thread is not appropriate, why don't you think it's not locked yet, like so many truly inappropriate thread before? So quit impose your own judgement on everything and tell others what to do. Maybe you should stop keep checking into a thread with such an obvious title, and parade on somewhere else? In the meanwhile, stop defending the undefendable?
He was hogging the freakin' ball! Steve and Cat can see that even if JVG can't. Someone had to stop Yao, he was out of control. Doesn't that commie know Steve and Cat have contracts too!
The difference is that Yao is visibly working on and improving on his passivity. Likewise, Steve is working on his dribblemania disease and has markedly improved his defense. Nobody says they're perfect. but they are improving and the effort is noticeable. Listen to van gundy, not me. It's about improvement on effort and improvement between the ears. Those guys have improved and are still improving. Cat gets credit for his defense, no question. But there has been no evidence of his willingness to pass, sacrifice or change his mind on offense. That would be fine it that we're the team concept. But it's not. He is ignoring specific instructions from the coach, and we are not better off for it. It will cost us in the long run. Again, don't listen to me. See van gundy's quote in the chronicle. if you disagree with him, that's fine. But he knows a lot more than all of us put together.
Cat clearly takes bad shots and makes poor decisions but he hits about 45% of them and if adjust it for 3 pointers it goes over 50%. Where as Jim Jackson takes good shots according to this board and only hit 37% of them. So what would you rather have Cat taking bad shots and making 45% of them or Jim Jackson taking good shots and only making 37% of them. My point is Cat does make bad decisions and does some stupid things that bug me to no end, but I realize overall his positives outweigh his negatives. I just don't understand how so many so called rockets fans want to throw away a player who is a star in this league who also happens to be our best perimeter defender. Now if Seattle offers Ray Allen for him and MoT or Griff, I would be happy. However that is not going to happen, so enjoy the fact that we have a great player playing for us for less than average money just because he likes being a rocket.
Michecon, thanks for that. I'm glad someone has the tape up while the rest of us are working. SamFish - I'm not trying to make anyone feel bad. Differences of opinion are fine. I do not think Mobley should be "fired" just yet. It's too early and he's too valuable to give away. But when Pike gets back, Mobley becomes potentially expendable. He is not playing up to his potential and not accepting his role. If he flatly refuses to, then I think it's time to trade him. But it's too early to judge him as refusing to accept his role. I'm willing to give him more time. I'm just not willing to overlook his mental mistakes.
Why don't you explain "it" to me? I'd like to know. It's not locked? Well if clutch et al. went through locking every stupid thread on this message board, they would have to quit their jobs. That's why they ask us to police ourselves...by not starting threads like this. Maybe threads like this shouldn't have been started in the first place.
Yea put Jaxclone at point and slide Steve to two... Oh crap, I can see the threads multiplying now... How about a JJ Point forward with Pike at 3 and Steve at two? See here they come....
I think the reason that it is not locked despite the clear "sticky violation" is that Clutch is fed up with Mobley as well .
I'm in total agreement here .. Glad someone can be rational about things. I can understand people with the desire to trade Mobley because of things he does incorrectly. I feel the Rockets would trade him in the right situation (while we are winning is NOT the right situation by the way). I've never seen such bad "fans" of a team before. Some people here are just too emotional and irrational .. If we "fired" there would be 28 teams just waiting to pick him up especially at his current salary.
You want to know "it", you will here "it". Now listen up : If you don't defend the undefendable such as stupid foul and ingnoring coach's call every single time, I don't feel necessary to repond in a thread with such a crappy thread name. You just turned "a I'm just surprised no on ehas pop in and said 'why can't this go into the game thread' yet" me on the first page into one who argues with you on the 4th page. There, you have "it".
