Five seconds left on the clock who should have the ball Aaron or Kevin?

Hmm.. Good point.

 

Whoa.. Saying AB has failed is a bit much. I think he took more than 10 seconds is because he had more than 10 seconds and wanted to run the clock down. I don't think any player is dumb enough to run the clock 10 seconds down and not do anything. If he had 10, he'd work with 10. If he had 5, he'd work with 5.

 

I had to rep you because your posts have been the most constructive without being offensive to other posters.

 

Lots off stuff happens during games, you're only going to remember the things that stick out to you, and this happened to stick out to me. It can all just be my interpretation, below is the play I formed this interpretation from.

Martin and Brooks is standing in the backcourt, it's for the last shot of the quarter, Brooks has the ball in his hands and Martin has both hands in front of him, the sign for 'give me the ball' (especially when it's done in the backcourt). Martin is in clear view of Brooks, and Brooks doesn't look at him, intentionally ignoring him. Instead, he races ahead of Martin and drives into the lane for a layup.

It seemed to me in that situation they had opposing views of who had the better advantage. A minor thing for sure, I just thought that play was interesting enough to point out.

 

Easy

AB for sure. The guy has an easier time getting an open ****, especially when time is a factor. He has proven himself to be big time and I trust him the most.

 

Ishmael Smith because we will be up by 40

 

I would rather us just run the offense and get the ball to whoever is open. But if we have to run an isolation play, definitely Brooks. He's just simply faster and better at creating for himself, especially in the last seconds of the game where the officials tend to call fewer fouls. (Martin can create, but he relies a lot on drawing fouls to do so.)

 

I really don't see how there is much argument against Brooks. We have ONE guy on this team that can get a good shot from anywhere on the floor, AND has the handles/court vision to hit the open man if he draws extra attention. That guy must have the ball in his hands in the last 5 seconds.

And for those arguing his height is a detriment:

<object width="480" height="385"><param name="movie" value="http://www.youtube.com/v/8bSdhTH8NLQ?fs=1&amp;hl=en_US"></param><param name="allowFullScreen" value="true"></param><param name="allowscriptaccess" value="always"></param><embed src="http://www.youtube.com/v/8bSdhTH8NLQ?fs=1&amp;hl=en_US" type="application/x-shockwave-flash" allowscriptaccess="always" allowfullscreen="true" width="480" height="385"></embed></object>

That's a 6'10" guy draped all over him, a situation AB won't face often btw, and he's still nailing shots on him. Don't underestimate how quick he gets his shot up and how high his release is on his jumper. Dude is an offensive beast.

 

the funny thing about the aelliott vs dd argument is that both of them are right in a way.

aaron brooks IS the best crunch time player the rockets have, but sadly he's still NOT good enough.

brooks' greatest strengths are his speed and his 3 pt shot. this works well in regular season games. but once the playoffs come around and the game gets called differently it'll be tough for a guy of brooks' size to always come through. so at the end of the day the rockets would live and die by brooks' outside shooting. i don't think that'll be enough.

this is one major reason why the rockets will never be contenders unless they trade for a true superstar.

there's no doubt brooks can win the rockets some games, even in the playoffs, but it's the consistency that matters.

 

Beat LA....please lay off the "5 seconds". First of all, it doesnt have to be a transition jumper or tough layup. You're assuming they'll always be on the run, like (surprise surprise) the videos of Kmart you posted. Those videos arent a true representation of all "last second" attempts, especially the play where he made the off balanced layup. That hardly ever happens.

You can start on the opposite basline with 5 seconds.
You can start in the half court with 5 seconds.
You can also include 6, 7 ,8, 9, 10-24 seconds left with the ball in half court because most of the time the player will let the clock run down to about 5 or 6 seconds, which puts them in almost the same situation, as if they took the ball out from their sideline with 5 seconds.

Of course this can vary depending on the score, but the point is strictly saying "5 seconds" is biased, in Martin's favor. The spurs-sac fastbreak started at about 5.2 sec. in the Sonics' game, it's not very clear, but the posession seems to start somewhere between 4.5 to 5 secs. Very biased.

 

I think Brooks is learning more every game to better manage the ball late in the game. He will learn when to attack the basket and when to kick the ball out when defense collapse on him.

As Rudy-T would say he has a heart of a Champion !

A lot of us like tinmans post and videos.

I also enjoy the back & forth video clip arguments.

 

I do too, I am still waiting on the Martin people to post their videos....

DD

 

Gotsta go with AB but if either of those guys is the one taking the last shot on a regular basis it means the Rockets are getting bounced no later than round 2 of the playoffs.

 

Ab looks a lot more effecient settling for midrange jumpers and attacking the rim against weak paint defenses ..

As much as I LOVE AB .. He shouldnt be the first option for a contender in the 4th quarter ..

 

<object width="480" height="385"><param name="movie" value="http://www.youtube.com/v/8gBQsirqZC8?fs=1&amp;hl=en_US"></param><param name="allowFullScreen" value="true"></param><param name="allowscriptaccess" value="always"></param><embed src="http://www.youtube.com/v/8gBQsirqZC8?fs=1&amp;hl=en_US" type="application/x-shockwave-flash" allowscriptaccess="always" allowfullscreen="true" width="480" height="385"></embed></object>

Another Brooks game winner @ 8:30

 

^^^ he had two buckets in the paint in the last 40 secs...going past a 7 footer and against a near 7 footer....he's skilled enough to score like that, so i dont know why 30% of fans would pick Martin over him.
Like it's been mentioned before, in this scenario trying to get a foul is pretty much the last thing you should try. Brooks, when he entered the league, used to try to avoid contact every time. Then, for a short while, got in the habit of trying to draw it. Each time he failed to pick when he did one or the other and committed to just one. Now he's able to switch back and forth and realizes the best bet in the last few seconds is to get separation to get off an interrupted shot or pass.

 

I know there were two occasions last season where AB drove to the basket on the final play and was absolutely hammered with no call. I think one was against Portland, and the other was shortly after. Both were clear fouls and should of sent to Brooks to the line, but the refs swallowed thier whistles. If it had been Bryant or Wade, they likely would of gotten the call.

I don't like the foul gimmick guys (Martin/Lowry) in those situations because you are putting control of the game in the hands of someone else (refs).

 

A little off-topic but could I suggest Chuck, Scola, Miller? Remains to be seen about Lee? Battier is somewhat of a bulldog in terms of intensity and toughness; not so much in physicality.

 

AB was the best player on the team in the 4th quarter when we took LA to game 7 two years ago. If AB can get his shot against the best team and best defense in the NBA, then he has to be the one we go to until someone proves otherwise.

This discussion can only be held in the context of the playoffs, and we won't know if someone else can take that role from AB until we are once again playing the best defense in the NBA in a 7 game series.

 

You people are all wrong. The answer is Ish Smith.

The OP asks who you want to have the ball with 5 seconds left "during the last possession of the game." Hopefully the Rockets are up by 10+ at that point, the bench guys are in and Ish Smith has the ball in his hands to dribble out the clock.