Game 2 Report as soon as I can catch my breath.. :)

10 minute quarters.

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[This message has been edited by ZRB (edited July 21, 2001).]

 

Thanks for the effort DH ......nice recap

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"I swear people got up to rush the court, but Jensen waved them off. They obeyed."

LOL,that cracked me up,nice recap.

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Bigamy is having one wife too many.Monogamy is the same

 

Hello, everybody. Got back from a long day of basketball and got some good Chinese food, so I thought I would send my impressions of today's game. Obviously, it was much better than yesterday. Everybody played with a lot more energy. Shots were falling today that weren't yesterday and that made a huge difference. Duh. The only one snakebit today was Langhi. He played hard, but couldn't buy a bucket. Actually, he got a few. Kelly started the game along with Langhi, Colson, Eddie, and Omar Sneed. They didn't announce positions this time, but I noticed to start the game, Dan was guarding Antonio Fotsis and Stromile Swift was guarding Dan. Actually, Dan started the game off well, scoring over Stro.
DarkHorse mentioned he guarded Battier some and didn't do badly. Darren Kelly guarded him some, too and gave away about 5 inches, but did a good gritty job. Kelly had an outstanding game with 13 points, 4 assists and 6 steals. He can really get up and down the court.

Things that stood out for me from the game were back to back 3's from TMo and Eddie. That was very nice to see, since both struggled offensively yesterday. There was a play in the 1st where Venson Hamilton had a nice up and under for two. He looked better today. In the second quarter, the Rockets lost the lead and during the time-out, Mr. mean looked rather mean. He coached the team today. Jim Boylen coached yesterday. Anyway, during the time-out, Larry Smith was very animated in getting his points across. We couldn't hear what he was saying, because they turn up the music on the p.a. very loud during timeouts. Right after that, Colson his back to back 3's. Must have made an impression.

There was a great play in the second when Colson penetrated, going behind his back, then dished to Eddie for a big tomohawk jam. That really got the crowd going.

We saw several more technical ft's from the defensive 3 seconds in the lane rule. It slows things down, much like the old illegal defense calls. Eddie had good plays throughout the game. I'm sure he is much more pleased than after yesterday's game. Also in the 3rd, Sneed was working against Swift and scored over him, which impressed me, since he was giving away so much height.

Eddie had another big jam in the 4th and then at the end of the game, Kelly stole the ball and got it downcourt to Langhi who then fed Eddie for another big jam as time ran out. It was a great way to end the game.

After the game, DarkHorse and I went looking for interviews. We had hoped to get Eddie, and asked his cousin to ask him to come talk to us after the game. He said he would try, but Eddie didn't come out. We did talk to Kelly for a while. He seemed surprised we wanted to talk to him, and he was kind of available, but I did want to talk to him, since his play has really stood out these first two games. We asked if he thought he had a shot at the roster and he said he was just happy to be there getting to play. He said he just wanted to play as well as he could and see what happens. I asked him if he might play in Europe and he said he didn't know, he would just see what worked out best for him. He and Omar Sneed have really played hard and got some things done on the floor.

Then we got to talk to the coaches for quite awhile. Jim and Larry both came up into the stands to watch some of the next game, and joined them. They were both very nice. I told Larry he looked a little animated during that time-out in the second quarter. He grinned and said "oh, I get a little excited sometimes. I was just telling them to play hard". We asked if there might be anything new in this year. Larry said there wouldn't be anything too new. He said they were real excited about Eddie and TMo. He said the young veterans were going to be improved this year and they really had a lot of versitility now. Mr. Mean is a very personable guy, but he is intense when he puts his game face on. I said I thought Kelly had a good game. Larry agreed that he played very hard and very well. I said there's not too many roster spots available. Mr. Mean grinned and turned into Mr. Politician. He said, " Well, they are going to make it very hard on us coaches to make decisions."

I asked if before the draft they expected to be able to deal for Eddie. Jim said that they didn't expect to, but had prepared for all posibilities and made a quick decision when the opportunity arose. He asked if we understood that when the Rockets made their picks, that they were picking for New Jersey. We told him we understood, but at the time, there was a lot of howling and gnashing of teeth on the website. DarkHorse said "We didn't know who those picks were for" and Jim said "Our players didn't either?" I asked if the trade hadn's gone down, would the Rockets have still picked Jefferson. Jim said no, that was for New Jersey only. Cleveland and Dallas were playing while we were talking, so I asked if Diop had been there instead of Eddie, would they have made the trade. Jim said he wasn't sure, but they knew about Diop. I asked if they liked Gasol and he said yes, Gasol was a good player. Jim then said something to the effect that if I were to happen to ask about someone they didn't rank so highly, it would really be tough for him to say anything negative about anyone. I said I understood and didn't want to ask him anything that would make him feel uncomfortable. He did say that they always had Eddie at the top of their list and were very surprised when they were able to get him.

I asked him if the new rules had much effect so far. He said that he really didn't think so, but the hand checking they were now allowing was affecting things more. He said the hand checking was not supposed to allow players to control, but he had seen what he had thought was quite a bit of control by hand checking.

We sat with them a pretty good while watching the game. David Wesley came and sat right behind us. Then Larry and Jim left. Shook our hands, said it was nice to meet us. I think they were both just absolutely great to us. I hadn't noticed, but Sean Colson had come up and was sitting on the other side of Jim. I had spoke to him briefly yesterday & told him I would like to talk to him more when we had more time. He said everybody had much better energy today. He said peoples legs just felt better for some reason. He was happier with his performance, of course. I asked if he had played much ball with Eddie and Cuttino. He said yes, this summer, the 3 of them played quite a bit in Philly.

Boy, another very enjoyable experience. Saw Chuck Daly and Dick Versace today. Jerry Sloan was there, of course for the Jazz game. The place completely filled up for the Jazz Phoenix game. Jazz have a Russian, Kirilenko, they drafted in 1st round two years ago. He is a 6'9" small forward. He played very well, as did Stevenson. Man, Stevenson elevates on his jumper. Well, you're probably not too interested in that, other than info on a rival.

We watched Dallas vs Cleveland, Jazz vs Phoenix and one quarter of Chicago vs Denver.
Harvey was a hoss again today. He was guarding Diop. And schooling him. Diop is huge. I mentioned to Jim Boylen that Diop didn't look in great shape and he said "yeah, but he looks better than he did. He's lost some weight. He is just going to be big." I did see him put his elbow on Harvey's shoulder once and basically fold him up. Mihm was much more agressive than I have ever seen him. Satterfield looked very good and hit a lot of outside shots. He may be a real steal in the second round. Tyson Chandler suited up for this game. He didn't play yesterday. I don't think he took a shot in the first quarter.

I think DarkHorse is going to do more on the interviews tomorrow.

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Thank you very much Moe. You and DH and HEB are doing an outstanding job.

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thanks again Darkhorse and Moe. Great job!

You seemed to be impressed by Battier and Griffin also. Both had similar stats. Based on what you saw, who has more potential and who do you expect to be higher in the ROY competition?

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DH, that's great. There is no way to write as fast as they were talking. Boy, my butt is sore today from sitting in those bleachers all day. That one Jazz fan with the loud voice got fairly annoying by the end of the day. You should have heard him during the Jazz game.

Glynch, it's tough to say after just a few games, but here's what I think. Battier looks like some of the veterans that are playing here. Posey, Quincy Lewis, Harvey and even Scott Padgett play like they know what they are doing, compared to all the rookies and wannabies. I noticed Battier talking to his teamates quite a bit when he was on the floor. I expect him to play big minutes right from the start. Wish we could have got him, along with Eddie.

Eddie is very active and seems confident in whatever he is doing on either end of the court. He makes more spectacular plays. I would have to say I think he has more potential because he is so young and can do the things that he can.

How those things translate to ROY, I'm not sure. I would expect Eddie to get a lot of minutes this year. Although he hit some perimeter shots, I definately think he is an inside player, even though right now he is pretty skinny. I asked the coaches about Eddie playing power forward eventually and they said he was still growing, but were pretty non-commital about it. DH, would you see if you picked up that part of the conversation on tape? You could tell that they were very careful with their answers. I certainly understand that.

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Don't know if this has been posted or not, but here is the complete box score:

http://www.proexposure.com/stories/0722a.html

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alright Darkhorse, I am upset you and Moe wasted your opportunity to ask Jim and Larry for play names.

Just ask! pretty preaaase

Say, "Hey we have plenty of discussions about games on the site, and it is hard to know what each other is talking about without inventing names for your plays. We know 2-Shakes and 24 High exists, and what they are, but can you name any other plays--like the Francis Alley-oop where he throws a entry to wing from the key and comes around a elbow pick for a alley-oop. Or the Walt Double Pick play. Other pnr plays...etc"

Damn, tell him we don't need explanations, just names.

*sigh* wish I was with you last night.

[This message has been edited by crispee (edited July 22, 2001).]

 

Thanks a lot Darkhorse and Moe...

Next time you speak to someone affiliated to the Rockets, it would be great if you could find out as much as possible regarding the signing status of Hakeem and the other guys...and try to get a feel for what the other players' relationship with Hakeem really is...that would be interesting...

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Rockets' offseason tasks in order of priority:

• Get rid of Cato under any circumstances - ideally in a trade (with draft picks from us to them) that brings us Raef LaFrentz (dreaming).
• Re-Sign Hakeem.
• Re-Sign Mo Taylor.
• Re-Sign Moochie and AirBullard.
• Pick up the Langhi option for another year.
• Sign-and-trade Shandon Anderson for Bo Outlaw.

 

I think that play's called "Y-Zip", and it's just a double screen off the ball, regardless of the situation ie: halfcourt set or out of bounds play.

DH and Moe, ask them if they think Griffin will be the opening day starter or if it comes down to who wins the spot in training camp etc.

Thanks

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[This message has been edited by tacoma park legend (edited July 22, 2001).]

 

imo, Y-Zip is an inbounds play. I've never heard Y-Zip yelled out other than on an inbounds. Coaches generally have 3 things they practice: transition offense (primary/secondary breaks), set offense (motion and set plays), and inbounds plays.

The inbounds plays are generally not run from half-court sets.

Plus, I remember Y-Zip being double high post with a backscreen for a weakside cutter. The term "Zip" usually refers to the Zip-Offense, which is a double high post set with PG at the key (Sacramento!!); although, I have seen Doc Ramsey use it to describe an Iverson wing play, which uses two *strong-side* picks to free Iverson!! I have never witnessed that, and have yet to see anyone else ever use the term Zip to involve a wing entry.

so TPL, does this discussion make you miss the season. I think I'm going to put a game in my VCR right now and make some popcorn.

[This message has been edited by crispee (edited July 22, 2001).]

 

Yes, damnit, this offseason is killing me!

As far as the Y-zip play goes, the only reason I think it goes both ways, is because I saw Rudy call that play for walt in a halfcourt set, and also for Cuttino minus the "y" part of the play. He just called out "zip for Cuttino!"

I want to know what they call that allyhoop play to Francis too! Teams caught onto it during his 2nd season, but it still had a pretty high success rate.

Also, I think off of that same high double pick, there was a play where the bigman would role to the basket after setting the pick. Carlos did it against Portland at the end of the season to perfection.

Shandon's motion play where he caught the ball on the run after coming off the high double pick was also pretty damn effective as well.
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[This message has been edited by tacoma park legend (edited July 22, 2001).]

 

Almost identical stats for Eddie and Battier. 22pts 7rbs Battier in 33 min. 20/7 for Eddie in 26 minutesFive turnovers for Battier, zero for Eddie. No blocks for Battier two for Eddie. Two assist for Battier, none for Eddie.

I guess with more experience Battier will cut down on the turnovers.

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<a href="http://www.clutchcity.net/feature.cfm?FeatureID=127">Darkhorse and Moe are my hero's for the week</a>

Man, that interview is so cool. I'm so jealous. Next year I'm coming. Of course, I doubt Griffin will be playing, then...so this was the year not to miss. *sigh*

Darkhorse, you are a dork for asking whether Morris will be a go-to guy...hehe.

I notice how they laughed about Langhi at the 2. Langhi is still a major experimentation for them. I really don't think this is a very smart boy. But what bothers me the most is that he spreads his legs so far apart on defense. You cannot maneuver that way. He'll get blown out by SFs, and asking for "Help" all the time.

I don't know about anyone else, but the seem pretty status quo on offensive philosophy with natural evolution of adding more plays ontop of chemistry that comes from playing together. Certainly doesn't sound like the Mobley bashers are going to get their wish of him being relegating to a weak-side threat only.

 

if you talk to Griffin, ask him how tall he is, and if he has a nickname.

so, anytime they say something boring--"We won't be doing much differently....We are going to bring him up slowly."--we should consider that a "No comment" I guess.

So, on second thought, their status quo talk about the offense is unlikely to really give away anything.