Is Francis in the game, he's one assist away from a double double, but he's got 5 fouls. 28pts and 9ast, I hope Steve has lots of games like this one during the season. edit: Oh, and he did it in 25 minutes while shooting 50%. Where are all those doubters now? C'mon, please admit you were wrong.
Cato and Wright were matched up. Griffin and Gooden have been on each other the majority of the time.
3 MIN 0-0 FG 0-0 FT 0-0 3PT 0 OFF REB 2 TOT REB 0 AST 0 PF 0 ST 0 TO 0 PTS I was hoping to maybe catch a glimpse of what he's capable of doing. Oh well, it's only preseason...
hmm what game are you watching?, gooden played exceptional but hardly at the expense of griffin being outworked. he made some very tough shots over both eddie and tmo who split time on him. props to him but our offense didn't call for eddie to score 20+. imo, he played his role very well, including a nasty rejection on drew.
I'd like to read a review from anyone who watched the game to see how the Rocks did on the first game back. Looking at the stats, I couldn't be happier with Steve and his 30 pt 10ast outing, that's why he gets the big bucks people. Cat's stats didn't impress, but he has been hurt lately. Griff didn't seem to do too well. I don't like the idea of Kenny taking 14 shots a game when Taylor is back and if Rice is healthy. Cato with nearly a double double, looks like if anything unfortunate like an injury or the "great" rookie wall happens to Yao, we'll be ok at the pivot. First game and things are looking good, Yao will be officialy a Rock by the end of the week, and these guys will only get better with more practice and games. Drew Gooden has an impresive line with 14 boards and 26 pts. Only problem I see is that the Grizz beat us in fast break points with 22 to our 12. Still, it's just the first game, I guess the long summer has led to a lot of over enthusiasm to one preseason game.
This is gonna be fun. This team dropped 106 points in its first real game, minus 4 offensive weapons: Mo Taylor, Moochie Norris, Yao Ming, and Glen Rice, all the while holding the opponent under 42% FG%. Francis, 28-10-5, ho hum. Offseason rust? What's that? Mobley, 17 points, 13 FGA. Clutch down the stretch. Kenny Thomas with 14-10, Griffin with 8-5 and 2 blocks. The forward pair still has some polishing to do in terms of hitting their shots, but not bad. Cato was solid with 10-9: 25 teams would probably love that at center. Nice to see Morris playing well. Hopefully it carries over. He makes another 3/4 along with KT who can cause trouble defensively with size/speed. Wait till Ming, Taylor, Rice, and Norris get here. Playoffs, here we come.
My take. Steve is back! Cuttino is still clutch. KT is needed. It is great to get such rebounding from the sf. Cato is probably the best backup center in the NBA. A valuable rotation player. T Morris could be valuable if he can really shoot better, Gooden is better than Eddie, who hasn't improved that much, yet. Tierre Brown will make the team. Nachbar was sort of frozen out by his teammates who were into the same old one on one play for much of the fourth quarter. We won't see the big changes till we get Ming.
In Mobes' defense, he was tryin to pla within the offense and wasn't hoggin the ball...He took some tuff shots when he needed to...I thought he looked pretty good..
Did KT spend much time at the 3?? If this is the case, I don't see nachbar getting much time this season.
Boki was in during the 4th and by then the team had went back to the iso O...he never got a pass to shoot...I hope we see more next game
Not the only problem. Last year the Rocks were at the bottom of the league in assists to made shots ratio. Against the Grizz they had 21 assists for 42 made shots( .50). This is no better (actually worse) than last season and indicates ISO more than movement. Can someone who watched the game make a comment? This is a really low A/FGM ratio.
Cat's stats weren't impressive but he did play solid D and made some shots down the strecth that kept the Grizz at bay. Nachbar also played solid D, but didn't even get a touch on O. Kenny had a good game, but he still misses those easy layups after a sensational spin move, he did that 3 or 4 times tonight. Griff just played his part tonight, nothing spectacular but look at the score. Steve is good, Steve is really good. To say we didn't have the services of Taylor, Rice, Moochie, and Yao, I'd say this team looked really good. The motion offense was kickin' in the first half, but it kinda was forgotten late in the 2nd half. Go Rockets!!!
I feel asleep watching the Rockets game, but in the first quarter, I saw them move the ball well. I didn't see so much isolation, thank goodness. my channel 51, channel 2 on time warner isnt that bad. Infact, it's a good picture. sucks for you guys?
How many steps must be taken for it not to be considered an assist? This isn't a catch and shoot team so I wouldn't look at assists as an indicator of motion. What stood out most was where our offense functioned. Last year everything began way outside beyond the threepoint line but tonight was much different. Most of the motion, set plays, one on one moves, had a starting point that was inside the three point line. Just look at the stats, the Rockets only took like 8 three pointers(2 by Griff late in the game). That tells me the offense is moving in a different/better direction.
When they used the movement in the first half/start of 2nd half, the offense was a lot of fun and things looked great. NEVER GO BACK TO ISO'S!!!!!! Was I hallucinating, or did Cato hit a shot from behind the free throw line that wasn't a free throw? TMo and Kenny looked really good. I wouldn't mind keeping Kenny at the three long-term. He can cause some real problems and his speed isn't that much of a liability (I'm sure he's faster than Rice). I want Griffin to go down low more and NO MORE ISO'S! EVER!
in the first half the mobley/francis hold the ball while everyone else watches was limited to 2 possesions with under a minute left in the half. but towards the end of the game as the grizzlies chipped away they seemed to go back to it as a defense mechanism maybe? anyways definitely alot smoother with passes and people moving around...very, very promising. edit: kenny looked really good out there as a 3 but i believe defensively he was being guarded as a 4(mostly by gooden) as usual he worked his butt off. if he wasn't already he's our hard-nosed dirty work guy it seems.
Okay, am I stupid? I thought Mo would be able to play the preseason with his suspension starting with the regular season. Is this right? The box scores and recaps only list Mooch and Rice as out with injuries, so I'm thinking maybe he's suspended?
