Tonight's game against the Clippers is a huge one, IMO. Yes, it's only the 2nd game of the season, but how the Rockets perform against a team that they have had trouble with lately will show us if they are ready to take that step in becoming a more consistent team and a playoff team. Remember, the Rockets went 1-3 against the Clippers last year and the 1 win we had, we had to come from behind to win it. The Rockets finished 2 games out of the playoffs and one can easily argue that if we had just swept the Clippers, it would have been us playing the Spurs in the first round and not the T-Wolves. Oh well, that is last season. The Clippers will be a tougher team this season, IMO because their young players have had a season together of playing with one another plus they added Elton Brand. It should be a great game with 2 possible playoff teams squaring off against one another. The keys to the game for the Rockets, I think, are as follows: 1) Get Steve's shot going early - Franchise struggled shooting on Tuesday and although he came up with the big shots when needed, the offense struggles if Steve is shooting poorly from the field. 2) Move the ball around better - When the Rockets try to work the ball, they always get an open look or better yet a lay-up or dunk for one of their big men. Dribbling and dribbling until there's 3 seconds on the shot clock is not effective offense. 3) Get Kevin Willis the ball more on the block - It seems to me that Kevin didn't even touch the ball in the second half until near the end of regulation. When he's in the game, I would try to get to him at least once on every possession. This will open things up from the outside. 4) Shut down Jeff McInnis - This will be my last major key. McInnis is a player that really hurt the Rockets last year with his playmaking. If he plays well then look for the Clippers offense to be doing things to hurt the Rockets. Those are all the major keys, IMO, for tonight's game. A couple of minor things will be for Glen Rice to try to get his shot going early, for Kenny or whoever to play effective defense on Brand, and for the Rockets to be aware of the Clippers' shooters at all times. They have burned us in the past, I think Piatkowski. We can't let Eric Piatkowski go off. Should be a great game. I can't wait!
MR, I agree. Clippers on parallel upward track with Rox, but overall they have stronger frontcourt and we have stronger backcourt, and they are even younger than we are. I watched last year's games and we were lucky to win one; they really match up well with us and we simply didn't take them seriously and they kicked our ass. With Brand their rebuilding effort really accelerated. Game will be a litmus test re. our intensity. They should be much better than the Hawks and we were fortunate to escape with our lives in the opener. A lot of young talent will be on the court tonite, and it should be a blast to watch.
Real nice matchup tonight. Agree with your key points Manny. The real "hyperkeys" IMHO are: 1. How KT stands up to Brand. Brand is on fire and he is feeling his legs. I think KT can run with him all night, but getting in his face and preventing him from setting up or curling around will be crucial. If RT sticks rooks on him Brand will eat them up. I know its nice to think young legs and height, but KT with his experience is the guy who should be stuck to him like gum on a shoe. All night long. 2. Most important team goal tonight is to finish the play. Driving to the rim, then stuff it hard. Opting for a trey line shot, then make them count. Fast breaking, then run them hard. Want to hurt them real bad ... (.. the Clips will give us an obscene number of three throws tonight ...) make them at an 80+% rate. 3. If RT wants to get fancy pants and shake them up early ... the Clips are really vulnerable to strong D underneath ... bang 'em hard by sending in Cato(C) and Willis(PF) at the same time. Talk about a prevent defense! This will be a fun game to watch. Wish I was in Houston to see it. Damn shame we are only getting 8-10,000 seated per game.
Precisely.... Brand at a serious height disadvantage, took it to Tim Duncan to the tune of 27 and 7 rebs (4 offensive). Timmy had a good game too, with 15 and 10. But Brand outplayed him. Brand is so good in the low block. KT is going to need some help tonite.
I think the Clippers-Rockets matchup will be a very interesting one for years. Brand, Francis, Odom were 1-2-3 in the 1999 NBA Draft. That makes for a rivalry. Griffin and Miles were 1-2 in the country as far as high school player rankings went over a year ago. Odom and Mobley have a University of Rhode Island connection. When the young stars of the teams all have histories and something to prove, it makes for a lot of fun and intense games.
I do agree with your points: Manny and Oeilpere but I think you missed the biggest key: Containing Lamar Odom. We have no one to match up against Lamar. We need to get Lamar into foul trouble early to get him out of the game. The only game we won last year against the clips was the one without Lamar playing.
IMO the #1 key by far is closing off the lane. The Clippers are a team full of athletes who want to attack the basket. Make them shoot from outside.
Woodlands boy, the rockets dont need to contain lamar. He will get his points, but he has never been a big time scorer. i think the biggest key in this game is to get rice involved in the offense early and for steve and mobley to play well. We arent gonna be able to stop brand and the clips from the defensive end; we are never going to be known as defesensive stoppers. We should beat the clips at what we do best, juss outscore them. we have arguably the most explosive team in the league, with a plethora of offensive weapons; all we have to do is outscore them and we're gonna win. we cant shoot 20% from the 3 point line, we have to hit our shots consitently.
Dependent on who guards him tonight, I can see Odom having a HUGE game. If it is Rice/Walt all night, Odom will destroy us. Hell, even if they send in TMo, I would expect Odom to take advantage of the rookie. So I expect Odom to get his tonight, but I think it is possible to hold Brand to less than his career average. Plus, keeping close tabs on the side role players Darius Miles, Jeff McInnis, etc. will be important.
I agree with raven, Lamar Odom flat out does it all, he like steve will be one of those players people remember as the greatest of the next few decades. Playa, dont be fooled odom can score whenever he wants, and his other weapons make him even more deadly. Hes got kg type skills and once he figures out to take over the clip joint as his team(he will this yr), watch out Now the keys for victory 1. KT/Griffin/Willis must contain brand or at least neutralize him by scoring on the other end 2. Rice/ Walt will need to nail open jumpers(i suspect they will help mcnnis on steve a lot) 3. Cato being a force and killing kandi 4. Not letting odom get his teammates involved, hard to do though 5. Mobley and Steve have to be themselves tonight and dominate the clips backcourt, along with mooch My prediction-we are mad after last yr and have more defensive intensity, plus we are at home, albeit it may feel like a road game due to apathetic fan support but... Rockets 107 Clippers 100 This should be a very high scoring entertaining affair
I respectfully disagree. You gotta step onto the court with a defensive mindset, and then the offense will flow from your defensive intensity. Good defense will generate turnovers & fast break points. We don't need to worry about our offense. THEY need to worry about our offense. We need to be concerned with stopping people like Brand, and we gotta make sure they don't easy start playing "their game," or they just may burn us.
#1 and #2 are close to being mutually exclusive, no? #1 won't be a concern, imo, as much as getting Rice off early will be. We suffer when we don't get production from the SF spot. We don't suffer as much when Steve has an off night shooting, because he can do other things to help. But the SF spot must produce, or Steve and Cat are going to have tougher nights. Francis will wait for his moments...and then take over for 3-4 minute stretches. One moment he has 4 points in the 3rd quarter, and the next time you look he is at 16 or something. Oh, And don't come out FLAT on intensity. Forget the lack of crowd Francis. Run the horses early, and everyone play active D. We lost to the Clippers last year largely in the 1st Quarter. hehe, a player notorious for being a black hole. He'll be shooting on every possession then. The offense cannot go through Willis, doesn't mean we can't use him differently than Cato, but imo, Willis will not open things up on the outside. Rice will! Rice nailing his shots will make Francis and Mobley more open than running an offense through Willis on "every possession" will. Doesn't Willis have to draw double teams to open things up for Francis and Mobley.
I should have been more clear on this. I think the way to get Odom contained is to get him in foul trouble. I say we go at him with the low post using Rice or Griffin and hope get him some fouls.
I agree with oeilpere that sending Willis & Cato will help slow down their inside game. EG can split some time between the 3 & 4. I would be very dissapointed if TM does not get some minutes tonight. He seemed to play at a higher level than any of our other SF's on defense. If Walt comes out shooting bricks, then we need to get him out. WE NEED TO SEND A LOUD MESSAGE to RT, to bench any players running around in circles dribbling until 3 seconds are left on the shot clock. Those stupid antics will cost us the game, and the season, for sure!!!
Actually I know TMo has a large following and I do like him too ... but first substitution off the bench should be Torres. He's quick, intuitive, long arms and can maintain a great defensive intensity. I would almost suggest that he could cover anyone from 2, 3,or 4 in a sub role. Anyway, my point is Torres before TMo tonight.
I agree oeilpere, I think that Oscar did a great job on defense in the preseason. He should definatley come in before Moochie, to rotate between the 2 & 3. I just think that Griffin, TM & Cato (or Willis) on the floor at the same time would bring some great interior defense, not to mention Shot Blocking. I just hope that we dont see 10 stupid turnovers in the first half by over-dribbling. Thats just stupid!!!
4? I don't know if I would want Torres guarding the power forwards of the west, even in a sub role. unless we went so small that good ol' SRF was on the court...and we don't want that to happen
barbourdg, What do you have against dribbling? Doesn't Stockton, Kidd and Payton all dribble, dribble, dribble. ISOs are different. I didn't really see many guard ISOs in game one. If you see too many ISOs, I agree. That was our crutch last year, and we need to kick that crutch away. Overpassing can be as dangerous as well. Phoenix tried a lot of that last year and averaged 14.9 TOs per game (one more than us) and had a piss poor shooting percentage of .436 FG% versus our .453. Passing can allow a defense to overplay the lanes and force you to pass it to the person they want you to pass it to...similar in analogy to how defenses played the Run-n-Gun Oiler's offense. If we implement a Passing Game, you'll see Francis taken out of games more often, because they'll try to deny him the pass back. We don't want that. We want Francis and Cuttino with the ball. Sometimes they're dribbing around waiting patiently for a pick to come over. Sometimes they dribble around waiting for the lanes to clear, so they can drive. Sometimes their dribbling is repositioning the entry. Once they drive or use a pick, their job is to read the defense and pass or shoot. That is our plan. I honestly believe Rudy agrees with you. I know I have a rep for being an ISO lover, but that is not true. I grew up loving Bobby Knight's Passing Game. I merely try to figure out why Rudy ran the ISO so much. imo, we did not see much ISO against Atl. Mabye a lot of dribbling, indeed, but it is not dribble, dribble, dribble for no reason...and I don't really even think dribble, dribble, dribble is an accurate picture of what happened against Atl, because you make it sound like everyone was standing around watching. Just remember, excellent ball control PGs who can score often play in an offense that allows them to dribble a lot to set up the offense...why take it out of their hands until they can get the defense to commit. I think we agree. Just that I don't consider all dribbling-based offenses to be stationary offenses. ISOs, yes...but are we seeing that from the guards?
Pops, I agree that containing Brand is going to be huge for us to have any chance of winning tonight. I was basically more focused on the Rocket players than the Clippers players. Thus, the reason why I didn't really talk much about Brand. However, how Kenny performs tonight against one of the up and coming PFs in the West could go a long way on how he will do against Malone, Duncan, and Webber, etc. Hopefully, he will be able to hold his own. Odom worries me, but I know that McInnis really tore us up last year. If we can force him to make bad decisions, I think it will affect the rest of the Clippers offense, especially Odom and Brand. Heypee, You are right about Kevin being the black hole..forgot about that! He still needs to touch the ball every now and then, though. Touching it only twice near the end of regulation is not good, IMO. I agree with you about Francis and Rice, but I think it may take several games for Glen to get his shot going as he tries to shake off the rust. If Steve can have a good shooting night, I think it really opens up the offense. However, production from the SF position is critical and we can't keep getting by with 6 points from Rice and 0 from the Wizard. It's as Clutch brought up earlier, the Rockets and Clippers because of their players can make for a unique rivalry. If we can keep our young guys together and they can do the same, then these 2 teams will definitely be not only exciting to watch but perennial championship contenders for the years to come.
