I hate how this team competes

That is probably one of the truest statements I've read in a while. So simple yet so accurate.

The players are 95% of what separates good teams from the bad. Coaching is an element of it all but only in the movies does a coach inspire a crappy team to overachieve and accomplish the impossible. Only in the movies does a weakling become a leader.

 

the more u suck the more u play hard

is ur solution to sign a bunch of chuck hayes or ryan bowen clones so we can have max intensity each game?

 

Well let's look at the entire picture here and you yourself have posted the answer to this prob on the board (many times I might add).

The problem here is chemistry.... The fact that Ron is coming off the bench is great and the chemistry between he, Barry and Landry is a nice combo.

But RA has to realize that Rafer does not fit with the starting group. Let's go back to when Rafer was hurt, the team played better and the offense was running nicely. The tandem of Brooks and T-Mac was great and the biggest issue was with Brooks on defense and he held his on with the superstar guards.

The team does not have the same energy with Rafer on the court (that's because he's so predictable). So until RA gets this chemistry prob handled we are in for a long season.

 

So true. And I know this will piss off the Rafer lovers, but the large sample size doesn't lie. This guy just sucks so bad! When I watch the Rockets tip off each game and see him on starting on the court with his consistent 35% shooting night in and night out it just seems to suck the life out of the rest of the team. Besides the whole TMAC issue, the Rockets best chance to "shake" this team out of its slumber would be to get rid of the dead weight (i.e. Rafer, Luther, Chuck Hayes--yeah flame me for that, too but he is dead weight) and get another PG and young athletic center somehow, someway...Morey style!

 

I'm bashing on T-Mac,actually I'm a die hard mac fan.But as of late he playin' like a **** and couldn't do any thing on the court.Passing the ball to others and settling for the long range Js.It ain't the way he used to play.I know how his body limited him right now,but at least,show some passion and should persevere through the game.

I guess he's given up on the game midway through the 3rd and suddenly got inspired by our bench with their hustle play on the floor.

I just hope he gonna be better instead of goin' downhill from here.

 

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For all the praise of Brooks playing with Barry, I don't think it works. Since Barry has returned, and Brooks has been on the bench, he has looked tentative, and passive. The combo isn't that good anymore, because Brooks needs room to operate without feeling the need to defer to Barry

 

Dating back to 2004,the game against the Mavs on Dec 2nd,which was a loss and Mac drilled 48 points.In that game,I recalled that Marv Albert and Steve Kerr talkin' about T-Mac and Yao,they said both of 'em didn't even bother to be a team leader,when asked who's the Houston Rockets team leader,T-Mac responded that Jim Jackson.

I'm so glad Ron got traded to here instead of goin' straight to LA.If not,we'd suck the most when everything went bad like tonight.Leadership seems insulated with T-Mac and Yao,it's not in their gene pool,but it is in Ron's.

 

If only we had a coach who stressed the importance of competing night in and night out and respecting the profession.

 

How do you motivate a guy who makes $21 million a year, and doesn't seem to care?

How do you motivate a 7'6" guy to fight back and stop letting smaller people push him around?


This, along with the injuries, is the entire problem.

Tracy obviously thinks it's OK to be a 21 million dollar role player, and Yao just doesn't have any fire whatsoever. They are simply a weak combo together, and they have been for years.

Artest should be the type who can come in and fix that problem, but until he starts calling these pansies out, it's just not going to happen.

Fact is though, this is a veteran enough team that they shouldn't need to be called out in the first place.

Very complacent group of underachievers we have this year...

 

I could be wrong, and admittedly have been quite a few times -The Rockets are about league average hustle, slightly below on a lot of nights. With tank mode being the worst, they're not no where near that type of no-hustle.

But this is an overachieving team BUILT on effort and hustle. And cant AFFORD to play even with the other team. Overachievers playing to the level of regular achievers, they become regulars themselves. Its just the way it has to be though - they have no choice but to take the night off only 5 times a year compared to everyone else's 20.

You'd almost have to suspect this terd of a game is a direct result of the lazy star getting the preferential treatment to have excused days off. That he can hustle on "his terms" and everyone else has to OVERHUSTLE to pick up the pieces.

 

I wonder how Ron is REALLY feeling about this team now. I'm not interested in what he spits out to the media. He probably fights the thought a little but realizes increasingly that we aren't nearly as good as he thought we were when looking from the outside. Yao isn't as good as he thought and McGrady's constant soft play and boo boos get really tiresome.

 

As much as we may hate to admit it, we have a floor leader and his name is Rafer Alston.

 

This team definitely needs a pitbull for a coach. JVG and Tibs would be perfect for this group. Artest and Battier are a dream come true for JVG. It doesn't need to be JVG, but we need a coach to get on the players. A "players coach" like Adelman doesn't work with this group.

Rudy T was good because we had players like Mario, Hakeem, Sam, Maxwell, etc. to lead the way. We don't have any players like that right now.

 

Actually, I said T-Mac and not Barry...

Brooks, looked damn good with T-Mac in the back court and actually he hasn't looked that bad with Barry.

Barry plays the same role as T-Mac, when they get the defensive rebound and want to run they give the ball to Brooks and let him go. When they want to run the half-court they let Brooks bring it down and T-Mac will actually run the point.

This is basically the same thing that Chicago did with B.J. Armstrong and MJ.

 

Bingo, the key is energy......

Brooks also takes some of the heat off of T-Mac... Brooks has the speed and quickness to drive and also a nice outside shot to keep the defense honest.

This allows T-Mac to basically play the pg postion to set everyone up and have Brooks play the sg to hit the wide open shots.....

 

Sorry to say I have to agree with you, Yao has not played well when the game is on the line (tonight and against Utah as an example). Tracy can not be relied upon on a day to day basis. The rest of the players- Battier, Rafer, etc.- will have flashes, but they are not consistent.

This team is looking more and more like a first round exit again, unless Artest becomes more dominating. And it is sad to have to put your hopes on a player like Artest, given his history of blowing up.

 

Flummoxed. Very nice Dakota. I learned a new word today, albeit misspelled, but still excellent thesaurus usage . Now back to how our team blows and is not suited for the playoffs if they keep playing like this.