In the scond quarter when he got in they made a great run and got within 4 and then he got subed out and the suns end up with 12 points more than us for that half. he got the crowd in and played very well with Luther Head.
I really liked to see Steve tonight driving to the rim and when the defense collapsed on him, he passed to Scola and others or he can score or get fouled if that does not happened. He also can defend very well, actively waving his arm in the air to disrupt shooters. I think I disrupted a few from the 3s. He showing all experience in the game and surprisingly did not dribble too much to beat the opponent by himself like Mike James. If he shoot like his old days (mid range) that would be great.
When the opponent shoots 62% from the field and 52.6% from 3 it's hard to really say anyone played great defense. I didn't think Steve was any better or worse than the rest of the Rockets. Historically defense has not been his strong suite though.
You are right but individually, I can see he worked hard on his defense with the fouls (particularly on Marion), the hand on the face, etc.
its time steve francis to go back to the bench and learn to shoot above 27%....our whole team is full of crappy pgs
I confess to having only read one reply to this thread, but I'll go ahead and take a stab at 99% of you Francis Apologists out there: Steve Francis sucked. He was terrible. Stop your dreaming; Stevie Franchise is washed up. He took poor shots and didn't play to his strengths. Until he improves, there is only one position for Steve on this team: Left Out.
it's his first game and you guys say he sucks....you guys are pathetic and know nothing about basketball
I really like what Steve brings to this team. Something that the other two PGs cannot do well. 1. Drive to the Basket and 2a. Either kick it out for another player (i.e. Scola) 2b. Or get to the foul line I think getting to the fould line is his best strength at this point in his career. And it is also something that the rockets are lacking right now. I could care less about how he does things that Rafer also does or if he does them better or not.
Rafer is a good point guard and he can get your offense set and steady the plays with very low turnovers and when the defense plays honest the system will work but once he misses a few shots defenses start to cheat off him and guard him lightly because they know that even if he scores a few here and there he won't be consistent enough for them to respect his shot. It's not enough to guard the ball and protect our possession. You have to possess some offensive aptitude in order to get the defenses to draw towards you in order to set up your other teammates. I truly believe even though Francis will be a tad more turnover prone he can demand the respect of the defense and force them to committ which in turn will cause that confusion in the defense you are looking for in order to get those easy baskets and assists. His stats tonight may not be better than rafer's but when he drove the lane defenses would gravitate towards him strong which allowed other players to be open for easy buckets or would cause the defense to breakdown. Rafer drives in and most of the times you can just flash the defense and sometimes he'll make a shot but most of the time he'll miss it. It's better just to sag in and just double yao and hover around T-mac and leave him basically open.
Well, I didn't expect Francis to stop Steve Nash, our defense was terrible not just him. He did look overweight still, but we have no other choice the way the rockets are playing.
He was really sucking wind midway thru the 4th quarter. He's not necessarily overweight(at least in appearance) but his conditioning isnt there. It's better than it was during preseason, so hopefully that continues. If Francis takes Rafer's spot it probably means that Adelman is comfortable with him running the show.
People like you who thinks the first game dedicates how someone plays really saddens me. Rafer's AVERAGE is worth than Francis's first game.
Er, he didnt suck out there tonight. He was tolerable. He was similar to Rafer in pretty much all aspects tonight. Not great shooting, decent penetration and passing, no turnovers, offense didnt seem to bog down.
Rafer is shooting better than 0% from 3 point range, and higher than 28% from the field. He is also averaging more than 4 assists per 48 minutes.
He didn't suck, and he did his job by penetrating and not turning it over, but more importantly he showed me that he is not in shape/young enough/prepared to play. He was sucking alot of wind, hands on shorts, feet still, that sort of thing. He managed himself tonight, yes, but can he do it consistently for this many minutes? I say definitely not. Although, he obviously won't be able to average 23 minutes a game and should be conditioned enough to perform a basic role of 5-15 min a game, if the initial quickness is there. It appeared to be to me.
Go look at the box score vs. stats. Try again. I like Steve. I like Steve a LOT. But I like the Rockets more, and I believe that if he plays, the Rockets suffer. If this was T-Mac, Yao, or Shane, I'd say the exact same thing. I don't have these crazy fascinations with certain players on the team; it's the team that matters. HORRIBLE shooting, you mean. 27% is not tolerable. It's not "not great." It's abysmal. His passing was no better than Ralston. He didn't play to his strengths. I still say that until he improves, MJ and Ralston are ahead of him in the rotation.
Stevie lovers think he's gonna come back with his All-Star numbers or close to it. Stevie haters know this will not happen and will jump on every opportunity they can. Neutral guys like me just want him to gradually get time and improve upon what he did last night.
