Adelman has to pick between offense or defense in the 4th between Martin and Lee. Tonight, we had to protect the lead.
It was weird how they didnt let him play 4th qtr, but maybe Adelmen wanted him to play the bench more?
Why play someone who consistently fades away in crunch time? Until Kevin Martin can prove that he is a closer, he belongs on the bench in the 4th.
Hasn't he been sick recently? Regardless, Adelman usually sticks with whatever lineup works for that moment.
If so, I would not mind at all. I could imagine that when Brooks comes back, we will have Brooks and Lowry on the court in the 4th quarter quite a bit, with Martin sitting. He can still pour in his 20 pts in the first 3 quarters; off of 8 free throws he gets with his "special skill" of drawing fouls and then throwing up a shot that only has the goal to get free throws.
I was thinking about this too ... I think his offense relies on drawling fouls. Late in the 4th the refs tend to swallow the whistles. So he becomes less effective.
he seems uncomfortable these two games. for the last game, there's something wrong with his stomach. and today, just in the three quarters, u can see his head is full of big sweat. but not sure whether there is something wrong.
Come on. It's all about health issues. Look at his number of shots. Just 2 attempted three-pointers! :grin: This is the second time this season when he attempted less than 3 3ptFG. At first time it was in game against Hornets, when he was 2|2
He was sick the previous game, and in this game, the Rockets had a good lead and Adelman went with Lee for his defense. You'll definitely see Martin out there in close games and in games the Rockets are trailing.
Martin is still a bit sick it seems, but he played well tonight. I think that if we are up 10 points on a young team, you put in the defensive unit and simply clamp down.
Did nobody see this coming? Why do you think Martin never got to play in the fourth quarter during presason? Adelman was getting him ready!
I hope this means that Adelman is planning on playing Lowry/Martin and Brooks/Lee backcourt combinations as much as possible going forward. It would give Brooks and Martin more scoring opportunities by splitting up their playing rotations and Lowry and Lee could just focus on their defensive assignments. Plus I think this would help showcase Brooks for possible trade scenarios before the deadline.
I actually like the idea of using Kevin Martin less towards the end of games. Defenses tend to get tired, and he tends to be a bit less active off the ball. (I wish I had some stats to back these up, but the observation is correct I think).
