I thought he played a very solid game. Didn't do a lot of scoring until late, but 7 assists and 7 rebounds (3 offensive), only 1 turnover. And he made a lot of things happen in transition.
Hopefully it continues once he starts to come off the bench again.. I feel like the only reason Lowry is still starting is because he went on a hot streak while Brooks was out, and now they owe him a few more starts. Brooks has his mobility back (20 pts 9 ast/ no threes), and once he starts knocking down the threes too and putting it all together again we'll have one of most dynamic pg positions in the league no matter who is on the floor now that Lowry has apparently picked up his 3pt shooting.. :grin:
Not really, he was a non factor until the last few minutes. The drive and kick game wasn't there because Miami run the shooters off the spot. He was solid, but he didn't do anything to have an advantage over arroyo tonight.
I think the reason he's continuing to start is the Rockets are playing well and Adelman doesn't like to make changes when things are going well. If the Rockets don't go on a losing streak during these next stretch of games, I can see Lowry remaining a starter for at least a few more weeks.
The reason why Lowry is the starter was clearly illustrated when he was brought back in in the 4th quarter. The offense was stagnated and slowed to a crawl. Even when we got the needed stops it was all ISO on the other end of the floor. We were down 6 or 7 I believe. The very first thing he did was run Martin off a curl which resulted in a 3 point play. The reason why he is the starter is because when he is in the game, our most efficient scorer gets more touches and more plays ran for him. Simple as that.
He got into early foul trouble (and they were bad fouls), which made him less of a factor than he otherwise would have been. Still, leaving aside the last 2 minutes when he helped make it a game again, Lowry was +1 in the first 22 minutes (most against starters), which means we were -10 in the 24 minutes he wasn't on the floor (mostly against reserves). OK .. so what was he doing in those 22 minutes when you say he was a non-factor? 5 points, 6 assists, 5 rebounds, and a steal. For 22 minutes of work, that's pretty good. Not saying he was the game MVP or anything, but very solid is an apt description IMO. Arroyo did a nice job hitting the shots that were created for him. Didn't notice him doing much else.
Push the tempo was the key for Rockets to stay in the game with Miami in 1st half. Lowry did pretty well. He is the only starter with a + on the court. AB played better than what he did in previous games overall, especially on defensive end except that stupid 3 pt foul. But when AB was running the show, most points were from half court sets, a lot difficult scores.
The offense came to a screaching halt because good defensive teams can do that to system team. They closed and crowded Martin and they ran at shane all night. The supposed comeback was a smokescreen and miami was never threatened in my opinion. The drive and kick game was non existent tonight and that limied martin and shane especially.
I am not sure which factors you look at, but the only factor that matters to me is how much a player contributes to wins. When he was on the floor we were beating a Miami team with its starters and 3 superstars. Brooks put up 20 points and 9 assists today, factors you must appreciate. Yet he was the biggest minus on the entire team losing 12 points to a Miami bench. I thought Lowry was the one who was supposed to be only effective against bench players and bad defenses. Funny how that works. The biggest reason for the loss tonight was a lack of an adequate paint defender. The biggest reason for the loss tonight that we could actually CONTROL, was Lowry getting in foul trouble. With him playing his regular minutes we still squeeze out a win. That's the one and only factor I care about.
Maybe non factor was poor wording, but the impact against a supposed 2nd rate pg. The way they defended Martin and Shane impacted the effectiveness of lowry. When you play against lowry with shane and martin, you have to kind of go against nature. Natural tendacy tells the player to collapse and that is a good startegy if you have guys who will still close and contest. Miami is one of those teams who will close and contest like boston.
Leeb, come on now, .....don't cloud the GARM with the same arguments, you and I completetly agree.......but there is no changing the mind of others. 20-9 with zero turnovers for a guy that can't pass ...is pretty good eh? DD
I think we can put that "Lowry plays well only against turrible defense" to rest after tonight. thought he did a good job running the O.
50% from both the field and the FT line....nails ! This whole thing is a circular argument the same people that blamed AB for the 0-5 start, now are saying, sure we lost by only 6 but Kyle played great. It is just humorous. DD
Seems after so many debates you still only think of offense. 119 points is good enough to win 9 out of 10 times. The problem is giving up 125 points on 60% shooting, that will make you lose 10 out of 1o times. Our offense is adequate against Miami's strong defense with either Lowry or AB. But the inability to protect the paint against Wade wast the real reason. Offense is very fine for current team. Defense is not.
I only care about wins and losses and couldn't care less about a +/-. So in your eyes, lee shouldve played mor than martin because he had a +/-. Again, look at the ebb nd flow of the game. The drive and kick was a non factor and thats one of the rockets best plays and most effective ways to score. It gets them early offense and points. The end result was 43% fg and garbage points in the end.
