So I came home from work late last night and before watching the game of league pass broadband, i came and checked out the postgame thread since I had already seen the score on ESPN. I saw a lot of posts about Lowry and quite a few about Scola costing us the game. Then I watched the game and absolutely cannot believe some of the posters on here... First off, Kyle had a dominant game. .500 FG% (10-20), 100 FT% (6-6), 28 Pts, 6 Reb (3 Off), 7 Ast, 2 TO, 3 Stl Now I defy anyone to tell me how he blew the game by taking jump shots because here is what I saw.. in the final 3:21, Lowry was 1-3 from the field and 4-4 from the line. He scored 6 of our final 8 points. Ok he missed the game-winning shot but would we even have been anywhere near the position to have a chance to win without Kyle last night? Im 1000% positive Kyle didnt walk down the court and tell everyone else to F off and that he was going to take all the shots down the stretch either. He was looking to get the ball to to Martin off a screen or to Scola off the high PnR but they couldnt get open. If you think otherwise, go back and watch the plays again.. Then in overtime, what does Kyle do? Gets assists on two of the three buckets we made. Then he drove into the lane and gave Scola a B-E-A-Utiful pass for an easy uncontested layup but Scola tries to throw up that gross one handed thing and bricks the hell out of it. Then Kyle hits the three to give us a chance to tie the game with 4.5 seconds left. But he did miss one jumper in the OT as well so this loss is all on him... I don't understand how anyone can say Lowry blew the game lol. In crunch time (last 3 minutes of regulation and OT) he was 2-5, 9 points, 2 assists, 0 TO's. The rest of our team was 4-9, 9 points, 0 assists, 2 turnovers... Kyle didn't get stripped by paul resulting in a breakaway layup, kyle didnt miss an uncontested 3 ft shot, kyle didnt throw away the inbounds pass when we had a chance to tie the game in the end of ot... I hate when we single out players as costing us the game. We win as a team and lose as a team. Granted sometimes the criticism is deserved, but its games like this that bother me. There is a difference between not-winning us the game, and losing us the game. Kyle tried and didn't win us the game but there is no way in hell he lost it for us. (Side note: We really really need a presence in the middle. This is at least the tenth game this year we should have won if we just have a rebounding/shot blocking force. Okafor went crazy on the glass and second chance points)
Scola blew it he played all but 2 min only had 2 baskets & only made 1/2 of his free throws. Also RA blew it for us for not putting in Hill for like 3 min in the 4th
Everytime we get in a close game at the end for the last 2 minutes it seems like we struggle to get a shot off and Lowry is the one taking a contestant jumper with the shot clock about to go out. Frustrating to say the least.
How about the fact the Hornets are a better team and, like the better team should do, they took advantage of every mistake the Rox did down the stretch. Rox blew it as a team, not going to blame anyone in particular because another sign of a good team is picking up your teammates when things aren't going well.
If the rockets have a lead with less than 5 minutes to play, they start trying to milk the clock. They purposely dribble the ball until about 8 seconds remain on the shot clock and then try to get a shot off. This strategy has not been working, as we usually have to desperately throw something up from about 18 feet. I blame RA for this, I say just run our normal offense.
If blame were to be assigned it would be on the whole team and coaching staff. They were leading by double digits going into the fourth (how many times this season have we seen this?) but the Rockets blew the lead and lost. Basketball is a team game and, in this case, and many other cases this season, the team lost the game. In fairness to the players and coaches, this team, as built, is not good enough to compete in the NBA this season. The loss of Yao is so significant that no major move this year would have made up for the void. Of course, it is a common hobby or propensity for many posters here to demand to trade for everyone in the league, but many fail to grasp the significance of the loss of one of the most, if not the most dominant center in your line up. No center, including Howard, can replace the loss and it will take some time for the Rockets to retool. Meanwhile, the blaming game becomes one of the outlets for frustration in how the team is doing this year. So be it. But realistically, for the sake of everyone's health, acceptance of the reality that this team is not good enough this year maybe the best course. It does not, however, preclude us from cheering for the team every game, and savoring the sweet taste of every victory. Blame someone? Nah, blame the basketball gods instead.
Exactly he seemed nervous and was forced to take some bad shots down the stretch... Scola then blew it in OT... I cannot fault Lowry because of his overall performance and defense, but IMHO Scola is the one who needs to go for his lack of defense...
Lowry is playing better as of late, he finally has gone back to his best which is when he attacks the basket. That said his midrange game has been horrible this year and when he has taken responsibility to score in crunch time that’s what he has done the most, needless to say he has missed most if not all of those critical attempts. Now I’m not blaming him for our loss because he was our best player last night, but he has regressed from his ok midrange game and that worries me. See foryourself here: http://hoopdata.com/player.aspx?name=Kyle%20Lowry
Lowry is horrible at shooting when his feet are not set. He has no business taking closing shots. That is Martin and AB's job, but for some reason, RA failed to put AB in for the 4th. This boggles my mind greatly because AB is our only scorer who can usually create his own shot. Either RA is stupid or in tank mode or we are keeping him rested to trade him.
I didn't watch the game but when I do watch I don't understand why Lowry's taking long range jumpshots? I saw a thread on here earlier saying Brad Miller shouldn't be taking jumpshots. Sorry but I would rather have Miller shooting the ball.
AB should have been in there last few minutes of the 4th and OT. No one was able to get open and AB could have created his own shot if plays broke down.
RA blew the last five games that we lost, his decision making is costing us alot of games and i think he needs to stand down before he messes up his own career coaching record
I vote for us to live or die with AB, I bet we're doing that as soon he gets in his comfort zone. I would go with Martin as the second option.
