Lowry is a solid defender, not a great one. But last night is just a bad example. Rose is a tough match up against ANY PG in the league.
Lowry is a decent defender...but in direct comparison to Brooks, then i guess Kyle would be considered "shut down"
Nah, not last night. I was at the game last night, and with Scola not on the floor, I was intently watching Kevin Martin moving without the ball during the fourth quarter. I saw Martin working his ass off trying to get open. There were a few times when Martin got just a sliver of daylight, but Lowry didn't pass him the ball. THAT was the chance during the possession to score points that the Rockets repeatedly wasted early in the fourth quarter. Lowry missed Martin on multiple occasions. It ended up costing the Rockets the game.
One thing I noticed about Scola is that the Bulls fronted him toward the end of the game and that seem to mess up the Rockets offense. Isn't that the same problem the team had with the fronting of Yao? Anyway, overall, I tip my hat off to Tom Thibodeau for the D-- great job clogging the paint, look like the D he and Van Gundy ran in their Rockets days, except with more athletic front court guys (they had Yao and Juwan Howard fro the most part). The Rockets couldn't figure out the defense for long stretches at a time in the 2nd and 4th qtrs. On offense, I think they got lucky a bit-- Rose is brilliant but the man was a 25% 3pt shooter coming into the game for a reason and he went 4 for 5. The O Reb is definitely a concern, I wonder if the Rockets eagerness to run the break is taking away from the gang rebounding they used to have during their slower-paced days.
Oh, I agree, he is a good defender, and better than Brooks, but Lowry is another offensively challenged guy on the other end. I will take a good offensive player who plays poor defense over a good defensive player who play poor offense. Just as DRose proved, great offensive players beat good defense. DD
No, what DRose proves is that a decent team with a healthy superstar beats a decent team without a healthy superstar.
DRose is not a Superstar, he is a star player, but not a SUPERSTAR, that word gets thrown around too willy nilly around here. DD
But isn't that a problem though? Martin has to work his ass off just get a sliver of daylight. I know he was trying, but it seems like it's hard to get him the ball sometimes. And even if we do get him the ball, he's either shooting it or trying to draw a foul. He doesn't really ever create for others.
I felt that lowry was very conservative last night, very unlowrylike. I have a feeling that this is his attempt to become a starting PG, i.e. control the tempo, minimise turnovers, at the expense of making more aggressive passes and also passing up shots. I don't think I've ever seen him pass up so many shots.
EXACTLY. Look, that is just another reason we need Aaron Brooks, he can get his own shot and he draws so much attention on the defense that it frees up others to get theirs. I hope people are finally starting to understand now. Kyle Lowry is a great energy guy off the bench but his numbers have NEVER translated as a starter, against quality competition. DD
Look, I agree that Brooks is the better starter at PG than Lowry. But that doesn't mean that Lowry isn't starting-caliber as an NBA PG. He just had a bad game. Even though he was +4. (Ish was -8 in limited minutes.)
I don't agree, I think most of Lowry's success has been against 2nd teams and where he goes all out for 20 minutes of hustle, and energy. But whenever he has been asked to be the starter, his numbers do not translate up proportionally. I think Lowry is what he is....a very nice backup PG. DD
Coming out of lurking because I really need to vent. I am starting to think that Mandry was the reason we had a winning season last year, he gave us consisting scoring on the 4th especially when the game was on the line. I think we didnt make the playoffs because after he got traded, we missed his scoring punch in the 4th and bc of Lowry going down. Of course, at this point Landry is not that good of a fit, but my point is we we need some one to fill those shoes. So far only Scola has appeared consistently in critical moments, but to my perception it has been more when we already were down and not while trying to maintain the lead. We need to man up either as a team, or live and die with a designated go to guy. Tough days to be a rockets fan, all these mental breakdowns are making me restless, I can't take that for a whole year, Ill go with the wait till we are healthy mode for the 22th time.
The Jury is still out regarding Lowry as the stater, you should at least give him until Brooks comes back to make a complete judgement.
Well, we don't have much choice, do we..... Maybe if he suddenly starts producing like he never has in his career, he might blossom into a starter.... As for Landry, we could use his scoring, but Scola is doing the same, we just need more from other positions. DD
Your post making me thinking about JVG offense.....I hated it but maybe it was Rafer? Rockets had a watchable offense in 2005 until a "pure" PG Rafer arrived.
You're exactly right, and I was thinking the same thing. Landry gave us a real closer down the stretch. You could just dump it down to him and he would destroy his man. We're missing that this year.
The good thing about this time is that it will deal with the the Lowry as a stater question, it will either raise his value or give him more reason to embrace the role he has in this team. That's why I say Landry is not such a good fit anymore, because Scola rebounds a little better and has been the brightest spot of this season. What we miss and what we must find in another guy is the dependabilty Mandry gave us in the 4th.
You know, thibs is known for changing and running more zone and fronts in the final quarter. Boston will play a certain way, then in the 4th or last 6 seconds of the shot clock, they will zone off alot. Bima, I agree martin did shake loose a couple of times, but as far as give him the ball and get out the way, that will never happen with martin, he's not that type of player.
Ya he is. He has been balling out of control for a while now. If you watched enough basketball, you would know this.
