Most telling stat.

We are in agreement. However, I would say that a large part of the problem is the opposing teams' strategy to trap Francis/Mobley and essentially freeze them out of plays by forcing the pass. I am perplexed at RT's strategy of walking the ball up the court on possession after possession instead of at least pushing and looking for semi-transition opportunities.

 

I thought the offense was great tonight, until the last play. The Rockets missed open shots, but the offensive system was much better than in previous games.

 

Francis, Mobes, and Rice shooting 0-12 in 3s doesn't help much either. Damnit guys make a long ball for christs sake!

 

Damn 0-12!! I mean you can talk about bad shot selection and such all you want, but 0-12 is just bad no matter what. How could they not hit even one. Man it would've been nice to win.

 

Tonights game was one of the best this season on the offensive side. The play caller was much improved. Please don't knock the offense strategy on a night like this. For the most part the Rockets were consistent in moving the ball.

My only gripe would be that we didn't adjust to LA's double teams, namely getting our shooters open. Those two shots by Willis could have been two shots by someone else.

Once again though, OVERALL, tonight game was our better "offensive playcalling" game.

 

What the hell has happened to steves 3 point shot? He was money from there last year, and this year he passes up open 3's so Kenny can jack em up. That actually happened in this game. Has steve lost all confidence in his 3?

Thank God for Walt being on target tonight. He deserves a ton of credit for us being so close at the end.

 

That was one of the first possessions of the game. If you haven't noticed, Steve hardly takes a shot in the first quarter, he tries getting everyone else involved. Yes he should have taken that shot, get over it though, it was like the fourth possession.

 

I honestly think Steve tries too hard. Alot of people say he isn't a true point guard, ala ANdre Miller, and I think he gives up open shots at times to get his teammates involved and get some assists. He flat out tries too hard.

Right now , Francis is not a true point guard. IF Rudy unleashed Steve, he could average 30 ppg and 9 rebounds and 4 assists. But, I think Steve thinks it's his job to get his teammates involved. I'm not b****ing about just this game, I think he has alot of pressure on himself.

 

Well, someone needs to tell Steve that he has to take at least 4 3pt shots each quarter. And he needs to make at least one of those - each quarter.

We all know he'll get his points. But I want to see him shoot at least 4 threes every quarter - just for effect. We all know he can shoot that well. Nothing's more demoralizing than a three...

 

I seem to recall pretty rapid passes around the three point line on a regular basis. If you agree with the TNT announcers, our pick and roll was used extensively late in the game. As for offense in general, we only scored one less point than the team with Kobe and Shaq, AND we had to shoot and rebound over Shaq at the other end.

 

What game were you watching? What is you definition of an Iso kidrock8?

The first lesson in NBA 101 - create an open man. That is what we are trying to do, and successfully if you ask me.

We run the pick and roll to death, but then so does every team in the NBA. Is that what you are calling an Iso? Last time I checked, the high pick and roll involved at least two offensive players, and sometimes 3 or 4.

I truly don't know what people on this board expect.

 

Allen Iverson came back and had poor shooting nights and the team still is unbeaten since he has been back. Iverson spends no time getting teamates involved, instead he take the attention and offensive burden away from his teamates which make them more productive and efficient. There are a lot of things the Rockets need to change but one of them is to change the strategy on Francis. He should start game by establishing himself instead of establishing others. In addition, Francis has to be given the green light to dominate. The same for Mobley by the way, who is proving to be just as special and unstoppable as Francis.

But there is more to be done, I think our rotation should be like this: (season-to-date minutes)

Center: Cato 24 (22), Willis 24 (20)
The center position has done a good enough job. Need to improve on the 54% FT% and 47% fg%, getting to the line more that five times a ball game and blks per game which is 1.57. Combined rebounding of 15.7 is good. These two can handle the duties and can be relied upon.


Power Forward: Thomas 24 (30), Griffin 24 (14)
FTA of 5 per game and reb/g or 9.1 are dissappointing numbers. These two things can be solved by Griffin getting more minutes at the position and concentrating on being in the low post on offense and defense. His increased minutes will allow KT to be used some at the 3. With Griffin increased minutes, we can expect blk/g of 0.9 should go up to 2; and fg% should be closer to 50% than the current 46%. The only way we could possibly afford to have the 1,2 and 3 shoot like they have been, we need to have 50 fg% from our 4 and 5 spots.

Small Forward:
Rice 27 (28), Williams 10 (19) Thomas 11
Hands down our least productive position. In fact, Morris and Langhi manning that position could not do so bad: 36% fg, 2 fta/g, 29% 3fg, 4 reb/g, and 14.3 pts/g. At this point, for the most athletic position in basketball, we have our least athletic players in Rice and Williams. So when they are not hitting their shots, which is their forte, the problems are exponentially multiplied; and it places additional burdens on our other positions especially our 1 and 2 spots.

We need to improve our fg%, fta and rebounding. KT given his performance to date and the need to get Griffin some more time, KT should spend some time at the 3, playing about 11 mins at the 3. Conversely, the minutes of Rice and Walt collectively, until further notice, should be limited to 38mins/g. If Rice is playing well then his increased play will be at the expense of Walt and vice versa. As a position, they should all drive some more, and run low post plays to get some fouls and up the fg% and be less predictable. If Griffin plays well at the 4, then increase KT at the 3, at the expense of Walt. The thing is, if Rice and Walt start shooting better, then the team will take it, but they have to find a way to be productive in that alloment of minutes. Also, I would not go to a 3 guard rotation as a strategy to improve the output of the 3 spot or to limit the risk of Rice and Walt.

These moves should also improve our defense at the position.

Francis 35 (41), Moochie 13 (17)
Need to improve shooting based on 39%fg and 22% 3fg, by reducing number of shots. The output of 23.7 pts per game is good but that can come with less shots and better shooting. These shots should go to the 4's and 2's. With that increased balance the shot selection would improve and the shooting percentage. The tempo and pace has to be set by this position. This is critical and there should be no compromise on this. We are a fast team and anytime the point guards are not promoting and leading that, for whatever reason, they should be switched. Reduce Francis minutes to 35 and put Moochie at 13 and do not hesitate to call on Brown to ensure the tempo and pace stays up there. For example, five minutes to go in the half and Francis and Moochie appear tired like on the back end of a back to back, then bring Brown to close out the half. He would keep up the tempo and allow additional rest to Francis especially. I am not saying that Francis is fragile but prevention is better than cure. I would like to see Francis shooting % go up to 50% and for that Francis has to play less minutes.

Mobley 35 (42), OT 13 (11)
Reb/ g of 7.3, 47% 3fg%, 1.4 blks/g and 20 pts/g are all good. Could improve fta by penetrating even more which would also up the fg% of 44%. Mobes minutes have to be limited to 35. This would do wonders for OT and would expand his contributions.

Overall, it means we will move up from being ranked 23rd in scoring and fg%, 17th in FTA, and 21st on points per shot, on the offensive end. With the change at the 3 and 4, the rebounding should go up and reverse our current 2 reb deficit. Of course 24th in blks per game has to be a concerned and the 3/4 changes would help that.

 

Amazing what our crappy offense did to Dallas.