Last night the game against the grizz was an ugly offensive affair, but I think most people can agree that the thing the team has been missing most is defense. Rudy did it. Given even the small amount of time in the all-star break, Rudy must've really gotten this team in a defensive state of mind. At the start of the game when the team wasn't playing defense, I know that Calvin kept talking about how that wasn't Rudy's game plan, and that wasn't what Rudy wanted. Then the team actually played sustained defense for the rest of the game. I know that a lot of people want Rudy to work on certain things, and change the system etc. But during the season there really isn't that much time to learn a new system to make whole scale changes, they don't have that much time to practice. I think with the all-star break, the team looks like they worked on what was ailing them most and that was defense. Hopefullly they will see that defense can win games that the team has no business even being in, and they continue the good defensive effort.
First, I like Rudy and the job he does and always praise him when possible. Second, I was at the game so didnt get to hear the in-game analysis by Calvin or Bill on the tube. Third, I didnt see any better defense last night than previously in the season. Sure, Brevin Knight was a point guard that didnt burn Moochie "Ice-T" Norris for once, but its Brevin Knight. For that matter it is the Grizzlies we were playing. Did they score a lot of points? No. But neither did Charlotte about a week ago. It seems to me, and I think this is pretty obvious, that Houston's defense is solely dependent on its offense. When the Rockets shot bad and dont score a lot of points, neither does their opponent. When they are scoring at will, so does the other team. Once again I like Rudy and I'm sure he is pushing defense every day, and I praise them on keeping the other team's scoring so low and winning the game, but I wont get excited about good defense until I once, just once, see the Rockets score 100 and the other team score 70 or 80.
I thought, last night, they were getting better defensive rotations than normal, Cat played great defense all night long, and the effort was there from everyone. It's not always there on defense. I will agree that it seems when they are doing well offensively they get lazy on defense. But even last night when they went up by 5 or 6 points, they kept playing intense defense. I agree it seems like when the Rockets get a little lead or sometimes even just tie the score they feel their job at the defensive end of the floor is over, and the other team always comes back. Last night at least they kept it up.
I wish that the defense was consistent. That's my biggest complaint about the Rockets. The rest I can make allowances for due to injuries a constant switching of line ups etc. But you are right. Defense should be consistent. A lot of the close losses would be W's right now if the defense had been consistant.
I did notice a difference in the defense last night. But to me, it wasn't a change in the system or structure of how we defended. To me, it just seemed a slight increase in intensity. We had a hand in the face of most jumpers last night. I can only think of maybe 5 or 6 occasions when there was an open jumper, and 3 of those were by big guys like Grant Long or Tony Massenburg. Cat in particular looked like he was concentrating on it. Perhaps he was motivated by not being made to look bad by Battier on the defensive end, since Battier was defending him so well on the offensive end. Who knows. But I know that I liked the intensity I saw.
Playing good defense against a **** team doesn't mean a damn thing in my book. We SHOULD beat the Grizz hands down every game. Let's see a consistent, tough defense against the better teams like the Spurs or Lakers and then have this discussion.
1. We did beat the Grizz this time. There is no reason not to applaude good defense because it was against a team with a bad record. Good defense period deserves notice, regardless of who it's against. 2. This season the Rockets haven't beaten the Grizz everytime, or the Bulls, or a long list of other bad teams. We haven't always been able to beat the teams we SHOULD beat. And the list of teams we SHOULD beat isn't as large as it once was. The Rockets aren't one of the elite teams in the league right now. 3. I noted our defense because it was an improvement. Hopefully the team will play defense more consistantly in the future and keep up the good work.
Good points. I guess I really just want to see some overall consistency on the defensive end.... not so sporadic. I would love to see us shut down Orlando on Saturday.
