Boy, am I pissed! The Rockets overcome a terrible start only to lose by 2 points. People, the Timberwolves were lucky tonight. No way in hell are they better than the Rockets. Garnett had a monster game and Brandon hurt us, but other than that it was a joke. Cato getting called for a foul in the first half on Nesterovic when it was obvious that nesterovic fouled him. Garnett walked one time when he got a rebound over a Rocket player's back. Kevin Willis getting pushed out of bounds and no call was made. These are just a few of the terrible calls. It wouldn't have been so bad if this happened on the road, but at HOME?? What ever happened to home cooking calls?? We will still have a better record than the Timberjabronis. God, I wish Glen had made that shot...he is really struggling right now.
Why blame the officiating when it's obvious who the better team was? Rice again couldn't hit the side of a barn...what are we paying this guy for? The Rockets have no answer for Garnett inside. The TWolves own the Rockets...the only way we beat them last year was a) Hakeem was a man inside the first win and b) the second win was the last game of the year, and Hakeem was a man inside that time too. Brandon is clutch, we continue to have no answer for him. It has nothing to do with the refs. The Wolves have the Rockets' number. And home cooking? Please. First you need fans to show up to expect any kind of "home cooking" treatment from the refs.
Rice is in a slum right now, then again, isn't this just a continuation from last season? Is this because of his knees? I thought Griffin would have stayed in the game as another option towards the end. I didn't catch much of the calls, but how bad was that flagrant they called on KT? I think the officials are adjusting to the new zones, so they concentrate on those, while overlooking and being lose on the real fouls. Hopefully this will improve by Dec. Or they could be just reacting to the comments on NBC.. they couldn't let the Rox win too many games this season, now could they?
Uh, Freak, sometimes I think your purpose in life is to disagree with everything. When you lose by 2 points, all kinds of things can be pointed on the Rockets losing. If the Timberwolves are so "great", why did they barely win?? They ARE NOT the better team and you will never convince me or anyone else here that. I guess you think when the Refs nearly called a technical on Boylan that wasn't a bad thing? Man wake up, Freak...this little act of yours of pissing people off is not a good thing to do right now.
I don't think the Wolves own us considering it took a monster game from Garnett just to win by a measly two points. Not to mention, Glen Rice should be playing much better as soon as he comes out of his lil slump (which I believe will be pretty damn soon).
I'm glad that you brought that up..not bad, another bulls*** call. KT had already fouled Garnett and then the idiot tried to dunk. Pitiful..
After 3 years in the league you would think Francis and Mobley might pickup a few of the nuances of playing <b>DEFENSE</b>
Sorry, I prefer not to blame the refs. The Rockets are 2-7 against the TWolves the last 9 times they've played, I call that a pattern.
I don't really blame the officiating for this loss. The Rockets had plenty of opportunities to win this game. They missed a bunch of shots that they should have made down the stretch. With time, I believe the Rockets will get better with execution down the stretch and they will start making those shots. I do believe when the season is over, the Rockets will have a better record than the wolves.
Good teams overcome bad officiating, our missed FT's and horrible 1st quarter is why we lost this game.
Well, that's part of the game i suppose. But then again, Garnett really toasted KT tonight. Leaving Griffin on him might have been a better idea, but RT prob thought he would make some rookie fouls too. Damn! monster game from Garnett and we lose? Crap, that says alot about our shooting.
When you lose by only 2 points, you should look at what we could have done better, not blame the refs. If we made some free throws, or shot better than 25% in the first quarter, it wouldn't have come down to a couple of questionable calls. j
I blame the loss on the Rockets turnovers and inability to take the lead. They had so many opportunities in the 4th quarter (from about 10:00 left to 0 seconds left) to take the lead, seeming to miss point blank shots or turn the ball over several times. What the hell was Moochie doing out there? Dribbling down the shot clock while being guarded by Garnett, just waiting to be blocked, and finally forcing a crazy pass to Rice with 2 seconds on the shot clock or turning it over to Brandon. Anyways, the Rockets had at least 8 different possessions in the 4th in which the game was tied and they couldn't execute. Finally after Minnesota would score again, THEN the Rockets would score to tie it again, by which point they would continue the pattern.
It was a very frustrating game to watch. Normally, I get upset about 2 times a game over an official's call. However, I got upset 5 or 6 times tonight. To me that was too many bad calls. Yes, if the Rockets had shot better in the first quarter and had taken advantage of the opportunities in the 4th, they would have won this game. I really wish that the Rockets could get their shots going early on in these games. Mobley and Griffin seemed like the only ones who could hit from the outside tonight. Thankfully, there are still 79 games left, but this is a loss that hurts because the better team did not win tonight. And I say that because it took 37 freaking points from KG and the Timberwolves still only won by 2 points. That's hardly proof to me that they are a better team than the Rockets. Yes, the Rockets did things that helped them lose this game, but the officiating didn't help things, it somewhat exacerbated the situation.
The thing that blew this game was the final 3 minutes of OUR offense. There were two turnovers and Brandon had two steals. Four posessions and no shots. GAME OVER. Refs kinda sucked...on both ends of the floor. But it didn't change the course of the game. Of course Glen hitting that shot would have been nice.
Yeah, the refs made Francis and company turn the pill over. The refs made Rice and Walt contribute nothing again. The refs told Rudy its better to get wide open 25ft ers, than moving the ball getting 16-17 ft shots. Theres a reason you shot bad and wind up struggling from the field. Live by the jumper, die ny the jumper. Turnovers and long shots were tried last year and we wind up in lotto land. If we don't establish something inside more consistently, thats where we'll be again.
Frustrating game. There's 3 players you can't pin the blame on at all. 1. Cuttino Mobley: 4-4 from 3 point land, scored 24 points, several clutch buckets, and played well on D. 2. Kevin Willis: How does he get 17 boards in 26 minutes? Great job by T-Rex 3. Eddie Griffin: He got the Rockets back in the game, and was the only effective defender on Garnett. Garnett ate KT for lunch, and then Cato for dinner. Eddie hit some big 3s, had a nice dunk, and a sweet baseline jumper with KG in his face. Walt needs some DNPCDs under his belt. He's slow, and he's trying to drive past people, was throwing bounce passes in major traffic, and isn't even close from outside. Rice just needs time. His form is there, and he had so many shots that looked good, went in and went out. He's shown a few flashes, but he's just having trouble putting it in. The Rockets have done well limiting turnovers, but Steve and Moochie made some very critical errors and some terrible turnovers late (those back to back Brandon steals). That just can't happen the last 3 minutes of the 4th quarter, or ever. Steve had a nice game, but made a critical mistake late. To his credit, pushing the ball up and finding Mobley late was a big play. Normally, we'd stop and call timeout to setup a play, but he took advantage of the fastbreak. Cato was really limited by the officials. His numbers for 20 mins are passable, but he HAS to shoot better from the line. Kind of odd, considering how bad he played last year, but was very solid from the line. I thought the officiating was ok, other than Cato's 2nd foul, which was a terrible call. Eddie got away with hitting KG on the arm a couple of times. Kenny had a terrible game. KG tore him up, because Kenny let him get inside. The few sets KG wasn't point blank, he had to hit a much tougher shot, which he made less of. KG put up 30 shots, and shot over 50%. That's hard to overcome. We missed Mo tonight. We could count on him to usually score about 10 in the first quarter to keep us in it. KT was tentative shooting, and was unable to keep the defense honest. His one bucket was a dunk. We need to have someone scoring in the first quarter, and not fall behind like that. We need to shoot better from the field, under 40% again. This team has too many good offensive players to shoot under 40% three games in a row. This was a winnable game. So far, every night we've shutdown the opposition except for one player. When that one guy shoots over 50%, we lose. When he doesn't, we lose.
Only got to see the last quarter. But we're not gonna beat good teams shooting under 40%. Don't know whose post it was, but they described a "hybrid zone" that is very effective at cutting off our guards and it minimizes their ability to break down defenses.. All three opponents have used it effectively. What concerns me is that WE HAVE ABSOLUTELY NO INSIDE OFFENSE AT ALL. We are living and dying with a perimeter game, and have been lucky to beat mediocre teams in our place. Yeah, I know, Rice will come around. But it's the basics that worry me. Would like to see EG post up rather than strictly pop 20 footers. And another thing, why didn't we foul Brandon on last play? We had a foul to waste.
Moochie just plain sucks right now!!!! RT is to blame for allowing Moochie to handle the ball down the stretch. Those 2 stupid plays were unexcusable, Fro or no Fro!!!! RT should of played him the same 11 minutes he played against the Clippers. Why in the hell does Barkley!!!, I mean Kenny Thomas start the game shooting from the 3 point area??? HELLO MCFLY!!!! If the ball cannot find its way into the hole more times than missed, than that is not a high percentage shot for you. I think are coaching sucks right now!! Their must be an easier way to score points, than make the whole team shoot from behind the arc. Dont we have any spot up shooters on our team, that Francis & Mobley can pass to? Has it been that long since the championship years, that Rudy cannot call any lost post plays (like when Hakeem was here). Why was Francis still on the bench with 5 minutes left in the 4th quarter? so Moochie could continue with his poor play making decisions down the stretch!!!
I wondered the same thing. We had one to give and everyone just let Brandon waltz and drain that jumper. What about our zone? Why didn't we run a defender to that side and make wally beat us from the backside. Nike, please don't bring taylor into this, because we know he lived in foul trouble. When Willis,Griffin, and Cato post up, we need our guards to stop waving them off and give them a chance to score down there. It would be nice to see some action and movement instead of giving the d an easy chance to defend us.
