Agree. I cant really complain..or well maybe I can. One thing - why is Ariza handling the ball down the stretch there at the end. His ball handling isnt the best. But just my $0.02
How can you enjoy Oden's injury? This loss makes me sick to my stomach, even more than losing to the Mavs after being up big, but if there's any fanbase that should understand how awful it is to lose a bigman, or anyone, to injury, it should be us. I feel awful for Greg Oden and all the basketball fans of the northwest. Terrible.
the problem there is ariza needs to be able to stay on his man to block the shot, and in this situation he can't/shouldn't gamble for a steal, so with roy being quicker and moving him around with his crossovers, you neglect both of ariza's top defensive skills. Battier's better at staying in front, which would have kept roy from going exactly where he wanted most of the time.
Horribly officiated game. Props to Matt B. for calling out the refs to their face! I knew this game would not end well.
Rockets got very little scoring from their two high usage players (Brooks and Ariza). And they were right there against the Blazers, on the road. I agree, not a bad loss. I'm sure the Rockets are feeling much better after this one than the Blazers.
There is nothing sorry about overachieving. BTW, I don't think this team is overachieving. They are starting to execute RA's system and I expect them to be over .500 at the end of the season.
That is NOT good defense. He played tight and gambled when Roy showed him the ball EVERY time. That's called getting burned, over, and over, and over again, by the same behind the back play, all night long. They only reason Roy's shot looked tough was because we brought help. Arize has enough length to bother his jumper, he could have given him a bit more space and still contest his jumper; instead, he played the kind of defense that would make And-1 players drool all over themselves.
On the possession before the game-winning shot, Ariza did force Roy into a outside jumper... unfortunately Roy still made that... sometimes you just have to give the opponent credit for playing better offense. On the last possession, Ariza did play bad defense letting Roy drive to the basket... again, just give credit to Roy... Ariza is still a good defender and i'd still take my chances with a 6'8" lengthy Ariza guarding Roy
Well Roy wanted to go left and Ariza cut him off twice and fed him into Chuck. The shot was contested and circus-esque, so thats all you can really ask for on D. I still think it was the right assignment.
His one questionable shot out of the corner was rebounded and finished with a score. When they pressured and he brought the rock up court, I held my breath, but I thought he handled it well. Moe
bring back mutumbo! Portland is a hard place to play so I'm not that mad about this loss. Landry's play makes me pumped to see what will happen with this team when Yao comes back.
He did what he can, just not enough though. Most importantly, Who was Battier guarding in the end? Andre Miller seemed disappeared from every inch of the floor and that's all boiled down to Battier's defense on him? When it comes to the most crucial possession, Adelman trusted Ariza over Battier?
I thought the officials sucked tonight, Portland would beat up on us and nothing, and we look at Miller or Roy wrong, and it was a foul. Whoever trains the refs need to be fired, and someone else needs to teach how to ref a game, and I agree with Matt about the flopping, it takes away from the game, and yes I know Scola does do it, I wish he would stop.
roy was the one dictating where he went, roy would dribble to the left corner every time, expecting ariza to try to cut him off, which frees up the lane because trevor is going left, and all roy has to do is pull a counter move to go the other way. So when you say he "forced him right", right is the lane, which was open. He should have started off forcing roy to the corner and funnel him all the way. You don't let him dictate anything.
A "perfect" loss is just another term for gut-wrenching I think Ariza is a fantastic acquisition for the MLE, am happy to have him on the team, but am absolutely ready to give up on the idea he is a franchise player, or even a defensive stopper ala Battier I would love to be wrong.... It's just hard for me to envision him making the leap. What NBA player has ever improved his handles dramatically after FIVE years in the league? Not even mentioning his shooting, which obviously has been horrendous.
roy always wants to go down the middle either for a jumpshot from the top of the ley/free throw or down the paint for a drive, he only made trevor think he wanted to go left so he could cross every time and go down the middle. Every drive and even the shot was down the center, that's roy's sweet spot/area.
