So we've established how good this team is: somewhere between 20 pts better than the Spurs and 20 points worse than the Grizz. Gonna be a whacky season for many teams, especially early. Hope the Rockets can find their stride soon.
The team needs the starters to hold the lead, or at least keep the lead.......... Rudy Gay also did not score well today with 10 pts. but he rebounded with 8, and he assisted more..... Ok.....then your comparison to Brent Barry is moot because Brent upped his production to 13 points. I am ok with that. He just isn't that good.
I think some here are forgetting the reality... a lot of players in the league weren't ready for playing basketball. There was way too much hype by the NBA about the "season" that was billed to start on Christmas day. Sure. Do you really think San Antonio is a slouch of a team? Yet we, seemingly, beat them pretty handily just the game before this one. Also, McHale has been trying to warn people all along that it's pretty insane to expect a lot from a team that really hasn't had a training camp or practices with the final roster -- until the 2 days before the SA game. There is genuine potential for some of the young players. But the season laid out by the NBA for teams is going to make this season an asterisk no matter who wins it all. It is going to be frustrating for the players as well as fans, who, buying into the "product" as if it's a normal season, are going to criticize the players unfairly. Miami may win it all. They are fairly young and have no coaching change, no system changes... and Shane. And give the Grizzlies defensive credit. They doubled Lowry a lot, since so much starts with him. Same with Kmart. Because of some uncertainty when learning new sets, etc., it is easier to look stymied when teams apply an effective defense to what you had success with the last game(s). I think a real danger of such a "cold" start is injuries. Teams fates can be drastically altered by them. I hope we steer clear of them given the history of T-mac and Yao, as well as others over the last few years. I didn't expect the Rockets to beat a Grizzly team, with minor changes that had lost their first 2 games. The Rockets were set up for underachieving because of their success against SA. They lacked intensity for the most part. I think Scola, Lowry and Dalembert will always show up mentally for a game. Why some others don't, I don't know. But if anything, McHale should be able to instill that attitude in the players. Remember, Rudy used to use the phrase, "happy feet" for how players just naturally play when they get a large lead in a game. The same happens from one game to the next with success. The players will learn to not get to high or low. Hopefully, then the effort will become more consistent. It won't be easy against Atlanta, either.
It was a b2b, and the Grizz were determined to get a win. Gotta shore up a lot of things, but we look promising.
Did y'all know that the Rockets have the same record as CP3's Clippers and have a 1/2 game lead on the defending World Champion Dallas Mavs?
Starters got in foul trouble. After that it was a blow out, no need to play them in a 2nd game of the back to back to back. Over analyzing a little bit?
I didn't expect the Rocks to win this game because Grizz's home game and their team were rested. Zach played like an All-Star and Gasol just couldn't stop scoring on us. This is like the Texans' running game, once it gets going everything will get easier. It didn't help that the refs came from the Texans/Colts game. I still worry that we can't cover Randolph and Gasol because they can do whatever they want to do. Next game against Grizz, Rocks need to put more than 1 body on them, let the others beat us. Let them hit low pct. outside shots. Rocks need to trust the big guys, if Lowry is the top scorer for the games, we will lose most games.
Missed a bunch of the game. Saw Martin shot well. Scola looked like he had a miserable night with only 4 pts while Z-Bo went off on him 11-14 FG for 23 pts, wow was his D on him that bad?
The frustration is we have too many players playing the damn same position. Parson's playing over Morris and Flynn's making stupid pass all over the court. We are like the 2012 Minnesota Timberwolves. It's hard to root for a team that clearly downgraded due to an arrogant front office
The reason why Flynn got run last night is because Goran and the 2nd unit isn't gelling and Goran is not being effective at the point. McHale is still experimenting, trying to figure out what his rotation should be. IMHO, this is what I would do: Start Lowry Martin Parsons or Morris Dally Scola and use these guys to back up the starters TWill at the POINT Lee at the 2 Parsons or Morris at the 3 Hill center Patterson 4 then if we needed to play small ball, rotate Patterson to center, Parsons or Morris at the 4, Lee, Martin, Lowry on the perimeter with Goran ready to come in for KMart for defensive purposes. Goran has not been effective and won't be effective if his jumper isn't falling. And he shoots way too much and does not facilitate. At some point, McHale is going to have to put TWill out there with the ball and see what happens.
Yes, we desperately need a legit back-up for Sam. Pryzbilla would have been great if he wasnt so injury prone. Larry Sanders or Epke Udoh wouldnt be bad replacements for Hill either. I wouldnt mind picking up Diop if he gets amnestied. But more so we need a big that score from the paint. A monster in the paint. Al Jefferson would have been great but he keeps getting injured too. We dont really have many options.
The refs took the spirit out of our team in this one. It's hard to play defense when you hustle for 23 seconds and then the other team jacks up an out of control shot and the refs call a foul. Chandler Parsons is extremely active on defense and once(if) he moves to the 3 he will be a + rebounder. Morris has some awesome moves for a rookie. Potential is through the roof. definitely looks like a Paul Pierce lite out there. Shooting on the move, and with great body control. That post fade also looked nice.
Observations from the crows nest: Bud is not going to be the starting SF for long unless he wakes up real fast. Jordon Hill, this is now past it's sell date. Scola looked tired last night. T Will has "potential"....hee hee geez dude get a grip...on the ball! The refs...man I hate to blame refs, so I won't.........they sucked! PP ...this is the guy I think will shine this year in another week.
Good post. Only quibble, Scola was bushed IMO. Will be there tonight screaming Rockets Red & hope Atlanta is proud of their 3-0 and Rockets are royally pissed. I know coach is, but will never say it.
PP needs more than a week. He did not look himself out there and looks to be holding back because of his heal.
The NBA is all about matchups, Zbo is a bad matchup for us now without Chuck Hayes, he is a bully on the block and has a great midrange shot, Hayes could force him out of his comfort zones, we don't have that anymore so they will probably have an advantage on us all year. We have San Antonios number Memphis has ours. DD
