Why? That was a championship team that had Prince, C.Bill, BigBen and a defensive terror. Not like this loser Heat team that we made look like superstars.
I really liked our lineup of Temple, Taylor, Battier, Andersen, Dorsey in the second quarter. Not really sure how many games you are gonna win with that lineup.
Ow. Glad I missed this one. On the plus side, our bench players played pretty well though, and by bench players, I mean our entire roster.
Not sure why Wade would be willing to sign with the rockets next season if he so thoroughly trashed them tonight...
Huffort is not going to get you more than a .500 record at best and it certainly won't get you in the playoffs. You neee superstars to win in this league and they sent 23 million home because they think they can do what no other organization/team/coach can do, and that's win without a superstar. About the only thing you can win with huffort & no superstar is the lottery. Maybe that's what some are hoping for. Oh well......
Went to the game tonight... crummy results but here are some observations: -Teams have figured the Rockets out. You saw it in the Philly game where they focused on stopping Landry from getting the ball in the 4th quarter by pre-post double teaming him. In tonight's game, the heat focused on Brooks pretty much the whole game. Alston did a great job with on-the-ball defense on Aaron, and when he did get into the lane, the heat collapsed on him with 2 or more of their bigs. Brooks could not finish over them, and when he tried to pass out of the paint, he was too short to find the open man. Beating the Rockets comes down to 2 things: Contain Brooks and stop Landry in the 4th quarter. -The Rockets don't play good defense. The Rockets are no longer the defensive team that we are used to. I know that losing Yao is a huge blow to what the team tries to do defensively, but the team's deficiencies go beyond lacking a shot blocker/intimidator type. It lacks individual discipline and more importantly smart team defense. Chuck, Battier, and Ariza play good situational defense, but other than that everyone else on the team gets burned by the opposing counterparts. It puts too much strain on the team defense if 2/3 of the team is at a disadvantage most of the time. Lowry is the only player on the Rockets that has game-changing defense. He is the one Rockets player that I feel comfortable guarding an opposing counterpart in all situations. - Rick's high octane read/react offense is not going to work with this group. The Rockets only chance at 'good' offense is when they can push the ball and gain extra possession off hustle plays. Unfortunately, you can't push the tempo if your defense doesn't stop anybody. I also think that teams are playing much harder in the second half of the season. So the previous advantage of our team just plain out-working the other team can't be counted on anymore. Too often, the team depends on Brooks or Landry to make a play. This is completely contradictory of the team's goal of spreading the offense and keeping teams to guessing. I think that's partly why the Rockets were so successful in the beginning because someone different stepped up each game. Recently the offense has become stagnant and predictable. So here are my assessments of the team. *They need an offensive juggernaut. The Rockets desperately need a player that can take over games by themselves. Someone who can create their own offense even when the other team's defensive game plan is to stop that player. Butler and Iggy are not that type of players. When evaluating players to trade for as the deadline approaches, I think attaining a special offensive talent is the most important and helpful addition to this current team. *The Brooks and Lowry PG only works as a tandem. If you trade one, the productivity and effectiveness of the other remaining will be greatly reduced. The two are very good for the team because they complement each other's strengths and weaknesses very well. *Scola is a better complement to Yao in the starting lineup. Landry is a nice player but I think he is not as important to the Rockets future success as I previously thought. I don't want to trade any of our core, but Landry is a prime sell-high candidate, and I understand that you have to give back something of value to get something good in return. *The Rockets probably won't make the post season without a major upgrade via trade. Since that is the case, I would be more willing to trade Battier if the price is right. He and Ariza are different type of players, but act the same role on a team. Having both is redundant, and despite his struggles in trying to become a first-option, Ariza is younger, more athletic, and cheaper, therefore the obvious keeper of the two. Here's to hoping Morey can continue to build a championship caliber team in the near future. viva dork elvis.
seriously, we are as bad as the nets, NETS w/o DEVIN HARRIS = Rockets. lets just face it like the other teams. we wont make the playoff this year sad to say
Have to say, that looked very much like a team that had give up before the game even started. Although the starting lineup itself was strange. What did Adelman hope to accomplish when the only person in the starting line up with the ability to attack the basket quickly is Brooks? Granted that isn't anything different from usual, but at least Ariza would and could occasionally take 3 pointers. You could tell early on, Brooks was trying to do way to much to aid the team and everyone else seemed either lost, disinterested or just plain out worked. I don't know what it is about 2010, but the team outside of Brooks and Lowry haven't shown the same amount of energy and the ability to execute like they did early in the season.
i say we play TMAC!! tmac's watching at home vs the heat "those damn rocket fans, you need me and im the best that you have fo now, i told you so! " :grin:
Wow...Nets are 4-47. 4...that is how many games they have won. That team is not better than any team in the NBA. Pick yourselves up, the only reason this team played horribly was because they were without two key players and were already not playing their best before this game.
Ariza's overall game helps this team become NBA competitive. This team wihout Lowry is a lottery team. This team without Lowry and Ariza is not even a NBA-level team. Sadly, two of my fav posters, Dave78 and DD, still belive the team is better off without him. They are mistaken. Put Ariza back to his natural position, sf, and paired with someone like Kobe, Wade, or Lebron, and dude is like dynamite.
it was ONE GAME. relax people. every NBA team has a game like this, esp. a team like us without any all-star to help us weather these kinds of games. those kinds of teams have 1-2 of these games throughout the NBA season. ariza is not a make or break player for this team.
