This has been missing pretty much from the beginning of the Tracy/Yao tandem... but I wonder... is Kobe the leader of the Lakers... or maybe Phil Jackson, moreso? The Rockets pay lip service to what Adelman says but don't do it on the court very often. And I don't see a leader emerging in the future, although I would love to be wrong. They desperately need one.
the rockets organization is a good one, if we begin to lose more games, we'll make a trade or sign someone, so that we can get back on track. T-mac had 2 bad games, so what? the guy is still injured for crying out loud. Ron Artest has a few bad games, so what? you go through slumps from time-to-time in a nba season. Yao Ming? I'd love to have him be ALOT more athletic to where he'll get blocks like how he does in nba 2k9, lol.
One more comment. I think as much as anything, the reason the Rockets won 22 games in a row last year was simply that they overachieved; i.e., the players on the court at any one time gave 110% effort and were inspired by each other's play. Two of the Rockets "Big Three" have unconsciously skipped to the assumed outcome of being on the same team together and are not doing the 110% thing. Despite their lip service to "we haven't done anything yet, we have to prove it on the court", their play has generally proven otherwise. Given the superiority (athleticism, length, etc.) that is credited to the Lakers, the best thing a team like the Rockets can do to offset that is to bring the hustle they brought in that 22-game win streak. Last year's team never stopped hustling and had passion. When they can start to tap into that again, things will start improving. I also, think one of the reasons they seem to not be running the offense Adelman wants them to run, is they may figure, "Hey, we won 22 games in a row last year by running set plays. We can do it again this year. We just need good health... and besides we now have Ron Artest." It is definitely a team in search of itself.
Is anyone else seeing the same thing I see!!! The Rockets are too small upfront. I have been saying this since we lost against the Jazz in 06' and we could not get a REBOUND FOR THE LAST 2 MINUTES!! The lack of height is costing us, it cost us against the Trailblazers and the Lakers, and it is going to cost us against the Suns on Wednesday. You can not go consistently go 6'7" and below against guys that are 6'10" and 6'11". Yao is the only guy above 7'0" on the roster and he is not a deamon on the boards. Morey needs to make some trades; Sean Williams is available, so is Chris Wilcox and Nick Collison.
Well, Rafer's defense isn't enough to make up for the points we are not getting out of the point guard spot either. He hasn't attacked the basket and his shooting is allowing teams to zone up on Yao, trap Tmac in the pick and roll, and collapse on Artest when he drives or posts up. Let Tmac do the playmaking if he has to. All Brooks would have to do is bring up the ball and just get the ball to Tmac and move without the ball and get open. The offense would have so much more space to work with. Plus moving Artest to the bench would help as well. I know Aaron Brooks isn't the perfect point guard by any means, but Rafer is hitting 20% from 3's and 2's! That is not going to get Yao any room to operate. You see teams just daring Rafer to shoot. Atleast tmac and artest are threats to attack the basket off of a double team on Yao, but teams know Rafer is looking to shoot. Aaron Brooks would be great offensively for that one reason. Or Barry could run point, but he can't guard anybody anymore, and he can't penetrate anymore either, thats why I say we start Brooks. I think if he is getting torched then you bring in Rafer to try to stop them. But honestly Chris Paul, Deron WIlliams, Steve Nash, Tony Parker, and Billups are all going to get their points if they want to or not. Its up to the team to contain them. Deron managed to kill us the last 2 years in the playoffs no matter if it was Rafer, Brook, Jackson, or Head. Overall, our team just looks unbalanced. Offensively Tmac and Artest are very similar in this stage of their careers, Yao has no room around him to operate and no real shooters to pass to either. Scola is not being used in the post where he could do well too, (maybe switch him and Landry for that reason). Artest and Scola off the bench with Barry and Hayes and Rafer. Artest and Scola can both score, Barry is still a deadly 3 point shooter if left open, rafer can handle the ball and run RA's offense and Hayes would provide defense and rebounding. Landry would bring some athleticism and a guy who can focus on rebounding and finishing and can still hit a 20ft jumper. Scola's full potential is not being used. He could be a great scorer, but with a lineup with 3 proven scorers, that won't happen. More importantly AB and Landry would provide some youth and hustle to Yao and Tmac and when Shane comes back, he's a natural leader and a smart player who will hustle and bring defense. This is just my suggestion I think this would get our team more balanced and more dangerous as well.
Im trying to optimistic bit c'mon T-mac?? He looks like he could care less about playing or winning. He has his moments, but he can turn it off and on at will. Its becoming obvious. He walked up and down the court. Was very passive. He was preictable and seemed to just be out of it. This is supposed to be our year. People will say its still early. But ask the celtics. Do you play every game to win or do you wait to turn it on in the playoffs? T-mac has no motivation. I say trade this guy if he cant show some pride and hustle. Artest has my respect simply for his hustle factor. T-mac is just going through the motions. Why? Nobody cares what we do in the regular season T-mac says...Its all about the playoffs. With that attitude will we get to the playoffs? Trying hard to believe in T-mac but I want to see him put his money where his mouth is and play. He's got all the pieces. Im sure its just his knee, or he has the flu..... His head is holding him back...Not his skill. Follow the yellow brick road T-mac and get your heart back!
I rewatched the game and noticed that as bad as T-Mac played, we had bigger problems. 1. Our team defense was horrible. I'm not even talking about rebounding which was also a problem. The game was close until the 4th quarter when the Lakers 2nd unit killed us. Kobe wasn't even on the floor for most of the time when the game turned into a blowout. Vujacic, Gasol, Odom and Farmar were passing the ball and moving w/ and w/out the ball and finding open players. Our defense was leaving open man after open man for short jumpers or finishes around the basket. It wasn't just one player either. It was poor rotation after poor rotation by multiple players. I had doubts but now I really do think Battier will make a huge difference. He will not let us fall apart that badly and truly is our floor general on the defensive end. As far as the rebounding, there were some cases where we simply didn't box out or had poor positioning but there was also the length issue, bringing me to my second point. 2. We absolutely have to add one, maybe two, frontcourt players with not only length but good defensive and rebounding skills. We would be best-suited if that guy could play the PF or C so we could put him on the court w/ Yao at times against some of the bigger frontcourts around the league. That means that we need to get rid of some of our excess guards and PFs to bring in that type of player(s). The way I see it, Head, Francis and at least one of our 4 PFs need to be on the trading block. Scola, Landry, Hayes and Dorsey all have intriguing qualities but they all have serious weaknesses, too. One weakness they all have in common is being undersized for their position. Plus, you have to give up something to get better. 3. I am still concerned about the offense but I am still confident that we will improve in that area this year 1) if T-Mac fully recovers and 2) Yao returns to normalcy (whether that means changing how we use him in the offense or he gets back in game shape or any possible injuries stop hampering him, etc...) 3)once Battier returns and reduces Artest's role on defense and 4)as Brooks and Landry continue to improve. The bottom line is that we absolutely must regain our defensive excellence and improve our rebounding before anything else. These are higher priorities than worrying about Alston or McGrady or Yao.
I don't care if he shot 1/11, but Tmac of yesterday just seemed passive and uninterested. He did not seem like the leader of the team. I don't know if he was sick or something, but he has got to turn it around in order to lead this team. I liked Artest's energy, he could see he was always playing hard. Tmac needs to do better
One word. CONDITIONING. By now it should be clear that there are 2 rockets teams, a jekyll and hyde if you will. Theres the team that took the double digit lead early, running fast breaks and getting easy baskets. Then theres the team that has a lead and is completely motionless on offense. The only possible explanation (other than a subconcious urge to lose) is a major lack of conditioning. It makes me sick because team 1 is the best team in the NBA, driving hard to the basket and demoralizing our opponents. Team 2 can not and will not cut it. We need to find a middle ground because this 10 minutes of basketball brilliance and 38 minutes of jack sh** is why we lose to the good teams, why we play down to the bad teams, and why we can't get out of the 1st round.
I'm really dissapointed. I don't even know why i'm wasting my time watching these lousy games... I'm not saying they're done, or the season is over. But I can see the rockets finishing again 4 or 5 in the conference and getting spanked in the first round. The game was terrible. I've never seen Tmac playing so badly. I don't care what his problem is, like others said, he should take his time and come back when he thinks he's ready. Yao got outplayed by Bynum, so that's another broken myth. Artest thought it was a 1 on 1 showoff between him and Kobe. The team defense was non-existent after the first half. The only (small) bright lights were Brooks and Landry. But sadly they can't carry the team on their own. Hmm, what's more to be said? I don't see Battier coming back as a miraculous cure anymore. I keep waiting for a logical explanation for the louzy way the Rockets played their last 3 games. Something along the lines: "we were messing up", "we don't think we deserve to win 75-80 games this year so we are trying to throw a couple of games, so that we only get to 70", "Tmac and Yao are competing for the "crappiest player of the month" award". But sadly I think I'll be waiting in vain and this state of things will continue for some time. (If they keep going like that, i'm thinking of becoming a fan of another team/players. It's really not funny rooting for losers )
Is this your first year watching the Rockets? You obviously have not watched the really bad Houston teams in the past. Be disappointed but we still have 75 more games to play. T-Mac looked horrible the last few games. Yao was having a block party of his own. Artest looked like a worthless POS. The whole team sucked. But we still have 75 more games to go.....
I like your attitude. Unfortunately, I've seen the Rockets on other ocasions (i've been following them since the Tmac trade and saw all their games in the last 2 seasons) so I know they can do better, but at the same time I've never seen them so helpless, vulnerable, crippled and more important, prideless.
The problem is we have too many short players!! In order to win against a team with equal or greater talent, we have to out hustle them offensively and defensively!! In other words, we have to be at the top of our game against teams like Boston, LA, Utah, etc. I think we are asking too much!!!!! Morey needs to get off his assssssssssssss and start adding some height.
By the way, did anybody see the bogus calls on Hayes, Artest and Landry. Hayes got called for a blocking foul on at least one occasion where it was a clear cut charge. There was a second similar play where I think Chuck was a little late but it was close enough that it would have been called a charge more often than not. Artest drove to the basket at least twice where he got hacked or bumped and the ref standing right next to the play did nothing. They were such blatant fouls that I am at a loss for words as to why they weren't called. As for the 3-second call on Landry, you gotta be freakin kidding me. Landry deliberately stepped out of the lane with his left foot then cut back to the basket for a pass. As soon as he caught the ball, he got called for 3-seconds. Just a horrible call. Whichever ref made it obviously wasn't watching Landry and therefore shouldn't have blown the whistle at all.
Yeah, there were some questionable calls, but I don't think it's why they lost. + the Lakers were all over the rockets on the offensive end and they were due to get some calls if only because they were the aggressors.
Agreed, I don't think it was the difference at all. Our team defense was pathetic. At the same time, that is at least 5 plays where we either score, get to the line or prevent the other team for scoring. There was also Kobe's goaltending on T-Mac. I hate to defend anything McGrady did last night but Kobe definitely touched the ball after it hit the backboard. So that is 6 plays where there were bad calls or no calls. The game didn't turn into a blowout until the 4th quarter. Who knows how making the correct calls on those plays would impact the game.
