This. I don't understand how no one could see it. I made a thread in the summer how I felt this would be a special season and quite frankly I stand by that. We lost, but it's not like we can't correct the mistakes. We need to do a better job of taking care of the ball and boxing out, but other than that there is not huge concerns.
Everyone's just upset at the lost.. It's normal. The quicker you can put those emotions aside and realize what a great team the Rockets' have, the more successful you will be in life. (there is a correlation, i'm not just making ***** up)
Looks like a lot of people noticed this except for Adleman. Why not let Jordan Hill play power forward instead of Hayes? Hill could guard Odom and get us some rebounds.
Frustrating as the loss was being up by 15 in the first half, the game showed some promise. Pros Yao is able to run the floor - needs to work on stamina especially in 4th. Brad Miller filled in nicely in his role as a back up. Bench scoring Cons Turnovers Second half offense stagnant Second half defense Lack of a true closer The calls for the Lakers killed me. That "no emotion/no whining" rule needs to get thrown out.
I kinda disagree with how RA played Yao that long stretch in the 4th. I would've played him early, rested him and brought him back the last like 5 minutes. Playing him that long stretch basically killed us
I think he probably did notice it, BUT I do think that Hill's inexperience and sometimes the fact that he's still kind of lost out there at times was a factor in why he didn't play....I think Hill will eventually take over the backup PF position down the road althought I think Hayes will be used in more situational defensive spots.... One thing you can't teach is basketball iq and right now even though Hayes actually basketball skills are nothing to praise about, his defensive skills were the reason he was out there.... Hill is defenitely more athletic and longer, which will help down the road, but from a basketball standpoint (I don't necessarily agree), but I see why Hayes was played and not Hill....
You have got to be kidding me if you think the Rockets are better than the heat,magic, and celtics. The Rockets don't have the players to play the type of defense that needed to beat those teams.
you can't control how the refs blow the whistle but you can control how hard you play. they played harder than us when it counted and that's why they won. i agree we need a closer, but i think he is already on the team. we just need to decide who he is.
My thoughts on the opener Thoughts about the opener. 1) Dang, that stung. A smaller, reduced-firepower team with a injury-affected Kobe, playing a hyped-up ring-ceremony game with a brand new bench, facing a brand new pumped-up and energized Houston Rockets in Staples, where most of our sins are usually forgiven. It really would’ve been nice to pull this one out. 2) And yet, I really, really like our team. Not in a “we’re going to the conference finals” sorta way… in a “these guys are entertaining and likeable and getting better” sorta way. I came out of this loss still feeling a little warm and fuzzy. 3) Full credit to the Lakers. A more mature and seasoned team would’ve beaten them tonight, but if you give them an inch, they’ll take it, and that’s exactly what they did. They used ten guys… all of them played to the best of their abilities, worked together intelligently, and hung in there. When that franchise gets a little luck, they’ll be a they'll get another three-peat, no doubt about it. Just an impressive organization. I hope we were taking notes. 4) I’d call out goats on our side, but really I don’t think anyone had an outright horrible night. Scola shot poorly and stupidly for the majority of the game, but made up for it a bit with great rebounding and some clutch baskets. Yao got himself in foul trouble but was pretty active otherwise. Battier was more invisible than he should’ve been, but executed okay when he got involved. Budinger was as big of a stud as you’d expect given his fresh new buzz and his performances in the summer league and pre-season, and hot DAMN, that posterization 2+1 over Matt Barnes was fun. We really didn’t get a solid performance out of any of the best defensive specialist guys we played, but their hearts were in the right places, more or less. I’m not too worried about these guys… they’ll have better nights. 5) The performances of the smaller guys were much more promising. I don’t think Martin was quite as good as his numbers suggest, but hot damn, I’ll sure take that from a 27-year-old shooting guard making his "official" Rockets debut. Miller was no better than solid offensively, but the defensive effort was there, and I think that’s the most important variable for him going forward. Lee and Bud both looked fantastic in limited time. If you look at them as an amalgamated supersub, that sub played 37 minutes and scored 21 points on 19 shots, with 5 boards, 3 steals, and only just two turnovers. That plays… that sure as hell plays. 6) That brings us to… Shane. Shane, Shane, Shane. It wouldn’t be right to say he had a horrible night. I’m not even sure he had a bad night. He was often active on defense, he snabbed a few decent rebounds, he had some nice passes, and he only turned it over twice. On the flip side, 6 boards all game in a game where we lacked so much rebounding is nothing to write home about, 3 points on 5 shots in 31 minutes is really nothing to write home about, and he flat-out got annihilated on several plays defensively, letting Kobe get all sorts of easy and comfortable looks which Kobe obligingly drained. (Speaking of which, Shane, if you want to complain about you've done all the fundamentals but still couldn't affect Kobe's shot, maybe you should actually call for a double team or try something different to what you've been trying all your career.) To me, the play that summed up my feelings about Battier was the offensive rebound layup, off the Aaron Brooks missed jumper in the fourth quarter with about 4 minutes to go in the game. It wasn’t a horrible attempt, but it was a layup attempt he banged hard high up on the glass that had little chance of going in nonetheless…I'm not sure if he was playing ping-pong against the glass or not, but it was no surprise that the layup missed and the Rockets went on yet another empty trip down the court in the fourth quarter when they needed a basket the most. Instead of continuing to hustle for the play after Scola got the offensive rebound lose ball after the missed layup, Battier basically stood there and just watched the ball. Give me a friggin’ break, you're 6'9 and you can't make a layup or hustle down a few decent lose balls, which you are known for. And if you’re not yet convinced that Battier's play contributed towards our loss, here’s a detailed analysis at the plus/minus metric which Battier is known for: Battier was +9 -- his sub - Chase Budinger Martin was +4 -- his sub - Courtney Lee Brooks was +7 -- his sub - Ishmael Smith here is DraftExpress's analysis of Chase Budinger' defensive ability for Budinger's last season's play: As you can see, and probably already know, Budinger is a bad defensive player compared to most NBA rotation Small Forwards. He is not strong enough, and his lateral quickness isn't that great either. Now when you measure a defender whos supposed to be a lockdown all-NBA defender in Shane Battier against Budinger, and you only come up with a plus/minus statistic of +9, again, that is nothing to write home about. Kevin Martin on the other hand had a quality defensive player to measure up against in Courtney Lee, and yet Martin was able to come up with a +4. Martin, whos supposedly a defensive liability with little fundamentals or toughness to guard anyone in his position effectively, and also having a backup whos defensive ability was supposedly meant to be well above average compared to league standards, managed to have a similar plus/minus statistic as Battier. In that regard, combined with what we can see with a naked eye on how Shane was played by Kobe Bryant, tells us that Shane's contribution to the game was not really that significant. You might say Chase's great offensive play means he was not a bad sub and that means Battier did even better than what he did to get a +9 rating, but the truth is Battier played with a brilliant backcourt in Aaron Brooks and Kevin Martin who was scoring nicely and freely for a majority of the game (apart from the 3rd quarter). Having those two on the court at the same time as you surely does benefit your plus/minus rating Let’s reduce Battier's play time as soon as we possibly can to as low as we possibly can. 7) Having said all that, I am not tortured by this loss. We’re a young team, led by a big man who hasn't played basketball in over a year… we’re going to make a bunch of mistakes, and lose some games we shouldn’t. This was one of them. The Rockets played hard and as a team, and when they do that, I can’t hate on them too much. Which leads me to my last point. 8) My Rockets Rising Wonder is not Miller, nice though his debut was, nor KMart, as great as he was in limited time. My Rockets is Rick Adelman. I thought, and continue to think, that he does a bad job sometimes on his rotations and allocation of minutes to certain players, but I have no complaints about tonight. He played his best players, played them in sensible lineups that were well-matched against our opponents, and had them playing hard. I’d have played Martin and the "DNP - Coaches Decision" bigs (Hill and Jefferies) a bit more and Battier and Chuck a bit less, but really, that’s nit-picking to a degree that is simply unfair. He coached a smart game tonight. I’m not sure how tonight’s performance translates going forward. Our next game is against the Warriors, and between David Lee’s post game and their overall ability to shoot the basketball, they present a much bigger challenge defensively than the Lakers… they would probably pick tonight’s zone apart like it was so much Silly String™. On the other hand, they certainly don’t defend like the Lakers do. We have a good shot at winning, but only if Adelman puts energy into figuring out the right strategy to use against them. Tonight made me hopeful that he might do that. Buckle your seatbelts, people. This ride might not be easy. But it’s our ride. So let’s enjoy it.[/QUOTE]
Well I'd like to say my thoughts are much more valuable than others, but I know the truth is mine really are not. However, if you can't appreciate or stand my opinion, there is no need to hate. If it helps you sleep at night, this thread will probably be squeezed to the 2nd or 3rd page by gametime GSW game. I just thought I'd put the spotlight on something positive after a tough loss after which the mood has generally been doom and gloom.
Should be in the Game summary thread..... And what happened to your idiotic "We are not fun because Ariza left" take? DD
You liked Miller's defense? He was servicable on offense and is as advertised a superb passer. His defense however, was not great (or even good) and the Rockets got killed on the boards when he was in the game. He got better as the night went on, but I'm not sure he is the answer defensively or when the Rockets need a crucial rebound. The team looks great though. The team looks great though, 50+ wins easy.
haha, that's why I refuse to read this. Anyone who thinks Ariza is fun to watch doesn't have anything of relevance to add.
