On a positive note...Courtney Lee's dunk made NUMBER 2! I'm pretty sure thats the highest the Rockets will ever get on a Top 10 Plays list this season. <object width="640" height="385"><param name="movie" value="http://www.youtube.com/v/f1-p07xOmUI?fs=1&hl=en_US"></param><param name="allowFullScreen" value="true"></param><param name="allowscriptaccess" value="always"></param><embed src="http://www.youtube.com/v/f1-p07xOmUI?fs=1&hl=en_US" type="application/x-shockwave-flash" allowscriptaccess="always" allowfullscreen="true" width="640" height="385"></embed></object>
What do you expect on a message board in the internetz? If everyone kept all their trade proposals to themselves because they're not a GM and if everyone stopped posting their opinions because they're not an NBA coach what else will rockets fans talk about? How everyone misses Chuck Haye's big butt?
Brooks has turned into a passer by default. I suspect his ankle is still bothering him and it has made his jumper erratic. His shooting percentages are way lower than what they should be. Our team as currently constructed needs his shooting. His shooting is his primary skill. And on a night when Kevin Martin sucks the big one, the lack of a go to scorer becomes even more magnified. We put up 106 points, which should be enough to win most games. But, we all know that we have no defense in the paint. That means that the only realistic way we have to beat teams right now, with Yao gone, and now with Hayes gone, is to simply outscore them, plain and simple. Every team is going to abuse us defensively in the interior until/unless a trade is made that brings a defensive big. Since we all know that is the case, the thing we have to do is get out in transition and run other teams out of the gym. But we're not doing that. We're busting our a... in the half court offense, and then the opponent is jamming the ball down our throat after working us down in the paint in the first half. We are getting tired, run down and then the opponent breaks us into submission down the stretch and our transition defense, which is already poor to begin with, becomes nonexistent on tired legs. I agree with someone who suggested that Jeffries should be playing center. And I think the 2nd adjustment that is begging to be made is to either bring in Ish or TWill to the 2nd unit and get us into a faster paced game. We are expecting too much of Lowry to run the first team offense for 40 minutes a night and then keep up the helter skelter pace. Lowry needs a backup that will roll our intensity and speed of play up when he is out. Right now, that guy isn't Brooks. He's still hurt. We need to bring in Ish or TWill and tell them to race down the court and have everybody else run with them. Brooks should be playing off the ball, receiving and shooting. If he is hitting, keep feeding him. If he's not hitting, he's gotta sit while we get another scorer/finisher/shooter in the game to take shots created from Ish or TWill. And we're gonna have to face up to the truth. Hill hasn't got it. You either start Patterson or Jeffries with Scola. Personally, I'm in favor of starting Jeffries with Scola and bringing Patterson in with Miller and if somebody gets in foul trouble, Hill should be the 5th big and Hill should only be on the floor when we are in hyper mode, that is running, running, running. Hill is useless in anything other than a helter skelter uptempo hyperfast run up and down game. Miller is practically useless in the uptempo game. He's more practical and useful in the slower half court sets where he can catch face and hit the cutter or take the jump shot. He may be the odd man out if we go ultra high tempo and we may be better off running Hill and Patterson together off the bench. Our only chance of winning games now that Hayes is gone is to go ultra uptempo. We are just begging for losses by slowing the game down and trying to operate in the half court.
jop, Until we see AB do his patented stop on a dime and pop midrange game, we can conclude that the ankle is still not right.... DD
I was at the game last night. Had a real fun experience. It was my first Rockets game outside of Texas. Some interesting pre game highlights. I got high fives from Kevin Martin, Luis Scola, Ish Smith, Jordan Hill, AB, and said hey to Bill Worrell. I didn't really take any pictures, but here is one.
We need AB to chuck wood. If he isn't chucking wood, he's hurting the team. 3 attempts is not chucking wood.
You do love you some AB. Either the guy AB is "defending" scores at will OR Rocket #2 (Miller, for example) must slide over to defend the guy that smoked Aaron, leaving Rocket #2's guy wide open for a catch/dunk/possible And 1. But it is true AB isn't 100%. Good part: his assists are up because he has no choice but to pass. Bad part: the over-dribbling is still there and the horrific defense has gone to no defense (which I still think owes more to what's going on between his ears than any ankle injury).
Scola is quite possibly the worst defensive player I have ever seen. He needs to get benched for Patterson.
The referees were crooked and we barely made the few free throws that were given to us; EVERYONE but Kevin Martin needs to work on those VIGOROUSLY. Also -sadly- Kevin Martin was due for a bad game.
Then he should tell Adleman his ankle is till hurting instead of losing games for the Rockets!!! He is playing worse than Yao early in the year. And it's not as if Aaron was playing terrible when he was healthy in the beginning.
Even when AB was healthy, it was hard to find some intensity in him. He just seemed to be playing HORSE out there instead of playing within the offense.
Totally agree on this - I've seen several games where the opposing team has no fear whatsoever of slashing to the basket, and in some cases, you can actually see surprise and smiles on their faces as they tip-toe through the lane towards another uncontested layup.
jesus christ, for god's sake, The Knicks beats the spurs, wtf..... our swap is looking worse and worse, i hate you DM
