Tonight was probably the most dominant defense I've seen in years. It wasn't against a garbage team, or a team that was cold and couldn't make open buckets. It was lock down defense. Brooks kept Paul in check because of his speed. I was amazed by that. I've never seen Paul have to stop his dribble so much because of our defense. Last year he was able to carve our defense up and go into the paint at will. Tonight he was just swarmed by Rockets and actually made a couple of turnovers into the stands. The Rockets live and die by their defense. The offense will click eventually but their defense is what keeps them in games even when they struggle. McGrady will get healthy. Yao will get healthier and hopefully stay that way. Artest will find his niche on offense. Battier will spread out the offense with his almost baseline 3. Mutombo will be that shot blocking presence in the paint the Rockets are missing right now. Our defense wins games. We have the perfect formula to dismantle the offensive juggernauts in the league when we click.
Defense was EXCELLENT. The offense was much better. THe ball movement was great. I except it to get better game after game and with Battier back, we should get much more better.
Also every time my fiance does some weird cheer for the Rockets we win. Know why the Rockets won 22 in a row? My fiance. We get in a little fight one night, and that 22 win streak goes away. After that she sort of vowed to never do her weird cheer again. But its back! HAHAHAHAAHAHAHA!
I don't mind who is the best .....? I just hope Yao will keep health, and Rocket will defeat Lake in the west final.
good win. saw some progress mainly on defense and some on offense. even though yao dropped 21 he's not himself. its encouraging knowing he can get 21 playing poor in his standards. tracy is looking better. artest is taking tough shots not in a rhythm. scola is playing a lot better from the beginning of the season. I'm excited to see how this season plays out.
Or 8-2 without Roys stupid shot that shouldn't have counted. The Rockets are just two shots away fom being 8-2 !!!!!!!
Spurs loss was bad... The Suns you can't say that they are not elite... currently 2nd in the West at 7-3, their early form is as good as anyones outside LA/Boston. They have shown they can show up against good teams, which is good news for the playoffs however T-Mac has decided he doesn't work when hes put against sub .500 teams which is worrying because you really want that home court as deep into the playoffs as you can get.
Well, if Yao had gotten more touches in the closing moments of the Spurs game...maybe the outcome would be different. And if we won the Spurs game and this game without rafer, it would probably fully expose his dispensability. One thing I noticed that has been absent with Shane gone is the number of Charges we draw each game has decreased , especially in our losses. In this game I think we have more charges drawn. Aaron brooks gives us some Speed that this team really lacks. Our superstars do not have a lot of speed in their favor so we need some speed element in brooks.
i was impressed by the cockiness of the hornets. west throws his elbow before he shoots the ball all the time (kinda like what aldridge did to hayes in portland). west throws the ball unnecessarily forcefully to scola's body (rather than the legs) to save the ball from going out of bounds before the buzzer of the 3rd. posey dribbles the ball across the court and actually had the guts to shoot it (a technical) after a foul called on him which he disagrees. chandler thinks he's dampier junior (the second best center in the league). trash talk all game long. etc. that's not toughness. that's cockiness. i have a bit of extra joy tonight we beat such a team. byron was a real good player. what he's been teaching in new orleans, i don't know. a team's overall character somewhat reflects the head coach's personality. imo, this new orleans team with the current composition and structure is highly unlikely to go far in the playoffs if they end up being there.
I agree but I doubt that most others see it the same way. They will just look at his shooting stats or cite yesterday's game as reasons why Rafer should still start. Yao, Scola, Artest/Battier and McGrady represent the slowest 4-man starting group at positions 2-5. Brooks just needs time to adapt to a starting role. He didn't shoot well tonight, or last night, but I'd much rather have him taking open shots on kick outs. On top of that, he gives us one player on the court that can beat his man off the dribble if a possession breaks down and the shot clock is winding down. I believe that if Brooks were to continue starting, our offense would eventually look a lot better and our big guns would start getting easier looks. Rafer is unable to break down defenses and you can't turn to him to create his own shot if a play breaks down. I also think that Brooks can make more improvement defensively than Rafer can offensively. Ideally, we would be able to land a better starting PG than Rafer and Brooks so Brooks could continue his role as a spark off the bench. Until that happens though, I would prefer to see Brooks starting.
no need to "dominate" your opposing team each game, as long as we win. and, tonight we never trailed after a 0-1 start. from late 2nd to the end we maintained a double digit lead. we displayed excellent defense and frustrated the hornets to no end. in a regular season game, what more you want?
a couple came out before the 2nd half. now they're saving it for next time yao has a poor game. (p.s. - yao was ok tonight. wasn't actually "great" is my assessment.)
