Russel Westbrook posterizing our whole team which gets Battier mad so he proceeds to enter beast mode
Luck, better outside shooting, and a whole lot of effort. Frankly, I am surprised we took this one. The Thunder are the bigger, much more talented team, but you could tell the Rockets were set on doing whatever it took to win this game. It wasn't always pretty but they gutted it out. Maybe the Bobcats loss was this year's Philadelphia game.
Battier was due for a game like this. He's not Ray Allen, but he's a lot better shooter than 28% from 3. He's a career 38% shooter, and shooters usually come near their average. Budinger will come out of his slump too. You say we got lucky to win this one, but in reality it was just numbers leveling out from all of the terrible shooting games that caused us to lose.
Lowry should not be blamed for that. Players turned to think they were Koby, especially at the end of the game. Sometimes it is difficult to control the emotions. That's why a lot of coaches direct the play from court side, or in a timeout. And it has little to do with a "player's coach" or a disciplinarian coach. RA has indulged the players to make stupid decisions at the end of the game, by not firmly calling out a game plan. I know that the coach can not predict the defense, but at lease he should demand the ball to be in Martin or a better scorer's hand, not Lowry, Hayes or even Battier. IMHO, it is one of the reasons of fourth quarter collapses.
I saw a replay of the final shot by Durant. Chase, Jordan and Luis had a look in their face like "we're screwed" when the shot was in the air. lol
Anyone else have Major League flashbacks with Bill at the end of the game... "The Rockets Win it! The Rockets win it!" in my mind I hear "The Indians win it! The Indians win it! Oh My God the Indians win it!" Just finished watching... good game!
Great game. I like Lowry and love what he brings to the team but someone needs to remind him that he isn't Brooks and he shouldn't be running ISO plays for himself at the end of quarters/games, especially when you have Martin and Scola on the court. He should be the 4th or 5th option, not the 1st one...
I agree, lot of things went our way, at home, and we still had to SURVIVE to pull this one out. I think it's a good game to build on but not sure we can count on many games like this from Shane and off nights from the likes of Durant.
Went to the game tonight - happy the Rockets squeaked out a win. KD's last-second miss was surprising. FYI, if anyone is looking to go to a Rockets home game anytime soon, check out the BBS Classifieds and look out for 'MaloneyPony' (Will) who works for The Ticket Experience. He hooked it up real nice - I was able to get a shot of Yao in his tailored brown suede suit (a bit grainy cause of iPhone zoom, but I think it looks cool):
About 2-3 games ago everyone said "Battier is the worst player, his hindering the team" and such... now everyone is like "OMG Battier is the best player ever" It's nice to see the fan's constant and undying support towards the players of their beloved team.
I still think he sucks!!!, one game out of 16 isn't going to cut it!!! The old man needs to get traded! --RB
That was at least a seven foot shot, DD. I've been watching the second half again this morning (I may keep this one on my DVR for a while, at least the second half... a wild and crazy game!) and have it stopped when Lowry is at the top of his release and the ball is about halfway to the bucket. It's obvious that Kyle's at least the length of his body and a bit more. Look at it yourself. I wouldn't have bothered mentioning it, but your post seemed a bit flippant about a very tough shot in a high pressure situation. A clutch shot that looked like the Lowry of last season. Wild and crazy!
I make that shot playing basketball all the time, when you are shorter than your opponent the hook shot is a great way to beat it....there is no way it was 10 feet out, he is in the paint.....and the paint is not that wide.... DD
RIGHT, great to see the guy rise up from time to time but those games are few and far between now. Battier should be a defensive specialist, much like Chuck, and play when the flow dictates.
