I was about to type up a reply but I want to just save myself some trouble and just say "^This". You can fault players if you want but there is one common theme on this one - RA subbing patterns are killing us.
Ish has exceeded my expectations. I wish Rick would just give him the reigns already. What do we have to lose? My man Hard G has a nasty case of the sophomore slumps. His repeatedly sprained ankle might be partly to blame. I had so hoped he'd be our answer at the 3... I think it might be worth sitting him for a couple weeks of rehab and shooting drills, just to hit his reset button. Give JT some run. Until trades, I'd like to see more of this: Ish, KM, Lee, Scola/Hill, Miller. If I were Rick, I'd just substitute Scola for Hill on every possible offense-for-defense possession. It's time to develop the young guns.
To be fair, he played that game, and it was after him leaving, that the rockets reacted....despite his scoring was absent, a better D and team play was set up....
I was at the game last night. Jordan Hill looked great... I've got a great idea for a new franchise slogan: Suck City!
Not true the team was down 5 points at half time with AB leading the way with 18 points. They might have WON the game outright if he played in the 2nd half. DD
Something that stuck out to me while watching the game last night was that Kyle Lowery does not play well with our starting line up and its not his fault. I think Lowery needs shooters playing next to him to be more efficient. That is why he plays so well when he comes off the bench. He has Lee, Budinger, Miller on the wings to pass it off to for the shot or drive to the hole. In the starting line up, who is Lowery going to pass it to? Battier? He won't shoot unless he is forced to. Martin? He won't shoot unless he is wide open and when he is not, he will drive in and try to get the call, which hasn't been working recently. Scola is usually in the post, being fronted. The only thing I saw working last night was the pick and roll with Lowery and Scola. Miller would be nice in the pick and roll as well. I believe Adelman needs to move Battier to the bench and put a shooter into the starting line up, most probably Budinger. I would try this until AB comes back, because Rockets are lacking a shooter in the starting line up. Defensively, I don't know what is going on. I don't know why Rockets were switching on the Pick n Roll. I saw several times when Ish and Lowery could have easily gone under the screen to pick up Nash, but they switched. Nash was hardly working on the defensive end, because no one was really going at him.
Wait, what? Kyle doesn't fit with Hayes and Battier starting with him....huh? Now where have I heard that before???? LOL - been saying that for more than a year. DD
It's Hayes and Battier who don't belong on the court. I'd like some tangible wins instead of all the stats that don't show up on the boxscore. For a change, I'd like to see our point total greater than our opponent's point total. For that to happen, perhaps it is time to stop the Hayes and Battier experiments.
Too bad for us that Adelman will never figure that out. Hayes and Battier should not get more than 10 minutes a game. Hill should get all of Hayes' minutes. Our small forward position is extremely weak. It is sad watching Battier do anything on offense and on defense he can no longer jump or move quick enough to keep up with younger players. The Ariza for Lee trade was all about the money. Ariza plays better offense and defense compared to Battier.
I wonder if we can start a campaign to get Les Alexander to threaten the players to have to pay back fans for their NBA League passes if they dont get above .500 before January??.... I can only imagine how it must feel for the locals to have purchased season tickets for this season. What a travesty this season has been so far. You have a burnt out, stubburn coach who doesnt want to coach defense, an overconfident front office who put up with the coaches bulls*%$ coaching, and everyone on the team in the worst slump of their careers. I dont know about you guys, but I want my money back.
I scratched my head during the game. I shook my head reading some of these post. I'm starting to like this trend of losing. It would at least get rid of some of these so called fans. (don't really mean that but damn, guys, lighten up. You're going to be watching the Rockets for the rest of you life so get use to these kinds of starts/seasons.)
