How many games will Morris have to be terrible in before Rudy benches him? Oscar should be starting, assuming Rudy's a coach who lets productivity dictate playing time. Why is he so set on using Moochie Norris in the fourth quarter? It accomplishes absolutely nothing, and his mere presence indirectly and/or directly makes our defense worse than it already is. Perspective... The 15 game losing streak has made me pretty apathetic to games like these.....but just keep in mind that the Rockets put, without question, the WORST possible frontcourt fathomable on the court versus the Cavs tonight. Langhi and Collier saw significant minutes tonight. Langhi and Collier. Just something to keep in mind before anyone decides to go off on a reactionary rant.
Bottom line, Rudy is a horrible coach right now. His combinations at times are beyond ridiculous. I've posted and posted on here that it's time for Rudy to go. No he isn't THE reason that the Rockets suck right now but he's a big part of it. He's not managing this team worth a crap right now. I just don't know what to say anymore. Rudy's system and substitution patterns are totally pathetic. Something needs to be done.
Moochie gets paid the big bucks Les likes to see their workhorses earn their money. Also that play could have gone either way Steve could have went for the easy two or passed it out to Mooch for the 3. Either way it was a gamble I would do it all over again if you had to. My opinion should have been passed to Moochie hes burned many teams with that last second 3 before.
Regardless of whether came out of this game with or without the win tonite, why was Mooch in at the end of the game w/ the 3guard lineup when the Cavs absolutely killing us on the boards w/ their size advantage at every position?? *as always, IMHO - pls do your own due diligence*
My problem with the defense tonight was that, from the guards- A. Francis was helping WAY too much when a Cav would come off of a screen which allowed Miller to shoot an inordinate amount of open midrange jumpers. B. Mobley still has trouble with multiple screens being thrown at him. Playing a man off of screens is probably his only weakness as a defensive player. The defense from the frontcourt was expected, as it was the worst assemblage of 3's, 4's, and 5's this league has seen in quite some time. Not having Kenny hurt more than most think, especially when you consider how nice it would have been to have him tonight with Eddie getting into foul trouble. If there's one positive about tonight's game, it was that they shared the ball in crunch time, hitting Oscar for the baseline jumper with under 2 minutes left and then the 3 coming out of the timeout, and generally made good decisions. Also, another perspective comment; Oscar Torres was playing power forward at the end of the game.
Agreed. I don't think our most effective lineup includes Moochie every night. When he's playing exceptionally well, or when the situation calls, go for it. But, we're losing way too many close games to say that the 3 guards, or those 3 in particular, with Moochie CLEARLY being #3 of 3, is effective. BTW-Eddie picked up all his fouls except that weak 4th foul on a BS loose ball being forced to slide over and help, not fouling his man straight up. His job is to protect the guards from being scored on, but his guards have to protect him from getting into foul trouble. Watch Moochie on defense. Half the time he goes into a zone even though the rest of the team is playing man, he's sitting in the 15 foot range, looking at the ball, thinking about dribbling, and occassionally sending a weak double. I'd like to see our double teaming improve. When you double team, you need to go all out, sometimes it looks they're just doing it for effect. He is clearly lost on defensive schemes, and needs to take over much more. At least 3 times, he and Griffwere confused on how to handle a PnR. As the PG, the veteran, and the longer tenure, not to mention Eddie being a 19-year old rookie, he HAS to take over. As for Eddie-I'm convinced he's a 4 in this league. I think it's lee who said he doesn't have a 5's mentality. He seems to shoot a higher percentage, shot block more effectively, and rebound better as a 4. Maybe it's entirely mental, and he'll grow out of it, but he looks a lot more comfortable at the 4.
Give Rudy a break. He's experimenting right now...Collier and Langhi need to see significant minutes in order to see if they have any significance for the long-term. The same probably goes for T-Mo. Yes, it would be nice to win some games, but the playoffs are out of the question IMO, so it's time to experiment. Hopefully the rest of the team understands this. Rest assured, Rudy will have this team in the playoffs next season, barring any long term injuries such as the ones we've had this year.
How bad was Morris playing tonight, 3-5 shooting, with 4 boards 2 assists and a blocked shot.... That's not a spectacular night but it's respectable especially the way he's been shooting of late.
Jaybird, granted, the stats for Morris look decent for this game. But from what I saw of Morris most of the game, he just looked terrible. He would lose rebounds, make bad passes, and just seem overly frightened to hold the ball for any amount of time. Frankly, looking over the stats, they don't seem to tell the story at all. I don't remember him getting any assists, and I thought I remembered for certain once or twice when he made a bad pass that resulted in a turnover. But at any rate, with a player like TMo, it is the intangibles that you hope for, because he will never be a big scoring option. On defense, I find that he gets fooled WAY too easily by most 3's, and his intangibles generally seem to be a detriment rather than a boon.
tpl, NIKEstrad, and Raven: Great posts...I agree 100%. I was unable to catch the game last night, but I have been wondering some of the same things myself. Torres has played so much better than TMo that it is not even funny. And Moochie and his dribbling plus him being out there in that infernal damn 3 guard line-up has really gotten old fast. I used to be someone who would defend Rudy at all costs, but this season, he has really done some things that has made me re-think my stance on him. It's almost like he's too stubborn to admit that he's wrong about something or make a change. I think the worst thing or attitude to have is "we're not going to make the playoffs anyway, so who cares if TMo plays more than Torres or that Moochie plays the entire 4th quarter, etc." To use a Simpsons quote, "As a loyal fan, I feel they owe me"(and everyone else) to play as well as they can (which they normally do for most nights). However, a big part of that is line-ups and rotations & right now, and Rudy's rotations suck.
Diehard, Dakota, almost got it right. Let's insist on calling it "experimenting." The problem is that Steve and Cuttino are so good that they are a threat to win any game , especially against a team like Cleveland. So the best way to avoid this awkwardness is to play Langhi, Collier and to have TMo shoot threes. All these guys are tall so itlooks better than a frontline of say Cuttino. Oscar and Tierre Brown. Even Rudy would have a hard time saying he was just looking for mismatches. It would also look strange if Steve and Cuttino only played 24 minutes or less like the other guys. Let Steve, Cuttino and Eddie on a regular basis, sometimes supplemented by KT and Moochie, try as hard as they can, you'll still get the desired result. The guys get experience playing in close games. Don't be surprised if KT's tight calf and Walt's sprain just linger and linger. Fortunately Steve has migraines that can act up at any time, and MoT might only recover just in time to serve his 5 game suspension. With his recent strong play, Cato might be prone to another bout of food poisoning or the flu. Now, if Cuttino would quit obstinately insisting on playing every game and scoring 20 points per night..... Next year, when the Rockets get another top pick or trade for a young vet, return MoT and welcome back a finally rehabbed Glen Rice, and win 55 games there will be much talk of how Rudy had to start 35 different line ups and play frontlines of Langhi, Collier and Tmo.
Excellent post glynch! One of these days (this season or next), Rudy will find that magical combo and the fans will not know what hit them. It's just so frustrating not having all of the pieces available so that we might be able to find that special line up this season.
I think you guys are being a little hard on Tmo, and forgetting that Oscar has been in a slump. I submit to you Oscar and Tmo's stats the last 12 games Oscar "Steal of the Draft/Superstar" Torres: 134 mins., 39 points (35% FGs), 20 rebounds, 4 assists, 7 turnovers, 3 steals, 1 block Terence the Terrible: 262 mins., 48 points (39% FGs), 41 rebounds, 19 assists, 10 turnovers, 8 steals, 7 blocks If you even up the minutes, Torres is scoring more. That's it. Terence is shooting slightly better from the field, rebounding just as well, has an almost 2 to 1 assist to turnover ratio (as compared to Torres, who has MORE turnovers than assists), and is stealing the ball and blocking shots more. But of course statisticians apparently love Tmo, ignoring his turnovers and putting him down for phantom assists. Earlier in the year, there was no question that Torres was outplaying Terence. But unless his intangibles are worlds more advanced, Torres has NOT outplayed Terence lately.
Creative Tanking 2002. Juggling lineups, getting players some clock, seeing how things shake out. 'Cause we ain't makin' the playoffs. The high draft pick will be signed and traded and we'll have an interesting offseason. But I'm frustrated, too. These boneheaded guards....
How can Oscar outplay TMo, Tmo, when he hasn't gotten the chances that TMo has been given of late? Maybe I have been missing something here, but I thought that Oscar played well when he was given the chances that TMo has been given.
Rudy is doing exactly what he should do right now. Rice - Out for season Taylor - Out for season Walt - who cares, but he isn't playing either Record because of all these injurues - bad So, we are forced to play rookies more minutes than they would normally get. LET THE YOUNG GUYS GET MINUTES AND PT WHILE THE GETTING IS GOOD. He is developing them much faster this way, and they will be more useful next year, and going forward, due to being acclamated to the NBA game earlier than normal. Hell, if two of our five starters are out, play the kids. Normally, I would say put the best players out there on the court. But we have no options right now. We are depleted.
I've been thinking about this 'if given enough minutes' argument lately (which I myself have used many times) and I'm starting to think that it's somewhat futile. A player is going as a general rule to have decent stats if he plays 20 or more minutes, because if he stays in the game that long he is probably playing well from the start. If he plays less than that, there's a good chance it's because he has seemed off in practice or the brief time he was in the game. So the scenario becomes circular--if you get the minutes you'll play well, but if you play well, you'll get the minutes. Similarly, if you don't get minutes you won't play well, but if you don't play well you won't get the minutes. I know this doesn't always hold. Having written that nonsense, in the last 12 games Oscar is 33% when playing 15+ minutes (6-18). Tmo is 43% (21-49).
My criticism was directed exclusively towards Morris; not the idea of playing rookies/young players in general. The 3-guard lineup is a gimmick. Much in the same way that Nelson's 4 guards and Bradley lineup is a gimmick. It's cute and is fairly successful during the regular season, but will have minimal success if implemented in a playoff series. If the point of the remainder of the season is to start executing more efficiently and to give players like Langhi/Collier a chance, then for the sake of the former, they should learn how to close out games without Moochie on the floor.
Torres has not (repeat: not) been more productive than Morris lately. When he has gotten minutes (6-18) and when he hasn't.
