I watch the Rocket games on league pass and about half of the games are hosted by the opposing teams announcers. They always mention Steve and Cat,NOT as hot dogs, but as one of the premier guard duos in the league. After the Denver game in the wrap-up show, their announcers stated , that Cat was the kind of player they needed as a GO TO GUY........
Locking up Bonzi can not be attributed to Cuttino. Mobley never had Wells in the man-to-man D. He had Pippen (4-7) almost exclusivley. The Rockets started the game with KT on Wells. EG had a few sets and then Rice took Wells for the remainder of Q1. Juaquin Hawkins had Bonzi exclusively for Q2 & Q3. In the final 2:30, Bonzi was guarded by Glen Rice.
Funny. I thought last night proved Cato wasn't important. I guess that's just me. lol anyhow, don't underestimate the value of having shooting threats on the court with Steve Francis. The mere presence of Mobley creates more spacing around the court. You replace him with Shandon Anderson, and the defense collapses in, making Steve's life harder. The presence of Cato on the court does the same thing. Hasn't this Law of Court Spacing been proven around here, yet. [EDIT] Sorry crash, you said it first about court spacing, and better. I should read the whole thread first.
I was at that game with my brother-in-law. True, Steve played no D. But my brother-in-law knows Air Bullard, and the two had already made plans to go fishing together before that game went down. Danny asked Bullard, "What if ya'll make the playoffs?" to which Bullard laughed and said something to the effect that the team knew they wouldn't make the playoffs, i.e., I think they wanted the draft pick more (they would have had to surrender the pick to Vancouver/Memphis).