Rockets unable to iron out preseason wrinkles Grizzlies hand imperfect squad wake-up setback By JONATHAN FEIGEN Copyright 2005 Houston Chronicle MEMPHIS, TENN. - If the Rockets had been fooling themselves with their tidy 4-0 record, that illusion is gone. It's not that the Rockets lost 82-78 to the Memphis Grizzlies on Saturday, though they were awful down the stretch to ruin their perfect preseason record. It's not just that Tracy McGrady had a rare off game offensively, or that Yao Ming seemed to hit a fatigue wall in the second half, fouling out with 4:41 left. The Rockets did almost everything poorly that they wanted to correct while they were winning. But more than the loss, it was the start of the regular season bearing down in less than two weeks that seemed to make a ragged night of far greater concern than the inconsistent performances in the first four preseason games. "I don't think we're playing well at all," said McGrady, who split time at forward and point guard, but made just four of 15 shots. "Regardless of the 4-1 preseason record, we have some things we have to tighten up. We don't want to be playing like this Nov. 2. It can't happen. We can't allow it to happen" The Rockets insisted again they have known all along that they have not been playing up to the capabilities they have flashed on occasion. "It was like fool's gold that we were 4-0, now 4-1," guard Jon Barry said. "We were winning games without playing the right way. That's not going to get it done when we really need it" But the Rockets had been saying that all week, since returning from Laredo after their win against the Seattle SuperSonics on Monday night. They had shown enough not only to win, but to know they could be playing much better. "I think our guys know we can be pretty good, I do," Rockets coach Jeff Van Gundy said. "But we don't play a hard 48 (minutes) or a smart 48 right now. The ceilings on those types of teams are pretty low. We're going to have to improve our intensity and our basketball intelligence" Before the game, Van Gundy said he wanted to see a better start. The Rockets needed more than four minutes to score. He said he wanted to cut down on turnovers. The Rockets had 19. He said he wanted a fast finish. In the last three minutes, the Rockets hit the rim on just two of five shots. There were good moments. After missing two games with a sore big toe, Yao had a strong first half, scoring 15 of his 20 points and getting six of his eight rebounds. "I think he played fairly well early," Van Gundy said, "but fatigue led to maybe not so good play" But fatigue could not explain the Rockets' offense, or even the team's 27 percent shooting in the second half. There were good shots that they missed. David Wesley continued to struggle, making just one of 10 shots. With Dikembe Mutombo and Juwan Howard getting their turn taking a preseason night off, the bench combined to make just five of 18 shots. But more than anything, when the Grizzlies' defense stiffened, the Rockets' offense bogged down, running into the shot clock or itself. "At times we looked fantastic," Barry said. "Everyone's touching it. Like the run we had at the end of the second quarter, it was beautiful. We're playing unselfishly, moving the ball. "When it gets down to the meat of the game, teams are going to know your plays. They're going to take away what you want to do. You've got to go into the second, third phase of the play in an instant. When you hold the ball and you're not decisive, their defense is going to be successful. We haven't been able to do that the whole preseason" With rotations changing with every game and usually four new players getting significant playing time, the Rockets said smoothing out those rough spots will take time. "When you throw new sets in there for these new guys it hurts the offense," McGrady said. "When you get out in game situations, sometimes your brain locks up. "You don't get to the spots to set screens or to run plays. That's what is happening. "Right now, with the changes in the lineups, it's kind of tough because you have guys who don't know the plays, don't know their spots and it kind of slows it down. But before Nov. 2 gets here, I have no doubt we'll be prepared" But for the first time in the preseason, the Rockets lost and felt time running out. jonathan.feigen@chron.com
Abandon ship! Abandon ship! Women and children first! It's not too late to become Spurs fans! Get out while you still can!
JVG is still playing with his lineups, plus Dwes still can't shoot. Put in the starting five, play Anderson and Head and we walk away with a win.
I'm glad this game happened as a reality check. There is a lot to work on and smooth out before November 2nd. We still won't be a well-oiled machine in the first part of the season. Too many new guys. The real bottom line: The most important thing is for the team to play their best basketball of the year come playoff time. We all want a blazing start to the season, but if it doesn't happen, no big deal.
No big deal to lose a few preason games as long as we take this chance to really work out the kinks, and take this seriously. To me, it's not normal to lose a few and have a bad night like last night because we got many new guys and they have to have time to really gell. I was saying this last season too when we get off to a slow start, and look at what we done when Rockets've been together for a while. Hopefully this year we could iron out all the wrinkles before regular season, I think we will because most of the core guys are back together for another year. Rafer Alston has the toughest job right now, being a new guy and all and have to learn PG position which is the most difficult position to play, and have to be the floor general and run the right plays JVG wants, and play good D on the side. He is gonna be the key Rockets, the oil that make the machine running most efficiently come regular season. I kind of expect TMac will have a even better season because he now has the best bunch of teammates in his career. I expect Yao to naturally become most of he's capable of, which is to dominate the paint night in and night out, becoming the best Center in the NBA. (I know Shaq is the best Center in the NBA, but the future is Yao's to get.)
So when did Yao hit a fatigue wall? From where i was sitting, he got called for 3 consecutive very questionable fouls that pretty much had nothing to do with fatigue.
I did not watch the game but sounds like the writer is thinking Yao get fatigue and that's when he play sloppy and make those fouls.