I haven't supported Rudy T this whole season, but tonight I especially hate him as coach. Why was Moochie running and roll with Kenny almost every play in the 4th. It never worked. I think the ball should've been in Francis' hand for the whole quarter. All Moochie did was dribble, dribble, and dribble some more. I have always been against the hating of Mooch's dribbling to much, but now I have just realized that he hurts the team when he's on the court in the fourth quarter. Rudy should learn that Steve's his star and not Moochie!
Rudy's coaching is horrible most of the time. That was basketball the Orlando magic played. The ball movement was awesome. They were getting open shot after open shot. That's a perfect example of how easy it can be when you move the ball. As far as Moochie playing in the 4th Q, you know Rudy's going to keep going with that awesome three guard line-up. Does it give the team the best chance of winning most of the time? No. But you know how stuborn Rudy is, he's going to stick with it no matter what. The Rockets were basically outclassed tonight, from the play on the floor to the coaching. It's getting old.
I had some hopes that the Rockets would play well, but it just seemed to me that the Magic were quicker and smarter than the Rockets for most of the game. Also, add to the fact that McGrady was unguardable, then I'm surprised that it didn't get any worse. I have to agree that Rudy's coaching this season has really frustrated me, but nothing frustrates me more than to see that damn 3 guard line-up playing in the 4th and then to make things worse, they were in there with TMo!!! ARGH!! I'm not going to say anything else and that's all I want to say about that.
I didn't watch the game but I wish that T-Mo's minutes would go to Oscar Torres instead. The defense is just horrible,giving up 42 points in one quarter and that too at home is simply unacceptable.
Yes Rudy was the one playing lousy defense tonight...I saw him suit up and put on that number 45 and let Garritty and Miller rain 3 point shots on us....oh wait a minute, that was our terrible committment to defense by our OFFENSIVE players. Give me a break, it is not Rudy's fault, until our players learn that there are 2 parts to a basketball game...and only one of them is offense, then we will continue to lose. No defense = no win. DaDakota
It's not fair to use this game as a measuring stick of their commitment on the defensive end. The Magic could not miss, and it wasn't due to a lack of closing out, hustle, not putting a hand in the shooter's face, etc., on the Rockets' part. They did hold them to 42 in the second half, but could never turn the corner offensivley themselves. That, and the fact that the Magic/refs seemed to crush any momentum the Rockets' had is what lost them the game.
TPL, Not CLOSING out or Putting a hand in their face is EXACTLY what killed the Rockets tonight. Not in the 2nd half, but in the first half...HECK the first QUARTER. If the Rocket coast for any stretch, they can not win, and tonight they came out lackadasical in the first 12 minutes and gave up 42 points or 40% of the final score for Orlando. No committment for 48 minutes...NO WIN !!! DaDakota
Dakota: You have a point, but what type of conditioning does this team have? It was inexcusable for them to score and then turn right around and give up a lay-up/dunk on the other end. Our defense is pretty poor but our transition defense really sucks - at least it did tonight. There has got to be some way for that to improve. I got tired of seeing the Magic push the ball up the court and seeing the Rockets running on their heels. True, that Rudy can't go out there and play, but damn, he can try to find some guys who are willing to hustle and bust their ass to get down the court on the defensive end. If he can't find 5 guys to do that, then we need to get some who will do that. I'm sorry for being frustrated, but to see someone score a lay-up after the Rockets scored a dunk is really disheartening.
It's not that the Rockets don't want to play defense. They simply don't know how. If players were supposed to figure it all out for themselves, then there would be no need for a coach. Look at what Phil Jackson did with the Lakers. They went from being an atrocious defensive team that was swept regularly, to a championship team. Phil Jackson taught them defense. Rudy has yet to do that. Watching the halftime report made that painfully obvious. What did Rudy say (according to Malosky)? He said that they needed to "make more shots". What? The shooting was fine; 47 percent for 48 points in the first half. The defense was the problem, and Rudy was worried about the offense. It is obvious that this guy simply doesn't know how to coach a young team. He did a great job with the veterans on the championship teams, but he is clueless with this group.
DaDakota, I'd be willing to bet that the Magic couldn't hit 17-24 shots again if there was no defense on them. Please....the Magic only scoring 42 points in the second half had nothing to do with some significant increase in defensive intensity and everything to do with them coming back down to reality.
I agree about the Phil Jackson part, but I will tell you that defense is all about effort. The Lakers' problems were effort. They had no one to yell at them or threaten them when they failed to play any kind of defense at all. Once Phil came, he would bench someone's ass if they screw-up a defensive assignment. On the other hand, Rudy just asks "What happened?" At this point of the season with the playoffs a non-possibility, why doesn't Rudy take a harder stance with regards to his players not putting in the effort on defense? The problem is the Rockets lack discipline in both senses of the word. Rudy needs to get on their cases more for the stupid mistakes that are made on offense and defense. While the Rockets need to play with much more discipline. At least in the case of someone like Moochie Norris, who refuses to move his feet laterally. The Rockets are athletic enough to have guys who could be defensive stoppers, provided that they think about playing defense.
I didn't see the game, but there has been little to zero commitment to defense all season long, especially by our guards. That is the measuring stick.
Its the same old story. Almost every night the Rockets play, the opposing team seems to be hot the entire game, they assist more than we do, turn the ball over less, and shoot a higher fg%. I've been saying this the entire yr, but most posters have called me negative or discuss the Rockets injuries or the rookies or something. Bottom line is Rudy's coaching has been horrible which has filtered down to the players. They have no philosophy on defense, the pick in roll defense is still new to Rudy and the dribbling is out of control. I'm sure McGrady could put on a dribbling exhibition if Doc asked him, but he doesn't neither do the other players. They play team ball even though they are playing without, if healthy a top 15 player in this league. The offense isn't designed just for McGrady which could be easily done, but instead Doc gets Armstrong to keep pushing the ball, everyone touches the ball and they play hard even on nights they lose. No Magic player is out there pacing himself for the fourth qt. I know someone will bring up a topic about being "positive", but its harde to do that nowdays seeing the recipe for losses are the same for this team. How can you be positive when you lose the same way all season long. The proof is in the pudding for losses even with Francis playing. The entire team has to be held accountable, but mostly they coaching because obviously the players have tuned them out.
I agree 100%. I think the Rockets played with the same defensive intensity through the whole game. Even Rivers and McGrady said after the game the Rockets played good defense. What everyone needs to understand, is that if a team is on absolute fire, like Orlando was last night, it's not all the opponent's fault. It's called a zone. Darrell Armstrong was in a zone. The other players feed off that shooting. A zone is inexplicable. I've been in 1, my entire life, and it's phenominal. The basket looks like a lake. Everything goes in. You're on fire. But then in the second half, you come back down to earth.
It seems to me, though, that many teams get in a "zone" when they play the Rockets. It would be nice if teams didn't get into a "zone" so often like they do against the Rockets. And if it's not the teams, then it's individual players..see here
We need someone like John Lucas. That guy is a hard ass. It was awesome a couple weeks ago when the Cavs blew a simple boxing out and failed to get a rebound on a missed free throw. Lucas called a time-out, shattered his clipboard on the ground, and then stared at every player without saying a word, just DARING them to speak.
I agree with you...If he has to make a statement then so be it. Put Dan Langhi and Oscar torres and whoever else in the game that wants to play and if they get lazy then its just time for a major trade(s) or Rudy should just give up.