17.8ppg 7.18 assists 4.09 TO's 5.6 rebounds FG% 43.18 3PT% 35.1 FT% 80.2 Rockets record 7-4 (Played 7 at home, 4 on the road) I'd love for him to be averagin thatfor the season, minus one TO. If he had done that, we would be fighting for homecourt. However, he has improved over the season, and this is a great month for him if you don't look at TO's. He'll have to do much better than this for us to have a chance in the playoffs though. Thoughts?
The only additional thing I want to add is that I'd want a higher 3 point %. Yao gets doubled in the post. When you've got a big man that gets doubled, everyone on the backcourt needs to be proficient at hitting the open 3. Steve isn't - he's actually worse at hitting the open set-shot than he is if he's got a hand in his face off of his dribble. If Steve could just start hitting set-shots, I think we'd improve significantly.
Wasn't he really awesome the first 20 days, then really sucky the last 10, or am I missing something?
Steve is definitely playing better recently. All he needs to do is cutting down the TOs, especially the ones in crucial moments, and stop getting meaningless Ts.
steve has been playing great..and FITTING! he has been hitting open shots, getting assists, and playing pretty nice defense. if this play keeps up for the rest of the season and playoffs i dont expect him to be traded this summer.
Not ready to change my sig. he averaged 4 TO's . haven, Cat and JJ put up around 10 3-pters a game between them, and hit around 40% of them. Do we really NEED Francis hitting 3-pters at a higher clip than 35%? It would be a bonus, but not absolutely necessary, especially if Boki starts getting more minutes, or we acquire comeone like Rashard Lewis or Ray Allen.
Yes, actually. Effective 3 point rotation off of the double pretty much requires that the 1, 2, and 3 be able to hit the 3 consistently. This is especially true since we're not precisely wonderful at swinging the ball anyway. That's the single reason why our offense worked so well in 93-94. 3 guys standing on the perimeter, just waiting for Hakeem to pick up the double.
you guys are switching over too quick. i believed that he'd turned the corner during the five game win streak starting with Minny and ending with Memphis. I lauded him for playing in control and within himself, and unselfishly, and he had great FG% and assists numbers then. then came the 3-15 against phoenix, the 7 TOs against GS, and the 7-21 against Sacto. and people were out for blood. one thing I will say about Francis: it is trying very hard and making some improvements, and he is playing unselfishless despite some lapse. but he's still not playing smart basketball consistently enough for me to jump to the conclusion that he's turned the corner again.
Actually, most of Steve's 3 point attempts do not come from the open set-shot. They come from his trying to dribble off a pick, his dribble step-back, or just end of quarter/end of shot clock 3's. He rarely gets the kick out from Yao for the wide open 3... as he's either being guarded, or he's the guy swinging it (making the one extra pass) to JJ or Mobley for the 3. He does, however, have the ability to hit this shot... see the 4th quarter against Portland, where HE was actually the guy on the wing catching the "extra pass" rather than throwing it (and he drilled the 3). I'd much rather have Steve shooting set shots, but its hard when he's the guy w/ the ball. He can't hit fadeaways, or running jumpers... but his middle distance off the dribble shot is great, and he's hit the wide open/3 set-shot this year and in the past.
If we had a loss for every road game and a win for every home game that we played, wouldn't we be a .500 team and out of the playoffs?
I didnt like some of the shots he took last night. I also didnt like the break away shots he missed. He was lucky last night, those circus shots dropped for him. Why cant he get an easy tear drop shots like Parker or Nick the Quick. I dont mind he shakes off, and takes the 10-15 jumper with a very very strong jump. When he does that, he usually makes it. I dont mind he drives to the hoop and dishes to down low. When he does that, easy two points on the way most of the time. Basically, he needs to know where his shots are, take them without hesitation.
too bad he's already had his monthly good game this month...Hopefully, he'll have his next monthly good game when I'm at TC for the Kings game on the 4th.
you cant count our record weather you believe it to be good or bad during a specific part of the season, when we are looking at one players stats. it just so happens that we are in the middle of a very tough stretch. if steve played like this in some other month we might have gone 10-1. our record doesnt mean he played any better or worse than he did.
Good Post, Stevie rarely gets set up by his teamates, but thats not anyones fault, its the way its drawn up. Stevie is great at creating on his own, but I noticed during the Portland game that he came off screens a couple times for catch and shoot. But Steve has been playing great lately. I've learned to cope with the TOs (for the most part), but everything else has been good. The D is there, he's been setting up his guys perfectly, and he's finally finishing layups.
Don't just look at his stats....this guy plays his ASSSSSS off, he dives for loose balls, takes charges, gets key offensive rebounds in closing minutes of games and has been taking it to the hole more aggressively and is finishing.
