I attended my first game last night to pay tribute to Dream. I'm glad that they're going to put up a statue of him at the new crib. That will remind folks of what it takes to get to the highest level. Anyway, being at the game offers perspective that I couldn't get on TV. Here are my thoughts after 5 games: 1. Our overall team play was at its best last night: At the beginning of the game, it looked like football, where the coach scripts the firs 20 plays. It was very clear that the days off and practices helped the team. Even though it looked mechanical at times, they were sticking to the motion offense. The fluidity should improve if they keep sticking to it. We had at least 3 runs of excellent team defense, which enabled us to break out to double digit leads. Each time, it was triggered by good belly-up defense from SF and Cat, which forced bad shots or blocked shots. Also, Hawkins, Cat and Cato fought hard to deny post position, our best effort of the year in that regard. (Even though Dampier played well) The defensive runs early in the 3rd qtr, and late in the 4th qtr were promising. Rudy needs to show our guys the tape. 2. Francis is on the right track. He's not playing absolute his best ball, but it's not for a lack of effort. He was more efficient on offense last night, and picked his spots better. He is in early Dream career mode - knows he is the best player on the team by far, but needs to figure out how to elevate everyone else's game. He won't get there this year, but is progressing. His no. 1 priority, as team leader . . . recognize that Cuttino leads the team in bad decisions on offense and rein him in. Rudy is too much of a "players coach" to do that. Hakeem ran the team. Francis must learn to do the same. 2. Cuttino: Cuttino is the key to this team. We have a hard time playing consistent team ball whenever he is on the floor. He is an excellent scorer for what we pay him, but his selfishness with the ball is holding the team back. Down the stretch, Rudy called for Cuttino/Griff pick and roll, and Cuttino waived off Griffin on at least 3 occasions to go 1 on 3 isolation. ABSOLUTE GARBAGE. Against a playoff team, that would have cost us the game. Francis is probably good enough to carry us to the 7th or 8th seed, but we won't progress beyond that unless Cuttino learns to play team ball. Cuttino often compounds bad decisions on offense with pouting to the refs, committing stupid fouls, or jacking up another bad shot. 3. At SF: Rice has looked just old and done. I got to the game 45 mins early. I watched Rice hit 17 three's in a row, and only 3 or 4 touched net. But, when the ball goes up, he looks out of sync, stuck in mud, and no longer capable. Rice deserves another 5-10 games, but at this point, I have seen nothing from Rice that justifies giving him any minutes over Hawkins. KT is our starter and should be signed. His production is everybit as good as a Rodney Rogers type. He should be offered that kind of money. Hawkins gives you the same tough D every night. Griffin can also slide over when Taylor comes back. 4. Moochie has really been hurt by the rules changes. I have not seen the Mooch of 2 years ago, where he could dance like a waterbug and create easy shots for his teammates. That's his most valuable attribute, and I haven't seen it this year. Moochie is not critical to the team, but he needs to improve his play to limit Francis' and Mobley's minutes. When Moochie is in, our play tends to stagnate. 5. We are set at PF and C: Taylor and Griffin will be a formidable duo for the whole season. Cato has been the most impressive player thus far, but even if he has a lapse, we have enough beef among Taylor, Griff, Ming and even KT to shuffle the lineup. 6. Rudy is playing to win now, and rightly so. Rudy stuck to the "veterans" in the 2nd half and I can't find fault in that. In short, if you told me that this is where we would be after 5 games, I would take it. Losses to Seattle and Indiana are acceptable. Wins over Tor, Den, and GS are necessary. Keep showing me improvement and more wins than losses, and I'll keep watching.
Thanks for the great report from the game. I know there has been a lot of bashing of Rudy lately, but I think last night shows that when given time, and healthy players Rudy can design and institute an offense.
I don't think he waved it off. I think he determines when to wave it over. If you watch, Griffin/Kenny are totally waiting for him to give the high sign for the pick. He seems to be allowed to watch the low post defense and go to the rim if they are not in a zone. Plus, I only saw him do it twice...one baseline and one down the lane. What do you mean 1 on 3. He is iso'd against one player, determining when to call over the pick. Are you saying 1 on 3 because when he gets to the rim there are two other players there to pick up the 1st guy's jockstrap. Also, he dished and passed off that PnR as much as he called off the pick. I thought he did a good job of mixing it up.
Cuttino is setting the record for bone head plays this year. Many of his turnovers don't show up in the 'stat' sheet. 3 guys with open shot and he takes the shot double teamed and off balance. Often he gets the ball to another player too high or too low causing them to have a turnover. Cat needs practice. Bad.
Unfortunately Cat suffers from shooter's syndrome. Like most shooters, he has to shoot his way out of a slump. However, Cat wil take stupid, boneheaded, low-percentage shots while having three guys hanging on him. As where smart shooters will try to take and make a high-percentage shot to build up confidence. And as for waving off other players, he is notorious for doing it. I have seen a number of times last game and games last year where there are one or two players wide open, and he still takes an off-balance shot. With Steve and Cat being friends, I highly doubt Steve is going to tell Cat to lay off on the shot selection. It won't be until Steve sees the correlation between Cuttino's boneheaded plays and the rising number in the loss column that he'll actually say something. I know Rudy wants to win, hell we all want the Rockets to win, but when Cuttino decides to go native and take dumb shots, thats when Rudy needs to bench him. The lack of playing time will probably help his shot selection. Before you all start flaming and saying that this isn't college basketball, there needs to be some accountability on the team, and it shouldn't always fall on the coach. I know Rudy is a players' coach, but somehting needs to be done.
My least favorite "play" the rockets run is when cat has the ball at the top of key, just holding it, staring down his defender. after holding it for about 10 seconds he takes one quick dribble and fires up a fadeaway. i simply hate this play, because it really takes the flow out of the game.
