I know TMo doesn't score that much. But he's been hitting those 15-20 footers in crunch time. Against Boston, he hit like two in a row from the left baseline to stop their momentum. Against Phoenix, he swished one from around the key again to stop a Suns run. Tmo deserves some props.
But he also airballed a bunch prior to making that one in the fourth. All of his shots are WIDE open as well, so he better make most if not all of them. I'm still puzzled as to why TMo was chosen to close out the entire 4th quarter over Eddie, who was having a nice game. Maybe rudy was simply trying to matchup w/ the Suns who had Marion at PF for some time, but I'd still rather play Eddie over TMo even in that situation.
The real under-radar player who contributes MASSIVELY especially against Phoenix is .......... MOOCHIE NORRIS (I can't believe I say this). 13 minutes with 11 points and 2 rebounds. Is that you Moochie???
he deserves the bench for all the wide open jumpers he's missing. he should not be out there in crunch time.
PLAYER MIN FGM-A 3PM-A FTM-A OFF REB AST STL BLK TO PF PTS T. Morris 28 3-6 0-1 1-2 0 3 0 0 3 1 2 7 didn't miss too many...
Tmo's value is not in scoring but in other things such as: Steals Rebounds Blocked shots Decent defense He does like to do some of the dirty work and can play multple positions which makes him ever more valuable. He obviously worked on his shot in the off-season because he has improved in that deptment. But he still needs to learn to hit the shot when he is open.
There is no denying that EG was having a good game, eventually; however, Tmo played great and certainly justiified the confidence that Rudy T placed in him. I am sure Tmo is by far Rudy T's most obedient player and it is time that Rudy give him the minutes. I fully expect that Rice and Taylor will have problems getting back.
I agree it's time TMo get a decent amount of playing time. This guy is versatile, has a decent shot, good shot blocking ability as well as very solid D. He's a good backup at both forward spots, and in a couple of years he could be starter material. A frontcourt lineup of Griffin, Yao, and TMo would terrorize all (of course the lineup of Griffin, Yao, and Posey is already pretty scary). He hasn't been playing a lot, so see this as basically his time of getting comfortable. He's already doing pretty well, if he gets consisiting playing time he could be great. I'm glad TMo was chosen by Rudy to close out the game, it was a risky gamble, but I think it was real good for TMo's experience and morale.
I hope your right, at least with Rice, not as much with Taylor. His play was getting better and he actually was doing more work on the boards than his norm, well at least he was showing more effort.
I would like Rice to just play garbage minutes or when we need a 3 point specialist (doubt that'll be likely though) and have the sf spot manned by mainly Posey and TMo with EG and Taylor manning the pf spot. TMo can play the pf spot, but he's really not built for battling a lot of pfs in this league, and I think Taylor will eventually start contributing more and more (he can also pass pretty well too).
TMo is doing a very nice job. Ball loose on the court? TMo, if on the court, gets the ball. Very nice complimentary player. Very nice.
Someone mentioned Terence is missing too many shots, as of today he is shooting .452 from the field, third on the team. Incredible since he is shooting .071 from 3 point range. Since I can't see the games up here in Frederick, sounds like Rudy T. has been doing a good job slowly bringing Terence along. especially since Terence started out last year shooting 1 for his first 20 attempts. Sounds like a big improvement to me. Rudy T must be doing something right, Rockets look like a good playoff team to us back here in Frederick, Md. FREDTERP PS Looking at the stats, since he has very few free throw attempts all season, it would appear TRock should be going to the basket more since he was a great Free Throw shooter in college?
Big props to T-mo! Hustle guys like Terence Morris and James Posey need to see lots of game action instead of Rice and Mo Taylor. Their energy mixed along with the skills of Francis, Yao and Mobley are a nice fit. Posey should definitely keep his starting 3 spot when/if Rice gets back and Morris should be the backup PF behind Griffin until Mo can play a more consistant game on offense. If Mo isn't giving you offense then what good is he? Like it was said above, Morris does a lot of the little things like rebounding, shot blocking, hustle that helps augment the offense from Francis, Yao and crew. Morris had a great pre-season until he got hurt. It looks like he is getting back into the swing of things. His versitility to be able to play the 3 & 4 effectively as a backup is huge! Chris
I think this is mistated. What you basically said was Morris does everything, and even improves our offense. I agree with Crisco; TMo is still not be guarded by defense. Rice and MoT "augment the offense" via being vastly superior scoring threats with more chemistry (which can't be overstated enough) than Terence. Terence augments our SF defense, is capable at PF defense, and is a nice transition guy. But he hurts our offense overall, in a manner very similar to the way Bowen hurts Duncan, by allowing teams to focus more defense on Francis, Yao, and Mobley (anyone see how Marion was hounding Mobes rather than our small forwards). This BBS has a way of overstating the capabilities of bench warmers when we want to bash the rotation guys. It's nice to give props to bench guys, but TMo is not a rotation player on this team without injuries. There is a reason for that. He is incapable of spreading defenses like Rice and MoT can. I don't want lessor-defending Bowens on the court at crunch time, if you can avoid it. We have Posey, EG and Yao for crunch time defense. I don't want TMo coming in off the bench with Cato, either. I want Rice and MoT to be the bench guys with Cato...that is a better mix, imo. TMo is a 10th man at best, and that doesn't even count Nachbar.
Thansk Fred. Someone asked about Tmo playing down the stretch. With that kind of shooting % why even question it? We also should keep in mind that Tmo is doing his stuff on leftovers. Very few plays are called for him. He has done alot with the few opportunities. EG, Tmo and Posey are just starting to deliver and there is alot more to come.
btw: sorry for not giving direct props in a positive thread after a huge win. Posey was excellent, and he is the perfect complement to pure shooting bench guys like Rice and Nachbar (in the future). It's just that I miss MoT and Rice. They do a lot more for our offense than just score. Greatly overpaid, true? but they make Yao's life easier, and we need them for that. Rice is the best chemistry guy on the court, and really did get us going with his talk in the papers. We need them as threats and chemistry guys.
HP, I totally disagree with you. The only thing that MoT has on Tmo is probably grit and experience. There is nothing that MoT can do on the court, offensively, that Tmo cannot do. Simply put, by the time Tmo has four years in the this league he will be way pass MoT. I find it interesting that you can call Tmo a non-rotation player when he was one of the closers on a 3-0 team in close games. In games where some have even said that Steve has turned a corner. Isn't it strange that there is more ball movement also. All this happening with Tmo playing big minutes. The beauty of Tmo is that he has delivered unlike MoT and Rice. How the hell can he hurt our offense? Help me see this please. This is the most balanced our offense has ever been!
HP, I guess what I ment was that T-Mo is not going to demand shots but blend in with the team. Perhaps I shouldn't have used the statement augmenting the offense but rather saying augmenting the flow. No question Mo Taylor has the MUCH more polished offensive game but this year he just hasn't shown it yet. And because of this he is a liability because he is not as active as Morris is on rebounding. If Taylor shows us what he did two years ago then by all means get him on the floor and get him the ball but it appears he is still struggling from coming back from the injury and until he is consistant offensively I just don't seeing him being as key to the Rockets as perhaps Morris' defense. Would I rather have Mo Taylor taking the jump shot over Morris? Yes. Would I rather have Morris on the floor going after offensive rebounds when Yao and Francis take shots? Yes. That is my point. It is all about matchups. Bowen doesn't hurt Duncan. It is Bowen+Scrub SG that hurts Duncan. It is the combo package. Just like you don't want to see Cato & Morris on the floor at the same time (I agree), Duncan is hurt because they have TOO many "role" players and not enough scorers. It is Duncan and Parker and Parker is too inconsistant. What I was referring to with Morris is combing his hustle play with other quality players on the floor creating a nice balance of scorers and role players. It is a nice fit. Rice and Taylor only spread the floor on reputation this year. Because of past people are honoring their shot, but if their trend of inconsistant shooting continues soon teams will pick up on that and not honor the shot. I am not trying to overstate Morris. I am more saying that I like his improved play and like the hustle he brings to the team. I think he CAN be a rotational player for this team. His shooting could be better but it is imporving. Chris
