The missing link is not a player, but a concept; BALL MOVEMENT. When the Rockets move the ball an find the open man they look awesome. i.e Houston vs. Philly, 1st Half of Houston vs. Sacramento. Look at these games and tell me how good the Rox look with good ball movement.
I love being right. http://www.chron.com/cs/CDA/story.hts/sports/1711534 Rockets learn how to share Balanced scoring helps to overcome Hawks during hot second half By MICHAEL MURPHY Copyright 2002 Houston Chronicle So many times this season the story line for the Rockets has been the play of Yao Ming. Or Steve Francis. Or Cuttino Mobley. But Friday, the Rockets showed what happens when everyone gets in on the action. After a miserable first half, it all seemed to come together for the Rockets, who blew out the Atlanta Hawks 101-82 before 10,784 at Compaq Center. Nobody dominated the ball and they dominated the game. Maybe it's all starting to dawn on the Rockets. "That was one of the best displays of us moving the ball around that I've ever seen," said Steve Francis, who scored a team-high 23 points. "If the person who got the ball didn't have a shot, then he swung it to the next guy, and he might drive and kick (pass). That's fun basketball and it's winning basketball." Indeed it is. The win was the third straight for the Rockets, who improved to 15-10 heading into tonight's game at Minnesota. It is the first time the Rockets have been five games over .500 this late in the season since 1998-99, when they finished 31-19 in the lockout-shortened year. "Moving the ball was phenomenal," said Rockets coach Rudy Tomjanovich. "It was really as happy as I've been with our offense all year. We got everybody involved, and the difference was phenomenal. You know we're going to use that as a teaching point many, many times." A glance at the box score indicates how well the Rockets played -- Francis with eight assists and seven rebounds; Mobley with 22 points, six assists and four blocked shots; Yao with 17 points and eight rebounds; Glen Rice with 13 points, including three straight 3-pointers in the third quarter that blew the game open; and Moochie Norris with 11 points. But all those cold numbers in no way convey how well the Rockets played, especially in the second half, when they turned a 13-point deficit into a blowout win. "Watching everyone get their shots off like that was like watching fireworks all over the sky," said Yao, who added three blocks. "It was coming from everywhere." Not in the first half, it wasn't. Atlanta controlled the boards and held a 49-38 lead at the break, but after a halftime speech from Tomjanovich, the Rockets came out looking like a different team. Want proof? The Rockets nearly matched their first-half output in the next 12 minutes, scoring 37 points while shooting 59 percent from the floor. "It's funny that it has to be this way a lot of times, but sometimes you have to take a step backwards to move forward," Tomjanovich said. "We were not the team that we've been here for much of the year. "I don't think the ball moved the way it should, and we had a good talk about it at halftime. What I said was that I don't want someone to say, `Hey, great speech, coach.' I want there to be a difference when we go out there." Was there ever, especially on defense. Tomjanovich went to a zone, which took away all the open looks the Hawks' Glenn Robinson had been getting in the first half, when he finished with 22 points on 10-of-12 shooting. "They put a snag on us with that zone in the third quarter," said Atlanta's Theo Ratliff, who had five blocks before fouling out with 6:47 left in the game. "We couldn't throw it in the ocean after that." Now it was the Rockets' turn to crank up the offense. Rice had 11 points in the quarter, at one point making three straight 3-pointers in a span of 1:29, Mobley had 10, Yao nine and Francis seven. Down 55-42 with under 10 minutes to play in the third quarter, the avalanche began for the Rockets. Rice hit a jumper, Yao drilled four straight foul shots, Francis converted a three-point play and Rice capped the 12-0 run with the first of three consecutive 3-pointers to pull the Rockets to within a point with just under six minutes left. Jason Terry hit a 3-point, but Rice followed with another. Robinson hit a 3, but Yao hit a free throw and Rice dropped in another 3-pointer to key an 18-4 run that put the Rockets up 75-65, taking the life out of the Hawks. "We huddled up right before we went on the floor (for the start of the second half) and said that we had to be a little more aggressive," Mobley said. "We weren't aggressive in the first half. But the third quarter was like night and day. We were more aggressive. We passed the ball more. We played like the normal Rockets." Unfortunately for Atlanta coach Lon Kruger, his team played just like the normal Hawks. Robinson finished with 28 points, but had only six in the second half. Shareef Abdur-Rahim had 20, but relied mostly on jumpers and got only two foul shots. Terry had 10 points, but made only four of 13 shots. And if the Hawks' so-called "Big Three" aren't clicking, the Hawks aren't going to win many games. "It was a contest of two halves," Abdur-Rahim said. "In the second half, we didn't do any of the stuff we did in the first half." And neither did the Rockets, which is why they're heading to Minneapolis with a three-game winning streak. "We realized that Steve and Cuttino and Yao are going to put the ball in the hole, but we have to step up also," Rice said. "We can't rely on the same three guys all the time to key us to victory. "I think this team is really doing a lot of growing."
I also agreed that the missing link is ball movement or actually consistent ball movement. It seems like the Rocket move the nall well for 1 or 2 quarters and the other time they play iso and jacking up bad shot. I think the Rockets are starting to realize this is the formula to their success. With time and more practice I think you will see this throughout the game. When this happen, it is over (for the league). When this team learn how to play together on a consistent basis I don't think you can devise a defense to stop them. We are potentially looking at the Kings with a better center and a better backcourt. I really think in the future only the Rockets can stop themselves. As far as Cutino goes, I think he does shoot the 3 pointers well when he is open. A lot of his 3 ponters are shooting with the shot winding down or with someone in his face. With good ball movement, he will get better look and his % will improve. He also seems to improve a lot on his defense and if he learn how to pass a little more (like last night), I wouldn't want anyone else at the 2.
Boki is not a lights-out shooter, and he's not near 7-feet tall. He's 6'9 and a half, and shoots better than the typical NBA player, but drives to the basket better than most Euro players.
We will never be a playoff team tell we get us a shooter liek Houston or Barry? Are you sure about that? I beat you a $100 will we make the playoffs this year with the team we got right now.
