At least for the simpletons like me, I could not find a clear reason why we were losing given our talent and the fact that most players were available. Yes I knew our domininant players were not domininating like those of the Lakers for instance. But whatever was wrong with the team, is it now behind us? Are we about to put together a serious winning steak? Can we now go out there and give people more than they can handle, like: a return to the block party controlling the boards ball movement top three defense Rice hitting his shots Unstoppable Ming long rotation pick your poison backcourt All of these things we did in the early part of the season when we chilled in the #3 and #4 spot in the west.
Block party - Ming, Eddie, Cato. thats it boards- same as above, with Stevie bll movement- bench Cat and Steve top three defense- Intimidation by Yao will make teams shoot bad 3's Rice hitting shot- Yes, if he is healthy and Ming is double team Unstoppable Ming- 3 out of 5 games is perfect long rotation- they should be able to do that. They are athletic and young pick your poison backcourt- I hope so. When Steve was playing like an mvp in the beginning of the season we were winning with more consistency.
ooh the blatant grammar error right in the title of the thread. that's gotta suck. as for turning the corner, i wanna say we have except i'm afraid i'll jinx it and we'll just lose to a crappy team again. i'll just say i feel more confident about this team than i did a few weeks ago. of course that five game road trip through the west in a week might make me change my mind. also we were only top 3 or 4 because the rest of the west was struggling at that time. we didn't have any sort of great record (few games over 500), the big boys just hadn't heated up yet.
I think most of the things you listed will be possible. I don't think Rice will ever be a consistant 3-point shooter. He hasn't been since he's been a Rocket, and he's such a mal-content, that I'm not sure he can put his bitterness behind him enough to focus and concentrate on his shooting. Ball movement can improve, but it probably won't be consistently stellar, until next year. There have been times this year when the ball movement has been greatly improved, I just think it will be awhile before the team totally has the hang of it. One big thing that seems to plague the Rockets is players willing to step up. At the end of close games it seems like Yao, and Steve are the only ones willing to step up and shoot. The other guys seem to only want to get rid of the ball, and make bad passes. That leads to turnovers or bad shots for whoever gets stuck with it at the end of the shot clock. The team can be aggressive to get us back in some games, but at the very end the aggressiveness seems to leak out of most of the team.
But isn't that expected. Your superstars shouldn't shy away from taking the big shots and your role player should
True, but both Yao and Steve not only are willing to take the shots, but also have the ability to make the shots as shown in many games. Unlike the Sacremento Kings, nobody wants the shot except Bibby.
I am not sure it has to do with other players not stepping up, but rather with the coach decision as to who has a better matchup and a better percentage shot. There were times when Taylor was hot and they went to him in close games. The last few games, I think Yao's number was called. Prior to that, it has been Steve. Personally, I think it will only be good for the Rockets in the long run, along with creating their identity, is to establish their go to guy(s), whomever they might be.
If the Rockets can win 3 of 5 on this upcoming west road swing, then I may believe this thread title.
Even with the last couple of wins, our offense has looked pretty gosh darned ... uh, not good. I think our defense is there, it's just the offense that needs desperate help. Hopefully Rudy taught 'em a thing or two in the last couple of days.
Yes they should if they have a good shot. Those last sescond 3 -pointers that Steve seems to make with uncanny regularity when we really need it is a good example. But there are plenty of other times when the role players are wide open with the ball, and don't take the shot instead they pass the ball off as the clock runs down and our stars are left to put up a much lower percentage shot. And even if the star players are going to take the last shot, the role players should still be active without the ball, instead of standing around watching. On the championship Rocket teams often it was the roleplayers like Ellie, Cassell, Maxwell, and Horry who took the big shots at the end of the game. The first option might have been for Dream or Clyde but the other guys didn't shy away when they had the opportunity. I think if our current roleyplayers could step up in the same way, that would be a huge step towards team improvement.
If you think about, despite the 3 game winning streak, the Rockets really only have one soldi game of those. 2 of them, against the Raptors and the Clippers either involved a 4th quarter comeback or, quite simply, a lot of luck. Essentially, I wouldn't be too surprised if the start sucking (losing) again soon. I wouldn't be surprised if they won their next three or 4 either, though.
What? Rice is the only one who brings any veteran leadership to the table. He knows his role, and since he's come back, he's been playing well above expectations. He hasn't complained and his wife hasn't been mouthing off. Every time he's got a quote that relates to ball movement within the team, it's entirely dead on. I really take offense with the mal-content and bitterness comment, although inconsistency I could agree with.
