One day we will know why the Rockets disintergrated for two games at this critical juncture of the season. Till we know I would like to suggest some 'possibilites'. (1) Rudy T got bad news and told the Rox that he will be leaving Basketball. (2) Larry Smith just messed up the team. (3) Larry Smith disturbed the team with threats and too much shouting and the Team took revenge! (4) Larry Smith let it be known that certain players will not be with the Team next season and it through the Team into a Funk (5) The Edie Griffin happening caused the Team to go into a Funk! (6) Yao Ming through a fit & screamed, when he was told not to go back to China, because of the SARS, his outburst caused the Team to go into a Funk! Remember that these ideas are only possibilities, not based upon any knowledge!
Larry Smith has no control out there. I've never seen a team look in more disarray than the Rockets have since he started coaching.
Problems with individual player dont explain just why the team disintergrated. Francis just isnt that bad , even in his bad games. He was upset, very upset!
Other Explanations 1. Coach "Mean" is verbally abusive 2. EG shared his stash of hash with fellow teammates 3. Yao ate some bad Chinese food 4. Francis didn't get his promised KFC from Coach "Mean" 5. Mobley hasn't changed his hairstyle in over a month theSAGE
This team definitely has heart. They are all hustling like crazy. But don't matter. Bad coaching mainly. I mean...they just gave up. And bad leadership. People aren't making shots. Bad preparation. Either mentally or physically before games. But they have been horrible. No offensive system. Defense is all right. But now totally no offense. We have so many scorers. But when they all are sucking, it is pretty contagious. They want to win. They just can't. Other teams are better. More talented or better coached. We just can't make shots. And we can make them. No confidence. No leadership. No nothing.
2, 3, 4 - In a word Larry Smith is an idiot! If he can be a coach, then I can do Rockets science too!
ISO/1on1 offense gets my vote. Physical skills can only take you so far and the Rox ran the same meager 4 offensive sets under both coaches.
#2. Mean tries to show that he is a different coach than Rudy and he is not a player's coach. That's fine. But many times he give SF and Yao less minutes. Come on, they are the star player you have to depend on. How many times AI shot badly and Brown punished him by bench him? Actually many times he benched SF and Yao when they were on fire. He tried to prove that Cato deserves more play time etc.. All this line changes affect players' fit and the team performance, though in some night his change works.
Pressure. The Rockets new they had to win these games and everyone got tight and couldn't make a shot. They couldn't handle the pressure. I promise you, now that they are basically out of the playoffs, they will start shooting well again. No pressure now.
