Im just sitting here studying the box score and the thing that hits me the most is how balanced the minutes are spread in the Jazz line up. No one played over 38 minutes, even Kirelenko only played 24 minutes. If you look at the Rockets minutes, rafer with 43 minutes, tmac with 42 minutes, snyder with 32 minutes in contrast hayes with 8, novak with 9, DNP wells, lucas, howard, vspan does van gundy not realize with more minutes players play shooting %'s go down? the jazz kept throwing in new guys with fresh legs and the rockets starters couldnt keep up on defense. van gundy shows up on interviews saying poor execution, well $#it you trying shooting with 43 minutes of playing time guarding boozer and okur. Van Gundys Logic: - id rather have in padgett for 20 minutes than bonzi - novak and hayes get to play for half a quarter and i expect them to give amazing results - luther head is the future of this franchise ill give him 12 minutes, and spanulous NONE - going up against big bruting boozer, ill put my 220lb small forward on him, not my 250lb power forward howard if van gundy keeps this up keeping his starters in virtually the whole game, we are screwed. its time for deke and padgett to sit their butts on the bench and let novak and hayes play already.
I'm sure this is all great analysis, but couldn't this go either in the "JVG Sucks" thread or The Game Thread?
I don't know what JVG's motivations are, but I wish he would go "Kubiak" and be quicker to pull someone who isn't performing and try someone new. This years roster is as deep as any that I can remember in a long time, but it doesn't mean anything if JVG doesn't play more than 7 or 8 guys a night.
Not saying there isn't some merit to your overall idea, but didn't Rafer have his best shooting in the 4th quarter, when, according to your logic, he'd be too fatigued to shoot well? And as for T-Mac playing 40+ minutes, that's been the case his entire career.
sums up my entire initial entry, thanks drummer... i agree. we have to let our young guys get their feet wet. theyve all got a ton of potential. now or never. the spurs had to bite the bullet and let ginobili and parker make mistakes every night for their first few seasons, were going to have to do the same for our guys... itll take time.
We played 10 out of 12 active players last night. That's not exactly a short bench. The only guy who arguably should have been in who didn't play was Spanoulis to try to stop the Utah Penetration while EZ-Pass had the gate up. People will cite Novak - but while DaDakota was b****ing and moaning in the game thread about JVG ruining Novak and the quick hook and blah blah blah, Novak's replacement, Battier, was draining 3 pointers and playing a key part in the Rocket's rally in the final period. The only way to get him in the game in the 4th period was to take one of Snyder (playing well), McGrady, Battier, or Ming out - and that jsut wasn't going to happen.
I was really speaking more about the rest of the season than just the jazz game. JVG sometimes has a tendency to ignore certain players for long stretches of the season (like Hayes, Barry, DA last year) even if it's clear a spark is needed at that position. I just hope he doesn't do that with Novak, VSpan, and Hayes this year. Not saying he will, just saying I hope he doesn't. Also hoping Wells isn't already in his "dog house"...
Never thought I would EVER see the day when people rip on JVG for not playing Howard. Make up your mind. Does he suck or do people like using hyperbole.
Hmmm .. I wonder if maybe, just maybe, this had something to do with the fact the Rockets were down and in catchup mode virtually the whole game. Just a thought.
I've defended JVG in the past, but this game was entirely his fault. the whole second half I'm yelling to put in Novak and instead Padgett is in the game the whole time. I didn't stop shaking my head until I went to sleep.
if the rockets are so dependant on hayes getting more game time, they might as well start positioning themselves well in the next lottery.
got news for ya'... we weren't stopping them at all period. No defense. If we are going to have no defense we might as well put some offense on the floor. All I saw was Padgett getting busted over and over, Rafer missing assignments and shots clanking off the rim (or blocked by the rim). But I see your point. well, no I don't...
You were yelling this when Battier played the 4th period and scored 8 points? Look, I love Novak, and JVG went to him EARLY, but he hit ONE shot moments after entering the game and then didn't do anything, looked lost on defense and on offense for 8 minutes. After that JVG saw enough and tried to get a spark with Padgett, who put on pretty much the same performance but at least somehow managed to grab a few rebounds along the way. I suppose you can pick some nits and say that Novak should have gotten an extra 5-7 minutes from padgett to make things equal out, but honestly in the grand scheme of things I don't think it was that big of deal. When Battier came in (as much as I liked Rudy Gay last night), things did get better and he made some excellent plays and the Rockets got closer. BTW, this bears noting; the re-invention this morning of Juwan Howard as the some sort of (unutilized) ace defensive stopper at the 4 spot has got to be one of the funniest things I have ever read on CF.net. He couldn't cover Lisa Leslie with one leg tied behind her back. Actually scratch that, Lisa Leslie is good, he couldn't cover Lisa Left Eye Lopes.
Just like the players, I think we need to give JVG some time to set the rotation. This team has a lot of different types of players at each position that it's gonna take time to find the best combinations. I think it's gonna take about a month before this team starts rolling for real.
I know a lot of the fellow posters hate JVG! The good news to them is, the rockets are having a very tough schedule to start the season. If the rockets' result is less than 50% after the first ten games, e.g. 4-6,2-8 etc., I m sure JVG will be fired!!!!!
