I'm happy with the way they've started. I would have been nice if they'd won tonight, but it's not like it's the end of the season. They are still getting used to playing together and running different plays. Before the season, nobody realistically expected them to come out with a 5-0 start. They know they have a lot of work ahead of them. THE ROCKETS WILL GET BETTER. It's just funny to me that before the season, everyone kept reminding each other that the Rockets may not do so well at the beginning. That they have a rough schedule and that they'd still be learning to play together. Then they go 3-0 and everyone jumps on the band wagon. Then they lose one and suddenly it's time to trade someone. They have a long way to go, but there's a lot of games left... and they'll play the Mave 3 more times.
Honestly, I could not have put it better myself, its like everytime we play in dallas i already know what the outcome is going to be, we are going to be going toe to toe with them for like 43 mins and then suddenly terry and stackhouse will make every three they take until they just inevitably pull away. It is so frustrating, its happened every game since that playoff series.
there is no reason to hit the panic button. we are 3-1. we've looked really good in all 4 games. first loss allways hurts. believe me there will be about 20 more of these.
Panic? No, but the Mavs were two starters down. This game just showed the Rockets there is still a measurable gap between them.
2 starters mean nothing that means that they played with a sense of desperation and as a result played with more sense of urgency. If they were at full strenght they may have been a little more comfortable and their rotations and everything would have been different. It's shooting craps right now. The only gap the rockets need to fill is to get their chemistry down and get more than 4 games under their belts together as a unit.
Not the panic button, the reality button. The Rockets simply can't live or die on McGrady's game to game performances. This is a team that still needs an upgrade at the point, and I don't think that upgrade is you know who.
The Rockets are known to have stingy defense...why do they allow the Mavs to shoot 50%?? I didn't watch the game. But i think that's the reason they lost the game nevermind Yao don't get enough touches. But the Rockets usually don't let opponents shoot lights out. Is that Mavs lucky or simply hot?? Did the Mavs exploit pick and roll w/ Yao?? I notice Scola forgot to guard Dirk for the dagger 3 pt shot...that's inexcusable. This game could have gone either way.
....down by 7 with 2:44 left and the game was over? Good thing your not on the team...oh wait - you are. ...I agree Terry is tough to contain but that's why you have help defense - all the more reason why battier and rafer should have forced Terry to go towards the defense on the left side rather than play a two man game on the right of a cleared floor.
...the Mavs ended the game scoring on something like 10 of their last 12 possessions. Part of it was the refs bailing them out with some truly awful calls(those loose ball fouls were killing us earlier in the quarter which put Dallas in the penalty for last 6 minutes) but most of it was the high pick and roll crap with Terry & Dirk picking apart James/Scola or Rafer/Battier. ...Scola looks lost out there a lot. I'm sure he'll adjust, but right now it's pretty gruesome to watch him running all over the court trying to find someone to guard.
Well this ONE loss should be given more attention than those other THREE wins because it gives a feel for where this team stands. Winning against sorry teams doesn't mean much. If we lose against Spurs tonight, then we should definitely hit the panic button because it shows we are still not yet elite like we should on paper and that we have alot to work on.
Yao isnt a lights out shooter so you dont expect him to shoot 75% from perimeter night in night out. Yao is a low-post center and he scored 10 points from posting up Diop last night. Yes Im worried.
That would be like saying, "McGrady had 35 points and 8 assists yesterday, why worry?" That would be trying to hide the obvious problems with yesterday's game. Why I am not happy with Yao's game despite 21/11/3/2: 1. He didn't get enough shots up 2. For some reason he waited for doubles to come, not sure whose fault this is, Yao's or Adelman's, I suspect Adelman's. 3. Teammates froze him out and stopped passing it to him by the end. 4. Bobbled rebounds he should have gotten and botched a few passes. 5. A few defensive lapses, I think at least one when Dallas made their gamewinning run. Yao after the game when asked about his number of shot attempts answered with "Do you want to cause trouble for our team?" This tells me he is displeased with the number of shots he got, because if he were OK with it, he'd say stuff like Dallas doubled hard, my teammates did a decent job of feeding me, it's on me to get better position, etc. Instead, he implies the real answer would cause trouble for the team. That means the real answer must be that he thinks he wasn't fed enough.
Damn.... am I suppose to press the button with the word PANIC? I pressed the button with the word NUCLEAR... My bad my bad
Amen! Go Rockets, lets not fret over one loss... more importantly, focus on the task at hand, playing the Spurs: getting Yao more touches and shots, getting the bench involved, increasing and improving our shooting % and shot selection, continuing to clamp down on defense... paging battier, James, scola, and wells: we need you to score some buckets, or we are the same as last year- one-dimensional and one more thing- I hope we don't L-O-S-E
