Will We Struggle in Crunch Time in Tonights Game if it's Close??

5>1

This is a team and we have 5 players on the floor that can score the ball....I like our chances these days.

DD

 

This is a problem that I love having. If the only thing we have to worry about is how bad we are beating teams, then life is good for Rockets fans!

 

let's not worry about it, let's get accustom to double digit wins!

 

Don't worry about what you have no control over. Just enjoy the ride.

 

The Rockets have actually played well in close games, for the most part, since T-Mac returned. I think they'll do alright. Hopefully they can enter the 4th quarter with a lead, though.

 

I do worry about our free throw shooting in close games. That's the one aspect of Yao Ming's absence a lot of people have overlooked. The man even shot our technical free throws for God's sake.

But we've had some clutch play during this streak. Novak's 3-pointer, T-Mac's late game heroics against the T-Wolves, and Landry taking over in Indiana.

So it's not like they haven't been tested.

 

One of my biggest concerns with this team in the playoffs is crunch time scoring. When teams decide to take Tracy out of the offense, can we make them pay?

 

You can bet the Mavs will do that. Remember last year when they would triple team T-Mac before he even touched the ball? The difference now is Rafer, Shane, and Luther are shooting lights out from the perimeter and Landry and Scola can finish around the basket. So any team that attempts to force the ball out of T-Mac's hands will pay.

 

Therein lies both the problem and opportunity. Rafer and Luther are chokedogs. If Shane gets the ball in good position I'm fine with him. It's pivotal we swing the ball quickly to Landry and Scola to see what they can do.

Rafer and Luther are Rafer and Luther. In playoff pressure, Rafer's shooting will go in the tank and Luther will again play (and shoot) like a nervous kitten. This will be Landry and Scola's first time in the playoffs and how they react is the key. What works in the regular season won't work the same way in the playoffs against pressure defenses.

 

If it comes down to a close game, T-Mac will win it for us.

 

i think this guy is pretty good at helping the team close games out:


so to answer your question, no

 

absolutely not... this is not a 2-man show anymore... we have more guys contributing left and right... it's just a matter of executing the offense and finding the open guys... on top of that, our defense will shut them DOWN!!!

 

Oh yeah, just like last year against the Jazz.

 

Why would Rafer's shooting go into the tank? Sure he didn't shoot well last season against the Jazz, but he also didn't shoot well the entire year. So in his own way, he was just being consistent. This season however, he's been lights out for several months now, so I have faith he can keep it up in the playoffs.

Luther is a concern. He's been red hot lately, but he was also terrific from the 3-point line during the regular season last year before going into the tank in the playoffs. I'm hoping Adelman's offense along with a deeper bench will make things easier for him this time around.

 

<object width="425" height="355"><param name="movie" value="http://www.youtube.com/v/D5KjSA29Rhs"></param><param name="wmode" value="transparent"></param><embed src="http://www.youtube.com/v/D5KjSA29Rhs" type="application/x-shockwave-flash" wmode="transparent" width="425" height="355"></embed></object>

 

we got this ****!!!

 

What do you base these assertions on? The Rockets have shown over these past few weeks that by using good ball movement and backcuts, they can always get a good shot even when the defense overplays or doubles. Rafer has been pretty clutch for the Rockets this season in crunch situations, and Luther has become such a consistently good shooter that you can pretty much expect him to drain any shot as long as he has enough space to get it off.

The only thing one should be concerned with is that the ball keeps moving, the team sticks to the game plan and good shot selection is exercised.

 

There is no way you can count last year as what will happen this year. Rafer and Head have both developed greatly and learned from last year's playoff loss (or at least Adelman seems to have changed both of them ALOT (for the better)).

I think we have to see how this team can do under playoff pressure, would love if we still had Yao, but hey this team can have playoff success, imo.