Hey guys... on our recent 4 game losing streak.</p> I am some what not that upset with the losses because T-Mac was injured for half of those games. I think we would have beaten the Lakers with ease had he been there.</p> That being said, the lack of our leading scorer is hardly an excuse for the streak. A championship calibre team can pick themselves up and perform when key players are missing. That's what makes them such good contenders. For example, The Spurs can function very well without Duncan in their lineup. We still rely on our All-star duo too much. Even in out 6-1 streak, Yao and TMac were taking on thescoring load. Our role players mustlearn how to play well on their own in situations where both stars are resting on the bench, or god forbid,.. injuries. (knock on wood).</p> On our 6-1 early record, I loved what we were doing but I was quite skeptical. Had we already gelled together as a team? Does the new system compliment our roster? These questions have been answered by the 0-4 run... NOT YET!</p> By trade deadline, I'll be able to confidently say whether we have a chance this year to get to the conference finals. Hell, even make it past the first round.</p> Thoughts anyone?</p>
I wouldn't overreact to the losing streak. It's very early in the season (remember the Suns and the Mavs got off to terrible starts a year ago). Also, certain players have been playing very poorly recently that you'd expect to be better in the long run (Yao and Bonzi).And, of course, it's just been a brutal schedule .We should have won the Memphis and Lakers game, but losing to Memphis on the road at the end of a road trip, and losing to the Lakers at home the next night while missing an integral player like T-Mac isn't a disaster or anything. And losing to the Spurs and Suns on a back to back at the tail end of a 5 games in 7 nights stretch and without T-Mac is understanable as well.</p> These next four or five games with everyone back healthy should tell us more of where we are. Remember it is a long season, and the key is to have everyone healthy and clicking at the end of it.</p> </p>
I think the losing streak illustrates how badly the Rockets need another savvy playmaker. TMac wasn't only your leading scorer, but he made the offense click by setting up teammates along with himself.</p> Adelman is relying too, much on Rafer Alston to be the primary decision maker. I think he should try experimenting by running the offense through Yao and Scola in the high post. I don't think Adelman is comfortable with the rotations yet and TMac was hiding a lot of the Rockets problems by dominating games. I was really surprised at how fast the Rockets transitioned into a high scoring team, but looking back the only person who really thrived in Adelman's offense was TMac.</p> If the Rockets can learn to win without TMac it's just going to make them that much better later on in the season and into the post season.</p> Also take into account they played three tough teams during those four losses. Even with TMac there's no guarantee the Rockets could have beaten the Lakers, Suns, or Spurs.</p> </p>
I appreciate the optimism Durvusa.</p> I know it's early and we have a lot of t ime to live up to the hype. I just have to agree with Shape that we are one player away from a championship. That, or Bonzi steps up and become our consistent 3rd scorer. He's definitely taken over a few games this season, he just needs to get more consistent with that.</p> </p> On Scola, he's stepped it up offensively in our losing streak. That's great to see and i'd say he and Bonzi are the key to this team later on in the season. That or we get another player (like Rasheed going to Detroit on their title winning season).</p>
Bonzi has had 2 or 3 good games, and has been very poor in the rest. We need better than 33% shooting from him the rest of the way. I can't imagine he'll play this poorly over the rest of the season, and he should only improve. Same with James and Alston. Both are really struggling, even more than last year, and you have to expect that their averages pick up over the long haul of the season.</p> I'm thinking Steve Francis might get a look at as a rotation player after a few weeks, if the offense still stagnates (he'll replace Alston or Head, or both). He could be that third guy as well.</p>
Most definitely. Francis is a proven offensive player.</p> Do you or anyone else nkow how he's improved in training? We've seen how bad he plays in Adelman's system. I was wondering if he has learnt how to play the way that we need him to.</p>
<div class='quotetop'>QUOTE (dakeem1)</div><div class='quotemain'></p> Most definitely. Francis is a proven offensive player.</p> Do you or anyone else nkow how he's improved in training? We've seen how bad he plays in Adelman's system. I was wondering if he has learnt how to play the way that we need him to.</p> </div></p> I don't know. Unfortunately for him, there isn't a ton of time for training and evaluation during the regular season. The Rockets had their first extensive practice in quite a while just yesterday, I believe. Did he make any kind of impression? No idea, but I'd guess not.</p> I think if Francis is to break into the rotation, it will be more due to Alston and/or Head playing themselves out of the rotation rather than Francis earning it. Then, it will be up to Steve to prove he's worth keeping in there.</p> </p> </p>
I think the early 6-1 record was more about certain guys stepping up big rather than the Rockets playing well. Think about it, if Battier doesn't hit the 3 against LA... if Bonzi doesn't destroy the Spurs on the glass, if TMac doesn't go off for 40+ against the Jazz, that could easily have been a 3-4 record. The Rockets haven't played all that great so far this season and I think that's what everyone pretty much expected coming into the season. There's a lot of adjustments to be made and it will take the first part of the season to get players comfortable in the new offense (which they obviously aren't, it looks a lot like last season with Yao and TMac playing a 2-man game while 3 other stand around).</p>
