Post your comments on the first game of the season here. Rockets off to a great start. Artest gets 2 steals on the first two defense possessions.
Rockets leading by 7 with just under 2 minutes left in the first quarter. Some quick impressions: - Rockets are playing very aggressively on defense. Artest's tenacity might be rubbing off a bit on the others. I see more gambling from this team than usual. - Scola is getting left wide open. If he was in mid-season form, he'd have 6-8 points by now. But he's struggling a bit. He did hit one baseline jumper. - Tracy is on Mayo. He got a steal on one possession, but that's tough for him to chase around a quick guard like Mayo. - I like Yao's activity to start the game. Landry just checked in out of the timeout.
- First offensive possession with Landry, he gets fouled on a turnaround jumper off a post up. Never saw that from him before. - Rudy Gay is a tough cover for T-Mac. Similar length, more quickness. He just went around him on a drive, and T-Mac didn't get any help D. - Brent just checked in and he's checking Mayo. Touch defensive matchup for him as well.
He's looked pretty good. He got stripped by T-Mac early, but he looks like a real smooth offensive player out there. Kind of reminds me of Ben Gordon.
Yao is dominating the Grizzlies. He's played the whole way, without rest. He looks really comfortable out there, and that's great to see.
Landry's looking good. He doesn't have a field goal yet (I don't think), but he's really active around the basket.
I really just want him to bring a ton of energy off the bench, score on his hustle, and rebound like a beast. if he can do that, I'll be happy.
The Rockets look rusty on offense. They're struggling to score in the 2nd against the Grizzlies. Not good.
Halftime. Really quick thoughts: - team isn't close to where it needs to be offensively - the Rockets PFs need to do a better job of taking advantage of the attention Yao is getting. Scola got a lot of opportunities, but missed a bunch of easy chippies. - Darrel Arthur and OJ Mayo are a couple of really nice rookies for the Grizzlies. It looks like they made out really well in this draft.
Pretty balanced scoring. Yao. Artest 10 a piece, Scola 8 and T-Mac 9. Really, really, crappy field goal percentage from Houston.
