I'm watching the game and pulling for the Rockets but the refs aren't calling anything their way. I think their getting hacked alot. I say The rockets 67-63
we're gettin killed 66-76..nothing is going yao's way..ben wallace is good. while we're gettin hacked and not gettin calls
The refs may not have called the perfect game, but that will never happen. Guys, simply put our defense was horrific almost all game long. Also, our rebounding absolutely made me sick, especially on the defensive end. We MUST box out if we expect to beat good teams. At times our shot selection was questionable(Mo Taylor for three, I mean seriously), and at times we just couldn't get the ball into our shooters' hands. I hope that all of this is simply because our team is still working on it's chemistry, if not Van Gundy has got a lot of work to do with this team.
Rockets lost thanks to Rasheed Wallce...his clutch performance killed us. Couple more games and I think we will start to click...
I didn't expect us to win this game. 1st regular season game with a totally revamped team, you know there must be a few chemistry problems that will have to be worked out as the season moves along. Add the fact that we were up against the defending champs who shut down Shaq n Kobe last year. That being said, Sura's injured and like I just mentioned, our chemistry ain't right yet. As the season progresses, we will just get better and better. This season is just a stepping stone for us to becoming the best in the league. And its great that we played Pistons first because it pulls our heads back to the ground. Who are we playing next by the way? We'l prolly shut them down.
raptors tomorrow. i feel we'll win..we lost against the champs..I noticed we don't play well against fast teams ..we get outplayed outhustled..but we'll win against raptors no worries
I noticed some major problems for the rockets. 1) Rockets chemistry looks really bad. Maybe it will get better as they play together more. 2) The Rockets must have the worst offensive execution in the league. I know JVG is a great defensive coach, but i'm starting to question his coaching on offensive execution. Last year, we saw the team struggle with Francis and Mobley. I thought it might be better this year, but i still see the same sloppy plays, which signals to me it may not be the guard play, but the coach. 3) Nobody seems to know how to throw a lob pass to Yao Ming. 4) Rockets seem to lack any sort of energy.
Ooooh, thats bad to hear. I can't watch any NBA games on TV so I'm relying on NBA.com. Its all text so all I know is stats. Thank you Zhuang, its great to see the perspective from someone watching the game itself. I was thinking maybe we should get an assistant coach who is offensive minded to help out JVG. Also, what do you guys think about JJ's performance? 7 rebounds, not too bad.
Our chemistry will come with time, but it is hurting us now that it's not quite there yet. I'm also wondering about Van Gundy's ability to put together a successful offense team that compliments the strong defensive teams he always puts together. But after watching tonight's game, I'm just questioning our play on the defensive end period. We gave up an awful lot of second chance points, open looks, and just looked flat out sloppy at some points. I know I might sound very critical with this only being the season opener, but the expectations that have been set for this team are very high. Needless to say, our team has a lot of work to do before we reach the level we're capable of playing at. I'm sure after the chemistry is there, we'll look a lot better though.
<div class="quote_poster">Quoting ZhuangCorp:</div><div class="quote_post">I noticed some major problems for the rockets. 1) Rockets chemistry looks really bad. Maybe it will get better as they play together more. 2) The Rockets must have the worst offensive execution in the league. I know JVG is a great defensive coach, but i'm starting to question his coaching on offensive execution. Last year, we saw the team struggle with Francis and Mobley. I thought it might be better this year, but i still see the same sloppy plays, which signals to me it may not be the guard play, but the coach. 3) Nobody seems to know how to throw a lob pass to Yao Ming. 4) Rockets seem to lack any sort of energy.</div> Zhuang said it all. One bright spot though, I'm VERY pleased with the way our bench performed. They actually looked better than the starters tonight but it's ok, I hope our team gels together as the season continues. No shame in losing the game tonight though, 2 things we have to remember: 1. Detroit is a very long, defensive team that plays suffocating defense and is capable of disrupting any team's flow on the offense. 2. They're the NBA's reigning champs. The same team that destroyed Shaq and Kobe last year. On another note, I might be wrong on the 72-68 Pistons prediction, but I was right about 'first to 80 wins'
After watching tonight's game I don't really think starting Taylor ahead of Howard is that smart a move, Juwan is best used as a starter. He is no good as a player who can come in and get points and make an impact in limited minutes. He proved that in Orlando. Of course If what people say is true that JVG is starting Taylor to get more trade value for him then ok It sort of makes sense but with that said Howard needs to be in there consistantly to be effective. Taylor on the other hand is there to give instant offense off the bench. Was a good game tonight, you can see some potenial in Houston's team. You can tell the chemistry isn't quite there yet but with time you should be ok.
Man the Rockets need a PG , any PG, that can play, So is Speeedy Claxton on the market. What about Antonio Daniels , he is a great defender. Someone please help.
I thought our role players, for the most part, did ok. Yao had a horrible game, and was outplayed on both ends of the court by Ben Wallace. Not sure how much of a factor his sore elbow was, but he needs to step up. He just looked really sluggish and couldn't buy a jumper. The one thing that jumps out at me is 16 turnovers and only 8 assists. Eight friggin assists! We need to do better than that. Given how poorly McGrady and Yao played, I was surprised that the game was as close as it was playing on the road at Detroit. I guess that's somewhat encouraging.
Kelvin Cato will be the most missed Houston Rocket. Yao needs a strong defensive 4 playing alongside him, it makes up for his lack of laterial quickness on Defense & on the defensive backboards. Yao continuiosly got out quicked to the basket ball on the Defensive end tonight. And its probably gonna be like that alot this year. And also with Big Bodies who know how to move without the basket ball will be a problem for Ming. Kato was the guy who was mainly assigned to those players in past years. Also if Mcgrady going to look to be a scorer on most possesions like he did tonight, then thats gonna further expose the rockets weakness at point because Mcgrady being a scorer every trip down the floor instead of a balance between scoring & playmaking leaves the Rockets without a playmaker. And their point guards will be forced to try to do things they are not capable of....like tonight you had Charlie Ward & Lue trying to make plays off the dribble against one of the league's best pressure defenders in Lindsey Hunter, that isnt gonna lead to a high success rate. And thats what led to such a high turnover compared to assist number for the rockets tonight. Mcgrady has to recognize he has to be the teams playmaker in most situation more then a scorer, let Ward & Lue do what they do best, spot up & play off of the playmaker not try to be the playmakers.
The game was pretty boring but it inspired me to ball since it's still day time over here when the game comes on. Seeing Yao only having 7 points damn. And after hearing they were dead last in scoring in the preseason and it kinda dragging along to this game well that sucks. Anyways Yao just has to start thinking everyone is Shaq somehow. He'd be the monster in the middle that everyone thinks he's capable of. Oh and Barkley did make a good point that JVG would have to mix up the half court game with pushing the ball up quick maybe around 25% of the game. 75% still sounds good for Yao's offensive game.
This game was a tough lesson for our team, and despite the loss, we did see some pleasing things from some of our players. We have seen from our offensive execution and defensive coordination that we are not very experienced and it might take a while for our players to gel together. Also, Mo Taylor starting the game is really not a good choice, because he couldn't buy a jumper and didn't do a good job defensively too. I still think that he would be better served coming off the bench and making an impact; Howard's too slow and traditional to be a change-of-pace player. Despite popular contrast, I'd say that Charlie Ward has had a very good game. Although he only had 1 assist, he was great at playing it to Yao, and provided us a steady shooter on offense and a good defender on defense. Lue also played pretty well, although his pull-up jumpers tarred his night. Deke and Nachbar played really well, and our bench proved that they could step up and play big after all. If only Yao and T-mac had been able to hit a few more jumpers last night, the game would've been ours.
A somewhat pessimistic take on the Yao-Tracy debut: First quarter On Houston's initial offensive set, Yao and T-Mac were both lined on the right side opposite the ball, the former in the low post and the latter on the baseline. Yao then set a pick enabling T-Mac to cut toward the ball, but the cut was more of a tip-toe route than a hard slash. When the ball didn't come to him, T-Mac drifted to the periphery and became a spectator. On Houston's second offensive set, the two switched to the left side (which as before was the weakside) where Yao's pick and T-Mac's desultory had the same outcome. (These plays were never repeated.) A few minutes later, the Rockets executed an inbounds play beneath their own basket in which T-Mac and Yao were in a screen-roll (S/R) tandem. McGrady proceeded to dribble around the pick and miss a jumper. Then came a most significant sequence?McGrady had the ball at the 3-point line and took a quick look at Yao, who had good position against Ben Wallace in the pivot. But McGrady ignored Yao, dribbled to the middle and hoisted up another errant jumper. Until T-Mac was forced to leave the game with two fouls, Van Gundy ran multiple isos for him (including one after a time-out) that didn't involve Yao. Meanwhile, the big fellow seemed hesitant. Sure, he was suffering from a slightly torn ligament in his left elbow and was wearing a brace. BUT ? injuries are indeed part of the game. By Christmas, virtually everybody in the league will be playing with bruised, strained, sprained, and/or contused body parts anyway. Second quarter Because of mutual foul trouble, Yao and McGrady played together for only 1:02. With Yao on the bench, the itinerary was more isos for T-Mac. When Yao re-entered the fray, another S/R was called and T-Mac committed a charging foul while trying to enter the ball to Yao as the big man rolled hoopwards. Halftime Whenever the two players shared the same court-time, Yao was almost exclusively stationed at one side of the high post (the foul-line extended right), another big was at the foul-line extended left, and T-Mac had the ball up-top and in the middle. The idea was for T-Mac to dribble to the side of his choice for a S/R. Only rarely did Yao venture into the pivot. Third quarter On the double-high-post set, McGrady dribbled to Yao's side and missed a long jumper. Then, late in the quarter, came a familiar sequence?McGrady snatched a defensive rebound and dribbled casually across the time-line. Meanwhile, instead of moving into the pivot, Yao lingered near the 3-point line offering still another high-pick for McGrady. This time, T-Mac dribbled off Yao's pick and sank a 3-ball. On another S/R involving Houston's dynamic duo, Yao chose to fade and McGrady found him with a perfect pass?the big man then missed a wide-open jumper. Fourth quarter Every time McGrady dribbled across the mid-court stripe, Yao was in the neighborhood of the 3-point line. And every time this happened, T-Mac either used the pick or faked using the pick and pulled-up for a 3-pointer. Only once did McGrady make a direct entry pass into Yao (who was fouled on his resulting shot). Otherwise, Houston ran isos for McGrady (on the left wing or at the top of the key)?this produced several shots for guess who, one bad pass, and one neat drop pass to Maurice Taylor. In the endgame, Houston's primary strategy was to have McGrady carry the ball into the attack zone, look for another brush pick, and let him create something (usually for himself). Hey, it seems like we've all seen this movie before?an all too familiar and all too dismal re-run of how McGrady was used last season in Orlando!
<div class="quote_poster">Quoting Trip:</div><div class="quote_post">This game was a tough lesson for our team, and despite the loss, we did see some pleasing things from some of our players. We have seen from our offensive execution and defensive coordination that we are not very experienced and it might take a while for our players to gel together. Also, Mo Taylor starting the game is really not a good choice, because he couldn't buy a jumper and didn't do a good job defensively too. I still think that he would be better served coming off the bench and making an impact; Howard's too slow and traditional to be a change-of-pace player. Despite popular contrast, I'd say that Charlie Ward has had a very good game. Although he only had 1 assist, he was great at playing it to Yao, and provided us a steady shooter on offense and a good defender on defense. Lue also played pretty well, although his pull-up jumpers tarred his night. Deke and Nachbar played really well, and our bench proved that they could step up and play big after all. If only Yao and T-mac had been able to hit a few more jumpers last night, the game would've been ours.</div> We can't really make this excuse of not gelling all the time. Look at the lakers..they're newly assembled..but kobe made the whole team gel..he basically lead the team in everything. Tmac i have to admit has the skills of kobe but he doesn't have the 100% commitment (kobe's energy was apparent in both ends in every possession while tmac only showed some energy in little spurts of the game, and many times he just decides to shoot the jumper), the leadership. We're definitely missing a leader and that's not a good thing, tmac and yao are passive they apparently can't lead our team. We'll still do good though since we're a pretty solid team, just not championship material. If only steve was still here or jkidd we'd b better off.
