<div class="quote_poster">durvasa Wrote</div><div class="quote_post">Right. Well, that's the other argument. But we got back in the game by speeding it up, playing energetically, and having a less predictable offense. Do we lose that by putting Yao back in?</div> True...we did get back in the game with hustle. But hypothetically speakin if this were the Lakers and they needed 1 basket, how would Phil look not atleast havin Kobe in the game? Or Miami not having Wade in the game? It doesn't make sense. Why would Yao not be in the game when ur down 2? Especially after he hit that crucial shot against Washington last game. JVG gave them the game. <div class="quote_poster">durvasa Wrote</div><div class="quote_post">The Lakers starters were put back in the game at the 4 minute mark. Over the next 3 minutes, our 2nd unit continued to outscore them 5-0.</div> And? We had ample time to make some subs, like Battier and Yao. We could've kept John Lucas and Head out there with Padgett and brought back Shane and Yao. <div class="quote_poster">durvasa Wrote</div><div class="quote_post">I think it's a toss up with 1 minute to go whether you put the starters back in. If I have a chance to tie it on an offensive possession and we need to run a set play, maybe I put Yao back in. But the way the game was going, it looked like our 2nd unit gave us a pretty good chance to win They just came up short in the last minute.</div> It wasn't a toss up, Yao should've been in the game. I see this as a huge mistake by our coach. I honestly don't think JVG is the right coach for our team. We'll have a good record in the season, but when the season's on the line our coach would rather "send messages" then win ball games. All he knows his how to win games defensivley, but he doesn't make the proper adjustments on offense. Again, imagine if Miami didn't play Wade (there best player) in that situation. Riley would be an idiot. On top of that, why would you have Novak take that 3pt at the end when Luther & Padgett has it rollin? Another coaching error (not to mention Bonzi didn't even play in first half). How can we win a ring with this guy?
<div class="quote_poster">Rock4life Wrote</div><div class="quote_post">Why would Yao not be in the game when ur down 2? Especially after he hit that crucial shot against Washington last game. JVG gave them the game. </div> Ok. Here's the chronology of what happened. Score was 94-91, Chuck gets the defensive rebound and Kwame gets called for the loose ball foul. Chuck hits only one of them, making it 94-92. Laker's ball. Yao can't be subbed in at this point for Chuck; you'd have to replace one of our three point shooters. We get another stop, this time Padgett gets the foul. He misses both freebies. Again, Lakers ball and the score is 94-92 (1:15 left). Lakers score on the next possession, making it 96-92. Yao gets subbed in, replacing Hayes. We get no points in our next two offensive possessions. Fact is, in the previous three possessions, we had a very good chance to go ahead but we just bricked 4 out of 6 free throws. I don't think we would have had a better chance to go ahead with Yao in there instead down the stretch. You can't pin that on the coach. <div class="quote_poster">Quote:</div><div class="quote_post">And? We had ample time to make some subs, like Battier and Yao. We could've kept John Lucas and Head out there with Padgett and brought back Shane and Yao. </div> Like I said, I don't see how Yao would have improved our chances to win down the stretch. He wasn't particularly effective, on either end, in the third quarter. And without him, we gave our self a very good chance to go ahead but we just missed free throws. <div class="quote_poster">Quote:</div><div class="quote_post">It wasn't a toss up, Yao should've been in the game. I see this as a huge mistake by our coach. I honestly don't think JVG is the right coach for our team.</div> He was in the game, after the Rockets blew their chances to go ahead with the missed free throws. But he didn't give us any better looks than we had gotten previously. <div class="quote_poster">Quote:</div><div class="quote_post">On top of that, why would you have Novak take that 3pt at the end when Luther & Padgett has it rollin? Another coaching error (not to mention Bonzi didn't even play in first half). How can we win a ring with this guy?</div> Novak is the best pure 3-point shooter on the team. Any time our offense gets him a look at a 3-pointer, that's a good shot. And how can you say not playing Bonzi in the first half was a mistake, when we played pitifully with him in the third quarter? He was out of sync on both ends of the court.
<div class="quote_poster">Quoting durvasa:</div><div class="quote_post">We get another stop, this time Padgett gets the foul. He misses both freebies. Again, Lakers ball and the score is 94-92 (1:15 left). </div> Ur missing the point. Yao Ming is ur best player, most efficient player, and best free throw shooter. If you need ONE basket he's ur GO-2-Guy. Any other team would've had their best player on the court. Why? because he's ur best player. He could be a decoy for all I care, but aslong as he's on the court. The bench players played great but couldn't close the game. But that's not their fault, that's not their job. It's ur star players job to close games but JVG took away that option.
It was almost a come from behind win. Too bad Head(1-2),Hayes(1-2) and Padgett(0-2) miss their FTs. We could have taken a 96-94 advantage if all their FTs went in. Another thing we were also robbed of another chance when the refs didn't call an offensive goal tending on Kwame Brown. Anyway I'm proud of our bench players who showed heart and passion to come back in the game. TMac should be inspired by their efforts.
http://www.nba.com/games/20061212/LALHOU/boxscore.html I was really counting on Shane Battier to step up cuz we needed him, but man did he stink it up. 1-8 from the field, 1-5 from three for only 3 points. Rafer only had 1 assist and went 2-8 from the field and 0-6 from 3 and he missed both of his freethrows. Our players rely heavily on T-Mac, but what can I say...they are role players who don't create offense well (we need Bonzi) and get most of there points off of open looks created by T-Mac and Yao. T-Mac ofcourse will find the open man. It's hard on Yao because he is swarmed. <div class="quote_poster">lucifer81 Wrote</div><div class="quote_post">when i watched those 21-0 comeback, i was really impressed by our bench. Head acts like Tmac in the 4th quarter, 3,penetration, drew in fouls,he should become next star.guess we learned a lot from this game, don't complain how we would win the game without one star,or with the other coldhanded. The key issue is to use bench effectively,bonzi should be given more time to find his pace,novac and lucas hav proved their pontential at big moments,head and hayers certainly got positions when we need to play fast and hustle. Almost a wonderful match even we lost at last. One thing we should addressed next time is FT,if all FTs at last could turn in to pts today, it should be our greatest comeback in 4yrs.</div> I like what you said. Head is clutch...always has been and he did look like T-Mac in the 4th by drawing fouls, penetrating, and hitting big 3s. And it turned out to be a good game bare the loss. Our bench looks nice. John Lucas has shown this year and last year that he is clutch and can rebound.
eventhough we lossed it was an exciting game last night, I kinda agree with Rock4Life, me and another Rowdie were wondering why Yao didn't come in the game sooner after the comeback....all I know is I seriously want Bonzi out of Houston (add him to the list after David Carr)....and I must say after seeing Kobe Bryant play in person for the first time that the dude is a ballhog.....I always thought folks were a little hard with the "selfish" label, but the guy takes a lot of forced shots
<div class="quote_poster">kobe23 Wrote</div><div class="quote_post">i would have prefered a blowout win by the rockets than having odom injured</div> Be happy it's not Kobe. With injuries it can always get worse. <div class="quote_poster">THE DREAM Wrote</div><div class="quote_post">eventhough we lossed it was an exciting game last night, I kinda agree with Rock4Life, me and another Rowdie were wondering why Yao didn't come in the game sooner after the comeback....all I know is I seriously want Bonzi out of Houston (add him to the list after David Carr)....and I must say after seeing Kobe Bryant play in person for the first time that the dude is a ballhog.....I always thought folks were a little hard with the "selfish" label, but the guy takes a lot of forced shots</div> Why all the hate for Bonzi? The dude is out of shape and has not played bball for months, what did you expect from him last night? Cut him some slack, he lost millions in the offseason and busted his ass last season doing all the dirty work for Sacramento. He chose to contend with Houston and took what was left from our MLE. JVG should have expected Bonzi to not want to play in every game in the beginning of the regular season, especially with what he signed for. If we trade him, we wont get anyone near his value/talent. Let him get back into shape because he is the 3rd scorer that we so desperately need. He can create offense, allow T-Mac to get his rest during games, and when T-Mac is injured we will still have enough offense to win games.
<div class="quote_poster">THE DREAM Wrote</div><div class="quote_post">I fear that Bonzi may never be "in shape" this season.</div> Bonzi hasn't even seen enuff mins to get in shape. JVG obviously doesn't like Bonzi and downplays his significance to the team. I'd goes as far to say he's purposley attempting to sabatoge Bonzi's career in Houston. How can you not play a guy in the first half, and start him in the second when he hasn't really played all season. Then yank him out after about 5mins? JVG thinks he can win without Bonzi. BIG MISTAKE
<div class="quote_poster">THE DREAM Wrote</div><div class="quote_post">I fear that Bonzi may never be "in shape" this season.</div> Why? Did his game fall off? You don't think all he needs to do is practice? Or do you think he will never practice? and what's up with the quotes? too many question marks
<div class="quote_poster">Rock4life Wrote</div><div class="quote_post">Bonzi hasn't even seen enuff mins to get in shape. JVG obviously doesn't like Bonzi and downplays his significance to the team. I'd goes as far to say he's purposley attempting to sabatoge Bonzi's career in Houston. How can you not play a guy in the first half, and start him in the second when he hasn't really played all season. Then yank him out after about 5mins? JVG thinks he can win without Bonzi. BIG MISTAKE</div> Bonzi was off in the previous two games he played as well. Playing him both halves wouldn't have made a difference. He simply hasn't played enough basketball recently. It will take a while before he can really start contributing.
<div class="quote_poster">igotask8board Wrote</div><div class="quote_post">Why? Did his game fall off? You don't think all he needs to do is practice? Or do you think he will never practice? and what's up with the quotes? too many question marks</div> I think it was a jab at JVG's relationship with Bonzi. The quote is to show that bonzi will continued to be benched with his weight as an excuse.
<div class="quote_poster">igotask8board Wrote</div><div class="quote_post">^^ Agree. (That Bonzi needs to play) And Juwan is having another nice game. Shows what you know.</div> Shows what I know, you guys were down by over 20 points and the only person scoring was Yao. If Bonzi started the game, the Rockets would have matched up better against Luke Walton. He performed surgery on the Rockets last night. I'm not sure who's responsibility it is to scout and watch video, but JVG and has coaching staff have some outdated game footage. You cannot get away with defending Luke with a guard and then gamble by trying to double off him in the post. If Bonzi started he could have defended Luke inside or outside, because of his strength.
<div class="quote_poster">shapecity Wrote</div><div class="quote_post">Shows what I know, you guys were down by over 20 points and the only person scoring was Yao. If Bonzi started the game, the Rockets would have matched up better against Luke Walton. He performed surgery on the Rockets last night. I'm not sure who's responsibility it is to scout and watch video, but JVG and has coaching staff have some outdated game footage. You cannot get away with defending Luke with a guard and then gamble by trying to double off him in the post. </div> I think the third quarter demonstrated why JVG did not play Bonzi in the first quarter. He's not ready. Van Gundy decided to try him out in the 3rd out of desperation, but it didn't work at all.
<div class="quote_poster">shapecity Wrote</div><div class="quote_post">Shows what I know, you guys were down by over 20 points and the only person scoring was Yao. If Bonzi started the game, the Rockets would have matched up better against Luke Walton. He performed surgery on the Rockets last night. I'm not sure who's responsibility it is to scout and watch video, but JVG and has coaching staff have some outdated game footage. You cannot get away with defending Luke with a guard and then gamble by trying to double off him in the post. If Bonzi started he could have defended Luke inside or outside, because of his strength.</div> Sorry I said that. During Rockets games I tend to get ummm whats the word stubborn? Any team playing the Rockets (wheter it be my 2nd favorite team, or a team I don't like) gets bashed by me. To the point. You are probably right about the fact that we would have probably been up at the half if we started Bonzi, but you said something like-The Rockets have no chance if Bonzi doesn't start-and we were what, down by 5 at the half? For any team in the NBA down by 5 at the half is nothing. Then we started Bonzi at the 2nd half and he didn't change much.
<div class="quote_poster">durvasa Wrote</div><div class="quote_post">I think the third quarter demonstrated why JVG did not play Bonzi in the first quarter. He's not ready. Van Gundy decided to try him out in the 3rd out of desperation, but it didn't work at all.</div> It demonstrates JVG doesn't have any creativity in rotations. He cannot expect Bonzi Wells to come out of halftime and start producing. You have to throw him in the game when he can find his rhythm and work his way into the flow. Instead JVG throws in the game at halftime, not playing a minute in the 1st half and puts him up against Kobe Bryant. JVG set him up for failure. A good coach puts his players in a position to succeed.
<div class="quote_poster">igotask8board Wrote</div><div class="quote_post">Sorry I said that. During Rockets games I tend to get ummm whats the word stubborn? Any team playing the Rockets (wheter it be my 2nd favorite team, or a team I don't like) gets bashed by me. To the point. You are probably right about the fact that we would have probably been up at the half if we started Bonzi, but you said something like-The Rockets have no chance if Bonzi doesn't start-and we were what, down by 5 at the half? For any team in the NBA down by 5 at the half is nothing. Then we started Bonzi at the 2nd half and he didn't change much.</div> Hey I don't mind some trashtalking, I just wanted throw it back at you. You were only down by 5 at the half, but the Lakers only had Odom for 3 minutes in this game. The Lakers play a similar style of slow downed halfcourt basketball, and I felt having a size advantage at every position would be impossible for Houston to match against.
