Game 16 Recap: Poor third quarter dooms Rockets as Spurs pick up first road win, 92-84

by Tom Martin on Nov 28, 2009 3:43 PM CST in Game Recaps

Amid all of the ugly -- whether it was Trevor Ariza's painfully awkward double-clutch shots, Aaron Brooks' recklessness in the lane, or the clank-a-thon that was our third quarter offense -- there was the putrid officiating. Thirty-four San Antonio free throws compared to the Rockets' fourteen. I get it, we aren't aggressive; we didn't deserve to attempt more than fourteen free throws. But I'll be damned if our tenacity on defense, which was on display in full force, waranted 27 foul calls.

Yes, Ariza brushed Tony Parker on the arm while going for a steal. And yes, Carl Landry jumped higher than DeJuan Blair while going for a rebound, placing his arm on Blair's shoulder as Blair came down with the ball. I mean, I hate going into this. Hate, hate, hate it. But if you're an official, these are calls that do not need to be made. They're aggressive plays, the same aggressive plays that the San Antonio Spurs made on defense. And for every mini-run that the Rockets tried to put together to close the seemingly ever-present six-point deficit, there was a useless whistle to put an end to it.

With that said, bad officiating is one thing. Not scoring for eight minutes is quite another.

Give the Spurs credit, because they played fantastic defense. They begged Ariza to attempt yet another up-and-under, and he did, failing miserably each time. They forced Brooks to pass on each pick and roll, and it worked, as Chuck Hayes dropped an inexplicable 0-8 FG line. Everything the Spurs did on defense worked to perfection because the Rockets were unanable to adjust.

So if Aaron can't get into the lane with ease, what happens? Or what if Luis or Trevor can't score by themselves? What do we do? Um... panic?

It wasn't like the Rockets didn't have chances to score. The Rockets took twenty more shots than the Spurs. They grabbed seventeen offensive rebounds. But they just couldn't get good shots. And the good shots that Houston took didn't fall.

What happened to the constant variability of our offense? Suddenly, Kyle Lowry, Brooks, and Chase Budinger are afterthoughts. We MUST get them going again.

Anyways, Mizzou-Kansas is on. I've got to watch my other team. Perhaps someone else will share their thoughts as well. I'll admit, that was more of a rant than actual analysis.

Boxscore -- Pounding The Rock

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would you do this trade?

t-mac and brooks to the wizards for caron butler, foye and haywood… i would do this in a heartbeat!! why?? we would have a 6-4 pg that can score in foye… butler and ariza would fit great together given the fact ariza shoots more and butler can create his own shot and attack the basket plus get to the ft line and haywood would fill in the void at center and you bring hayes off the bench… line-up

foye/lowry
butler/budinger/taylor
ariza/battier/
scola/landry/dorsey
haywood/hayes/andersen/ yao out 4 yr.

then come off-season scola might look to make more money on another team i say let him walk shift landry to the starting line-up and sign hakim warrick to take his place off the bench… next yr. line-up

foye/lowry
butler/budinger/taylor
ariza/battier
landry/warrick/andersen
yao/haywood/dorsey

just a trade thought… your thoughts??

by rocket2789 on Nov 28, 2009 5:27 PM CST reply actions

Foye is worse than Brooks.

Butler and Haywood would be OK … Haywood in particular is apparently really good defensively. The thing is, they’re fragile. I dunno if you want two fragile players to add to a team that currently has $40 million on the bench in street clothes.

I support the Tornado Release ... and Young Bucks.

by Prevenge on Nov 29, 2009 1:24 AM CST up reply actions

WE NEED T-MAC! WE NEED T-MAC! WE NEED T-MAC!

Ariza is not a first option. No one on the Rockets is. We’re going to be mediocre without T-Mac and maybe even with him, but it’s worth a try

by VBG on Nov 29, 2009 4:16 AM CST reply actions

I hope I am not seeing a pattern here…

… where Houston beats great teams only 1 out of every 3 games, while beating the good teams 1 out of every 2 games then beating the poorer teams 2 out of every 3 games.

If this pattern develops, chances are good the Rockets will wind up only being a .500 ball club. On the surface that doesn’t seem too bad considering the fact that this team is without all 3 of their main weapons from last season. But the early season success of the team made most of us get to hoping that maybe this year’s team may be better than a 41-41 squad and could possibly avoid the lottery and sneak into the playoffs.

I know that this season is only 20% completed and there is plenty of games remaining. Hopefully, they can go on a nice long winning streak starting tonight VS the Thunder and get themselves several games over the .500 mark…

I had to stop arguing with drunks, Steeler fans, and all other fools.
It was making my brick wall jealous...

by steeler-hater on Nov 29, 2009 11:32 AM CST reply actions