Recap: It's a Hanukkah miracle! (Not Really)
by Only_A_Lad on Dec 15, 2009 10:54 PM CST
in Game Recaps
26 comments
About an hour before the game started, Jason Friedman tweeted that Tracy McGrady would be playing tonight - limited minutes (no more than seven or eight), and only in the first half.
I admit that I'm a T-Mac fan. Through all of the crap over the past year about Tracy McGrady, I've maintained a pretty consistent belief in his commitment to the team, to his career, and to basketball in general, so forgive me if I view his return through the rosiest of lenses. A little over a month ago, I wrote that the T-Mac injury "saga" felt, if nothing else, like it was coming to a close, and tonight was the beginning of the end, I hope. Even if this was simply a showcase for a trade, and even if McGrady doesn't play significant minutes (or in a significant way) for some time, it just felt good to see the Tracy back on the court. And Rockets fans obviously felt the same way. Yeah, there were a few boos scattered in there, but Tracy got a warm reception from a crowd that - supposedly - had turned on him forever.
In his seven minutes on the court, McGrady played some decent defense, grabbed three rebounds, and hit a line-drive three point shot. He was clearly having trouble running the break, but the important thing is that he can jump. What a change from last February.
So, with all of that said, let's talk about some players who stayed on the court for more than half of a quarter.
The Rockets didn't trail at any point in the game after the first quarter, and they never let the Pistons get closer than eight points after about ten minutes into the game. Given their rebounding problems through much of the game, it's hard to call this performance exactly "dominating," but the Pistons never really threatened. Rip Hamilton - ordinarily a fairly efficient offensive player (and owner of one of the best - if not the best - mid-range games in the league), started off extremely hot, but Battier did what he do: pushed Rip further out and didn't let him come off of picks uncontested.
With Rip neutralized and Stuckey shooting the Pistons out of the game, the Rockets built a lead on a ridiculous free-throw margin. Seriously - the Rockets shot almost three times as many free throws as Detroit. Was that just home cookin'? Doubtful. Stuckey and Hamilton shot from outside, and relatively few came inside. Against this Rockets team, that's a recipe for disaster.
Chase Budinger continues what Lee characterized earlier today as a RotY-deserving season. I wouldn't go that far, but the boy is clearly the real deal. Bud showed off his excellent shooting touch, coming off picks and hitting open jumpshots, but also driving to the hoop - including a very memorable alley-oop (pictured). What most impresses me, though, is everything else he does. Not everyone can be a Ben Gordon-type scorer, but they're damn sure a lot more common than players who contribute in many different ways. Bud was the Rockets' leading rebounder, and he made some good passes for assists. He's contributing in so many ways on both ends of the court, and he rewarded Adelman's (and Morey's) faith in him tonight.
On another note - Chuck totally made two free throws in a row. I know, right?
(In honor of Hanukkah and the win) Five Up:
Chase Budinger - A career night for the rookie out of Arizona.16 pts on 11 shots, 12 rebounds, 5 assists. 'Nuff said.
Aaron Brooks - 23 pts, 10 asts. This is kind of what we're coming to expect, right? Weird...
Luis Scola - Who says the Rockets can't create? 23 points and 8 rebounds, and many of those buckets came on some fairly tough shots.
Chuck Hayes / Shane Battier - These guys continue to be one of the best defensive tandems in the NBA (same goes for Ariza). They kept the Pistons out of the paint and forced them to take bad shots. What more can you ask for?
Tracy McGrady - Hate all you want (and I'm sure you will), but he made his return tonight. Good for him, and good for the Rockets.
One Down:
Carl Landry - I'm nitpicking here, but I need one bad thing. Sure, Landry is arguably the Rockets' best player right now, he showed all of his scoring skills tonight, and his growth as a post player continues to amaze me, but three rebounds, Carl? Get your shit together!
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3 point shooting
This is one down that is noticeable, and yet no one really seems to have picked up on it. The Rockets shot a pathetic 4 for 21 from beyond the arc, which makes it the second straight game which we shot under 20%. We got away with it against Detroit because they weren’t making threes either and we were capable of driving it in, but having consecutive games of a three-point percentage this low is something that can’t be sustained if we want to keep winning.
Aside from that, it really was an excellent game, and even McGrady played a decent game. Hopefully we can continue this against Denver tomorrow, with three players logging 40+ minutes.
Minnesotan Rockets fan
Oh wait my mistake.
Detroit shot 4 for 21. We shot 2 for 16. That’s even worse, as it means we’ve had 2 straight games of shooting under 15% from beyond the arc. We can’t do that.
Minnesotan Rockets fan
hah
good thing to notice. All things are forgiven in winning.
Well, McGrady’s on pace to shoot the lights out from behind the arc, right? Problem solved!
I don't think it's all that bad
We hit a number of shots which were just barely not 3PTs. I remember Budinger and Brooks doing this especially. In other words, we had a good overall FG% to compensate, and the long-range shots were still falling. They just need to make sure to take threes instead of long two-pointers.
Glad to see T-Mac back on the court, I too have always been a T-Mac fan
I was surprised with how easy this game was for the Rockets without Ariza. I know the Pistons are pretty banged up right now, but the Rockets played really well without Ariza. It makes me question Ariza even more. Trevor has been shooting horribly this season, as we all know, and without Ariza it allowed the better shooters to get more shots, Brooks, Budinger, Landry, Scola. The offense looked more efficient and the defense looked good as well. Im not jumping off the Ariza bandwagon, but its worrisome that we played so well without our #2 scorer. I guess we should expect that though because it is the Rockets.
Go Rockets!!!!
"Every time you turn on ESPN you see Bama" - Earl Thomas' answer when asked what excites him most about the National Championship.
To all Houston sports fans, Houston is the 4th biggest city in America, there will be traffic on the way to your respective sports game. Come Early, Be Loud, Stay Late.
Ariza is a good defender, but often gambles and positions himself for a steal
This usually means that he sags down from the wings, to intercept passes, and relies on his athleticism to recover when his man gets the ball.
Good teams tend to punish this by making an extra pass, and his tendency to sag makes rest of the team cover for him. This is in sharp contrast to Shane Battier, who stays right in front of his man throughout, and therefore, forces the guys to make some difficult passes disrupting the offensive flow.
I hope Trevor learns that the two dunks that he might get from steals is not worth the mediocre defense for an entire game.
Kari
You are right in that Ariza plays defense very differently compared to Shane.
He gambles on steals, he plays off the ball in the passing lanes, etc. Now, that can mean that a player’s defensive contributions are much less than what his steal total would indicate.
But if you look at the +/- numbers over the past three or four years, you see that Ariza has been a great defender. His teams play significantly better defense while he is on the court. The fact is that his length and athleticism do allow him to play in the passing lanes while still covering his man. You can’t simply discount that.
Couple of interesting things tonight.
1. Nice to see McGrady out there, and just about when I thought we’d see him (I won’t explain my weird rationale again – just say that’s I’m happy to see him play.) He looked like a guy who hadn’t played in a while, but the sweet shot was there, with nice elevation, too.
2. Detroit looks to be a very good team soon, given that they were missing Gordon and Bynum. They feature an absurd number of 6’10ish guys, almost everywhere. That said, what do those guys do, exactly? What is their role? Also, and I’m looking at you Dave, where was the dangerous height advantage. Detroit ran a team that probably averaged 6’9" for much of the game, the Rockets countered with Brooks/Lowry running together. Who won?
3. Detroit seems to have imported Jerebko directly from that “A-Ha” video, but he looks like he can play. Good 2nd round pickup. 6’10" wings who can play are kind of nice to find. Why does it seem so many good players are coming from the 2nd round?
Detroit IS a GOOD team
but currently we are missing a leader to manage traffic & making plays on court; line up keep changing due to injuries. these are the things our 2004-2006 team has but lacked of now. we’ll come around. I have faith on them, & the rockets. :)
too bad Prince is not playing tonite, otherwise seeing him going head-to-head with Shane will be a thing of beauty…..
good games.
don't bully me, i am from the D(etroit)!!!
Well
I think Shane v Prince would be a battle of not scoring much – kind of like trying to force the opposing ends of two powerful magnets together.
Detroit has a lot more talent than most people give it credit for, but the offense probably needs to be more than running Hamilton off 3 screens, or letting Villanueva freelance it. That said, I’m always shocked at just how quick and smooth Rip’s release is, when I see it live. Honestly, if he keeps that release speed, and stays in shape, he could play until he’s 40 as a shooter off the bench.
younger and younger
They’re drafting younger kids and many more foreign players now, even compared to a few years ago. It’s just much harder to evaluate a player at 19 or who you’ ve never seen play against known competition, compared to someone who played 4 years in college. So you get more quality slipping through the cracks, I think.
I’m a T-mac fan and hope he can get his game to NBA caliber before then end of the allstar break so Ariza will be relieved of some of this offense.
I am thinking T-mac WILL indeed play this All star game somehow now that he is on the roster again…
What a great site to see. The only critique was his speed and quickness defensively following a player from a pick, and those free throws were cause of rust I hope. But he looked very happy just playing little minutes. Merry Christmas happy Hanukkah McGrady!
Chase gets his start, but I kinda feel for Carl.
He almost got to start some games back but Scola showed up to play.
Perhaps being a starter is overhyped in the NBA. The starting line-up ought to be more flexible depending on match-ups and who is playing better. As it is, you can’t move starters out because it would be a perceived “demotion” and deserving bench players continue to wait. I hope our coaching staff would be more flexible and tweak the starting five to rid ourselves of our slow starts.
By the way, TMac’s first game back does affirm what Adelman has been saying all along—he’s a ways off from being competitive. But this is an important first step. I hope TMac has not just rehabbed his body but also his game attitude. The Rockets stand for never giving up. I hope TMac from now on renews his love for the game and his love for his teammates. Rockets fans will be watching …
I thought T-mac was remarkably unselfish in the game last night. Only took a handful of shots, did a good job of passing the ball. Granted, it’s his first game back, but one can hope it’s a harbinger of things to come…
And considering what’s coming off the bench for Houston (Landry, Lowry, and Budinger, usually), and how effective they’ve been, especially Carl, I don’t know that being a starter is really that big of a deal on this team. Our bench has been fairly consistently better than the bench of whoever we’re playing.
Still dont like T-Mac
He really didn’t do too much last night; he was taking it very easy. He was not chasing his defender on defense, like Battier was on Rip. He was slow trying to defend on picks. I feel like he is no where close to being ready to plat at the level of hustle the Rockets play everyday.
On offense, he just kinds stood there and was just waiting for a pass to come his way. Then he misses 2 Free Throws. COME ON MAN! If there is something you can do while rehabbing a knee is practice free throws!
There are too many band wagon T-Mac fans. I cant stand his attitude and how hes embarrassed the Rockets telling things to the media first before the Rockets management. I cant stand the countless times he has “come back” saying he is 100% ready then later say he was playing with pain. Same old story and im tired of it!
On a side note.....
Great win Houston, I was at the game last night. I still cant believe how good Chase is as a rookie. He has very high basketball IQ and is very talented, he is playing like a 3rd year player would.
Brooks: Wow, the plays he was making were amazing. The pull back jump shot, the behind the back cross to the basket, the alley hoop to Budinger. Really solid game.
Scola: This guy is just a warrior, nuf said.
sounds like the baby needs his bottle.
first game back bro. from a MAJOR surgery.
"Welcome back T-Mac baby!!...I believe."
VY (to all his haters/doubters): "I love ya'll too!!"
"Titans & Texans fan, dont bug me w/your petty b.s., life's confusing enough."
by kg_2005 on Dec 16, 2009 3:56 PM CST up reply actions 1 recs
funniest thing
At the end of the first Q… the Rockets ran an iso play for Brooks — and not T-Mac — and McGrady looked at Adelman, stretched his arms out in a “what do I do?” pose and looked lost. He’s not used to being a secondary option at the end of quarters. I was highly amused.
It was nice to see the Rockets not feel compelled to defer to T-Mac, too.
It's the New Model Army - equality reigns - all men are equal before The Rule (which is playing smart basketball)
That may be a tough one to swallow for TMac. But I’m wondering if TMac isn’t a fiction that’s long gone. Tracy McGrady is probably going to adapt just fine, as the choice is, literally, adapt or disappear. And honestly? I think he’s going to like playing this way – he’s going to score a ton of easy points, just as long as he plays D.
What player who genuinely loves the game (and I believe McGrady does) wouldn’t want to play the way the Rockets are playing?
i think if he can learn....
that the road to success is not through him, adding an all star talent to the squad, we could be very dangerous…THIS YEAR!
"Welcome back T-Mac baby!!...I believe."
VY (to all his haters/doubters): "I love ya'll too!!"
"Titans & Texans fan, dont bug me w/your petty b.s., life's confusing enough."
Man if Chase improves on Defence this year
Next season look out!! He struggled against Rip on a few plays and then rip got going, then the put battier on him for a little leason for Chase to off….
Imagine how deep we will be if Chase becomes a solid defender, our bench will be tough to score on!!!
PG-LOWRY
SG-CHASE
SF-LANDY
PF- CHUCK
C- ANDERSEN
"We obviously didn’t know the scouting report that well on Andersen. We knew he’s a shooter but we didn’t see him play at that level." Phil Jackson on underestimating the aussie
then the put battier on him for a little leason for Chase to LEARN off….
"We obviously didn’t know the scouting report that well on Andersen. We knew he’s a shooter but we didn’t see him play at that level." Phil Jackson on underestimating the aussie
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