Rockets come back to edge "San Francisco" Warriors 111-109, move to 11-8 on the season
by grungedave on Dec 4, 2009 11:25 AM CST
in Random Commentary
55 comments
I'm conflicted about last night's game.
On one hand, the third quarter was highly entertaining. If I didn't have a rooting interest in the game. Golden State simply did not miss when they attempted to put the ball in the basket from behind that arbitrary semicircle painted 24' from the rim. The midget wearing red/white did his best to answer right back - and was admirable in his attempts - but the Warriors turned a 7 point halftime deficit into a 6 point 4th Q lead. The Rockets' 3rd Q defense was non-existent. As a Rockets fan, this is bad. Very bad.
On the other hand, the Rockets showed heart and grit by overcoming a 10 point deficit with 9 minutes and change left to go in the game. At times it even seemed like it was 5 on 8... with Brooks and Lowry getting pushed around but no whistles to follow. (An argument could also be made that it looked like it was 4 on 9 given that Trevor Ariza did whatever he could to kill the Rockets' momentum with turnovers and bad shot selection.)
In the end, the Rockets pulled through... made timely free throws, and escaped with the all-important W. I guess that is all that matters. So there's your game recap. But then..........
This Rockets team is troubling to me. They simply are not that good.
There. I said it.
Coach Sleepy employs a typical 9 man rotation. Of these 9 players, none would be a first or second option on offense for any of the other likely playoff teams. Don't get me wrong -- I love the contributions made by Brooks, Scola, Landry, Lowry, Ariza (sometimes), and Battier. I'm also really impressed by the Albino Shadow's first 19 games as a rookie. But this is an 11-8 team that often looks out-of-sorts on the court.
Yes, the Rockets can beat teams like Golden State. And the Clippers. And the Durants... blah, blah, blah. When faced with legitimate competition, however, the Rockets simply cannot match up. The one win against the Lakers came only after Artest challenged the power of karma. Beyond that, there are bad losses to the Spurs, the Mavericks, the Hawks and the Suns. And a totally unexplainable loss to the freakin' Kings.
90% of the time, the Rockets' offense consists of the following: Brooks or Ariza takes ill-advised shot... Scola/Landry/Hayes or Lowry gets offensive rebound and a quick put-back against a surprised defense. 2 points. Very rarely do I see much of a set-play being run. I see a lot of running and a lot of hustle and energy. But I don't see much in the way of organization. This is why the Rockets simply can't match up against the Spurs or Mavericks. Those teams have a gameplan, and they execute it. They know exactly what they are doing when they get the ball. And on defense, they are far less likely to allow the Rockets to get offensive rebounds (the Rockets' #1 ranking in offensive rebounding has been acquired by beating up on bad teams.)
In contrast, does anyone really think Brooks or Lowry has a "plan" when they set up the offensive possession? To me it seems they just want to run, create chaos and hope that they find someone open. This often results in turnovers. (Which is how the Warriors built that 10 point lead to begin with.)
Basically, the Rockets look like a high-school JV team looking to impress the coach of the varsity team by playing hard. This works periodically... and the Rockets have just enough talent to compete against mediocre teams. It especially works early in the season when everyone is happy and healthy. I'm enjoying it while I can.
What concerns me is when the grind of the 82 game season starts to set in. This is when the bumps and bruises begin to add up... players stop hustling 100% of the time... mental errors become more frequent... and the inability to have a fundamentally-sound offensive set comes back to bite you in the rear. This is also why I still think the Rockets finish 35-47. If this keeps up, when they start playing more division rivals and the elite teams of the East - the Rockets are going to be exposed. And this makes me sad.
... it's not like we expect Battier to block six shots every game. Or do we?
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Sometimes I get the feeling that you're actually a hater under the guise of a fan...
But don’t get me wrong , I know the high level dedication you have towards the team and its probably just my annoyance of having it rain on my party but its just that you always seem to feel the need to inject some negativity, in every issue(start of the season, t-mac coming back, regarding ariza, the team’s level of talent, etc.). Thanks for the reality check though, I know you do it to keep us grounded but why not some optimism for a change? Its too early to feel sad when there are currently more teams worse off than we are and deserve that right more. No, we actually don’t have that right, not when we’re still over .500 which is actually painfully just currently 3 losses away. We need more breathing room. And also the hawks game wasn’t that bad a loss actually, but still a loss is a loss.
hey
I am optimistic when there is reason to be.
I am just a fan of solid fundamental basketball. Last night’s game was nothing but a glorified scrimmage and it pisses me off.
Golden State lured us into their world of suck, and we fell for it. Troubling, but not catastrophic.
Then we woke up, played D, made generally smart plays and won the game. Despite the fact that there was no hack of our driving guards too egregious to call.
I honestly think the Rockets were loafing around, then realized that GS was making every 3pt it shot.
I think, rather than being worse than you think, this team may be better than you think – they believe they can half-ass it and beat GSW and LAC. And they almost can. Not quite – they had to try in the end.
also
Check out our blog mantra again:
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The Dream Shake: Dedicated to all things Houston Rockets. Past, present and future. Expect criticism, commentary and shameless promotions to get Robert Horry into the Hall of Fame.
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nowhere in there does it say you can expect me to blow sunshine up their ass. That’s what the Chron is for.
Yes, I did realize that after I posted it.
I thought about it and if you don’t take these views, no one will. I guess you do provide the other side of the card when it comes to these things.But still, i say its too early when were still winning. Then again, everyone will be saying the same thing when we do start losing and we’ll lose having both sides of the card again. Still, I want to keep on winning.
that I can agree with
Winning is good. I want them to keep winning. Games like last night falling into the category of “games we probably should have lost” though. ;-)
offense
Landry, Brooks, Scola are all better second options for Miami, and they’re a playoff team…
I wouldn’t say they only have enough talent to beat bad teams. I would put the main focus on the need for a real offensive system. I’m confident these guys are smart enough to run one if we had one…AB admitted himself that he wanted to go iso on the last play last night because he knows he’s turnover prone during the pnr, but they should at least focus on running it a bit more every night. I feel the “experiment” of teaching Brooks to run the pnr with Landry or Scola is at least more worthy than molding Ariza into a first option when he’s the fourth (at best) halfcourt offensive player on the team.
How are Scola, Landry or Brooks not primary offensive players?
Because the right D can shut them down? As far as I can see, there are maybe 5 players in the NBA who can’t be shut down by the right D. I sometimes think you are criticizing this team for not being superstars.
Honestly, who cares whether some team would make Brooks its #1 scoring option, if OUR TEAM is a top 5, or top 10 offense?
Because a team of stars, way,( way, way) over the cap can beat them in the playoffs? Well, who can beat that team? Our bunch came the closest of all the contenders.
Honestly, who cares whether some team would make Brooks its #1 scoring option, if OUR TEAM is a top 5, or top 10 offense?
I totally agree with this.
But, the Rockets aren’t currently a top-10 offense. They’re a top-15 offense. Now, that’s not bad or anything. The fact that the Rockets are getting that kind of offensive production this year without Yao would appear to the casual observer to be astounding. Personally, I think they can do better than that.
By SRS, the Rockets are the 8th-best team in the West right now. In the standings, they’re 7th. Dave’s right in that the Rockets aren’t a great team, but they’re a good one.
it'll be close
i don’ t think we’ll stay at 13 we’ll probably finish around 15-16, which isn’t terrible, but it’s probably not a playoff team either.
We began the season ranked 10th in the division and outside of the play-off cut. To be very objective about it, in sports where objectivity doesn’t mean everything, we are just about that, 10th ranked. We are now running 7th, with the first 6-7 slots conceeded to the elite teams. Don’t see any reason to complain at all.
Yeah, 18 games is far different from 82, i doubt, yet i hope, that we can hold on to this 7th forever. The competition will get tougher as we progress into the season. Still, there’s reason to be optimistic. We have played more division games than any other team in the west, meaning a lot of eastern teams, weaker teams, we can pick up wins from. Aside from the fact that teams tend to not mind losing to the other division teams as much as they would for the same division. The play-off cut might be a factor here.
I still believe we make it to the play-offs, 7th or 8th wouldn’t make much of a difference as there’s no way the depleted rocket 09 can beat a super team in a seven game series where so much is at stake. Not bad really, for a team originally ranked 10, maybe even 12th.
in sports where objectivity doesn’t mean everything
Actually, I think sports is one area in life where subjectivity is totally meaningless. All that matters, in the end, is the team’s win-loss record.
Well, not quite.
Sure, there is one ultimate, objective standard of success – winning a title. But for 29 other NBA teams, that standard will not be achieved. Is every non-championship season a failure? In some sense, yes. But I think, for example, that if the Rockets were eliminated in the 2nd round of the playoffs again this year, with this team, we’d consider it a success, despite not achieving ultimate satisfaction.
Also, I think we have as much or more fun being subjective about sports than we do being objective. We care about heart, or style of play, technical sweetness, or good sportsmanship, manliness, creativity, or intelligent use of data to win. The reason I love sports is that the unexpected, and sometimes exceptional, can happen.
So, yes, the results are completely objective. So is weather data, but how we feel about 75 degrees and sunny is legitimately and importantly different than how we feel about 103 and 98% humidity.
Or 15th according to a certain TNT analyst who will go nameless
But this team should be fun to watch. You’re right, they don’t take plays off. And that is why I LOVE THIS ROCKETS TEAM. Yeah, Ariza’s got a little Rafer-itis, but he’s being asked to do something he’s not used to. Brooks and Landry always had the potential to put up numbers like they are now, and Budinger should have been a first rounder. And of course, Luis Scola’s a solid pro…14/9 is better than nothing guys, though I’d like him to up that to 15-16/10 by the end of the year.
B^2
In Daryl Morey, Rick Smith and Ed Wade we (usually) trust.
i disagree
We have have the hardest SOS of any team this year, so far, and still currently sit 3 games above .500. The only bad losses we have had this season were @POR, @DAL, and DAL. You could argue PHO as well but I thought we played well that game they just shot like 60%. The Hawks game was not a “bad” game from the Rocket’s perspective, it was close till about 5 minutes left, then it became a blowout, then they needed a tip in with .7 seconds left to win it, that was in ATL too. They obviously are going to look really bad at times(missing 60% of payroll), but the times they look really good it gives me glimpses of what their potential is. They will win at least 48 games this season.
The elite teams of the east?? We play BOS and ORL twice, it’s not like this is going to be a deluge of games. At most we lose 4?
yet, but
4 games is going to be the difference between the playoffs and the lottery for us.
This is not a team with much margin for error.
yes, but
what is the real difference between a playoff berth and the lottery for this team? we would most likely be 6-8 seeds playing against the nuggest, mavs, or lakers, which would most likely be a first round exit anyways. as long as they stay entertaining, develop the core group of guys and compete nightly I don’t care if we are 9th or 8th seed.
i completely agree
we’re not a very good team. we’re an average team that plays our hearts out every night. once we start going around league for the third and fourth time, we’re going to have nights where we can’t put forth 110% and other teams are going to realize that beating us just requires a little bit of work. i love this team to the death, enjoy watching them play and am amazed at how well they have done, but i don’t think you can honestly say that we’re an elite team. i think we finish with around 32-36 wins
What else are they supposed to do?
With the current roster they have, they have to play the type of game they are playing.
Unless they can trade for a true number 1 guy (which looks unlikely) then Rocket fans have to wait until next season for any real chance to make a run at the title once Yao returns, hopefully 100% healthy.
In the meantime, our young players are getting a lot of good experience they may not have gotten if we had a healthy Yao and a healthy T-Mac around. This should benefit the team in the future.
I know it can be frustrating to go from having a contending team (like they have had in the recent past) to the type of squad they have now. But those are the breaks. You can either deal with it and just enjoy watching the games, knowing that the team should benefit from having young guys logging heavy minutes and getting lots of experience or you can be sullen and nitpick and decide to be a pessimist about the present.
Whatever floats your boat. I intend to support the team and patiently wait for this season’s sacrifice to benefit the team for 2011 and beyond…
I had to stop arguing with drunks, Steeler fans, and all other fools.
It was making my brick wall jealous...
there's a breaking point though
I can deal with the “youthful exuberance”… which includes careless turnovers and missed defensive assignments from time to time. What really irks me is when they go play with seemingly no game plan. No set plays. No real approach on defense. And even when they build leads… it’s almost inevitable that they give them away because they have no team fundamentals to fall back on. THAT is infuriating.
So I enjoy watching the guys “grow up” before me, but I don’t have to enjoy the mistakes that could easily be corrected or prevented.
yeah..
what? grungedave you never enjoy anything in life do you?
you could never piss me off.
seems you were right about Mac though. gonna be bad when he wins a championship with another team*frowny face*
Mac? unlikely
T-Mac is quite possibly going to follow the Allen Iverson career path exit. When he realizes he’s not the #1 option for even a crappy team anymore, McGrady may decide that retirement is a better option…
so you mean he is going to retire for 1 week
then get an offer from the team he has the most history with.. the Rockets?
yeah but he is most beloved in..
Houston. :D
b/c he upset too many people in Orlando
B^2
In Daryl Morey, Rick Smith and Ed Wade we (usually) trust.
But this is the season for the team to make those kinds of mistakes.
If they are making those types of mistakes next year then I see it as a problem. Most young players make mistakes due to inexperience and the fact that they are usually trying to get by on talent alone. Experience teaches the players who become very successful to rely on more than just pure talent. They learn to use their heads, too.
Like I said before, I think a lot of their mistakes are due to ‘’growing pains’‘. If they are still making these types of miscues after this season, then there’s a problem. For now, I look upon them as part of the process of becoming experienced.
They are a very young team that plays a fun to watch style of basketball. Could be worse. They could be playing that awful NY Knicks-style of b-ball from the mid-1990s…
I had to stop arguing with drunks, Steeler fans, and all other fools.
It was making my brick wall jealous...
by steeler-hater on Dec 5, 2009 1:27 PM CST up reply actions
agreed. 200%
and when that happens.. we are rock solid ROCKET team that have a greater chance of
bringing back the dream of winning the elusive Title again….. Keep it rolling .. enjoy and put up more W’s..
from the mood in here......
it feels like we lost night. damn, i understand breaking it down, but how about just being happy that we lost. ppl talked about how its just gonna be a learning experience for our guys until next year, then why are ppl acting like we had both our all stars in the game last night? alot of our guys have some learning to do, it is still very early in the season and were doing pretty decent. how about a LITTLE bit of credit, especially for the midget that helped us stay in the game. GO ROCKETS! (were still allowed to write that in here right?)
"Waiting for the return of the Mac"
"Let VY loose, give him the chance to play his heart out. for himself, for the titans...and for mcnair"
"Titans & Texans fan, dont bug me w/your petty b.s., life's confusing enough."
"just being happy we won.....
edit button plz.
"Waiting for the return of the Mac"
"Let VY loose, give him the chance to play his heart out. for himself, for the titans...and for mcnair"
"Titans & Texans fan, dont bug me w/your petty b.s., life's confusing enough."
hell yes!
GO ROCKETS!
(I’m happy for the win, just not happy with how we got the win – if that makes sense)
yeah i get you......
this is a team that were supposed to beat, but at the same time they do have some talent over there. still we should have won by more and not let leads evaporate so quickly. but trev and abz get no love from the refs (along with others), how many time have they driven to the basket or taken a shot that any other all star bench rider would get a foul called??? and if you accumulate alot of those and1’s (b/c they usually make the shot regardless) or non calls, thats alot of potential points from the FT line that were not even getting a chance to see. one quest for you GD, what was up with the pops deal, didnt get the actual real story of why hes back in toronto?
"Waiting for the return of the Mac"
"Let VY loose, give him the chance to play his heart out. for himself, for the titans...and for mcnair"
"Titans & Texans fan, dont bug me w/your petty b.s., life's confusing enough."
This is also Golden State we're talking about
Lest we forget they’re the team that beat a better, more methodical Dallas team (in Dallas) with only a 6-man rotation, and no head coach to boot.
Granted, your post is about the Rockets’ season as a whole and the way you see it playing out. I’m just saying that this is Golden State’s M.O. and that probably (over?)emphasized the point you’re making here.
I once heard Clyde Drexler describe Adelman's motion offense
when they were together in Portland. His motion offense has a number of sets which allows players freedom to choose from several options. Clyde said some players didn’t thrive under this because they preferred clearly delineated set plays but Clyde said he liked being able to ad lib.
I think that’s what we are seeing in the Houston offense. It’s not that we don’t have sets, they’re moving according to basic patterns but the players are free to choose what they think are good shots. Now that will work if the players know and trust each other to move somewhat in sync, or are shooting decently. Otherwise it can be ugly.
So what we have is the half-court motion offense, the transition offense, the iso, and the pick and roll, and of course the play off the offensive rebounds.
One more description of Adelman’s offense is he caters to the strengths of his players. He tells them to do what they’re good at and comfortable with. I think we have a bunch of happy players as a result.
Your bromance with JVG is showing again.
I’ve been thinking about this. You don’t actually LIKE scoring, do you? You really do prefer the JVG 77-73 final score iso-paintdrying-rock-grinder offense, don’t you?
Even though our D (with Yao, mind you) stayed almost as good as JVG with Adelman, and the offense improved notably, and we, you know, won a playoff series and had a record setting winnings streak, you’re still not sold. Am I right?
what a shot by kobe to win the game tonight...
what did yall over here think about it??
It was a superstar play which no current Rocket can make.
by VBG on Dec 5, 2009 2:48 AM CST up reply actions
the situation is not anything to get upset about
Can you really say that pre-season you had hopes this team would be better than it has been? They’re on pace for 47-48 wins.
The rockets are underdogs with a limited ceiling who play hard every night and have a chance to win every game. That’s a team i can get behind and enjoy rooting for.
Other than the 2 Dallas games, they really haven’t had bad losses. It’s possible that the Mavs are just an especially bad matchup for us.
what I am upset about it simple
I underrated this team going into the season… this I admit. They have more talent and skill than I had imagined. Even with a 6’4" center.
BUT – they are playing very sloppy these last two weeks. Taking ill-advised shots, turning it over, not rotating on defense, not getting defensive rebounds etc. It’s allowed both the Clippers and the Warriors to stay in games they had no business competing in.
This bothers me. When a team plays sloppy in December — it only gets worse in January and February as the grind of a long season sets in.
I agree with the sloppy part.
My “half full” theory is that they have figured out that they can screw around and still beat the GSW. But they aren’t the Lakers, they can’t just turn on the jets anytime, I agree. And it will cost them if it keeps up. I know they take Portland very seriously, so tonight will tell us more than LAC and GSW.
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