Post-game thoughts (Rockets/Jazz)
by grungedave on Mar 25, 2009 9:31 AM CDT
in Random Commentary
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PrintNot to be considered the post-game recap - I'm sure BBN will have that up sometime soon - but here are some post-game thoughts following the Rockets' most recent soul crushing defeat in Utah.
- Kyle Lowry may never play that bad again for the rest of his professional career. It was that ugly. So, that makes me hopeful next time we are in Podunkville, Utah (playoffs, perhaps?).
- I had no problem with the Kyle Lowry/Von Wafer "race up the court" moments in the 3rd and 4th quarters. I know Doug Collins did not understand why they kept running, but Coach Sleepy put them in to push the pace and maybe get easy layups. They usually make those shots, they just didn't last night. So be it.
- The charging call on what would have been a Von Wafer 3-point play was killer. Not only did it take away three points from the Rockets - it also made Von gun-shy. As shown in 10 seconds later when he had the ball in the open court. Grrrrrrr.
- After Yao's complaining about flopping the last time we were in Podunkville, I think the NBA noticed. Millsap and Brewer both tried to flop for a call... both times the refs swallowed their whistles. Amazing. The flip side is that the refs called NO fouls near the rim. The Jazz had 10 blocked shots, and on maybe 2 of them they actually blocked the ball and not someone's forearm or elbow. Maybe...
- I've never seen Battier and Artest make so many fundamental defensive mistakes in one game. Constantly turning their head and losing sight of the man they are guarding. Missing rotations. Just seemed to be a step slow the whole game. Maybe Artest was just dreaming about his next three-point attempt?
- Artest was abused by Brewer throughout the game.
- Crazy Pills has really got to stop being a black hole on offense.
- Brent Barry's three consecutive missed three-point attempts in the 1st half was depressing. Instead of a big Rockets' run, each miss led to easy Utah points. Yikes.
- Deron Williams is like... really good. Too bad he plays for Utah.
- Carlos Boozer is still a bitch.
- Stop settling for early three-point attempts! Give the ball to Yao and play inside-out. You'd be amazed how much easier it is to make three-point attempts after the defense has sagged onto Yao. It worked wonders for Hakeem. Why can't we use the same playbook!!?!?
- There's this guy on your team. His name is Luis Scola. You should really try to get him in the offense. Utah never has an answer for him, but he always gets frozen out by his own teammates in these games. And he's too nice to demand the ball. Please do not make me have to remind you of this again.
- I really, really hate the Utah Jazz
Utah fans may have their glory today. Yeah, yeah, you knocked the Rockets out of first place in the division. Woo hoo. Laugh it up. I still call scoreboard. And why? Because of this:
Houston Rockets
Utah Jazz
Someone is "up" 3 games in the win column. It's not Utah.
The better part? Utah still has to play a bunch of games on the road. Most against the elite of the Western Conference. Utah isn't exactly good on the road. In fact, they may not even be good enough to be mediocre on the road. (Utah is 0-2 in Houston this year, in case anyone forgot.)
So, yeah, if by chance the Rockets/Jazz meet up again in the playoffs... I'm all for it. Bring it on Utah.
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yeah
totally agree.
but after a while i was getting tired of seeing lowry and wafer push the ball. sometimes they took it when it was 1 on 3. yao was about to die.
rockets did everything right on paper. but defensively. could have been a lot better. and offensively of course. could have made those easy shots. or done the smart thing and give yao the ball. although whenever he got the ball. he seemed out of sync. i saw 2 shots where he didn’t even look at the basket.
if the rockets won this won. i wouldn’t complain about crazy pills shooting. i would just back him up by saying he had an overall good game. rebounding and assisting. but he did have a few wtf moments on defense. i.e. uncontested kirilenko dunk and the facial by ronny brewer.
I think the defense did fine
Despite Artest underperformance and some irritating switch-no-switch on the high screens,
we shot 35% all game long and still were able to close within 4 at some point in the fourth.
If we had that run on the fourth, when Willians was on the bench and the Jazz couldn’t score for minutes, instead of wasting possessions on hurried shots, they wouldn’t be so confortable late in the game and we would have a shot.
by Chuck DeBruce on Mar 25, 2009 10:02 AM CDT up reply actions
Two things
First, about our fast break. I have no problem with that, either, but Lowry/Brooks/Wafer have to understand that you can’t run it every time. In this game we had too many one-on-three, two-on-three, with a defender already waiting under the basket.
Second, the offense is running too much through Artest. And since he rarely passes to Yao or Scola (or anybody else) it’s a bad thing. His shot selection was terrible on this one. Even when he hit, it was like those McGrady-esque jumpers, when I hold my breath in desperation. (Not to mention all the “Wtf, Ron!?” shots.)
Agreed.
Ron Ron seems to be the ONLY player on the floor doesn’t want to get the ball to Yao first and play inside out. He seems to only dish to Yao when he drives, draws a double team and hands off for an easy Shaq-ie Chan dunk/lay up.
Other than that, he seems content with hoisting up off balance jumpers.
On a side note, it’s good to see Battier back in decent offensive form. He seemed to be keeping us in that game until the last couple of minutes.
by Artest4Prez on Mar 25, 2009 10:11 AM CDT up reply actions
I think
We were really missing Carl Landry last night. I think it would have changed the game a lot.
Well
Look at the bench scoring. We were missing a key guy. I’m not saying Houston would have won, but I think we really missed him last night.
Not true
but occasionally, the bench needs to contribute some points.
I’ve seen the Jazz win with little bench help offensively, but it’s a lot easier if someone on the bench is able to come on the court and score.
Look at combined PF scoring/rebounding averages
Scola and Landry are a platoon at PF, and one of them is typically poison for the opposition. Scola kills fundamentally weak or lazy defenders. Landry kills all but the most athletic PF. Look at their combined averages for 2008 and tell me Landry isn’t important.
I’m a huge Jazz fan because I was born in Utah and stayed there for only 8 years. I have always hated the Rockets because of the fans, but then again I am not saying Jazz fans are much better at all and I’m apologetic because of that.
The Jazz will still win it if the Rockets meet them in the playoff in my opinion, not because the Jazz are always better but the Jazz usually want it a lot more in the first round than the Rockets do. It’s always a great match-up in the playoffs.
By the way I know the Jazz lost twice in Houston this year but the first game in Houston Paul Millsap and Boozer were out along with Okur. That would be 3 of Utah’s top 4 scorers out for the game and they only lose by 5.
The next game the Jazz were still not in full strength Boozer was still out and Okur was recovering from a back injury. Again I know those sound like excuses but facts are fact and they were injured.
I live in Dallas and not in Utah. I am not a Mormon nor am I Caucasian. Just throwing that out there.
by JazzFanfromDallas on Mar 25, 2009 10:54 AM CDT reply actions
Come my friend
and partake of the good life at True Blue Jazz. It’s safe there.
We bleed True Blue.
www.truebluejazz.com
Just take out $22 million worth of players from your payroll for the the rest year and it’s all squared up.
Also, listen, there are methods out there to help you overcome your Jazz fandom. It’s not an addiction, it’s a disease, and treatment is available.
no...
Cause I saw that South Park… and syphilis killed Kenny.
though I wouldn’t doubt that the most bacteria-ridden place is the inside of a mouth of female Utah resident…
as an outsider
and obviously a knicks fan, i must say that utah sucks. except for the scenery. and even that sucks a little due to its being featured on the jazz uniform.
while the rockets and jazz are both light years ahead of my team, i give the nod to the rockets because they aren’t that horrible combination of boring, feckless, and annoying. at least houston WON something, a couple of times. stockton was a sweet player, though.
Anyway, you should check out the movie "Black and White," which actually stars Allan Houston. It’s not a comedy, but rather a really serious and emotional movie. - Wilson Chandler
by ny knickerbocker on Mar 25, 2009 11:17 AM CDT reply actions
ny knickerbocker...
One look at your bio tells me that you are anything BUT an outsider. You’ve listed that you’re a fan of the Astros, the Texans, the Longhorns, and the Knicks. This means you’re one of two things:
1) A New Yorker that is COMPLETELY cheating on your heritage with Houston teams (I lived in NY for years, No New Yorker would do this)
or
2) You’re a poser from Texas that instead of supporting the storied, and (admittedly) pretty legit local franchise, went off in search of a cooler team. Not knowing anything about basketball, you chose NY thinking they were a good team, but not knowing. Now, here you are, after watching the Knicks drop game after game, fighting for playoff position, you realize that the Rockets may have been the better choice.
Listen, maybe (doubtful) Rocket nation wants guys like you defending them and making inane runs at other teams (“Boring? Feckless? Annoying? Stockton was a sweet player though?” What are you talking about?), but as a Jazz fan, I’m stoked that a homer like you supports anyone but my franchise.
“As an "outsider…” please.
by boomgoesthedynamite on Mar 25, 2009 12:39 PM CDT up reply actions
by the way
even if either of your assertions were true, how would that make me a homer? rooting for teams from two different areas doesn’t exactly fit the bill. i love texas sports but i NEVER would have dropped the knicks (even when they really started to suck) just because the rockets were decidedly better.
listen, maybe (doubtful) Utah fans enjoy the company of women from time to time, but more likely you can go wack off to your life-size greg ostertag poster above your bed.
and yes. the jazz are all three things i said. to explain:
boring – other than deron, who on that team is an exciting player? boozer? brewer? korver? hardly. they are boring.
feckless – let’s see, 2 hof’ers, a supposedly great coach, never won a thing. still haven’t. feckless.
annoying – the image of mehmet okur pretty much sums this one up.
and yeah, i gave stockton credit, as i think it is due.
Anyway, you should check out the movie "Black and White," which actually stars Allan Houston. It’s not a comedy, but rather a really serious and emotional movie. - Wilson Chandler
by ny knickerbocker on Mar 25, 2009 1:25 PM CDT up reply actions
the utah jazz
i hate the utah jizz. boozer is a grade a douchebag. Okur looks like a beaver that got hit in the face by a truck. but, even with that said, they still won. so hats off to you. even if it’s just for one game. you’re still 3 games back. not much time left to catch up. tick tock tick tock.(i love run-on sentences)
sorry gang
(sorry if it seems a lot of comments are missing. I had to ban a member for inappropriate use of a word. It deleted all responses to his comments…)
Was wondering what happened.
Makes sense.
by boomgoesthedynamite on Mar 25, 2009 4:32 PM CDT up reply actions
All my awesome comments....
Gone….
It takes a big man to walk away, but a bigger man to break his freaking jaw!
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