[Season Opener] Memphis Grizzlies at Houston Rockets 7:30pm

[Iggyemu]

On Rafer.. please note other than Yao, he has the highest +/- rating in this game meaning when he is in the game, rockets outscore the opponent by 15 pts despite all the defficiencies. This is a team game and as long the team perform better with his presence, Rafer can keep playing for rockets.

I am sure it is. He plays defense...he doesn't turn it over. The thing about it is that on this particular team he is a liability b/c of his erratic jumper. Its not that he can't make it like Guy said...he is very hot and very cold and if he happens to be cold on a particular night he kills our entire offense because who else are we gonna play at that position? If Brooks was 3 inches taller he would be our starter...I guarantee you. The only thing keeping him behind Alston is his size and how it relates to his defense.

Nobody dictates how our offense will fear on a given night moreso than Alston because teams will completely leave him uncovered. When he makes it...we roll b/c now he isn't a liability. When he doesn't..we struggle offensively. Thats just too much of a responsibility for the 5th best player on the court for your team to have. And teams will continually make him make shots.

Look we are a good defensive team and a lot of that has to do with him. But we are an inconsistent offensive team because of him. As we have seen in the playoffs...a top 2-3 defense just isn't good enough. You have to be efficient offensively. And we aren't...because of Alston's shooting and us not having a single guy behind him that can help him. This to me is just as much Alston's fault for not being able to shoot as it is management's for not addressing the backup role behind him.

[Guy986]

Also i think Yao played very sluggish. Stat wise he's had a great night 21/10. But he played like crap. Can't establish position on Pau Gasol's barbaric brother? Take away some of those gimme free throws, he played a subpar game.

That "Barbaric" brother is what the Laker's really gave up to get Pau. Remember that... I wouldn't mind having Mark Gasol on our team.. Infact I think he'll be better than Greg Oden (always something wrong and won't every be able to play) in the long run.. Mark Gasol is probably already a top 7 big man in this league.. Great rookie start for a big man...

If by top 7 big men, you mean he's one of the 7 fattest in the league. Then i agree.

[moofs]

Yeah, I gotta admit that in light of that, the Lakers got nowhere near the steal they were credited for by everyone, self included. They did get someone PROVEN, but at a similarly higher salary.

[moofs]

http://basketball.realgm.com/src_wireta ... e_on_shaq/

HAHHAHAHAHAH

http://ca.youtube.com/watch?v=-S_soY5Jg_Q

[TMACFORMVP]

Ugly win, I'll take it, but we'll be 1-1 real fast tomorrow if we play anything like we did tonight.

Our offense was atrocious, Mac didn't hit two shots in a row all game, Artest was alright, and Yao failed to get position and our ball-handlers really made no attempt to get him the ball. It shows a lot of how good he is, being able to miss two dunks, and still get 21/10. Alston was pathetic, but hit the big shot in the end which pretty much iced the game. Just overall we looked real confused out there, bad passes, no real sense of a game-plan, not able to get into Yao, Mac missing some chip shots and Artest taking some bad shots. The offense should hopefully become more crisp and efficient as time goes by, but the sooner the better especially considering our upcoming schedule and the fact we won't be playing the Grizzlies every night.

Defensively we were alright, I was a little concerned with our defense after the pre-season, but that's still our root. We didn't come off screens well, have to get better in that regard and it really seemed like Gay had a much better game than his stats indicated, he ended up shooting 9-22 from the field, so Artest despite it not seeming that way was able to slow him down to an extent. I must admit though, he gambles a lot on the defensive end, Battier is still clearly our best man defender, Artest might be more valuable defensively because of his versatility and weakside help, but if I had to choose on who to lock down an opposing WING player, it'd have to be Battier.

We still need that change of pace guy off the bench, it was clear when we went to our bench, nothing productive came of it, I'd assume when Brooks/Battier come back it'd improve, but still a cause of concern going forward since Brooks really hasn't proven anything yet besides having a nice pre-season.

And our rebounding was poor, Scola and Yao did well on the boards, but Mac and Artest not so much, and we let guys like Gasol just dominate us on the glass, especially on the offensive boards (haven't checked the stats, just going by from what I saw, so maybe not that big a differential). We've always been a pretty solid, near top rebounding teams so it was surprising to the effect that we struggled in that aspect.

We have a long ways to go, it's expected, but I'm just hoping to see a much better effort tomorrow against the Mavs, not only just to show improvement, but get another win. Get Yao in the post and PASS him the ball, play Mac in the high mid-range area and be able to operate on the block as well from time to time (he had his moments, able to get his man in the air and back em down, but overall, wasn't able to finish at the high rate he was supposed to), and Artest being the main man while Mac and Yao are on the bench, (ridiculous how Artest had scored around 4 straight and had Lowry on him, but Head drove it in and threw up a hook shot which obviously bricked). Just a real pathetic performance on offense, lol. Artest is also at his best when he get ISO's from time to time on the block as well, one thing we really have to learn is to be able to recognize the mis-matches, when you have three players of the caliber of Mac, Yao and Artest, there will always be a mismatch on the floor, it's their job and their teammates to figure that out.

[Amel]

decent win

glad Artest is doing well

and Yaoza is becoming a magician, sweet

[KiDdFrESh]

It was an ugly win by Houston but Ill take it !!!

[dunleavyjr]

Is there a torrent download for this game?

[aznkillabeezZz]

i think you can watch the game on nba broadband archives.. its still free, you just need to sign up nba.com.. nba league pass broadband.

[MaxRider]

one thing i like to see in this game
Darrell Arthur is going to be a good PF in this league (hate it when i was right)
anyway we ended up with Artest with that pick so ...

[tha_rock220]

was it just me or did it seem like artest liked to gamble a lot??? he tried to get steals from guys as they went around him rather than staying in front of them and he went after a lot of passes that left him out of position if he didn't get it.

[TMACFORMVP]

Yeah, I noticed that ALOT too, he seemed to gamble nearly on every play.

[ShaY]

one thing i like to see in this game
Darrell Arthur is going to be a good PF in this league (hate it when i was right)
anyway we ended up with Artest with that pick so ...

Yeah I like him a lot too , I also really wanted Mario Chalmers instead of Dorsey and it looks like he turns out good.

[TMU]

one thing i like to see in this game
Darrell Arthur is going to be a good PF in this league (hate it when i was right)
anyway we ended up with Artest with that pick so ...

Yeah I like him a lot too , I also really wanted Mario Chalmers instead of Dorsey and it looks like he turns out good.

These type of posts never cease to amaze me...

[TMU]

2 things:
1. Defense was fine except for giving up too many offensive boards.
2. Poor offense originated from a terrible ball-movement.

[Iggyemu]

was it just me or did it seem like artest liked to gamble a lot??? he tried to get steals from guys as they went around him rather than staying in front of them and he went after a lot of passes that left him out of position if he didn't get it.

All good stealers of the ball gamble. He is gonna gamble with Yao back there. But his defense on Gay was great last night. Rudy was just making shots. Those were tough shots he was making...he is gonna have himself a great season. But when it counted he handled Gay and shut him down late in the game.

So the moral of the story...Artest will gamble..but when its winning time and he needs to lock a guy down he will do that.

[Ballings7]

I also think because Ron was hyped up for the first game, he gambled more than he usually does, which he typically doesn't quite as much as he did last night. Having watched him over the past 4-5 years.

However, regardless, like Iggyemu said, 2nd half, 4th qtr, Ron's going to be more solid defensively.

Also Ron gets steals on the ball a lot more than others, who do it more off the ball. He's also a tremendous stealer of the ball, anyway, and is legitimate in going for most of them when he does.

I'm so happy for him to be in this situation, and he played a solid two-way game last night, his defense on Gay (from what I got to see) was nice

I just love that he finally has a credible, consistent team defense around him again. Not since 06, and of course this is a level better.

[MaxRider]

one thing i like to see in this game
Darrell Arthur is going to be a good PF in this league (hate it when i was right)
anyway we ended up with Artest with that pick so ...

Yeah I like him a lot too , I also really wanted Mario Chalmers instead of Dorsey and it looks like he turns out good.

These type of posts never cease to amaze me...

It's not meant to amaze you. Just posts showing that we are pretty good scout

[tha_rock220]

was it just me or did it seem like artest liked to gamble a lot??? he tried to get steals from guys as they went around him rather than staying in front of them and he went after a lot of passes that left him out of position if he didn't get it.

All good stealers of the ball gamble. He is gonna gamble with Yao back there. But his defense on Gay was great last night. Rudy was just making shots. Those were tough shots he was making...he is gonna have himself a great season. But when it counted he handled Gay and shut him down late in the game.

So the moral of the story...Artest will gamble..but when its winning time and he needs to lock a guy down he will do that.

perfect evidence that lots of steals =/= great defense. battier plays great defense because his goal is to stay in front of his man and get a hand in his face when he shoots. not to see artest or other guys who get a lot of steals don't do this. it just seemed like artest was letting gay go by him so he could reach for the ball too much.