Rockets v Bulls Game Thread

[bballmaniac27]

I agree T-mac helps the situation.

But seriously how hard is it to score 2-3 buckets when we had 17 point lead??? What happen to our defense.......... 34 points in the 4th by the Bulls.

Fronting is just part of the issue why we lost.

I think it might be a mental thing. We saw that we couldn't get good looks on the offensive end became discouraged and as a result lost our will on defense. Classic example of choking.

[Iggyemu]

I agree T-mac helps the situation.

But seriously how hard is it to score 2-3 buckets when we had 17 point lead??? What happen to our defense.......... 34 points in the 4th by the Bulls.

Fronting is just part of the issue why we lost.

I think it might be a mental thing. We saw that we couldn't get good looks on the offensive end became discouraged and as a result lost our will on defense. Classic example of choking.

The good ol days when defense fueled offense for us are long gone. Now when we don't score..we don't stop anyone either. IMO we are right now caught up in an identity crisis. We say we want defense to be our identity but we show something else on the court. We need to figure out how we are going to win games. Especially on the road.

[PocketRockets]

Bulls come down and jack up a shot...nothing you can really do about that...b/c these guys are so good they can basically get off a shot anytime...but you have to grab the miss!!! Off. Boards killed us all night and when we were close in the 1st half, I knew if we lost, that would be it. They are bigger than us at some positions but you have to hustle and grab the ball.

For the record, nobody is saying it's okay to lose or give up a lead that big, but it's also unrealistic to think that we can't lose. IF we got blown out that game, would we be any less mad? No, but as long as we fix the problems and get better, I think most of us will be happy. Back to the drawing board....

[TMACFORMVP]

Unfortunately we've been at the drawing board the past 5 years

[PocketRockets]

I wish we could transfer battier's bball IQ to all the other players also. The thing about when he leaves is that we have players like ron, wafer, etc that don't know how to play organized ball and how to run the gameplan. It always looks fun when it goes in, but damn...bad shot selection = bad shot, period.

[PocketRockets]

Unfortunately we've been at the drawing board the past 5 years

haha yeah, and we're running out of room to draw stuff

[Guy986]

This game is very depressing.....

Still trying to figure out how we blew that insurmountable lead.

[tisbee]

Rebounding is the Achilles Heel of the Rockets and until they get a rebound-gobbling machine they're going to continue losing games they should win and lose winnable Playoff Series.

W/both Landry and Hayes out,the Rockets went to Artest at the 4 to give Scola a break and that was a dismal failure. He got killed on the glass.

There are several ways to beat a fronting D. Swing the ball quickly weakside and backdoor the fronter. Move from low-post to the other low-post,helped by brush screens. Lobs. Penetration by guards that draws defense and a quick pass to the open Yao(an injured Rockets' specialty). Too bad the Rockets did none of them,evidently hoping Yao would gain some mystical energy from staying in place and that the fronter would suffer from ADD and wander off.

The Rockets are a poor passing team right now. It's not just their inability to throw decent entry passes to Yao. Several times Scola broke open near the basket and never got the ball. Artest is esp bad at recognizing a developing opening and making the pass at the right moment.

The coach put the ball in Artest's hands late and Artest failed badly. It's not the bad shots I'm po'd about,it's the continuing disregard for open teammates. On the last shot Wafer was wide open at the top of 3pt line and Ron either didn't see him(poor court vision) or refused to pass(either not trusting in Wafer-not good-or too wrapped up in being THE MAN-worse).

I've been extremely disappointed in Brooks since he's become the starter. Shooting comes and goes,but he's failing miserably at setting up his teammates. W/his speed he should be penetrating and kicking out w/regularity,yet I can't recall him doing it at all. Whereas Lowry has had a few nice passes off his penetration. Going to be an interesting battle in training camp next yr.

[smapor]

This game is very depressing.....

Still trying to figure out how we blew that insurmountable lead.

Stupid TO
Trying to Force it to Yao, when we just need to run the same offense for the 1-3 quarters
giving Bulls 19 offensive rebounds
AB needs more experience in the 4th
Artest thinking he is a hero, granted he had a good game overall
Poor Ric adjustments (playing Yao 18 mins straight in the 1st half, was weird), allowing DR to score 16 points in the 4th, not giving Deke any minutes when Yao was out.

Here is the semi-good news, even with a healthy T-mac rockets have had these issues. LOL so its not a surprise, not even sure why we are suprised. One of these days, Rockets will learn with this new roster.

In reality, we all want to blame this either Artest, Yao and even T-mac in the past. Truth is, these type of failures is a team failure when you lose a huge lead like this. Everybody from Coach, assistant coach to players.

In defense of Artest, he should of never had to take 3 3point attempts to tie the game or win it. Rockets should of won this game by double digits.

Personally i think its more of a mental thing, because Rockets have lost these sort of games, i think they already jinxed themselves when they were talking about the need to win on the road. Rockets just panicked when they realize they may lose this game.

[tha_rock220]

What a **** load of cockadookie. Artest looked like Mike James at the end. God forbid he get rid of the ball. I mean how could they not get the ball inbounds at the end. Jeez, Yao is 7-6, throw it to him next time. As for Yao, I'm tired of watching him get his ass waxed by guys like Joakim Noah.

[smapor]

Why I still love Artest.

"I take the blame for the loss," Artest said. There were things I could have done to help us sustain the lead we had. I definitely take the blame. We made a lot of progress, we just had a bad fourth quarter.

"It (the problem with fronting defenses) is something that can be fixed. They played hard. Fronting Yao is going to work. Teams will do that. We have to make sure we have something to counter it to make them come out of it."

Shane's comments on getting the ball to Yao.

"There were times Yao got position we did not hit Yao and we didn’t score. It’s not all on Yao. It’s on perimeter guys to get him the ball."

Too bad after 3/4 seasons we still have fronting issues.

[YoungMoney23]

There were many things wrong with this game

1. Brent Barry just flat out sucks
2. Ron taking bad shot after bad shot
3. Yao getting his ass handed to him by inferior players again
4. Brooks couldn't hold onto the ball at all in the 4th
5. Shot selection was terrible at times
6. We got smashed on the boards like we always do when we really need a stop
7. Wafer's itchy trigger finger

Hate to sound like captain obvious but there is plenty of blame to go around

[TMU]

Can't win games on the road. What's new? Again, this team has issues.

The ball pressure on Rose was pathetic and Artest was playing Larry Bird to a whole new level.

But we lost largely because we couldn't get defensive boards. Yao was pathetic on the boards last night. People talk about his turnovers and his occasional miscues on the defense, but rebounding is his biggest issue right now. He had only 7 defensive boards while Thomas and Noah combined for 9 offensive boards.

[Amel]

Why I still love Artest.

"I take the blame for the loss," Artest said. There were things I could have done to help us sustain the lead we had. I definitely take the blame. We made a lot of progress, we just had a bad fourth quarter.

"It (the problem with fronting defenses) is something that can be fixed. They played hard. Fronting Yao is going to work. Teams will do that. We have to make sure we have something to counter it to make them come out of it."

Shane's comments on getting the ball to Yao.

"There were times Yao got position we did not hit Yao and we didn’t score. It’s not all on Yao. It’s on perimeter guys to get him the ball."

Too bad after 3/4 seasons we still have fronting issues.

you mean this quote from Battier?

You have to take their pressure and use it against them,” Shane Battier said. “They were overly aggressive. We did not react well to their pressure. We have to do a better job of swinging the basketball. Yao has to do a good job of sealing. And we need to deliver the ball to him. There were times Yao got position we did not hit Yao and we didn’t score. It’s not all on Yao. It’s on perimeter guys to get him the ball.”

[TMACFORMVP]

I didn't realize McGrady was AT the game?

[moofs]

I think I have this right...

1. 6 game winning streak
2. 1 loss
3. B****, B****, B****, B****, B****, B****, B****