Post#7 » by x- » Sat Oct 16, 2010 2:24 pm
Things I took away from the two Nets games:
The team looked pretty good.
Especially in game two they did a good job pushing the tempo and getting into the offense early in the shot clock.
The double team traps the Rockets worked on during training camp already forced a few turnovers and got Avery Johnson so mad he instantly called a time out once Brook Lopez got traped on back to back possesions.
The offense was executed better, the spacing was better, they did a good job moving the ball and while the transition defense still leaves a lot left to be desired, overall the defense looked solid.
That said it was against a still pretty crappy Nets team. The Rockets won't get the same looks against the good defensive teams and some teams will burn them for going under the screens the way they did at times, but that might have been gameplan related.
What really bugs me out are some of the stupid shots Martin and Brooks take at times.
30 footers with 14 seconds left on the shotclock (Brooks), forced/overagressive penetration à la Lowry (Brooks) and contested shots of off iso's (Martin) might be meaningless in games against bad teams, but against playoffs teams those shots can be the reason you lose a game.
Really any possession with Martin isolated or just going one on one is a failure in my eyes. The guy might have worse handles than Shane Battier for crying out loud. It baffles me every time he does score off an isolated play, though that almost never seems to happen. I was happy to see him move the ball quicker and more often though.
I liked what Hill did in the few minutes he got to play. I thought he played solid defense both on and offense the ball and made good decisions on offense.
Not sure why Adelman subbed him out so quickly in the first game and went with Patterson, who has all the tools to be a 12/10 guy, though still has a lot to learn. At times the game seems a little fast for him, but that's to be expected. He'll have to work on his jumper, not because it's inaccurate, but because his form makes it tough to shoot when pressured. What he already does real well is running the floor and boxing out. Once the game slows down for him he'll get high percentage shots every game just by running the floor (and getting deep post position).
I hate the fact that Jeffries appears to be ahead of Hill in the rotation. He brings nothing to the game Hill doesn't and every good play he makes is followed by at least two bad/dumb ones. He looked solid against the Nets in the first game, but that was against terrible defense and he was hitting open shots, which normally isn't the case with Effries. Game two was a display of Jeffries limitations. Bad passes, missing wide open shots and making defensive mistakes. Players like him contribute more to your team losing than do to winning.
Yao looks like he's in pretty good shape. I'm not sure I've ever seen him run down the floor that fast. Slimming down and being on a time limit seems to benefit him a great deal. I also thought he moved around a lot better than in the first few games. He's still pretty slow in his lateral movement, but it's not like that was one of Yao's strength to begin with. Though it is something he'll have to work on, because as of right now his post defense (especially from the mid/high post) is one of the bigger weaknesses of the Rockets defense. Also tough to defend will be any curl screens, pick&roll/pop plays with Yao's man as the screener, but really that's no news either.
Battier played well, directing the offense, hitting open shots, moving the ball and of course playing Battier-like defense.
The same can be said about Hayes, whose offensive aggression lead to eight free throw attemps in game two, which is a career high.
I was against the Brad Miller signing initially, but he looked good out there. Against certain matchups I'd probably still prefer a Hill/Hayes combo, but I won't complain as long as Jeffries doesn't play.
Budinger missed some shots he'd normally make, but I liked his aggressiveness. Him, Lowry and Lee complement each other very well and will make for quite an awesome wing combo off the bench.
Again, I'd still like to see Courtney Lee handle the ball not as much. Creating just isn't his game. I'm sure they'll figure that out eventually.
In short the team is playing at a pretty high level already and seems to get better with each game. If they continue improve, cut out some of the (minor) mistakes and stay healthy, I see no reason why they can't compete with the best in the west and possibly go all the way to the Finals.
