Game Thread Houston @ Golden State

[kam_soluusar]

Good win! Damage Assesment 3\3 from the field. Not bad for limited minutes. (You know where I'll be blowing smoke all season!)

I know it's easy to say in hindsight, but I truly expected us to win tonight. I can accept the loss to Portland, but I really beleived we would win this one.

[Iggyemu]

Very surprising comeback. The Rockets will always fight...the talent isn't there to turn that into a lot of wins but there are a lot of teams in this league that we can simply outfight. For this young team...avoiding an 0-2 start is a big deal. Though its worth mentioning that GS is just the type of team we can beat. No bigs....shoot a lot of jumpers. Scola looked good, Brooks played better...Ariza got us started well b/c thats what you need when you play GS..have to start well.

Just a good win...and one we needed going into our home opener. Our guys will be confident and I think our fans may be able to carry us to a win against the Portland..or at least I hope.

[HTown_TMac]

Corey Maggette was our player of the game

[moofs]

I had high hopes for Luis. I actually thought Scola was going to average 17/9 this season. Seems very unlikely at this point.

Yeah, two things look like they're going to work against him on that.
- It's too easy to collapse on him, which is how he feeds off Yao so nicely.
- Our perimeter players (Ariza/Brooks) are more interested in skimming a few extra shots from the pot.

It's a little disturbing that in 2 games, we've been outrebounded by an average of 9, 5.5 blocks more than us, and we're shooting the ball 4.5% worse than the other team, but we're stealing the ball 5 times more and turning it over 4 less times. Our perimeter defense seems to be suffering from having to help so much in the middle, not good.

Does anyone else think that Blair might Duncan Duncan?
(i.e. how when Duncan came in he supplanted Robinson, who, as he was aging, took a major backseat and just defended / rebounded)
14/11/3 on 7-10 in 23 minutes
And we're always complaining about our "too small" pfs... guess who's 6'7"?
(and Milsap, and Bass, and Lee, and Malone, and ....)

[Iggyemu]

Blair is too small to be as consistently dominant on both ends as Duncan was. I think Blair is great pick for em...a rich man's Chuck Hayes but all that mean is a guy that can rebound and catch and finish around the basket better. This isn't a guy who you are gonna toss it to on the block and have him back down the opposing defender and create double teams. This isn't a guy who is gonna get up there and deter layup attempts. Like I said..good pick up but I think the next Duncan resides in NJ..its just gonna be a slower development time.

[JSB]

when will Taylor get some PT? or is he hurt?

[Julio]

I had high hopes for Luis. I actually thought Scola was going to average 17/9 this season. Seems very unlikely at this point.

Yeah, two things look like they're going to work against him on that.
- It's too easy to collapse on him, which is how he feeds off Yao so nicely.
- Our perimeter players (Ariza/Brooks) are more interested in skimming a few extra shots from the pot.

It's a little disturbing that in 2 games, we've been outrebounded by an average of 9, 5.5 blocks more than us, and we're shooting the ball 4.5% worse than the other team, but we're stealing the ball 5 times more and turning it over 4 less times. Our perimeter defense seems to be suffering from having to help so much in the middle, not good.

Does anyone else think that Blair might Duncan Duncan?
(i.e. how when Duncan came in he supplanted Robinson, who, as he was aging, took a major backseat and just defended / rebounded)
14/11/3 on 7-10 in 23 minutes
And we're always complaining about our "too small" pfs... guess who's 6'7"?
(and Milsap, and Bass, and Lee, and Malone, and ....)

yeah, our defense in the middle will be a problem. Hayes is good but have limitations, Scola and Andersen are not good, Dorsey seems to never play, Pops neither.
How did Ariza D look? Still couldn't watch the GS game, only saw the one against Portland.

Blair is too small to be as consistently dominant on both ends as Duncan was. I think Blair is great pick for em...a rich man's Chuck Hayes but all that mean is a guy that can rebound and catch and finish around the basket better. This isn't a guy who you are gonna toss it to on the block and have him back down the opposing defender and create double teams. This isn't a guy who is gonna get up there and deter layup attempts. Like I said..good pick up but I think the next Duncan resides in NJ..its just gonna be a slower development time.

Very true IMO.
Too bad they can't put a good team around him.
And Blair's good, but like Iggy said, he's not great defenser, not a great passer,not a guy you go for in the post. But a rotation of McDyess/Duncan/Bonner/Blair is pretty good.If Ratliff can bring some shot blocking,they're set.

[moofs]

Blair is too small to be as consistently dominant on both ends as Duncan was. I think Blair is great pick for em...a rich man's Chuck Hayes but all that mean is a guy that can rebound and catch and finish around the basket better. This isn't a guy who you are gonna toss it to on the block and have him back down the opposing defender and create double teams. This isn't a guy who is gonna get up there and deter layup attempts. Like I said..good pick up but I think the next Duncan resides in NJ..its just gonna be a slower development time.

Obviously he's not going to be the defensive force Duncan's been. I was referring more to the offensive replacement and rebounding augmentation.

Would that "next Duncan" be Yi?

[Iggyemu]

Obviously he's not going to be the defensive force Duncan's been. I was referring more to the offensive replacement and rebounding augmentation.

Would that "next Duncan" be Yi?

LOL Yep..Yi gonna hold it down for China..

If by offensive replacement you mean just pure points then yea thats likely. I mean he'll score by the running the floor, catching and finishing around the basket and on put backs. So he may be able to replace what Duncan brings points wise. On just pure scoring. In terms of commanding double teams in the post...creating space and shots for teammates from the post..and just flat being able to get the ball and calm a game down or kill a run with an easy basket.....thats just not gonna happen with Blair.

Rebounding wise he could definitely replace Duncan's production though. The great thing about the Spurs however is that they don't need him to replace Duncan. Duncan is still there...still great. What Blair will do is give Duncan the opportunity to be fresher come later in the season. The Spurs have a luxury here. Great pick by them...between Dice and Blair, Duncan will be on top his game come April and May and maybe June.

[Rendezvous]

when will Taylor get some PT? or is he hurt?

he dosent deserve minutes unless a blowout comes

[aznkillabeezZz]

Blair is too small to be as consistently dominant on both ends as Duncan was. I think Blair is great pick for em...a rich man's Chuck Hayes but all that mean is a guy that can rebound and catch and finish around the basket better. This isn't a guy who you are gonna toss it to on the block and have him back down the opposing defender and create double teams. This isn't a guy who is gonna get up there and deter layup attempts. Like I said..good pick up but I think the next Duncan resides in NJ..its just gonna be a slower development time.

LOL Yiiiiiiiiiii. He doesnt command the ball enough and plays second fiddle too much but he did improve his inside game and strength. I wasn't impressed with his 4th quarter play lost against the wolves.

[aznkillabeezZz]

And why didn't we get Dejuan Blair instead of Jermaine Taylor? JT is a project.

[MaxRider]

because they think dorsey can be like blair

[Teckon]

It's a little disturbing that in 2 games, we've been outrebounded by an average of 9, 5.5 blocks more than us, and we're shooting the ball 4.5% worse than the other team, but we're stealing the ball 5 times more and turning it over 4 less times. Our perimeter defense seems to be suffering from having to help so much in the middle, not good.

Moofs, that stat is skewed with only 2 games. Rockets held their own in rebounding against Warriors but were outrebound by 18 by Portland. Portland is the top rebounding team in NBA. in the current game against Nuggets they outrebounded Nuggets 29-18 at half time.

[el loco]

double post and delete won't work for some reason. Sorry about that.

[el loco]

It's a little disturbing that in 2 games, we've been outrebounded by an average of 9, 5.5 blocks more than us, and we're shooting the ball 4.5% worse than the other team, but we're stealing the ball 5 times more and turning it over 4 less times. Our perimeter defense seems to be suffering from having to help so much in the middle, not good.

Moofs, that stat is skewed with only 2 games. Rockets held their own in rebounding against Warriors but were outrebound by 18 by Portland. Portland is the top rebounding team in NBA. in the current game against Nuggets they outrebounded Nuggets 29-18 at half time.

It was worse than that the Nuggets were out rebounded on the offensive boards in that half 12-0 which helped give Portland 24 more shots in the 1st half. Late in today's game the blazers edge was 33-30 according to the graphic on the screen. I didn't bother looking up the final numbers to see how it finished up, but only down 3 to that front line with the lack of size the rockets have is great.

[TMACFORMVP]

Also saw this one, was unable to get tickets, but moreso being busy than anything else. Ariza was big in this game as well - and Scola/Brooks played the way we need them to the whole season if we have a shot to make the playoffs.