11/16 - Chi @ Hou

[aznkillabeezZz]

Battier's D is good but Gay is the better player now and a borderline All-Star.

Martin is a good scorer but disappears in the 4th. Landry was Mr. 4th quarter.

Hindsight is 20/20 we can't go back and change a trade we live with it.

You're a joke, but you're right. I'll let you cry about Ariza it's you're right. I have no place to tell you you're opinion is making you seem like a jack ass. Go back in this thread and count how many times people were saying how terrible Lee is playing. Now, go back and see how many people were swinging from Ariza's Scrot.

I won't comment on your love fest with Ariza anymore, I promise you that. A lot of people here probably agree with you, myself included to a certain extent. Difference is you make it a point to constantly bring it up and it's annoying. Move the hell on this our terrible ass team deal with it.

If you don't like it, don't come to message boards. You'll likely see people expressing their opinion which may or may not be similar to yours. And the only person crying about it is you. Just because you probably are Lee's girlfriend or something. Ariza was better than lee, and Its looking plainly obvious now, and its our most recent trade. Thats why people are still talking about it u dumbass.

[tha_rock220]

Stop blaming the coach. Martin played 40 mins and Scola played 37 minutes and we have another game tomorrow. These guys have to rest once in a while. Blame it on the ****y bench.

So you're saying it's a good idea to leave out your best big man who was huge at getting you the lead while the other team is running away with the game???

What'd you gonna do? Play Scola 48 minutes? He has to come out sometime u know? And if you watch the other teams play you'll realise that most star players sit on the bench at the start of the 4th quarter. Guys like Kobe don't come in until the 9th minute mark. You gotta keep em fresh. You can't play them 24 consecutive minutes from 3rd-4th quarter.

I understand what you're saying, but you don't just sit idly while your team blows a lead. I'm not saying Scola should have started the 4th. I'm saying he should have been brought back into the game earlier.

[Teckon]

We over rating our offense. not overachieving. We play fast pace and hence more points. but also give away more points. A good offense don't go scoreless in 5 min.

Thats because we dont really have good offensive players. Not with Brooks/Yao/Bud out. Our only good ones are Scola and Kevin Martin (for 3 quarters). Adelman's motion offense is what gets us points. Problem is motion offense stop working in the 4th. We need a legit 1vs1 player.

Disagree. Motion offense still works in the 4th if you put in the right personnel. The rockets past 9 games issue is at the last 3-4 min. Today game is at the start of the 4th. That's is clearly is Rick's mistake in not playing the right rotation at the start of the 4th resulting in 18-0 run. That's line up is Lowry, Lee, Battier, Hayes, Miller. Tell me who is going to score?

[soadxzx]

Rockets never change

[spolgar]

Man, it's mostly Lowry losing 5 points that has me bugged a bit. Once the deficit in points goes over the number of minutes left in the game with less than 8 minutes left, ones odds of winning go down to the 20th percentile or so.

There is little one can do with Rose when he is shooting like that. No one seems to have his number yet. Having Korver and Brewer to space the floor makes the paint sparse as well and Chicago's second unit looking pretty nice compared to ours. It's hard to sustain any sort of offense from the 1st and the 2nd unit, let alone coming out of 4th after everyone's had 5 minutes or so to sit and cool down.

Rockets have had it pretty rough. With numerous starters and bench players taking a seat, it's been a bit painful to watch. I think things will get better still.

I saw Lee play in the finals against Kobe during the Magic/Orlando series, and I have to say I was impressed. There was something about him, that unlike Mike Pietrus's "Too Stupid to be scared" attitude, you get the feeling that Lee's defense is genuine, that he has a good understanding of spacing in terms of passing and rotation, and he has good athleticism and okay fundamentals to boot. I'm not sure why he's not panning out, but New Jersey probably was not a good place for a young player to develop.

I would like to add that there does not seem to be a single reason why the Rockets are not performing to par. With a line up like that going into the fourth, it seemed only plausible that Adelman tried to contain the offense of Chicago by sporting what seems to be a decent man to man defense line up. That failed. But not for lack of trying. That's something we use to be our bread and butter, and now we've lost it.

It's impossible to be a competetive basketball team in the western conference with a) a revamped roster b) two starters and a rotation player out with injury c) lose your go to scorers in the fourth because of b). I think we'll start making 500 overall in January or so, but it's going to be painful to watch until we get there.

[kam_soluusar]

sorry guys. i was at work today, and didn't have time to make the thread. i'm a perfecct 2-0 with making the thread. i WILL make the next one. what can I say except my apologies.

[MaxRider]

sorry guys. i was at work today, and didn't have time to make the thread. i'm a perfecct 2-0 with making the thread. i WILL make the next one. what can I say except my apologies.

just made a big one for all the game left

[pr0wler]

That 4th quarter was just painful the watch. It sucks now that with Yao, Brooks, and Budinger out we basically have 0 depth. As soon as Scola/Martin are out of the lineup we basically have no offensive production. Disappointing.

[x-]

I didn't like the second quarter lineup Adelman put out there, but he's not the reason the Rockets lost this game.

Courtney Lee had a bad game, but calling for his head is uncalled-for, since he's a roleplayer, who is currently asked to create, which is not his game.
It's Ariza all over again, but Lee is playing alongside four guys who can't do **** on offense right now, while Ariza played with Brooks and Scola.

I still believe that Lee will help the team, since he not only compliments Lowry and Budinger well, but also will come in handy against the bigger point/combo guards.
He's a very good role player if you use his strength corretly (defense, transition, spotting up, coming off screens, playing off the ball).

[MaxRider]

Chicago improved on their defense
they are taking lots of charges (familiar?)
we still don't have a goto guy in 4th quarter
Martin disappeared again
Lee is what he is, a backup, don't expect too much out of him, btw his defense is overrated

Morey's trade and signing are questionable
i believe you guys gave him too much credit for Scola trade and Brooks/Landry drafting
Scola - because we got lucky Spurs made a bad decision
Brooks - this is Adelman's pick
Landry - every GM will get 1 right once in a while, don't forget those he screwed up like Dorsey and those still not in the NBA

i still don't understand why we don't tank last year for a chance to get Wall

[highrangeslang]

The Rockets will probably have a high draft pick. I've heard that the draft class is going to be weak though.

I wonder how many seasons it will be until we are a strong team again?

[Joseph17]

Martin is not an elite scorer! If i can't give you the ball put you on the wing in an iso and tell you to get me two points then you're not an ELITE scorer. He's a system scorer and that's why he disappears in the 4th because the other team locks up their d and he can't get open 3s and shots off of pick and rolls. If anything was done wrong by adleman tonight it was not emphasizing that the team help on d rose. C lee= no comment

Yes he is. He's 2nd in points per 48 right now and he's among the leaders every year. Players have different ways of scoring. You don't have to be an isolation guy like Kobe and Melo to be an elite scorer. Reggie Miller was an elite scorer and he got most of his points playing off the ball. I don't understand why people always say that Martin disappears in the 4th either. He doesn't take control of the game like Kobe, Melo, Lebron, D-Rose, etc, but he never does in any quarter because that's not the kind of player he is. He plays the same way in the 4th as he does in the other quarters. One thing that I would like to see him do is be more of a catch and shoot player like Ray Allen. He should use his quickness to come off screens and get open for a 3. It's obviously easier for Ray Allen than it is for Kevin because he's playing next to Rondo instead of Lowry and Brooks, but he should try anyway. I would rather see him do that in the 4th than pumpfake and try to draw fouls.

[rocketsballin]

kevin needs the free throw line to get his points. how's he gonna do that vs elite defenses in the playoffs?

[Joseph17]

^He doesn't need the free throw line. He's good at shooting off the dribble, finishing, and 3 point shooting. He actually tries to draw fouls too often in my opinion. He doesn't need the refs to bail him out.

[Joseph17]

Like just now for example. He tried drawing the foul when he didn't need to and he turned the ball over as a result.

[grond]

I saw Lee play in the finals against Kobe during the Magic/Orlando series, and I have to say I was impressed. There was something about him, that unlike Mike Pietrus's "Too Stupid to be scared" attitude, you get the feeling that Lee's defense is genuine, that he has a good understanding of spacing in terms of passing and rotation, and he has good athleticism and okay fundamentals to boot.

I agree with this. And offensively he's nice to have out there when we're running and gunning, but in the half-court set his lack of nous has been rather painful to watch the last few outings.

The thing is, he's the _only_ guy on our roster capable of covering the 6'4-6'7 range of athletic SG's you see so often in the league. Shane can't do it anymore, even with his great anticipation he can't keep up speedwise. So we really need this guy to get his **** together and start ballin' enough to win Adelman's confidence. Thought the Spurs game was a start, when he was a big part of that great 2nd half after Brooks/Martin went down (and subsequently choked, yes yes), but since then he's regressed. His development is semi-key for this team as it is right now. If he can't get extended time out there we're gonna get lit up by opposing 2's all season.