[Game #16 11/28, 6:00PM CST] Oklahoma City @ Houston Rockets

[Optimism Prime]

I was at the game tonight--glad we won, and I've never been so excited to see my favorite player (Durant) have an off night!

A few thoughts:

-Hill was key to this win. Came out really aggressive, had 2-3 big dunks, was a great spark.
-Brad Miller for 3... shouldn't have happened, but it did.
-Battier had a great shooting night. Hope this wasn't an aberration, but that he keeps it up. If he does, we become incredibly dangerous. He doesn't have to score a lot, but he needs to knock down the open jumper.
-We got very, VERY lucky tonight. Westbrook had 7, and Durant had 5 in the first half... and we were only up by 6. If KD had had even an average game tonight, we'd have lost big.
-Rockets need more attendance at games. I mean, there's the Red Rowdies--who are noisy--but they're the only 40 people in their section. It should be PACKED FULL of loud fans, not a few people trying to make themselves heard.

[MaxRider]

that's nasty
[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iT2kyvAjcKQ[/youtube]

[Joseph17]

I didn't see the game, but I see that Martin had 21 fg attempts and I'm happy about that. I hope he continues to take 20+ a game and act like one of the best scorers in the league instead of being passive. I also hope that Battier keeps playing like this. He's the x factor for this team in my opinion.

i think he only took like 3 shots in 4th quarter or something less

He had 6 pts in the 4th which isn't surprising. As I've been saying for a long time, he doesn't take over games and he doesn't disappear either. I agree that he has to start taking more shots down the stretch though. If you're the best scorer on the team you can't be passive when it matters most. He has shown that he doesn't choke under pressure so I really don't know why he doesn't at least try to take big shots. I think part of it is Adelman's fault though. I noticed that Adelman rarely ever draw up plays for Martin for last second shots or when they need a basket. At least have him come off screens or something.

[MaxRider]

I didn't see the game, but I see that Martin had 21 fg attempts and I'm happy about that. I hope he continues to take 20+ a game and act like one of the best scorers in the league instead of being passive. I also hope that Battier keeps playing like this. He's the x factor for this team in my opinion.

i think he only took like 3 shots in 4th quarter or something less

He had 6 pts in the 4th which isn't surprising. As I've been saying for a long time, he doesn't take over games and he doesn't disappear either. I agree that he has to start taking more shots down the stretch though. If you're the best scorer on the team you can't be passive when it matters most. He has shown that he doesn't choke under pressure so I really don't know why he doesn't at least try to take big shots. I think part of it is Adelman's fault though. I noticed that Adelman rarely ever draw up plays for Martin for last second shots or when they need a basket. At least have him come off screens or something.

he didn't even touch the ball in the last 3 possessions when we need someone to score

[pr0wler]

I think Martin is doing fine. He's not a superstar player so we shouldn't expect him to carry the load like a Kevin Durant or Kobe Bryant. He's also not a great isolation scorer like Dwyane Wade. He's an upgraded version of Reggie Miller, comes of screens, cuts through the lane, and knocks down the open 3 pointer. Although he hasn't taken over the 4th quarters, he hasn't disappeared either. Given that the Rockets have (or usually have) so many weapons we don't necessarily need to rely on one guy to put the ball in the basket.

Speaking of which, does everyone realize how deadly we're going to be in a week or two when Yao and Brooks return? We're missing 2 of our 4 top players, and we're still giving other teams a close game every single night. Remember game #1 against the Lakers? People are really underrestimating the effect Aaron Brooks has on this team. Sure, he's not the greatest defensively but he's our ONLY player that can create consistently off the dribble. Oh, and he can nail the 3 from time to time too. With him, we have an offensive attack coming from multiple angles on the floor. Can't wait to get him and Yao back.

[Joseph17]

he didn't even touch the ball in the last 3 possessions when we need someone to score

And as I said in my post I think he needs to take more shots down the stretch.

[Joseph17]

I think Martin is doing fine. He's not a superstar player so we shouldn't expect him to carry the load like a Kevin Durant or Kobe Bryant. He's also not a great isolation scorer like Dwyane Wade. He's an upgraded version of Reggie Miller, comes of screens, cuts through the lane, and knocks down the open 3 pointer. Although he hasn't taken over the 4th quarters, he hasn't disappeared either. Given that the Rockets have (or usually have) so many weapons we don't necessarily need to rely on one guy to put the ball in the basket.

Speaking of which, does everyone realize how deadly we're going to be in a week or two when Yao and Brooks return? We're missing 2 of our 4 top players, and we're still giving other teams a close game every single night. Remember game #1 against the Lakers? People are really underrestimating the effect Aaron Brooks has on this team. Sure, he's not the greatest defensively but he's our ONLY player that can create consistently off the dribble. Oh, and he can nail the 3 from time to time too. With him, we have an offensive attack coming from multiple angles on the floor. Can't wait to get him and Yao back.

The Rockets were fully healthy for a few games after the Laker game and they didn't play that well. I don't expect anything to change unless Shane starts playing like his old self, Yao returns to his old form, Brooks is used as a scorer off the bench, and Kev becomes more aggressive on both ends of the floor. If all of that happens, I think the Rockets could turn the season around.

[rocketsballin]

Speaking of which, does everyone realize how deadly we're going to be in a week or two when Yao and Brooks return? We're missing 2 of our 4 top players, and we're still giving other teams a close game every single night. Remember game #1 against the Lakers? People are really underrestimating the effect Aaron Brooks has on this team. Sure, he's not the greatest defensively but he's our ONLY player that can create consistently off the dribble. Oh, and he can nail the 3 from time to time too. With him, we have an offensive attack coming from multiple angles on the floor. Can't wait to get him and Yao back.

the return of yao and brooks isnt gonna do much. this team has been off on so many levels since the season started.

-we've had countless open shots and never make them. we either miss the shot, turn the ball over somehow, or make way too many extra passes. just this game brad was gonna shoot a 3, but at the very last split second he passes to scola in the paint, resulting in a to by scola. he once made an extra pass to lowry, who was at the 3pt line

-our supposed deep bench is terribly inconsistent and for the most part non existent. i know that with injuries we have to use the bench more, but we're supposed to have one of the deepest benches in the league. smith, bud, lee, hill, miller is a good bench on paper. but they somehow create more problems than we can handle. i'm not saying we should have a great record but there's been countless oppurtunities to win a few more games. as you said the games are very close, i think 2 or 3 blowouts? just a few more wide open shots made each game we could have a winning record

-defense sucks, and not only with yao playing up to 24mpg, he also needs TIME to get back into game shape, and being out 5 weeks sets him back for at least another month. this team cant play good defense consistently w/o yao. no team can be good at defense without someone to protect the paint.

-SHANE BATTIER! this man is sposed to get a **** load of wide open shots from yao, brooks, scola, but for some reason he cant make them. our shooters have been terribly inconsistent, and he is the worst imo. he's gonna start sf, get the most minutes at sf, so he's gonna get a lotta good looks. if he's gonna be inconsistent as ****, then there's no way he'll shoot better in the playoffs. shooting is his only thing hurting us. defense might have fallen off a bit, but he's shown he can still play good defense, even w/o yao.

-no chemistry. rick had to put out inconsistent rotations cuz of the injuries and players inconsistent games. he cant really count on anyone to have a good game, including scola. throwing differnt rotations every game is terrible. he's taking scola out midway in the 4th quarter now. and now jordan hill could be out.

ya there's prolly more but i'm not gonna burden you with more crap. imo this team, even when healthy, is a fringe playoff team. playing yao 24min in the playoffs wont get it done. teams will show absolutely no mercy when yao's on the bench. morey is gonna be in deep doodoo if this team cant get out of this terrible slump. he himself said that after the miller signing, that this team is a contender. so...wtf?

[MaxRider]

Jordan Hill plays better with Brad Miller and we were rolling with those two in the lineup in the 4th quarter
some coaches like to keep his rotation the same and will sub the "hot" players in and play starters in the final 5 min
Adelman just let them play until Hill sprained his ankle

[highrangeslang]

We have always been a slow starting team though, right? At least for the last ten years it seems like.

[rocketsballin]

^^ ya but this season the schedule is easier than it has been in recent years. it's not an easy schedule but more like a normal schedule. not too hard or too easy.