They got out hustled, and simply gave up. Very disturbing. They were getting worked by Rider and Van Exel. If Francis and Mobley want to keep this new "best backcourt in the league" tag that everyone is giving them, then they better come to play EVERY night. Tonight they sucked, and Moochie would have gotten schooled by a girls 7th grade team. This was a "lack of effort" loss, pure and simple. The only guys on the team who played with a passion were KT, Willis, and Cato. If you are going to be a leader, then you better damned well lead. DaDakota
Win or lose this has been eating at me the whole season. It's amazing Steve averages 20 points a game. It's a testament to his skill, but our offense strategy is bringing out team down. We play the same play, an iso pick and roll. We don't even pick though. And we hardly ever roll. We give a soft pick, then pass to the picker, then spread out and let him iso. We have only 3 plays in our whole game. There is absolutely no movement from our players. No back-picks or double picks? Mobley and Francis are amazing at slashing, running them off of double picks would open their game up so much. I'm serious you put Steve in a "X and O" coaches team and he would be tearing it up. In our offensive system he is awesome, but only because of his skills, Rudy's offensive system gives him no help. Yes I'm ranting. Tell me this, have you ever seen us run a double pick. Almost every other team that has shooters runs that play, are we that f@#$ing lazy? Does Rudy know how to make plays? He has to notice that our opponent is sagging off of our pick and roll play. He has to notice that that is the only ******* play we ever call. We would be so much better with movement in our offense, not even mentioning "picks". Why is it we can't pick? This is the NBA right? I'm always watching the other team setting good picks on us, and we can't pick? I'm a diehard Rockets fan, I will continue to be. But we have so much potential that is not going to be used because of our stagnate offense. Hmm is anyone else tired of Mooch? When Steve is in the game he hardly sets plays up, but once Mooch comes in we go to him over and over again. We have got absolutely nothing out of those posessions. He's looking really bad early, the thing is - his game is the isolation and teams have learned. Hell we have given them enough practice, it's all we do. So sag to defend the point while everyone else is motionless and you can stop Houston. Like I said win or lose this has been on my mind and thank God I finally ranted it out of my system. The sad thing is this team will still win a lot of games simply off of skill. And our offense will stay the same and our true potential will not be realized.
DLS, I think the team runs a lot of picks, that is all they do at the top of the key, they run the high pick and roll. They need to get a feel for what each other does, and they do run backdoor plays etc. I think you will see more offense as the team grows closer together. However, I agree that the team looks very suspect, and we are VERY lucky to be 5-2. DaDakota
After reading the box score just now, all i can say is, somebody had a BIG PARTY in Denver last night and most of the Rockets WERE invited.
I'm talking about picks off the ball. I'm also talking about effective picks, I hope you know what I mean. Like tonight we see Nick and Isaiah running off of picks away from the ball for either a jumper or a slash to the basket. Steve is so quick that this would open his game up. I watch this game and I watched the Sixers game twice, we do not run a lot of picks off the ball, very few if any. When we call for the high pick and roll, it is straight up isolation, no movement anywhere. When we don't post-up, the high pick and roll is about all we do. Some picks off the ball would be nice. Here's the thing, we can blame inexperience and new players for so long. Even with those factors some movement in the offense would help our offensive gam out immensely. Oh well it's only basketball. What the hell am I saying, Basketball is Life!
I never thought I would live to see the day when someone claimed Cato put more of an effort then our guards. Too bad its true. Someone needs to b**** slap Steve and Cat. What the hell was that tonite? They better be glad they werent at the laptop or I just might have booed their ass off!
Francis and Mobley need to sack it up. They are shooting horribly thus far. Mobley has a nice 3 pt percentage, but overall he's shaky as hell. Who the hell has been consistent for the Rocks this year? KT? Cato?
You know, normally everyone says I'm probably the most negative Rockets fan on this site, its not that, I just know if we're going to be competitive in the west we have to overcome our major short comings. Yes Cat and Steve probably are the best backcourt in the league, but the way they get their points is down right sinister. I could name the pg's in the west that has a easier time scoring than what Francis has, and I place the blame on Rudy. I mean players come and go, but systems stay forever. Teams that we're plaing aren't stupid, nor should we be. I love the passion and desire that the team plays with most of the time, but anytime you try to run the same thing over and over is gets old. yes we did it with Hakeem, but Hakeem is a once in a lifetime player, something Francis nor Mobley hasn't and maybe will not show. I love both of them to death, but to ask them to penetrate against a sagging zone is just too much. I watched the game like everyone else on the chat, and all thought that the way the Rox were playing that it would get better, but truthfully, the way we have been playing were lucky we haven't played good teams yet. I 'm tired of waiting for Rice to get out of his slump the same way I'm tired of seeing walt run in for him. The only veteran guy that warrants playing time to me is Willis, so why are we seeing Walt and Rice so much? I could go on and on, and it is still early, but this team, nt judging just on tonights loss just isn't ready. This loss just magnifies what is wrong with the team. yes Mobley went 1-10 whih is rare, but how manyof those misses were good shots? To me a 25ft shot no matter how open it is , is a low % shot. Rudy will tell you we got the shots we like, but how many 17ft shots did they get versus our shots? We lost to a team we should have beat, but we must put it behind us because we have a stretch that will tell us if we're playoff contenders or pretenders. Its early, but the offense has to evolve.
tired or not, our offense makes it hard on them, period. Steve has to showcase all of his skill to even drive in the lane on a sagging defense, it is amazing that he gets in the lane at all. All I am saying is: With motion and a little shakeup in our play calling we would make it easier on our guards and in turn our other players.
Wow. I'm kind of surprised you guys are questioning Steve. I'm not a big Steve Francis fan at all, but the man was playing with a migraine! I'm a Broncos fan, and I've seen what migraines can do to Terrell Davis, so I was impressed as hell that Francis was even on the court.
Your not taling about me are you? I'm not questioning Steve at all. I'm questioning our offensive play selection. ---I'm a ranting SOB. Deal with it--
Geez, guys, its friggin' AMAZIN' they've done THIS well. They have TWO starters back from last season, and Rice didn't play all pre-season. Thats why you have few so plays, and rustiness on offense. All preseason, they focused on defense, which has kept them in all these games, until this one. Especially when Rice, Torres or Griffin are out there, they only know so many plays. As the season progresses, things will get more varied. The only way we have gotten all these wins so far, has been from pure heart, and scrappy play. I do admit, it seems to be more on adrenalin than anything, because as soon as they get ahead, they relax and allow other teams to catch up, which has been the most irritating thing to me. But you can't run on adrenalin ALL the time. These guys were exhausted, and if Francis did have a Migraine, then I can understand his inability to push the adrenalin into gear... I'm looking forward to the team knowing where everyone is on the court besides Francis and Mobely. Its encouraging to see Kenny Thomas emerge, and I couldn't be much happier than what I'm seeing out of Cato. And Willis! awesome pickup... Its going to be mid-season before we see the team gel. <b>We've just gotten our hopes and expectations up with all these wins...</b>
From the articles in the Chronicle, it sounds like Mobley's injury in the preseason never healed and he's hurting himself more by compensating for the hip injury. They should just put him on the injured list so he can heal properly and give Oscar Torres or (heaven forbid) Langhi some time.
