wE WiLl gO tO jAbArI aT tHe 5 You really had some people trying to fool us with that mess. The Steven Silas era is over and no coach in their right minds would bench the best player on the team at the end of the game. Ime showed today exactly who he thinks the best players are down the stretch. Time and again if it wasn’t an Alpi post up it was a Fvv/Alpi pick and roll, putting the ball into the hands of the team’s two best decision makers and creators. If Jabari didn’t choke those two game sealing free throws we would have won in regulation, but that’s not what’s important. What matters is that we finally have a coach who will hold the team accountable to play the game the right way, play through the right players. Things are finally starting to make sense and the results will eventually follow. As for Jabari at the 5, hopefully he gets better period, no matter the position, because in another week when Tari is back we will be asking the question if Jabari is the one that should be closing out games?
So far, Jabari tricked me, man. I thought he'd figure it out this year. But if Tari needs to take his place and make me look like a damn fool, I'm all for it.
I still have hope for the kid but man, 3&D was what he was supposed to be good at. We sure could use that
Yeah, this is what I keep saying. At least show me 3. Or show me D. If you can't do either, well ... I'll keep praying for you. I honestly thought he'd be the one to figure it out by now. Maybe he still will, so I'll keep giving him chances. Now all we need to do is hope Alpi doesn't foul out before the end of the game. At one point in the 2nd half, I thought they said he had no fouls. Next thing you know, he's fouled out. lol.
Agreed, Alp gets ticky tack fouls a lot but he also has the stupid fouls that lead to those being called. I’m more pissed about his free throws and dumb passes (also people need to move when he’s looking to pass)
Think you folks are reading too much into the play calling at the end. Coach Udoka is old school and if he sees a team has a vulnerability he is going to attack it. Collins with 5 fouls is a vulnerability and coach attacked it. Cost us eventually though as not only did Collins not foul out (Sengun did) but that turnover and miss in OT hurt. Gotta take the bad with the good though and hopefully in the future Sengun gets that pass out sooner to the open player when the defense collapses.
The Rockets suck at developing talents. Out of Sengun, Green, Garuba, Tyty, Jabari and Tari .. only Sengun is developing at the satisfactory rate. Jury still out on Tari. We see flashes with Green, but he still makes rookie mistakes in his third year. Jabari still can't shoot and the rest are either on two way, out of the league or end of the bench.
Assuming Jabari can figure his shot out, and I’m still perhaps foolishly hopeful about that, his entire upside as a top 3 draft prospect rested on all NBA caliber defense. He never had the creation ability on offense to be a top prospect but if he could be a DPOY type player that could also hit 3s, then that is a hell of a player. However, from what we have seen so far a statement like that is laughable to even type out. Forget DPOY (Mobley), forget a highly positive defender (Herb Jones), forget even average or neutral defenders. So far Jabari needs to stop being the WORST damn defender on the court where anybody’s eyes light up when you can either cook him in the post or blow by him from the perimeter. Getting tricked really is right, because that Auburn team was carried by Walker Kessler on defense which completely hid Jabari’s defensive deficiency, fooling people to believe he was a two way player. Man, his postgame interview just popped up on TV and I almost feel sorry for saying this stuff even if it is true, because he looks like he’s about to cry. He knows exactly who is the weak link on the team right now, on a team trying to win that guy sticks out like a sore thumb. I just hope his 3s start falling so that he can be a serviceable player, because there is no way in hell you go from this to a DPOY type, that’s just never going to happen.
Because alpi getting doubled on the post up and alpi-fvv pnr are the main two ways this team can create an advantage on offense.
Alpi ran out of gas in the end, only had enough to carry us through regulation. Imagine going from an afterthought under Silas to playing 40 minutes as the go to player down the stretch. Kid is gonna have to get used to it just like fans will have to start unlearning all the bs we are sold about him the last few years and get used to this new reality.
Game should have never been in OT. We had it in the bag in regulation if they just knock down freethrows.
Yes, jAbArI aT tHe FiVe , since Sengun is so unplayable at the end of games, if only Ime Udoka was as smart as some of these professional basketball fans.
Agree - starting with him. Agree that the Rockets should have won this game in regulation (need Jabari to get back to summer league form). The FVV/Alpi PNR has been lethal and expect to see a healthy dose of that in crunch times.
When Ime Udoka first arrived, a media member compared Jalen and Kpj to Tatum and Brown, and Ime said they could be that. When Fred and Brooks first arrived Fred took Jalen under his wing and Brooks compared Jalen and Jabari to Morant and Jaren Jackson. Alpi was an afterthought, someone we had on the roster but also “we need different types of bigs”. I don’t blame lme or Fred or Brooks at all. These are all smart basketball minds, but no one in their right minds are paying much attention to the last 160 Rocket games, one of the worst teams in the league. It’s easy even for smart people to drink the false media narratives of who the “face of the franchise” is. But once you get in a gym, or on the court, these real basketball heads can’t be fooled. It is such a beautiful sight to see them realize exactly who is “him” and lean into him in only their second game. Like I said in the OP, it is just so refreshing to see people in charge who actually understand how basketball should be played again, that is by far the biggest positive you can take from this and it will show in long term results.
Explain to me this then: why was Amen getting 4th qtr playing time over Holiday? Kid looks stressed and lost, why are we playing him in the 4th? Maybe less glaring, but is Jalen Green the better option in crunch time than Bullock?
