Rockets lose 6th in a row to a bad Miami team
November 23rd, 2007by John
Yao Ming meets with former Rockets coach Jeff Van Gundy before the Houston-Miami game Friday night, November 23rd. Van Gundy was the ESPN television analyst for the game. This happened to be the most interesting photo from the night because the Rockets didn’t do anything interesting on the court, losing to a struggling Miami team. Houston has now lost 6 in a row and dropped below .500. Click here for more photos of Yao with Van Gundy, as well as more photos from the pre-game shootaround and the game.I’m tired of it, so this is going to be short.
The Rockets lost to a very bad 2-9 Miami team that was 0-5 on their home court before beating the Rockets Friday night. Houston has now lost 6 in a row, with no end in sight. My, oh my, how this season has cratered so quickly.
Miami gave them every chance to win, but the Rockets are so bad, you knew they wren’t going to be able to do it.
Rick Adelman looks like he’s a deer caught in the headlights.
McGrady: 7-of-20 from the floor. 5-of-10 from the free throw line. Inexcusable.
Yao Ming got schooled by Shaq down low: 26 points and 14 rebounds. Shaq was obviously tired of being written off as a force. Yao scored 20 points on 8-of-13 shots.
I feel bad for Luis Scola, who may be the Rockets’ best offensive player (9-of-15 for 18 points), and except for points from Yao, isn’t getting any help. Too bad it took idiot Adelman this long to figure out that he should be playing more.
Adelman inexplicably keeps playing “0-fer” Alston: who was 1-for-6, and 0-for-3 from three-point territory. HOW LONG DOES IT HAVE TO TAKE?
LESLIE ALEXANDER: PLEASE FIRE ADELMAN BEFORE THIS SEASON IS DOWN THE DRAIN!
In words that Stephen A. Smith would use, this team is “a piece of garbage.”
I’m out.
November 23rd, 2007 at 11:16 pm
Well said. Yao indeed got schooled. Not only that, Yao didn’t even seem phased by being schooled. I’m sick and tired of Yao playing softer than melting butter. Sure, he dunked a few times but so would have every other player in the NBA. There are times when Yao should have taken shots but instead passed it up. Holding the ball way too long. I’ve got to face reality and accept Yao as a good player who will never become great. After 6 years, I’m done waiting.
November 23rd, 2007 at 11:49 pm
It is inexcusable for the Rockets to lose so many close games. This team has no leadership and coaching during crunch time. When the game is on the line, either Yao or McGrady has to take over. McGrady has to take it to the hole, not take ill-advised jumper. Yao has to back down his defender and dunk it or draw a foul, not take a fade-away jumper. When you are 7’6″, you shouldn’t shoot fade-away jumper. Finally, Aldeman has to coach during the crunch time!
November 24th, 2007 at 12:38 am
This team as it is now, is not going to go far. They just don’t seem to have the guts. As Yao’s fan, I will probably keep watching them, but I will not put too much into it, otherwise, it is just too painful!
November 24th, 2007 at 12:47 am
No more comments, as long as Adleman is the coach. The GM got together a good group of players. But it is not a good team yet. It is waiting for the right coach to be in the job. Maybe, the GM himself should coach the team himself.
November 24th, 2007 at 4:08 am
bad coaching, period. The rox looked cluess at the end of the game, not just this game, but practically every game. If Ademan is such a offensive genius, why he couldn’t come up with something new and different when T-Mac was doubled team or forced to give up the ball? Gave up 35 points in the 4 quarter last game. bad D. this team have no defense and have no offense. at leaset the JVG ‘s team showed some tenacity at the defense’s end. This team with Adleman suck. unwatchable.
November 24th, 2007 at 7:07 am
I agree with you, this team is indeed a piece of garbage. I’ve always thought that outside of Yao and Tracy, there isn’t really anyone who can carry the team or slow the bleeding in case they both underperform. They needed someone although not necessarily as skilled, but needs to have leadership presence and is capable of leading his team through periods of turmoil. The Lakers have Fisher, the Spurs have Bowen, even the Pacers have Jeff Foster to do that. On the Rockets team, players capable of doing that are probably Battier and a very impressive Scola. Of course, if Adelman starts thinking, Steve Francis would definitely be able to spark the team.
Today, I saw a team that played with no heart, a team that was touted as a contender just merely two weeks ago now falling apart. The Rockets looked like headless chicken running around when the game is on the line. McGrady goes to the soft long jumpers even though he is every bit as good as Kobe or Lebron in taking the ball to the hoop (against an undersized defender). Yao Ming suddenly forgot what to do and starts rushing his post game. And I never understood when you have one of the best centers in the world on your team, why do you not run the offense through him? Watching the Rockets reminds of me of watching Team China plays, where an entry pass to a seven-and-half foot tall center seemed like an insurmountable task. Why do we have these gunners running our point? Are they wearing Starburys? I bet if we get Liu Wei of the Sharks or Chen Jianghua or Sun Yue to run the point, we would’ve won at least four of the last six!
I hope we’ll have another Francis sighting on the court soon. And after watching Carl Landry perform for the last two years, I can’t wait to read the enthusiasm displayed in your posts once he gets to play for real.
November 24th, 2007 at 8:36 am
That was a tough loss…shaq was on a mission to prove he is still better than Yao. The foul trouble really hurt. I like the starting line-up of yao, mcgrady, scola, head, wells.
That puts their best 3 pt shooter (luther) in right away. He is not the best point gaurd though as evidenced by the turnovers late last night, but his shooting will force the defense to choose to double yao down low or leave head wide-open. Tracy can start bringing the ball up the court more. The offense is still not clicking and Yao looks lost on the high post. I think he should square up and start shooting more when he is up there. He will shoot a good percentage and draw the opposing center away from the rebound. Wells and Scola can clean up the misses for easy putbacks. They also need to figure out what to do when they front Yao on the low block. That really bothers him and it locks up the offense as the gaurd just locks up trying to figure out if they can throw over the top. They should fake the entry pass to draw the weak side defender to cover the lob and kick around for an open 3. Yao can keep his man pinned away from the basket. If the other team rotates to the shooter, either scola or wells will be open. It’s just a matter of time before the shooters start to click. Benching Rafer will help right away.
The second line-up could be battier, james, mutombo, francis, hayes. battier for the d and shooting, james at point (distributing – not looking for his shot), francis for offense and dribble penetration, mutombo and hayes for d and rebounding.
Tracy should play 40 min a night. Yao 34-36 minutes.
Enough about the offense, Bonzi played some weak defense last night. Scola made some rookie mistakes. Even Shane got schooled by Wade. they should randomly mix in some hard full court pressure and zone to mix it up.
I still think this team will be ok and make the playoffs, but are unlikely to get home court advantage. Why do I think this? Mostly because of scola and james. They are both competitors who will be playing better by the all star-break. I am expecting a nice post-all star push from the team, i think it will take that long for them to solve the problems, but the personnel are there…
November 24th, 2007 at 12:20 pm
John, not one of your better blogs, maybe you are getting complacent like the Rockets. You should start a game thread, maybe you give team good luck.
There’s only so much that can be said about the games. I get tired of saying the same thing over and over again. Until Adelman starts playing Francis, Brooks, and rewards players with minutes who play the right way, rather than jacking up stupid shots, then it’s going to be short blog posts for awhile. However, I will make out-of-game blog posts like I did this morning, such as speculating on the players’ attitude toward Adelman, what Morey and Alexander must be thinking, and all the drama behind-the-scenes as this team continues to implode.
By the way, there is a game thread in the forum where everyone can go in and make comments during the game. — John
November 24th, 2007 at 12:21 pm
Guys, Rockets looked pretty soft. T-mAc is jacking up shots left and right. Alston should seriously never take another 3 pointer. I dont understand w/ all that talent why thy are not above 500. Im sorry to say but I think that RA is losing the respect of the team and this ship is sinking quickly. Scola & Hayes are the only ones out there that are running back and forth. Yao seems to be a little down, & WHY NOT! They dont pass him the ball down low when he has good position, and when they do get it to him hes out of position. When he passes it out, he reposts, but the guards swing the ball the other way. The team goes as how T-Mac plays, and right now hes lathargic and selfish. Its going to be a looooong season. Hopefully they can turn things around, but the west is packed w/ playoff contending teams. They need to regroup and look at the next 10 games as games that they should and can go 8-2.
November 24th, 2007 at 12:48 pm
With TMac taking those low percentage 20 footer and Rafer for more low percentage shots, the Rockets already shoot themselves out of the game.
Whenever TMac does well with his drives – he is a great driver – he started to take those low percentage shots. He gave away all the playoffs similarly. Anyone ever look at TMac percentage excluding his drives? I bet you it is no better than Rafer.
With those two guys taking shots no wonder the Rockets alway loses. TMAC needs to decrese shooting attempts and start penatrating more. Rafer needs to be on the bench more. Francis needs to be on the court more and Scola should start.
This should fix most of the problem. Do not let TMAC shot the ball once the game become close otherwise nine out of ten times it will go the other way.