Rockets shooting abysmal again in loss to Orlando
Thursday, December 20th, 2007
by John
Yao Ming shoots a jump hook in the lane against Orlando on Wednesday, December 19th. Yao finished with 19 points and 17 boards in a game where the Rockets shot 34% as a team and lost 97-92. Click here for more photos from the game. Click here for photos from the pre-game shootaround where former assistant coach Patrick Ewing paid a visit.
At first I was upset how the Rockets couldn’t make a shot and blew an early 16-5 lead to let a struggling Orlando team beat them 97-92 Wednesday night. This is a Magic team that had lost 5 of their last 6 games, and in their past 7 games their defense was atrocious, giving up a whopping 107.3 points per game.
So their coming to Houston was just what the doctor ordered, with Houston hitting only 28% of their shots by halftime, 34% overall, and scoring 15 points on average below everyone else who has played Orlando the past 7 games.
But now that I’m a realist and have come to the conclusion that this Rockets team is going to be mediocre for awhile, it’s time to start thinking how the Rockets can salvage this season. Forget about going deep in the playoffs. For me, the goal for this team is to make a late, strong run to get at least the 8th playoff seed, get their offense humming, their defense back to par, and then acquire a few key pieces in the off-season to make a stronger push next season.
Yao Ming shoots a jump hook in the lane against Orlando on Wednesday, December 19th. Yao finished with 19 points and 17 boards in a game where the Rockets shot 34% as a team and lost 97-92. Click here for more photos from the game. Click here for photos from the pre-game shootaround where former assistant coach Patrick Ewing paid a visit.At first I was upset how the Rockets couldn’t make a shot and blew an early 16-5 lead to let a struggling Orlando team beat them 97-92 Wednesday night. This is a Magic team that had lost 5 of their last 6 games, and in their past 7 games their defense was atrocious, giving up a whopping 107.3 points per game.
So their coming to Houston was just what the doctor ordered, with Houston hitting only 28% of their shots by halftime, 34% overall, and scoring 15 points on average below everyone else who has played Orlando the past 7 games.
But now that I’m a realist and have come to the conclusion that this Rockets team is going to be mediocre for awhile, it’s time to start thinking how the Rockets can salvage this season. Forget about going deep in the playoffs. For me, the goal for this team is to make a late, strong run to get at least the 8th playoff seed, get their offense humming, their defense back to par, and then acquire a few key pieces in the off-season to make a stronger push next season.
