Rockets escape Bay Area with win over Warriors
Saturday, March 22nd, 2008
by John
Carl Landry reacts strongly after a basket against the Golden State Warriors on Friday night in Oakland. It was Landry’s first game after missing 7, and he returned with a vengeance, scoring 16 points on 6-of-9 shooting, including 11 points in the fourth quarter to hold off a surging Warriors team. The Rockets ended a two-game losing streak by beating Golden State 109-106.
Although the Rockets held on for a huge 109-106 victory against the Warriors at Golden State on Friday night, I was happy on many fronts, but irate on another.
For most of the game, and especially during the third quarter, I couldn’t understand what Rick Adelman was thinking. I thought it was one of his worst coached games in weeks. I can understand why he had decided to “go small” by starting Luther Head instead of Dikembe Mutombo to match up with Golden State’s smaller and speedier lineup.
But after awhile it was clear the strategy wasn’t working. By halftime, Luther had only scored 4 points on 2-of-5 shooting, while on the other end of the court, the Warriors were grabbing offensive rebounds (9 by halftime, 20-10 offensive rebound advantage overall) and getting to the hole for easy layups time-after-time. The Rockets were lucky to be up 52-50 at halftime. The lead should have been bigger.
Meanwhile, Luis Scola wasn’t doing much on the defensive end down low, and he had only scored 4 points on 2-of-4 shooting himself.
So they weren’t getting much from Landry and Scola offensively, AND they were being torched on the boards and in the paint defensively. Not a good combination, especially in the third quarter when their interior defense was pathetic by letting the Warriors get to the hole uncontested so many times.
Carl Landry reacts strongly after a basket against the Golden State Warriors on Friday night in Oakland. It was Landry’s first game after missing 7, and he returned with a vengeance, scoring 16 points on 6-of-9 shooting, including 11 points in the fourth quarter to hold off a surging Warriors team. The Rockets ended a two-game losing streak by beating Golden State 109-106.Although the Rockets held on for a huge 109-106 victory against the Warriors at Golden State on Friday night, I was happy on many fronts, but irate on another.
For most of the game, and especially during the third quarter, I couldn’t understand what Rick Adelman was thinking. I thought it was one of his worst coached games in weeks. I can understand why he had decided to “go small” by starting Luther Head instead of Dikembe Mutombo to match up with Golden State’s smaller and speedier lineup.
But after awhile it was clear the strategy wasn’t working. By halftime, Luther had only scored 4 points on 2-of-5 shooting, while on the other end of the court, the Warriors were grabbing offensive rebounds (9 by halftime, 20-10 offensive rebound advantage overall) and getting to the hole for easy layups time-after-time. The Rockets were lucky to be up 52-50 at halftime. The lead should have been bigger.
Meanwhile, Luis Scola wasn’t doing much on the defensive end down low, and he had only scored 4 points on 2-of-4 shooting himself.
So they weren’t getting much from Landry and Scola offensively, AND they were being torched on the boards and in the paint defensively. Not a good combination, especially in the third quarter when their interior defense was pathetic by letting the Warriors get to the hole uncontested so many times.
