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Another loss to the Lakers knocks Rockets down the standings

April 4th, 2009
by John

I hate to say it, but I think the Rockets recent mini-break where they played only 1 game in 7 days – and had plenty of time to practice - did no good, and has maybe even made them worse. It makes you wonder if these guys, and the coaching staff, really have what it takes to get this franchise over the hump.

Once again, the Rockets folded like a cheap suit in the fourth quarter, this time against the Lakers, losing 93-81.


Yao and Shane force Kobe to dish off instead of shoot on this play, but in the 4th quarter Bryant would hit two 3-pointers to put the game away. Click here for more photos from the game.

You’d hope the Rockets could take advantage of the fact that San Antonio has lost a few games lately to give them a chance to win the division.

But they couldn’t win 2 games against rivals Phoenix and the Lakers this week and as a result, the Rockets have fallen to 5th in the standings, with New Orleans (who lost to Golden State Friday night) only ½ game behind them with 6 games left to play.

Meanwhile, Denver has zoomed past them, having won 5 games in a row and now 2 games ahead of the Rockets in the 2nd seed, and Portland ½ game ahead of the Rockets after winning 4 in a row.

In my opinion, Sunday’s matchup between Houston and Portland at Toyota Center Sunday night is going to be the biggest game that ultimately decides where they’ll end the season.

The only silver lining to the Rockets’ losing is that by getting closer to the middle of the pack, they’re less likely to play Utah because they’ve lost 3 in a row (they lost to Minnesota in Salt Lake Friday night!). But if the Rockets finish in the fourth or fifth spot — and they happen to win their first round series — then they will probably play the Lakers and their playoff run will soon be over.

If they finish 2nd or 3rd, they’ll probably have a SLIGHTLY better chance of winning that second series because it wouldn’t be against the Lakers. But I emphasize the word ‘slightly’ given how they’ve been playing lately.

The players and coaches will acknowledge that they failed to execute all game long against the Lakers. For example, Yao said the following after the game:

“From the first minutes of the game until the last minutes, we did not run our plays well. We did not execute well. We said that from the first day of the season until now. In two weeks, the playoffs will start. We’re still not executing well.”

But at least they still had a chance by pulling to within 5 points with 4:46 remaining, and had a chance to do some damage.

That’s where Kobe took over. Again. I’ll recap the collapse a little later.

It’s a little embarrassing to see the Rockets get swept for a season, even if it’s against the Lakers. If you’re a Rockets player, it definitely has to wear on you mentally that you’re not good enough. Does not having Carl Landry around make that much of a difference? I think his absence has been a bigger loss than we could have anticipated, but it shouldn’t be.

Someone has to step up. Shane Battier is doing what HE can, scoring 14 points on 5-of-10 shooting Friday night, and averaging a little over 14 points over his last 4 games.

After Battier hit an off-balance 3-pointer to cut the deficit to 81-76 with 4:46 remaining in the game, Kobe did his damage by hitting two consecutive 3-pointers that basically put the game out of reach 87-76 with 3:54 remaining. When you enter a fourth quarter against the Lakers, just like against Utah, you better be up at least 10 points at the beginning of the quarter to help withstand a certain rally.

The Rockets couldn’t build that kind of cushion, though, and it cost them. Almost like in the Phoenix game, the Rockets went about 5 ½ minutes without a field goal in the fourth quarter.

Yao didn’t play down the stretch because Rick Adelman thought he had played way too many minutes (about 40), and said later he would have put him back into the game if his teammates could have gotten them closer. They couldn’t.

ESPN announcer Mark Jackson was wondering why in the world they weren’t playing Yao, their “go-to” guy, to give them a better chance of catching up. I kind of have to agree with him, but with the way they’ve been playing late in fourth quarters, it probably wouldn’t have made much of a difference.

Since Yao finished with 16 points on 6-of-12 shooting, it would have been nice if he had gotten more touches. Obviously, something is wrong that we keep having to say that game after game. Could it be a combination of his teammates taking stupid shots (yes) and throwing bad passes (yes), but also Yao not battling enough for position? I believe so.

Yao needs to work harder and move around more to get himself free, and his teammates need to zing it in there more crisply during that small window of time when there’s an opening to get it in there before the defense collapses on him. I remember JVG talking about Yao’s teammates needing to work on the timing of doing that more, and you could tell they did when he was still coaching. I’m not so sure now.

The other problem I see is that Yao is being asked to set lots of high screens way outside the paint so his teammates (Artest) can shoot long jumpers. Or he’s coming out high to do pick-and-rolls. That would be fine if Yao was the recipient of some of the passes that come out of those, but we know Yao can’t dribble toward the basket after receiving the ball off a pick-and-roll. So it’s up to the man with the ball to hoist it up.

I’m actually okay if Yao occasionally takes long jumpers out high after setting a pick, like he did successfully in hitting a long two-pointer against LA. His touch is just as good as anyone’s. But we know most of his points have got to come from the low block or along the baseline where he can shoot his hook shots or turnaround jumpers, which by the way got some nice ooohs and aaahs from Jackson and the play-by-play guy.

Artest was okay (21 points on 9-of-19 shots, 9 rebounds), doing some good things, but also doing his normal thing hoisting too many long jumpers (only 1-for-6 from 3-point land). When he took it strong to the hole, he was more successful than not. You wonder why he doesn’t do that more often. He also had 5 turnovers.

Hmmm – not attacking the basket, jacking up 3-pointers, and mishandling the ball: the more things change, the more they stay the same (McGrady).

Luis Scola had a nice bounce-back game after only scoring 4 points against Phoenix. He finished with 16 points on 7-of-10 shots, and grabbed 9 boards. But he couldn’t handle Pau Gasol late in the 4th quarter when he was playing in place of Yao at center. Why Adelman couldn’t put Dikembe or Hayes on him at that point, who knows.

So Yao, Artest, Battier and Scola had double-digit production. Wasn’t fantastic, but wasn’t the worst performances in the world, either. So where did they fall short to lose this game?

I hate to say it, but Aaron Brooks was one of the culprits. He provided no point production whatsoever, shooting 0-for-4 from the field, and scoring only 3 points, all from free throws. That’s not going to get it done. Although he had 6 assists, which is pretty good for him, none of them were all that memorable. When you watched this Laker game, when he wasn’t scoring, he seemed to be invisible.

He finished with only two turnovers, but when he commits them, they seem to be so much more noticeable, probably because of the scrutiny he’s getting from fans, including me. It’s only natural.

I must admit that when Kyle Lowry was inserted into the game after Brooks was struggling, I was happy to see it. And Lowry delivered with hustle and spectacular assists. There was a point where he was playing so well, it wasn’t beyond the realm of possibility that he could become the starting point guard soon.

But then you look at his boxscore, and he shot 1-for-7 from the field with only 2 points. That’s not going to get it done either.

Getting a total of 5 points from your point guards isn’t going to win you many games. If they had racked up collectively at least 18 points or more, then the Rockets most likely could have won this game.

4th quarter miscues:

Okay, here’s some of the mistakes I logged in that 4th quarter collapse I mentioned earlier. You just CAN’T make these stupid errors against a team as good as the Lakers…

9:20 – Artest jacks up a stupid 3-pointer that misses badly, leading to a long rebound, outlet pass to Josh Powell (the man who Artest should have been tracking), and a dunk on the other end. Artest fell asleep watching his shot clang off the rim, and it cost them 2 points the other way. 73-68 LA

9:04 – Brent Barry commits a stupid turnover by throwing a bad bounce pass to Artest, leading to a Laker layup the other way. 75-68 LA

8:40 – Yao misses 1 of 2 free throws. 75-69 LA

7:14 – Barry steps on the baseline. That’s the Rockets’ 15th turnover! 77-71 LA

6:45 – Yao turns the ball over on a travel. Jeez! 77-71 LA

5:54 – Rockets commit a shot clock violation! 79-71 LA

3:54 - Kobe hits two 3-pointers in a row. 87-76 LA. 12-5 run by the Lakers.

3:41 – Wafer misses 1-of-2 free throws. 87-77 LA

There would be more errors the rest of the way, but because the game was essentially over, there’s no point in going over them again.

On the highlight front, probably the best play for Yao occurred at the 4:35 mark of the 1st quarter.

That’s when Luis Scola stole a defensive rebound, threw it out to Artest, then Artest threw it to Yao, who had run all the way from half-court to slice through the lane quickly, caught it on the dead run, scored, and was fouled! That was one of the most aggressive offensive plays I’ve seen Yao ever do, and it was a great assist for Artest.

I wish that could happen more often to throw the defense a curve.

This entry was posted on Saturday, April 4th, 2009 at 4:07 am and is filed under vs. LA Lakers. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed.

Viewing 12 Comments

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    Yao Ming touched the ball a total of 5 times in the second half on the block, you nailed it, he set way 2 many screens, the rockets must make a more conscious effort of finding yao,.5 times on the block in the second half, thats amazing..
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    Why do the Rockets always seem to sign streaky, trigger-happy guards?

    First, Alston, T-mac, Wells, and Head...

    and now Brooks, Lowry, Artest, and Wafer!

    All of these players have the potential to be great, if only they could take fewer jumpers and drive and dish more often.

    Until the Rockets improve at the guard position, I don't see them getting past the first round.
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    Somehow I wasn't that disappointed as when they lost to the Suns - the teams which they could have beaten. One of the reasons I think that contributed to their loss was Ron Artest. I like his toughness, aggressiveness and passion. But he got carried away too often and tried to do too much by himself. Like Matt Bullard said, he forgot he had four other teammates.
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    I watched the game, and honestly I don't see this team going past the first round. They have no second options down in crunch time (when Yao is taken away). Artest is not nearly as good as TMac in his prime. And at this rate, Brooks and Lowry are not playing to the same level as Alston. I really wonder if that Alston trade is going to come back to haunt us, especially since Brooks has kind of disappeared as of late.
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    That play in the 1st quarter was really really great. Not only because I'm a Yao fans, but always because of Luis' hustle and Ron's great pass. I wish Ron could have that mind set all the time.
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    I was at this game last night, I agree with you Carl could've helped in getting some of those offensive rebounds. I asked Keith Jones when Carl would be back and he said there isn't an exact date yet. But I did see Carl in the pre-game shoot around and he looked pretty good. Another thing about last night was the poor FT shooting by the Rockets. Yao missed on a technical FT, and a FT on a 3pt. play. Also, a bunch of 24 sec. shot clock violations showed that their offense really wasn't running smoothly. I think the Rockets will take care of business at home on Sunday and finish the season strong after this tough stretch.

    On another note, Yao and Mutumbo both stopped pre-game and signed my basketball =). That was the biggest highlight of my night!
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    Great post, too. Congrats on all the good stuff from last night, too!
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    As I said in my tweet to you earlier, this team does not know how to play the second half, or crunch time rather, anymore. It bothers me.
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    I agree. Me, too.
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    The problem is they rely too heavily on Yao down the stretch when Yao don't even wan't the ball. Instead of demanding for the ball, all he kept doing was set pick after pick and when he finally boxes out to get the ball he doesn't block out his man good enough to give his passer a good angle to pass it to him. Then with the shot clock winding down by now, and still unable to get the ball to Yao, they scramble and run and pass like a chicken with their head cut off and finally hoisting up a contested shot with a second left. Or if he does get the ball he gets doubles and he passes it back out. And why is he always inbounding the ball now when the other team scores? Isnt that the job of Scola or whichever foward? And he needs to stop sounding so pessimistic all the time after a loss. A loss is a loss move on and get better. He's always bringing up about the team still not learning. Man, have some confidence. I agree, Landry is what makes this team scrappy. This team needs it, Yao especially needs it. We need more players like him and Lowry.
    I hate to beat up Yao like that but it's only because I root for him so much to succeed. Can ya blame me? ;(
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    • v

    The problem is not with Yao Ming. the problem is on Rick Adelman who has no clue on how to use a big and dominant centre like Big Yao PROPERLY in his motion offense scheme.

    You think Yao really wants to be parked around the free throw line or even further out, to set high post shields, set the pick and seldom receive the roll, if not instructed by and sticking to Adelman's game plan??

    When Big Yao had got into groove in the 1H scoring 13 points, why on earth should he be told to still park outside of the free throw/high post line, or why his team mates were not instructed to continue passing him the ball, since the LA Lakers were not fronting or double-teaming him?

    And definitely it is idiotic and suicidal for Rick Adelman to have used Yao Ming that way, by playing him 19 minutes in 1H, and then 20 minutes non-stop in 2H. Big Yao did not get any breaks for his breather in 2H.....He was completely exhausted towards the end to be able to fight for his position in offense, but he still gave his all running up and down the court, and played defense at the back, delivering rebounds and block shots.

    As for why he has now started to inbound the ball for the back court, ask Adelman. He said this would sort of save Big Yao energy as his step sons, the fast and mercurial Aaron Brooks or Ron Artest or Von Wafer could start fast breaks and seek for their scoring opportunities without having to wait for Big Yao getting his position down in the low post. If scoring opportunities did not exist, then they can set up the offensive once again when Big Yao ran up from back court and got his position again in the paint.

    But the result?? We just saw time and time again that after Big Yao ran up the court, most of the time, he had to immediately run back down the court for defense, as those trigger-happy team mates of his had already bricked their ill advised shots out from the perimeter, resulting in long rebounds for the opponents to start their fast break counter-attacks.

    And I don't think there is anything wrong that as a leader, he should speak out on what he saw wrong in the team. In fact, I thought he had not done it too frequently and vocally enough to let Rick Adelman and his team mates know this is not going to work for the team, if despite his coach reiterated time and time again that Big Yao should be the core player, and should initiate every offense, but yet, the inept coach could not solve the fronting defense issues, and his team mates kept ignoring passing him the ball.

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    I love it. Great post and passion!
 
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