Wednesday, April 1, 2009

Wouldn't this be nice?

(1) Lakers vs. (8) Jazz
(2) Denver vs. (7) Dallas
(3) San Antonio vs. (6) New Orleans
(4) Houston vs. (5) Portland

or

(1) Lakers vs. (8) Jazz
(2) San Antonio vs. (7) Dallas
(3) Denver vs. (6) New Orleans
(4) Houston vs. (5) Portland

Thursday, March 26, 2009

Ron and Kobe

this one is a must see. i watched it a couple times and it got better each time.

http://www.thedreamshake.com/2009/3/13/796666/kobe-and-artest-the-lost-t

thebasketballjones.net

Saturday, March 7, 2009

Two Ron Links

Mark Madsen blogs about Ron

Jazz Blog about Ron and some (mostly incorrect) stuff about the Jazz Rockets game
:

"When he was on the court, Yao caused the Jazz fits whether they double-teamed him or stayed home. Kyle Lowry hit a three-pointer and earned a trip to the foul line off a drive as Yao found him open when the Jazz went to double-team.

When they stayed home, Yao followed up his own miss for a three-point play. For only playing 30 minutes, Yao had an incredible line of 19 points, seven rebounds, six assists and five blocks."

Monday, February 23, 2009

Up to this point

Are we a collapsing giant like Dallas or Phoenix? Is Ron a Trojan horse-type powder keg such as we've seen J-Kidd and Shaq become? Has Tracy played his last days as a Rocket, and if so, is it safe to say that our team is falling apart?

The team has pruned some dying limbs, in my opinion, and the healthy portion of the group has more room to grow.

Tracy's leaving us has left us the opportunity to put up some JVGish, Thibbodeauxian defensive strangleholds - Artest and Battier and Yao starting every game together should make every game tough for the opposition's offense. I know Shane and Ron haven't played their best basketball of the season, but shouldn't that be a sign of hope? They've both been a step slow, but are on the way back.

Rafer leaving hurts a lot, but I can take solace in knowing that Rafer will get out of the first round before T-Mac; and because he's playing for a Van Gundy.

We've played Memphis like 7 times this year, so who could be unsure about what Lowry can do for us. We regular season watchers have probably seen more of Kyle Lowry than any other NBA fans, beside Memphis, and even then the numbers might be close.

It looks like we're embracing a Lowry - Wafer - Landry youth bench movement, having now promoted Brooks to the starting lineup.

All in all, I'm optimistic. I guess that's a choice I've made: to give a shit about where we can go from here. I think we can get back to playing defense for 48minutes, all five people on the floor held accountable. I think we can get the ball moving like Adleman always wanted, and we finally have guards that can penetrate like everyone always wanted. I think turnovers will kill us, and that'll keep us out of any big games in the playoffs, but I'm not putting it past this group to win a whole lot and beat some really good teams.

Tuesday, February 3, 2009

Whatever will they do?

Sprains and tears and dislocations, Oh my!

Whoever heard of making it through a season with one of your starters injured!?

Man I -really- feel sorry for all of these teams. I mean really sorry.

Wow,  I couldn't imagine what -that- would be like.

(mild sarcasm)

Tuesday, January 27, 2009

Statistical thing

(from TrueHoop)
Type HOU into your search/find field on this site and check out the Rockets that have led the league in different areas. Lots of Yao "the MVP" Ming on the '08-'09 leader board. Some highlights from years gone by include...

...#44 Chuck Hayes in '07-'08:


Defensive Rating

1. Kevin Garnett-BOS 93.8
2. Tim Duncan-SAS 96.6
3. Chuck Hayes-HOU 96.7

and Chuck in '06-'07:

Offensive Rebounds

14. Amare Stoudemire-PHO 222
15. Erick(a) Dampier-DAL 217
16. Tim Duncan-SAS 213
17. Chuck Hayes-HOU 204

Defensive Rating

1. Tim Duncan-SAS 94.5
2. Ben Wallace-CHI 94.8
3. Marcus Camby-DEN 97.2
4. Yao Ming-HOU 97.7
5. Manu Ginobili-SAS 97.9
6. Chuck Hayes-HOU 98.0

and "the old" T-Mac ('06-'07):

Free Throw Attempts

16. Dwyane Wade-MIA 535
17. Kevin Garnett-MIN 498
18. Tracy McGrady-HOU 488

Defensive Rating

15. LeBron James-CLE 100.3
16. Shawn Marion-PHO 100.4
17. Tracy McGrady-HOU 100.5

Defensive Win Shares

8. Kevin Garnett-MIN 4.9
9. Rafer Alston-HOU 4.8
10. Kirk Hinrich-CHI 4.7
11. Shane Battier-HOU 4.5
12. Tracy McGrady-HOU 4.4

Depressing or encouraging?

p.s. (from NBA.com)


"Francis, a 6-foot-3, 210-pound guard, did not appear in a game for Memphis or travel with the Grizzlies, though he did occasionally practice with the team.

Grizzlies general manager Chris Wallace announced last week that the team was working on a buyout of Francis' contract. The Grizzlies announced Tuesday that Francis was leaving.
"

Monday, January 26, 2009

Mike Harris & Bonzi Wells

Here is a link to the Asia-Basket website. If you look at the league leaders on the right, you'll see Bonzi and Mike averaging something like 30+ points. (Harris: 32 pts. 15 reb.)

Sunday, January 18, 2009

nba.com recap mia vs. hou

Alston didn't realize Yao didn't miss and criticized himself for not getting him even more looks.

"That's a bad job by myself. I took too many shots,'' said Alston, who went 9-for-17 from the field. "But that's tremendous. I wish I could have a day like that.''