Quick Hitter

Just stood around in the 4th quarter. ABSOLUTLY RIDICULOUS. We better learn that we cannot just stand around in the half court without Tracy McGrady. We have to keep running. And we can’t because Brooks has been playing an enormous amount of minutes lately and it seems that his legs are feeling the effects. Just a PATHETIC effort in the 4th quarter. Stopped rotating on the defensive side of the floor and stood around waiting for SOMEONE ELSE to make a play instead of playing as a unit on the offensive side. Landry played well in the 4th but that is about it. We better take this as a reality check and realize that we aren’t good enough to get by with 3 quarters of good ball and then mail it in during the 4th. Really frustrating and I am extremely upset about the way we got after it in the final period. This game, the first Laker game, and the Dallas game illustrate why we HAVE to have a healthy and motivated team-first Tracy McGrady back. Trevor Ariza is a FABULOUS defensive player- really really good- but WOW he is limited on the offensive end. He can shoot the open 3 but he has a HORRIBLE handle and takes it up like a little girl along with atrocious footwork. It is truly unbelievable how he shies away from contact. I about threw the remote through the television numerous times last night after he beat his man of the first dribble, had a path to the lane, and stops and pulls out because he doesn’t want contact. And, when he does go to the lane he falls back and can’t finish at all. I MEAN COME ON! You have great jumping ability- freaking use it. Unbelievable. He also got away with at least 4 traveling calls. Scola needs to get his act together. Kyle Lowry needs to find a way to get his shots to fall. Budinger needs to play more. Chuck Hayes is fine. Brooks is fine- but we need KLow7 to be able to score with some consistency so Brooks can get a few more breathers. Andersen cannot rebound for the life of him- but I am giving him a pass because it was only his 10th NBA game ever. Battier needs to knock down his shots with more consistency. We look incredible at times on the defensive end with text book rotations, only to have mental lapses when it counts most. During the third, we finally got hot again, but it didn’t matter because of our unexplainable decision to stop rotating over and giving up numerous points in the paint. Overall, easily the most frustrated I have been this season. And this frustration came as a reality check. We sure are capable of looking like one of the top teams in the league at any moment but we got to learn consistency. We got to learn the killer instinct. Until we do this, we are going to struggle in close contests, it’s as simple as that. We have an opportunity to take this bad taste out of our mouths tonight against the Fighting Rambises. Thank Goodness for the NBA and quick turnarounds because I am losing it after that 4th quarter performance last night.


Praise be to Allah


Wednesday Update: I want to apologize to the Rockets, and especially Trevor Ariza. I just kind of lost it this morning. Last night was tough for me to swallow. I came to the office and my brother emailed asking what happened last night and the blog you see above was originally an email in response to him. I just lost it. I ask for forgiveness. Trevor Ariza is already one of my favorite Rockets- the dude plays hard. He gets after it. He doesn't make excuses. But, he does have parts of his game that do need to be worked on. I've been killing myself over this since I wrote the fired up words this morning. I sincerely apologize to all of Rocket Nation, the Rocket Team, and most importantly, the loyal followers of the Chuck Wagon. I used poor judgement. I expect to see a big game out of Ariza tonight. I can't wait to see us bounce back and get back on track. Go Rockets.