36. Big Beats Wing: The View from Houston

Snips and clips from the Houston camp, plus:

• Haiku Game Review
• Fried Rice
• Blazers/Rockets Recap
• Popcorn Machine
• The Basketball Jones

(1)

Of Course...

posted by ak2themax to The Dream Shake gameday open thread

Of course Lowry hits that three

to give us hope.

I won't fall for it. Rockets lose.

ROCKETS LOSE! QUIT PLAYING GAMES WITH MY HEART!

(2)

Unacceptable

posted by sohum to The Dream Shake gameday open thread

The rest of the team [obscene verbed] Kevin over today.

20-51 if you take Kevin Martin out.

14-42 if you take Martin and Battier out.

Unacceptable.

(3)

How This Game Felt to Me

posted by twinkilling0303 to The Dream Shake gameday open thread

How this game felt to me...

Like I got my ass kicked, but after that I won the lottery.

But before I could claim my ticket... someone stole it, kicked my ass again, then proceeded to [assault] me. And I'm pretty sure it was Jordan Hill that made me feel this way.

(4)

Not Martin's Fault

posted by joeyyowee to RealGM Rockets message board

You can't blame Martin for "disappearing" in the 4th tonight. Adelman took him out in the beginning of the 4th (horrible move, in my opinion) and from there it was down hill.

They were up by 10 when Adelman took him out and they were tied when they put him back. He also only shot the ball once down the stretch. You can't take a hot hand out of the game.

(5)

Terrible

posted by Mourning Wood to Clutch Fans message board

Jordan Hill/Brad Miller -- the worst starting/backup C duo in the NBA, hands down.

As someone mentioned in the game thread, we're paying that fat*** $5 million to shoot 3s and pout like a rookie. He's immobile, has absolutely no defense, and has been far from an experienced, veteran presence on the floor!

Hill's young and raw, but he's arguably the dumbest player to come through Houston since Stro Swift. We continually praise him for mediocrity, and a 10 and 5 season is out of his reach. He doesn't have the brain power to play down the stretch/thrive under pressure.

Disgusted with this loss... one more thing, I'm sick and tired of Adelman stomping around on the sideline, throwing his hands up in disgust, and whining to the refs. He's crying over self-inflicted pain... adjust the gameplan, tinker with the rotation when we're on an 8-minute scoring drought, but don't run your mouth like a little *****.

(6)

Devastating!

posted by rockets934life to Clutch Fans message board

DEVASTATING... simply DEVASTATING.

I said earlier today this could be a season defining game...

Sadly, I might have been right.

(7)

Brad Miller Sucks

posted by teh Glide to Clutch Fans message board

Miller misses a contested 3, flops on 2 awful shots, complains and whines after both getting back late on 3.

They hit a 2pter, and 3pter quickly. 8 points.

THEN THE TECHNICAL. They hit the free throw AND GET THE BALL BACK.

KILLED ALL THE MOMENTUM PLUS SOME.

Brad Miller you dumbfjdSKJG k

(8)  THIS IS THE MAIN HOUSTON REPORT. CLICK THROUGH AND READ IT ALL...

Rockets' Late Chance Falls Short: Loss to Blazers Represents Fourth in Last Five Games

by Jonathan Feigen, Houston Chronicle

The Trail Blazers finally got out of the way, and they did it twice.

They had been unable to defend Kevin Martin without falling for his tricks and going for his fakes. He had scored 13 of his 45 points, his most with the Rockets, from the line. He had given the Rockets the lead heading into the final minute.

With the game on the line, however, the Rockets could not make their shots, and the Blazers no longer gave Martin and the Rockets free throws to beat them. When Martin missed on a drive with 34.9 seconds left, the Blazers began to pull away. And when Courtney Lee could not draw contact on a last-chance 3, Portland held on for a 103-100 win Wednesday at Toyota Center.

The loss was the Rockets fourth in five games since reaching .500 and second to the Blazers. They had, however, had the win within reach with Martin dramatically turning around his 3-of-15 showing in Denver, hitting 13-of-18 shots on Wednesday.

The Rockets, however, missed 8 of their final 9 shots as the Blazers won the game in the final minute. * * *

(9)

Recap, Part 1: Burning Pain — Rockets Lose To Blazers

by Xiane, The Dream Shake (SBN)

* * *
So. Another winnable game. An epic comeback? Wasted. 45 points from Kevin Martin? Squandered. Joey Crawford? Reliable as ever.

If there's some pissed off here talking, oh well. I try to be measured, I don't always succeed. This isn't a public trust, it's a blog. Moreover, it is a Houston Rockets blog and a labor of love.

Amidst our hand-wringing, give the Blazers some credit. They built a lead, lost it, got it back and made the plays down the stretch when it counted. They played their game, with their slow but effective sets, good defense and Celticesque possibly, just potentially, moving screenry. Yes, everyone does it. Usually not 3-4 times every 18 seconds of offense. It's better than Yet Another Roy Iso, I guess. * * *

Rudy Fernandez (the Flying Squirrel) made a crucial shot after a largely forgettable night to help seal the Portland victory. Everytime I see The Flying Squirrel he's leaping about, or being flung about, and landing in pain, crumpled like a Kleenex. Often The Squirrel appears to be in life-threatening p ain, but like the footballers his nation is famous for, he somehow gets up from his obvious death-wound and plays on. Honestly, he just may be too slight to ever play more than about 20 minutes a night in the NBA. * * *

(10)

Recap, Part 2: Rockets Spoil Martin's 45, Kindly Hand Over A Win To Blazers, 103-100

by Tom Martin, The Dream Shake (SBN)

* * *
Let's talk about who screwed up. There were many screw-ups, but let's address some of the worst.

Rick Adelman screwed up. If a team without a closer fails in the final minutes of a game, it's too easy to pin the loss on the coach, but I really think Adelman deserves it this time. Normally a mastermind in designing out-of-bounds plays, Adelman dropped the ball on the game's last possession. The Rockets declined to use two screeners on Kevin Martin's man, which allowed the Portland defender to deny Martin the ball on an inbounds play clearly designed for him. This forced Shane Battier to lob a cross-court pass to Courtney Lee and say a prayer. The play was too easily dismantled, and to be blunt, it was a case of Houston screwing with themselves far more than Portland playing impenetrable defense.

Adelman also chose not to double LaMarcus Aldridge for much of the game, which proved to be a costly decision as LaMarvelous dropped 27 points on 11-18 shooting against the helpless Jordan Hill. *  *  *

Courtney Lee screwed up. If you didn't watch the game, the Rockets performance from beyond the arc — 11 for 20 — seems impressive. But it should have been two better, as Lee missed two WIDE-OPEN three-pointers that could have easily slowed Portland's 8-0 run and lessened the Rockets' deficit entering halftime. Instead, the Blazers racked up points in bunches while the Rockets missed the gimme's. Yes, I'm being this picky.

Brad Miller screwed up. Miller tried to play point guard again late in the fourth, drove hard towards the basket, threw up an awkward shot that missed and didn't get the foul call that he wanted. This prompted him to angrily toss the ball away from the referees after a timeout was called, which, under the new rules, warranted a technical foul. If there was any specific momentum shift aside from the Blazers' back-to-back threes, this was it.

Luis Scola screwed up. The twelve rebounds are nice, but you can't miss an easy bucket two feet away from the basket after you decline to pass to an open three-pointer. His brick with about six seconds left didn't end the game, but if it weren't for a ridiculous three-pointer for Kyle Lowry, it would have.

Whoever was guarding Patrick Mills screwed up. It baffles me how a team can allow a streaky-shooting backup point guard — clearly on his game at the time — to get wide-open for three of four made deep balls. There's just no excuse for it. Mills was the spark that the Blazers jumped on to spur a comeback. * * *

The Bottom Line:

1. Aaaaaaaaaaargh!!! AIRARRJRJRRRRRRRGHG!!!!!! RARRRRRRQWWWRAROEHRGOWROQH [UOPOQ HP!!!!!!!!!

2. This is gonna be a horrible month already, our Rockets HAVE to win games like this to save their playoff hopes... 

3. Kevin Martin can play a little. Daryl Morey needs to get him some help. FAST!!!

I spent my day writing a separate piece called "FanPosts for Beginners," sorry about that.

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The Texas two-step

Too often it's two losses

Not tonight, pardner

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Here's some more wackiness from the twisted tongue of goofy Uncle Mike...

The clock operator is a little slow on the draw or something and MB bullies his 69-year old partner...

"That was a long 3 seconds — you need to get that guy timing the rest of your life!"

Camby blocks one into the crowd...

Rice: "I thought I saw a pair of false teeth flying in the crowd."

MB: "They might have been yours."

Rice hates a call...

"David Guthrie goes over and says, 'AM I ON TEE-VEE?!?!'"

Rudy feels the wrath of veteran ref Joey Crawford for having showed him up earlier by pointing at the big screen... Nate has a few words for the Spaniard...

Rice: "What do you think Nate's telling him now?"

MB: "Don't show up Joey Crawford."

Rice: "Don't show up Joey Crawford."

There follows a highly dubious (i.e. makeup) call in which a Rudy charge is called the other way...

Rice (singing): "Here comes Santy Claus, Here comes Santy Claus..."

Offensive rebound Rockets, stolen away, ball loose on the floor, bodies everywhere. Portland ball!!!

MB: "PORTLAND WITH THE BALL, TIME OUT PORTLAND!!! SOMEBODY needs a time out! — it's ANARCHY on the court!!!"

Game 36.

Blazers 103 at Rockets 100.

January 5, 2011.

Blazers' record is now 19-17, the Rockets are 16-19.

I've got more bullets than Clint Eastwood, baby...

• Things started with an ugly clankin' long missed three by Wesley. Yikes. This is not going to go well tonight, is it?
• K-Mart made it rain from downtown. MB promptly called him a "streak shooter," and clanked rusty chains while making ominous spooky sounds about what happens when "streak shooters" make their first shot...
• Nic is dinged, limping on his sprained ankle. Rice: "He can't hobble in this game, Blazers are shorthanded as it is."
• Rockets came out fired up to reverse their embarrassing loss from last week.
• Blazers were doubling Luis Scola and leaving Jordan Hill, with decent success.
• Houston had 4 turnovers in the first 9 minutes, which helped keep the Blazers in it as the teams exchanged buckets.
• K-Mart with 12 in the 1st Quarter including 3 makes from distance.
• Pryz came in at 1:30 and promptly got clowned by a Rocket Big passing to himself off the backboard. "Joel is just half a step slow with that ankle," Rice observed optimistically.
• Portland's last possession ended in a shot clock violation, but Portland dodged a bullet.
• END OF THE FIRST QUARTER: PDX 31, HOU 25, Blazers shooting 65% from the field to Houston's 57%.
• Houston opened 5-for-5 from downtown but still managed to trail somehow. I'm not quite sure how that works.
• Houston tied it up at 9:35, due to Portland scoring zero points in the interval.
• Rudy kept chucking 3s, for some reason, missing 3 before he got sent to the line getting thumped on a break.
• Dante decided to show up, scoring 8 points in his first 9 minutes on the floor, including a nice two-handed jam.
• Rice: "Their big guys just are not coming out on any pick and pops."
• Nic with 4 quick assists in a quarter and a half.
• Rice notices that no Rockets were crashing the offensive boards. Shot goes up, five white shirts run back to the other end...
• LMA with a follow jam and the Portland lead went to double-digits (11) at 4:20.
• Rick Adelman called a time out and chewed some tail. The Rockets started playing D and made a couple shots and quickly it was Nate McMillan needing time...
• With Camby on the bench. LMA moved to the 5 and fought for rebounds like a macho man.
• Matthews was bad from the perimeter and threw up a brick. Mike and Mike should have called that an ice check.
• K-Mart with 17 points in the first half. Repeating myself: the Kings traded the wrong guy.
• HALFTIME SCORE: PDX 55, HOU 47. Blazers shot 51% for the half.

HALFTIME ENTERTAINMENT: Jerry Lee Lewis "Whole Lotta Shakin' Goin' On" (live, 1957)

• Portland opened the 3rd Quarter with three very lame possessions including an Andre Miller "Please Foul Me" and a Nic Batum 7 footer from 8 feet out. In less than 2 minutes the game was down to 2 points and MB was bringing up a 13 point lead from the distant past, as he enjoys doing. Nate needed a fast time out.
• Out of the time out Camby drove the lane, drew contact, but no whistle blew. After lucking into an offensive it was a 20 footer by LMA that missed.
• ZERO points for Portland for the first 4 minutes. Yikes.
• At 8:00 Kevin Martin drilled a wide open bomb for a 3-point Houston lead.
• Andre broke ice for the Blazers with a 15 foot bank shot.
• Just inside of 6 minutes and Houston is already into penalty. Wesley is sent to the line and lamarcuses. "You've gotta make your free throws," MB notes.
• Kevin Martin on fire. Daryl Morey is a genius, I tell you, how he landed that guy is an amazing thing. He recognized that Sacramento was duplicated at SG with Tyreke Evans and would cheap out by hanging with the new kid instead of the more expensive vet. Then he traded a Big (who isn't really that Big) for a Wing — which is a violation of the GM's Code, making Geoff Petrie of Sactoe think he was pulling a fast one.
• Houston 8-for-13 from distance when K-Mart drains yet another. That makes 30 points for him on 9-of-11 shooting, with 3 bombs.
• K-Mart again. Now Rice and MB are repeating me. "They used a mask and a gun to pull that trade off — it was a robbery."
• Patty hits a prayer trey at the shot clock buzzer to cut the lead to 3. Martin hits again for his 35. Patty answers the answer with another three ball, this time from the corner — and the lead is down to 2.
• Wesley with a panicky idiot turnover and K-Mart gets a wide open breakaway dunk. The crowd goes nuts and there's no time for Patty to get a decent look at the horn. Ugly, ugly, ugly quarter. Kevin Martin for President.
• THIRD QUARTER SCORE: HOU 80, PDX 74. That's a 14 point swing (33-19), which is about as horrid as a quarter can get. Houston shot 70% from the field and Martin had 19 points.
• Blazers open chucking, Brad Miller hits for the Rockets... And the lead is 8.
• A Patty bomb misses and K-Mart drops another trey on the Blazers' head. The lead is now 11 and Portland is getting run out of the gym. Nate needs a quick time out. MB: "That's a 24 point turnaround in just over a quarter."
• This Blazer team is too thin. We know that. When somebody like Wesley goes cold or Nic is dinged and off his game, there are no viable alternatives.
• K-Mart sitting on 39 points with nearly 11 minutes remaining in the 4th Quarter.
• Rudy gets a wide open look from behind the arc in the corner and quickly went to 0-for-6 from downtown...
• At 10 minutes Martin gets picked by Dante, who goes coast to coast. K-Mart gets a breather and others start taking turns scoring on Portland's inept perimeter defense.
• At 8:30 Rudy finally hits from the right corner and the lead is down to 8. A stop and then it's Nic collecting a skip pass for a wide open bomb of his own. The lead is down to just 5.
• Brad Miller T'd up, make that a 4 point lead.
• A Blazer steal and LMA scores down low. Two point lead on an 11-0 Blazer run.
• Budinger with an offensive foul and Kevin Martin is rushed back, what a surprise.
• LMA schools rookie Patrick Patterson to tie the game at the 6:40.
• LM posting up and talkin' trash afterwards.
• At the 4:00 mark K-Mart gets sent to the charity stripe on a long jumper. Martin hits the pair and he's sitting at 43. Portland still leads by 1, fortunately.
• Rudy hip-checks Martin into the floor and it became 45 points and a 1 point Rocket lead. Ugh.
• Rudy misses a bomb, around and out on a good look from the left side. On the other end Nic gets whistled for a foul in the paint going to a rebound over the back. Jordan Hill misses a pair coming out of the last TV timeout.
• Portland's defense intensified. Rockets missed a bomb against the clock,
• Six Houston turnovers enabled the Blazer comeback in the 4th Quarter.
• Against the shot clock, Rudy got to the baseline and leaned in for an off balance 2 for the lead, 98-97.
• Martin drives the lane, looking for contact. He gets some but there is no bail out foul called and Portland rebounds the ball with 35 seconds remaining.
• LMA up and under left hand off the glass and Blazers lead 100-97. Full time out Houston.
• Rice notes that Kevin Martin is an expert at drawing late 3 shot foul calls and cautions this.
• 13 second Lowry to Scola in the paint. Scola is short and LMA rebounds. With just 5 seconds left he is fouled.
• LMA heads to the line. He dribbles and concentrates... First shot........ HITS! Second shot......................... HITS! The Blazer lead sat at 5 with just 5 seconds remaining in the game. Time out Houston.
• MB: "The crowd is headed for the exits. I don't think anybody in Blazerland is 
• Lowry hits a 3 pointer out of the time out. Only 1.9 seconds comes off the clock. Nate calls time out to move the ball. Nate reinserts Andre for the finish.
• The ball comes in to Andre with 2.6 seconds. Two shots is dagger. Andre headed to the line for his first shots of the night. He calmly drained the first. The second shot... MISSED off the back of the rim! Houston rebounded with 2.3 seconds showing. Plenty of time for a tying shot.
• Houston nearly got 5 seconded on the inbounds pass and had to go all the way across court to Courtney Lee, Houston's least best option on the floor. Lee is covered but he gets the ball away in time, coming up short and bricky off the front rim. The Blazers escape by the skin of their teeth.
• FINAL SCORE PORTLAND LAMARCUSES 103, HOUSTON K-MARTS 100.
• LMA finished with 27 points and 13 rebounds on 11-for-18 shooting. Somewhere in California Mr. Snake was heard moaning, his world crashing down around his feet.
• Kevin Freaking Martin: 13-for-18 from the field (6-for-8 from downtown), 13-for-15 from the line — 45 points. He didn't quite get to his career high of 50 points, but I think we all get the point that this is a very, very legit young star.
• NBA.COM BOX SCORE

Let's take at this thang graphically, shall we?

Okay, go ahead and CLICK THE LINK to bring up the super-smooth graphs...

Here's what I'm seeing...

A. Whoa, Portland stomps 'em... No, Houston stomps 'em... No, wait, Portland wins...

B. LMA had 9 points in the 2nd Quarter and 10 points in the 4th, so if you want to attribute the win to one guy, that's a good choice.

C. Once again, it was Nate's Small Ball 4th Quarter lineup that won this game, putting a 20-4 run on the Rockets to recover and take control: 1. Mills, 2. Rudy, 3. Nic, 4. Dante, 5. LMA is the lineup.

D. Wesley was a team low Minus-15 in Plus/Minus, but he played some great fronting defense on K-Mart on that last play of the game. Still, it was a bad outing for him.

E. Balanced scoring: 7 Blazers scored in double digits, with Wesley stuck at 9 points for the night.

Finally, let's gather round for another installment of THE GREATEST THING IN THE WORLD, eh?

The Basketball Jones is a NBA blog and video/audio podcast, written and recorded five times a week by J.E. Skeets, Tas Melas, Jason Doyle and Matt Osten. Assume that there will be a couple Not Suitable For Work words used in any given episode.

2010-11 VIEW INDEX.