April 13, 2012 7:18 PM The Rockets look to be trying to milk Scola early inside against Channing Frye. He got point blank inside near the hoop but missed the layin on one of the game’s first possessions.
April 13, 2012 7:18 PM Camby swats away a Gortat turnaround in the paint. Gortat’s first possession of the game
April 13, 2012 7:19 PM Both teams are running the same high screen and roll offense right now. The score is 10-9.
April 13, 2012 7:20 PM This time down the floor, the Rockets use Parsons on the high screen and roll rather than Dragic. The second-rounder demonstrates his versatility, dribbling smoothly around and then finding an open Luis Scola in the corner for the jumpshot. The Suns call timeout. When a 6’10 small forward can run the pick and roll effectively, it gives you options.
April 13, 2012 7:25 PM Camby plays at the high post on every possession. This time we see why. Dragic comes off the high screen and flips it back out to Camby. Camby then feeds a cutting Dragic for the layin. On the ensuing possession, Camby dumped in a floater from a few feet closer.
April 13, 2012 7:26 PM Marcus Camby’s fingerprints are all over this game so far. 6 points, 4 rebounds, and 4 assists. 4:28 still remaining. Has any trade deadline pickup had a bigger impact? I know some will say Gerald Wallace but….well…it’s the Nets.
April 13, 2012 7:28 PM The Rockets have based pretty much every offensive possession of this game off of the same set so far tonight: Dragic/Camby screen and roll.
April 13, 2012 7:29 PM The Suns offense has markedly changed from how they started. No more screen and roll. They are now positioning Nash near the elbow and running cutters through the lane. He is hitting them with one handed passes. I guess you have the luxury to do that when your point guard is a future Hall of Famer.
April 13, 2012 7:30 PM Grant Hill’s shoes are bright orange.
April 13, 2012 7:36 PM Patrick Patterson makes perhaps the first impressive post move of his two year career, spinning away from his defender and fading away.
April 13, 2012 7:37 PM Markief Morris at the line shooting two. As Marcus Morris looks on.
April 13, 2012 7:38 PM Forgot to mention that Wade Philips is in the house but did not draw near the ovation a reigning Coach of the Year would deserve. Oh…Kubiak won it?….Oh….
April 13, 2012 7:39 PM Lowry has been in at point for Dragic for the past few possessions. He hasn’t gotten to the rim as easily as Dragic did. But they’ve looked to Patterson on the baseline. The team is basically running the same offense with Lowry/Patterson as they had with Dragic/Scola. 38-year-old Marcus Camby in the high post has been the only constant.
April 13, 2012 7:43 PM Michael Redd nails a jumper. The Cavs could have used that in 2004.
April 13, 2012 7:44 PM Michael Redd hits another. I’ve seen this script before. It didn’t end well…
April 13, 2012 7:45 PM Sebastian Telfair in now at point guard for Steve Nash. Despite what you thought of him in Through the Fire, this is a dropoff…
April 13, 2012 7:46 PM Dalembert and Lowry are in at the 1-5. The Rockets have not run a single screen and roll this quarter. Chandler Parsons skies in for the one handed layin attempt; Markieff Morris blocks it; Marcus Morris looks on.
April 13, 2012 7:48 PM All of the Rockets’ points this quarter have come in transition or on breakdowns. Not a single screen and roll. (8:35 remaining in the 2nd.) They looked infinitely better with Dragic-Camby, though I think more of that had to do with Camby than Dragic vs. Lowry.
April 13, 2012 7:52 PM Redd has taken like 20 shots already.
April 13, 2012 7:53 PM The Rockets now have both point guards in the game together with Dalembert at the ‘5’. They run their first Dalembert screen and roll and Bert rolls to the hoop for the dunk attempt and gets fouled. They never have Camby actually roll.
April 13, 2012 7:54 PM I have no idea how the Suns have managed to keep this game close with Steve Nash on the bench. The Rockets will look back on this if they lose.
April 13, 2012 7:57 PM Michael Redd has now taken 30 shots in this ball-game.
April 13, 2012 7:58 PM Camby throws in an offensive board. Now with 10 points, 13 boards, 4 assists, and 3 blocks. 5 minutes still remaining. In the half.
April 13, 2012 8:03 PM Dragic just schooled his mentor, driving, stepping back out, pump faking the jumper and leaning in for the shot attempt. Got fouled. Beautiful play. His one on one skills are hugely underrated. Slovenian Manu?
April 13, 2012 8:04 PM Old man Camby now has 17 boards. 4 minutes remaining here in the 1st half.
April 13, 2012 8:05 PM 3:24 remaining in the second and the Rockets lead just 45-43. Feels like a rout. No idea how Phoenix has kept this close.
April 13, 2012 8:07 PM I never noticed this before, but the Rockets rarely run screen and rolls with Lowry. Was this the case before the injury and Camby trade? I can’t remember. They’re almost running two completely different offenses depending on who is running point guard.
April 13, 2012 8:10 PM The Rockets run a high screen and roll with Lowry who finds Budinger in the corner–his sweet spot–for a ‘3’.
April 13, 2012 8:12 PM Jared Dudley nails a 3 from the corner giving him 13. I didn’t realize he was this good. As I type that, Lowry answers from the corner with a triple of his own.
April 13, 2012 8:14 PM Last play of the half, Lowry comes off a Camby pick and
second half
April 13, 2012 8:38 PM 9 minutes remaining in the 3rd. I stayed in the press room too long. The Suns are now up 2. What happened while I was gone?
April 13, 2012 8:39 PM 65-61 now, Suns. The Rockets will be kicking themselves if they let this one get away.
April 13, 2012 8:47 PM Scola with 12 right now. He’s going to have to be able to kill the likes of Channing Frye for the Rockets to have a chance in the Western Conference playoffs. He’s the only thing they have even remotely resembling an inside presence.
April 13, 2012 8:48 PM Lee hits a bailout jumper but the Rockets’ offense has really looked discombobulated here, a far cry from the precision with which they worked in the first quarter. They seem to have abandoned the high screen and roll with Dragic/Camby which had been working so well.
April 13, 2012 8:48 PM What is this rendition of “Jump” that they play here during jumpballs? That’s not Kriss Kross.
April 13, 2012 8:49 PM Dragic forces up a 3 and misses. The offense has looked awful here in the third.
April 13, 2012 8:52 PM The Rockets post Patterson up on Frye and he turns around and misses. The offense has looked absolutely horrendous. Why have they gone away from the high screen and roll? Everything has been isolation. The Rockets can only win with movement, either player or ball.
April 13, 2012 8:53 PM Courtney Lee comes off a Patterson screen and Patterson is called for the offensive foul. Where is the high screen and roll? It’s now 74-67.
April 13, 2012 8:57 PM I’d be willing to bet that if you pulled the video of every single Rockets loss this year, or even every dry spell, you’d see that the correlating factor was a lack of movement. This is not an isolation team. They must move to score. When they play one on one, everything falls apart. Even Scola postups are at their best when they come at the end of some dish-off, rather than as a set entity.
April 13, 2012 8:58 PM The Rockets play fabulous defense on this play with Kyle Lowry denying Steve Nash the ball. 2:15 left in the third.
April 13, 2012 8:59 PM We see our first high screen and roll but it results in a Camby free throw line jumper. Not what we were looking for. On the other end, Redd nails a ‘3’. The lead swells to 10. This is looking bad. Fans getting restless. A few boos.
April 13, 2012 8:59 PM Patterson in the post should be the last option. Always. ALWAYS.
April 13, 2012 9:01 PM The lead is now at 12. This quarter has been a complete and utter disaster. If the Rockets miss the postseason, they will look back on this third quarter as the moment it all got away. With that said, I do expect them to make a run and come back in the 4th. They always do. Let’s hope that this time, they have enough in the tank to close it out.
April 13, 2012 9:10 PM As the lead swells to 15, I start to wonder if perhaps we might be better off with that first round pick. Must. push. thoughts. away..
April 13, 2012 9:11 PM I’m struggling to figure out what happened. Why did the Rockets go away from their gameplan? Was it on account of some switch by the Suns which I hadn’t noticed? They were running screen and roll between Camby and Dragic with Scola finding the open spots, in the first quarter. They switched to some form of Steve Francis iso-ball in the third…
April 13, 2012 9:14 PM Last stand for the Rockets. 9 minutes remaining and a 13 point deficit. Dragic, Scola, Lowry, Budinger, Parsons take the floor. Still no Steve Nash…
April 13, 2012 9:17 PM Telfair drills a ‘3’ pushing the lead to 16. Sucks the air out of the building.
April 13, 2012 9:19 PM The Rockets finally run a high screen and roll and it results in Lowry getting to the line after a kickout.
April 13, 2012 9:23 PM Scola now at the ‘5’. As a reader put it, “McHale is now desperate.” Not since Matt Bullard started at the ‘4’ with Walt Williams next to him on the frontline have I abhorred a manifestation of the Rockets’ lineup more than “Scola at the 5.” That phrase will be etched in infamy on this season’s gravestone.
April 13, 2012 9:25 PM The Rockets have now gone back to the high screen and roll. Still not scoring. On the other hand, Sebastian Telfair is.
April 13, 2012 9:26 PM This is the worst Goran Dragic has looked in about a month. I wonder if the return of Kyle Lowry has thrown off his timing.
April 13, 2012 9:27 PM Nash pushes off Dragic with a forearm, sending him to the ground and drilling the jumper. I have a friend who does this. One of the most effective moves in the game.
April 13, 2012 9:29 PM The Rockets have cut the lead to 10 and are making a push with 4:02 remaining. The Suns actually looked better with Telfair than Nash.
April 13, 2012 9:31 PM The Rockets run an absolutely beautiful motion set resulting in a Parsons dunk. At the other end, Nash is bailed out by a horrific call after Parsons forces him into an errant circus flip attempt.
April 13, 2012 9:32 PM The Rockets are now running high screen and roll exclusively and are getting results. Dragic back at the line. Why did they go away from this?
April 13, 2012 9:33 PM Lead down to 7 as Gortat throws Scola to the floor. On the previous possession, he snatched the rebound away and scored. Timeout on the court. Fans hoping desperately for one last push.
April 13, 2012 9:37 PM Jared Dudley blows by to the rim and lays it in. Why is Camby not in the game? We need paint protection.
April 13, 2012 9:39 PM It’s now down to a 5 point game. Interestingly, the ball has not been in Steve Nash’s hands the last two possessions. The Suns have instead opted to swing it around with Grant Hill playing the role of decision maker. Surprising. At the other end, the Rockets are going with a small ball lineup.
36.2 remaining, the Suns lead 108-100. I will have more thoughts after the presser. Follow me on twitter @redninetyfour for live coverage of the Kevin McHale post-game presser….
