My observation after game 5 - the blame list and rant

Now that my blood is no longer boiling, I can cool myself down and share my thoughts with fellow Rockets fans and basketball fans. Many things led to the painful loss, and here is my “blame game”:

1. Coach Rick Adelman has to take the most responsibility for the loss. It’s an elimination game (for Blazers) in the playoffs. He doesn’t have control over the game in the fourth quarter, especially he lost control over the point guard, who had the ball in his hands most of the time. There is no excuse for that. When there was less than 8 minutes left in the game, Rockets led by 4, he took Yao out for a breather. Refs started to call the game tight, Lowry/Landry/Hayes committed numerous silly fouls. It was ugly, he called timeout, put AB back in, and left Yao on the bench. From that time on, he should have known better. When the refs are calling tight games, you go inside and pound the ball to Yao and Scola, post Artest, you look for contacts, instead, he let the AB running circles and dribbling like a maniac and putting up insane shots. The game was lost there.

2. Aaron Brooks is the most clueless “point guard” in the entire league. The midget can’t defend, can’t pass, can’t see the floor, now he can’t even shoot. 6-20 in 34 minutes. How he got green light to jack up 20 shots in such an important game, and most of those shots are low quality bad and worse shots, is just beyond me. That’s why RA is the most to blame for this loss. AB is what he is, and he tried his best but failed miserably. Lowry didn’t play controlled ball, but RA still should have given him more decent minutes to find his own rhythm. At least, Lowry was drawing fouls, not got stuffed, and not let Steve Frigging Blake blow by him. Not saying AB has a problem with Yao, he has problem to pass to anyone, not to mention a post entry pass. That’s why when Rafer was gone, I wanted Lowry to start. Lowry doesn’t shoot the 3 well, but he won’t jack up crazy 3s, and he knows how to run a PnR. AB on the other hand, any PnR involving him, ends up with him trapped at the corner by lengthy defender in the face and throwing up a prayer.

3. Yao Ming, the supposedly franchise player, the supposedly super star, the supposedly max player who’s supposed to get another 6 year max contract. He let his teammates especially rookies to ignore him. In an elimination game, he didn’t even put up on single shot in the first quarter. That’s inexcusable. Yes, AB ignored him a few times; yes, Ron ignored him a few times; yes, refs swallowed the whistle in a few plays when Portland bigs were murdering him. But did he want this game? I don’t see energy in the first quarter. He’s supposed to be the leader of this team. People always say he’s not a vocal leader but he leads by example. Where is the leadership in the playoff? Yes, he’s Chinese, a foreigner. But it’s been 7 years! No excuse can last that long. He deferred to SF3, he deferred to TMac, but he’s deferring to AB, the second year clueless rookie, and Ron Artest, who’s delusional and out of control? What kind of sucky franchise player is that? His English isn’t great to give a public speech, but good enough to throw out a semi-funny one-liner to reporters, how could he never learned the simple line – Give me the fxxxing rock! Too chicken to say that? Was he afraid to hurt AB’s feelings, or he’s afraid to hurt his own feelings. Yes, our guards ignored him from time to time. But how many times do you see during the game, he turned the back to the ball, when the play starts? What was he doing? Expecting offensive rebounds, which he got 0 in the game? Or he’s just shying away from responsibilities? When he had single coverage on the back, he held the ball for 5 seconds to wait for double team, which never came, and he passed out anyways? I can only shake my head when I see plays like this. Other stars are pumped in playoff big stage, they are hungry and they want blood, and they want the ball, if they can’t get it, they will come out to grab it. Yao Ming, this is America, being a nice guy doesn’t get you far. It’s the highest stage of professional sports, you have to be competitive. You don’t have to pound your chest and taunt, but you have to go out the fight for whatever you want, even it means that you have to be an ahole sometimes. Nothing will be gift-wrapped to you. A very disappointing showing, or no-show, in such an important game, after 6 years of failure.

4. Ron Artest has been shooting miserably in playoffs, throughout his career. I didn’t expect him to shoot the lights out in this series. But his defense is very shaky to say the least. He couldn’t keep up with Roy, and he gambled too much. He didn’t box out, rotate. He’s best suited to guard LeBron, strong but not lightening fast. His best weapon is posting up smaller guards, and his biggest weakness in the game is his dribbling and his decision making. Ironically, he’s been in love with his biggest weaknesses and totally ignore his own strength. That’s also why I said Rick as the coach has to take the biggest share of the blame. Nobody is calling out Ron. RA and Yao should be the ones doing that before, during, and after games. I love Ron’s toughness and swagger, but he’s delusional, he actually thinks he’s a stronger version of the combination of LeBron and Kobe.

5. Low collective basketball IQ – starting from our franchise player Yao Ming to the clueless midget AB, is exposed time and time again. Outside of Shane Battier and Luis Scola, I don’t even an average BBall IQ player among rotation players. I always said Yao Ming is not smart at all. He doesn’t know how to read the game and adjust to situations. He doesn’t know when to lead the charge and when to flow with the game. He doesn’t know when and what to speak up. When the refs are whistling for Oden’s wrestling style, go at him in the next possession. When AB ignores you, go to talk to him right away, and tell him that you want the ball in next possession. I thought we are getting Berry for his playoff experience, and why he never sees a single minute, especially our guards are playing like crap, and our forwards aren’t getting any ball? This is on RA, as I said, the most to be blamed for the loss.

Game 6 is even tougher, and Rockets have to take that game as game 7. We only squeezed out 2 wins due to Blazers’ inexperience. Their confidence is sky high right now. It’s home court, the pressure is on the Rockets. Hopefully they don’t melt. Yao Ming, it’s your time. No but and if, no more excuse. Get it done, people don’t care how, but you are supposed to deliver. If you fail this time, who cares where you choose to go next season, if you get a big contract somewhere it will be because of your marketing value, not your basketball value. Forget about who’s the best center and all those crap. Be a man, and be a leader, for one frigging game. Be a game changer for once, at the big stage, not just a contirbutor. Be proud of yourself, and bring it as if your life depends on it. Forget about next round, you can get swept for all I care, just put your 120% on the line from the opening tip throughout the closing honk. Respect is earned. Life is never fair, especially not fair to losers.