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Injuries wreck Sampson’s plans for Rockets http://tinyurl.com/cppgxb4

Rockets acting coach Kelvin Sampson wanted to consider the work to be done
and a chance to do it, but his mind went instead to a different list.

After a much-needed day of rest after the whirlwind of a back-to-back and
side trip to Minnesota to be with Kevin McHale and his family, the Rockets
will practice Friday before hosting the Jazz on Saturday and then have two
more days to work before taking on the Lakers.

Normally, little encourages an NBA coach more than a schedule with more
practice days than game nights, and Sampson knew the youthful Rockets needed
to work more than to play. But before he could consider beating defensive
traps or tightening transition defense, his thoughts went to the injury list.

With forward Chandler Parsons listed as day-to-day with a strained right
shoulder following an MRI on Thursday and forward Carlos Delfino close to
returning from a groin injury, the Rockets hope the first step to getting
better will be getting well. If not, different remedies will be in order.

“We have to find out who we’re going to have first,” Sampson said. “
Chandler is so important to our defense. He had 13 rebounds the other night
versus Chicago. Chandler’s been playing great. All of a sudden, you don’t
have him.

Key players hurting
“We’re hoping to get Carlos back. A lot of our issues were personnel-based.
I think, ‘We have to clean this up.’ We get Chandler and Carlos back, some
of that stuff will get cleaned up.”

Wednesday, Daequan Cook started with Parsons out, giving the Rockets a jolt
of scoring with a season-high 18 points plus seven rebounds and four assists.

“I’ll defend Daequan a little bit,” Sampson said. “He played 38 minutes
when he had not been playing at all, basically.”

But with Delfino and Cook unavailable to come off the bench, the Rockets were
short-handed on the wings.

Marcus Morris filled in at small forward but remained more effective as a
range-shooting power forward, where he could draw big men away from the paint
and often get open looks over defenders unwilling to venture all the way to
the 3-point line. At small forward, he was defended by Thabo Sefolosha, who
excels defending the perimeter, while Thunder power forwards remained in
position to block shots at the rim.

Guards tested
The greater issue Wednesday was with the Oklahoma City traps of guards Jeremy
Lin and James Harden. That got the ball out of their hands and limited them
to just one field goal in the first half. By the second half, the Rockets
adjusted, with Lin especially finding the seams in the defense to set up Omer
Asik and Patrick Patterson behind defenders trapping outside.

Still, if the Rockets don’t see the same sort of defenses against the Jazz
and Lakers, they will in the next three games against the Spurs (home and
away) and Mavericks.

“I was really pleased with Patrick and O,” Sampson said. “Those guys
really competed. But our guards have to be better at recognizing defensive
schemes and move the ball. And our coaches, we have to do a better job. It
starts with me. I have to do a better job putting these guys in the right
spots.”

Those kinds of corrections might be made at practices, but most of all, the
Rockets will have to handle the sort of scoring bursts that are certain to
come in the next five games as they did in the last five road games, all
losses.

“We have to get better at handling adversity,” Sampson said. “We can’t
revert. That’s going to be an important part of our offense and defense.”

The Rockets expect to be tested. Not only do they bring a 1-7 record into a
stretch of games against Western Conference teams, they have lost to the next
two opponents, the Jazz and Lakers.

“It’s going to be important,” Parsons said. “These next two are going to
be must-win at home. They’re good teams. We didn’t forget what Utah did to
us at their place. We owe them. Then we have L.A. coming in.”

Trials by fire
Lin disputed the notion the Rockets will be stepping up in weight class after
last week’s roll through Eastern Conference visitors Chicago, New York and
Toronto, but he said rematches with teams that have beaten the Rockets would
be needed trials by fire.

“I wouldn’t say the Chicago Bulls or Knicks weren’t,” Lin said. “I
thought they were good competition. But definitely, we’ll be tested against
Utah and L.A. We just dropped games to them. We’ve got to grow up.”



先滅爵士！　後殺湖人！　之後的事！　之後再說！！ XDDDD

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清晨霧一般的思念, 清新 double, 美麗 double, 捉摸不定 double...

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