<font color=""Red"">Houston Rockets</font> vs <font color=""RoyalBlue"">Memphis Grizzlies</font> Saturday Semptember 22 FedEx Forum 7:00 PM CH. 51 Point Gaurd - <font color=""Red"">Tracy McGrady</font> vs <font color=""RoyalBlue"">Damon Stoudamire</font> Van Gundy plans to see today whether McGrady can be the primary ball handler behind Alston for the rockets. McGrady is more than capable of running the point, and has throughout the season. Against the grizzlies last season, he was our top assist man, averaging 8 assists. TMac will rotate on defense, probably with Wesley or DA. Rafer Alston will back up Tmac and has been spreading the ball perfectly throughout the preseason. The Grizzlies have one of the deeper guard rotations in the league with Stoudamire and Bobby Jackson. Both can spread the ball and light up the scoreboard. I would give the Rockets the advantage here, just because Tmac is playing it. Shooting Gaurd - <font color=""red"">David Wesley</font> vs <font color=""RoyalBlue"">Eddie Jones</font> Wesley should start yet again for the Rockets at the 2-guard. Trying to recover from an injury, his shot had been off previous to the Laredo game, and his 3 pointers are just terrible. DA has started off a bit better than him, and could back him up but will probably be busy at the three. Barry and Head should get some minutes here, both off to great starts. The Grizzlies have Eddie Jones starting at the shooting guard. He?s a good leader and three-point shooter. The rockets have the advantage here because of depth. Small Forward - <font color=""red"">Derek Anderson</font> vs <font color=""royalblue"">Shane Battier</font> Derek Anderson should start at the forward, though TMac might move back to it on D. Juwan Howard could play it too along with Ryan Bowen. Anderson has been steady at the 3 and is outplaying Wesley. Bowen had a very impressive outing in Seattle, along with some nice dunks. The Grizzlies have Shane Battier starting and Miller off the bench. Both can score well, and play good defense. This match up will be pretty even and less important, expect a lot of threes. Power Forward - <font color=""red"">Juwan Howard</font> vs <font color=""royalblue"">Pau Gasol</font> Juwan Howard will start at PF. SO far, Howard has been aggressive on the boards and hitting his shots. Stomile Swift will get to match up against him former teammate Pau Gasol. Already a great scorer and shot blocker, Stro has been really effective, but expect him to go out extra hard tonight against his former team. Pau Gasol should stick to the PF throughout the game. The team?s top player, Gasol can go out for a double double any night. 19th pick Hakim Warrick will back him up. So far, he has replaced Stro just fine and strengthens the Grizzlies at the four. The Grizzlies have the advantage here, but his is a big game for Swift. Center - <font color=""red"">Yao Ming</font> vs <font color=""royalblue"">Lorenzen Wright</font> Yao Ming missed the last game because of a toe injury, but has so far been great in the preseason. He should have no problem at all today against Lorenzen Wright, but will have to fight for his rebounds. Mutombo hasn?t shown any signs of aging, he is still an amazing shot blocker and rebounder. The Grizzlies have Lorenzen Wright and Tsakalidis playing center. Both have little to counter Yao. The Rockets dominate in this category with the best center duo in the league. Sixth Man - <font color=""Red"">Stromile Swift</font> vs <font color=""RoyalBlue"">Hakim Warrick</font> Being preseason, there isnt really a key bench player, but these two guys have been big for their teams. Warrick is the second highest scorer on the Grizzlies and Stromile is the 3rd highest scorer on the rockets in the preseason. The outcome of the game doesn?t really matter, because it is preseason. The rockets will continue to look for another point guard by playing TMac at the one. Stromile Swift should have a monstrous game against the Grizzlies. A defensive match up, expect a close game, but the rockets close it out in the fourth quarter-90 to 84
good overlook............I might catch bits and pieces of tonights game.........I can't miss the World Series.
Wow T Mac at the one,they should put DA at the 1 and T Mac at the 2.But it doesnt matter cuz T Mac can play like 4 positions
Against the Grizz, Swift, TMac and Yao all played great, and TMac had 5 assists in a PG start. Luther Head though, got just 4 minutes of PT. The way Swift is playing in his starting gig, he might have just beaten out Juwan Howard. Against the Wizards yesterday, Swift had 12 and 9 off the bench, overshadowing good numbers from starter Juwan Howard, 14 and 6. Yao had 20 points for the second straight game and had 7 rebounds in 24 minutes. Luther Head played 14 minutes last night, but was 0-2 from three point range. Btw, I'm basing this all off of the box scores, so could anyone fill me in on how the players looked? Was TMac guarding Damon Stoudamire in the Grizzlies games?
^I didnt see the game but i do know that Tmac didnt gaurd the pgs, JVG said that wouldnt happen. I guess it would wear him down too much. The point also seems to take away a lot of his shots, now that he has to pass first and shoot second. Being our scorer, that isnt too good. Howard is starting at PF every game for some reason, but i really hope Swift gets the bigger minutes in the end. This guy is an all star, he can go out and give us 20-10 any night we need it, i said it at the beginning and sticking with it. Yao seems to have really strengthened his offensive game.
Swift had started the Grizzlies game and did good. However, he has had similar success coming off the bench, so I won't mind having him as a sixth man as well. Howard seems to be doing better as a starter so keeping him there is no biggie. Both will get 25 minutes per game anyways.
Howard's bad playing last season could have just been him, getting kicked out of the rotation he was just happy to play. This season, he shouldnt have a problem with coming off the bench. Swift is the third best guy on this team, he shouldnt have to play the sixth man. He should come in and give us 35 minutes and 3 blocks.
Once again, I don't know much because I haven't seen any preseason game so far, but I do remember someone commenting that Swift was huffing and puffing already after playing twenty minutes against the Spurs. If that's the case, then he can't play 35 minutes, period. Also, I don't get what you mean when you say Howard played badly last year and got kicked out the rotation. He was always in the rotation and he was a great supplementary guy for Yao, being a mid range threat and he sucked up his rebounding around January. He has done just as well as Swift in the preseason and I think that his veteran experience is needed in the starting lineup, especially if we don't start Wesley.
Howard did get kicked out of the rotation at the beginning of the year, when we were still haveing trouble with the PF spot. He came back in and was good. Why cant veterans come off the bench, and even if welsey is benched, him and DA are close to the same age, Alston isnt young either. This is one of the oldest teams in teh league, if not the oldest, veteran experience shouldnt be a concern. I was the one that said swift was tired really quick, but after that, it dodnt happen again so i assume it was that he just wasnt 100% coming into that game. He hasnt had that problem any more and at his age, he can easily play 35 minutes. He has outplayed Howard. By the stats, better offensive player by far, which is important, better rebounder, and better defender in that he blocks 2 a game in comparison to howard, who hasnt blocked any yet. If howard has one block, that is a highlight.
<div class="quote_poster">Quoting bplld:</div><div class="quote_post">Howard did get kicked out of the rotation at the beginning of the year, when we were still haveing trouble with the PF spot. He came back in and was good. Why cant veterans come off the bench, and even if welsey is benched, him and DA are close to the same age, Alston isnt young either. This is one of the oldest teams in teh league, if not the oldest, veteran experience shouldnt be a concern.</div>The one getting kicked out of the rotation at the beginning of the season was Mo Taylor. Howard missed two games in November because of injury and played under double digit minutes just once. By veteran experience, I'm not saying that Anderson and Alston aren't veterans. Even Yao is a veteran, but Howard and Wesley are the ones who are mature. They don't force their shots if they don't get it, and they know what to do and focus solely on that. The other guys aren't as good as the two in that aspect, and I think that's what every starting lineup should have. <div class="quote_poster">Quoting bplld:</div><div class="quote_post">I was the one that said swift was tired really quick, but after that, it dodnt happen again so i assume it was that he just wasnt 100% coming into that game. He hasnt had that problem any more and at his age, he can easily play 35 minutes. He has outplayed Howard. By the stats, better offensive player by far, which is important, better rebounder, and better defender in that he blocks 2 a game in comparison to howard, who hasnt blocked any yet. If howard has one block, that is a highlight.</div> It's not necessarily about who's doing better. Hedo Turkoglu started over Manu Ginobili for 2/3 of a season. Ginobili served as the spark plug off the bench and disrupted a lot of offenses with his energy and rim-attacking, something that no one else on the Spurs did consistently. Why can't the Rockets do that as well? Swift will come off the bench and give defenders a whole new style to guard. Swift will attack the rim hard, and run with the best of them on the fast break. By switching it up once in a while, the team will benefit from it. Besides, Howard didn't do too well the game that he was benched.
Anderson is just as mature as Wesley, he isnt goingg to be shooting the ball much at all. Swift will take a good amount of shots, but that is good. We want him to because that gives us another scoring option. He cant do that off the bench. I know you think that anderson can do that, but he cant, he wont put up more than 10 points for us. His only scoring will come on the fast break and open jumpers, mainly threes. Mo got permanently kicked out, but there was a point where Howard was out of the rotation for some games too, and it wasnt because of injury, though that might be what they say, its the same thing they said about Mo. I dont think the fact that howard prefers to be a starter should matter, if he struggles off the bench, then baxter can take his spot. Thing is, Swift is much better than howard, why bench him, Ginobli actually played more minutes than Turkoglu. Turkoglu also was talented, he was a deadly three point shooter and a great defender. Howard isnt better than Swift in anything at all. Guys like Ginobli and Gordon were also in their rookie years, Swift isnt a rookie anymore, he is ready for starter minutes. Another point, Swift complements Yao much better. I cant stop saying that Howard never blocks shot, Swift will take a lot of pressure off Yao, allowing him more minutes prevented from foul trouble. You know how important that is to the rockets. We want Yao to play more minutes, Swift could also take pressure off him on offense, the pick and roll really wore Yao out.
<div class="quote_poster">Quoting bplld:</div><div class="quote_post">Anderson is just as mature as Wesley, he isnt goingg to be shooting the ball much at all. Swift will take a good amount of shots, but that is good. We want him to because that gives us another scoring option. He cant do that off the bench. I know you think that anderson can do that, but he cant, he wont put up more than 10 points for us. His only scoring will come on the fast break and open jumpers, mainly threes.</div>Hey, all Wesley did last year was shoot spot up Js, and he averaged 11 points a game. With Anderson's ability to run the break and attack the rim, throw in 4 more points on top of the 11. <div class="quote_poster">Quote:</div><div class="quote_post">I dont think the fact that howard prefers to be a starter should matter, if he struggles off the bench, then baxter can take his spot. Thing is, Swift is much better than howard, why bench him, Ginobli actually played more minutes than Turkoglu. Turkoglu also was talented, he was a deadly three point shooter and a great defender. Howard isnt better than Swift in anything at all. Guys like Ginobli and Gordon were also in their rookie years, Swift isnt a rookie anymore, he is ready for starter minutes.</div>Howard is a better scorer than Swift and a better passer. Swift doesn't have any go-to move yet; he still gets most of his points from dunks and putbacks. Howard can score by himself, and his mid range capability kept defenses from keying in on Yao. I haven't seen Swift yet, but I doubt that he would have the same effect. Yes, having Swift being the helpside defender will surely lift a lot of weight off Yao's shoulders, and that I think is one of the big reasons the Rockets went after him. Keep in mind that I am not strongly against Swift starting. It's just that from the preseason box scores, Howard has impressed upon me as being more productive as a starter, while Swift has proven to be able to get numbers both off the bench and as a starter. And Turkoglu was a great defender? Also, that was in Ginobili's second year.
Wesley was the guy who scores a lot of our fast break points actually, with his layups. Anderson wont add much to that. Dont tell me that Swift and Howard are on the same offensive page. Howard's days are gone. Swift can hit the midrange jumper too and is a monster dunker. His post game is actaully better than you would think. He can put points on the board, one way or another, he does it way more than Howard. Dont worry about Yao on offense, he has a lot more moves now. Yeah, i dont really know about turkoglu's defense, but i think nba live said it was good, hah, jk. I know it was his second year, but he was still pretty much a rookie. There is no reason to put Swift behind Yao, he beats out Juwan. this guy is capable of being an allstar, you cant bench him. The frontcourt of tmac, swift, and yao is arguebly the best in teh league.
