<div align="center"> <font color=""Blue""><font size=""4"">Orlando Magic</font></font> Houston Rockets: 1-1 Orlando Magic: 0-3 Houston Rockets Coach (Jeff Van Gundy) Orlando Magic Coach (Brian Hill) <font color=""Blue""><font size=""3"">Orlando Magic</font></font> C – Tony Battie PF – Dwight Howard SF – Hedo Turkoglu SG – Deshawn Stevenson PG – Steve Francis <font color=""Red""><font size=""3"">Houston Rockets</font></font> C - Yao Ming PF – Juwan Howard SF – Derek Anderson SG - David Wesley PG – Rafer Alston After an embarrassing loss to the Oklahoma City/New Orleans Hornets we hope to rebound against the struggling Magic, last game Yao showed his aggressiveness finishing with 14 boards and 7 blocks but unfortunately couldn’t find a way to wow anyone with his poor FG%, no one else on the team had a great game however Juwan has seemed to find that shot of his and Rafer has been shooting the ball very well… Stromile Swift so far hasn’t been the PF we were hoping for, but it’s only his second regular season game in a Rocket uniform and he just isn’t adjusting as fast as we would of liked, either way he’s already made a few crowd pleasing highlights. Jon Barry had a huge game against Sacramento in our season opener, but against the Hornets he couldn’t get one shot to fall (besides from the free throw line) We all have our bad games, let’s just hope that was one of them… Derek Anderson didn’t shoot well, but he knows how to get points on the board, finishing with 17 points going 4/14 from the field against the Hornets, David Wesley appears as if he’s lost his shooting touch, I don’t know how you go from being a great shooter to one where people say to themselves “Oh stop shooting!” but its happened, well to me anyway, he’s gone 2/11 in his first 2 games, and he didn’t do too well in preseason either…Another small thing, Luther Head got his first NBA points against the hornets, first 2 being a goaltend from Chris Anderson, and the second being a three pointer. In order to win this game I think Yao needs to have his game, meaning get a double double and shoot at a fairly high percentage, and one of these two things happen the first being that someone steps up and fills the hole that T-Mac left, or the whole team plays a good game, meaning that no one has a great game, but no one has a poor game either, personally I hope someone steps up, it’s always exciting to see a role player suddenly play like an All Star…. My Game Prediction…. I don’t do em unless forced..Remember?</div> I haven't done previews in a while now so i'm a little rusty...any suggestions or criticisms to make it better are all welcome...
Nice analysis of the Rockets, but if I were you I'd add some stuff about the Magic as well. Juwan Howard and Stromile Swift will have a hard time trying to guard Dwight Howard down low in the post, and I won't seeing Yao try to face up on him because Tony Battie isn't much of an offensive threat. The Magic have great slashers such as Francis, Stevenson and Nelson, and it would be wise to rotate shotblockers to avoid any one player getting into foul trouble. We really need someone to put up big games beside Yao. Defensively, we have to be ready to guard the scorers that Orlando has, but someone on the team needs to have a big night offensively to be any help. Anderson did a good job of putting points on the board last night, although he didn't shoot well. Wesley, Alston and Barry will have to hit shots from the outside to give Yao more space inside to work with.
Stromile Swift was brought in to guard the athletic power forwards in the league. He has to be ablet to contain Dwight Howard tonight. With TMac out, every team is going to use the formula to beat the Rockets, which is tiring out Yao Ming. The Magic have decent depth at Center with Cato, Battie, and Howard (when they go small.) Swift has to be far more effective on defense tonight and give JVG the confidence to rest Yao more. If he can't the Rockets have to count on Deke playing extra minutes on the court and not getting into foul trouble. If the Rockets can establish the inside, the Magic will eventually shoot themselves out of this game.
We have to keep orlando off the offensive glass and dictate the tempo of the game...those are our two biggest keys...we suffer against teams who run and score in transition, and Orlando is one of those teams...we have to force them to play a halfcourt game...I expect Head to see 15-20 minutes tonight to defend against the likes of Jameer Nelson and Francis...Wesley needs to find his jump shot tonight (against an Orlando team who does not gaurd the perimeter particularly well)... my prediction: Rockets 97 Magic 93
You need to stop bashing one of the teams veterans, and better defensive players. So his shot is off, it'll come back.
why should rockect fans even be woried about losing to orlando. the rox are supposedly a title contender and the magic would be lucky to make the playoffs this year.
<div class="quote_poster">Quote:</div><div class="quote_post">why should rockect fans even be woried about losing to orlando. the rox are supposedly a title contender and the magic would be lucky to make the playoffs this year.</div> McGrady isn't here which leaves us with just Yao and the role players. This isn't the team that is speculated to be title contenders, we're a star player short.
<div class="quote_poster">Quoting Johnnybrasco:</div><div class="quote_post">why should rockect fans even be woried about losing to orlando. the rox are supposedly a title contender and the magic would be lucky to make the playoffs this year.</div> Because we lost to the Hornets without T-mac. I'd say the Magic is alittle better than the hornets.
Alright, well Yao's off to a slow start. Van Gundy seems really careful as far as playing him goes, letting him play eight minutes and right now its around seven minutes to go in the second quarter. His shot isn't really on and his only bright spot are his three blocks so far. Hope he turns it up as the game progresses. Right now, the only reason we're in this game is because both teams are drawing blanks from the field and Magic are turning the ball over a bit more than us. Our players really need to step it up at this point, we barely have a lead and I'd hate for that Hornets comeback to haunt us again.
Yao's been doing well so far, field goal percentage notwithstanding. He looks much more aggressive at blocking the ball and that has translated into more blocks and less blocking fouls. 0 personal fouls in 18 minutes is definitely a good thing for any center, not to mention Yao who also has 3 blocks. He could average around 2.5 on the season the way he's doing it right now. Stromile Swift is playing his best game as a Rocket, 6 and 5 with one block.
WTF WE LOST TO orFinlando there first win of the season. Just great i am pissed. A 9-0 RUN! (9-3 if you want to count that dumb shot at hte end) We got outscored in the 4th quarter badly again. WE NEED TO CLOSE OUT GAMES! I am so pissed. T Mac is our star player, but we should have gotten these wins w/o him. We should have been 3-0 before we went on the road. Now we have to go on the road for 5 games and play 10/16 dormer playoff teams last year! Wow. We are under the 500 and it looks like that 17-17 start may be possible. It wouldnt have happened if our closer t mac was not injuered. AHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHhh!
It is official...Tracy McGrady Needs to come back or else the next ten games for the Rockets will be a loss. The rockets just lost by 2 and were now 1-2. Tmac please hurry back.
They have lost to the hornets and the magic. Those are teh two easiest teams we probably will play without tmac. Guess it will take a while, like last season, till the rockets start playing for real. Head should definetly start over wesley. And who knew Bowen could hit 3s.
This was a horrible game. Nobody could catch a pass or make a shot. Only Juwon and Alston had good games. Juwon was hitting that open shot all night(until the 4th of course). And Alston, even though he had a poor shooting night, he still had 9 assists. And that was with 4-5 passes that his teammates couldnt catch. The Rockets need T-Mac back badly. Even if he only stands there and takes shots. He said that he hopes to come back during the road trip, but all we can do is hope. Since this was a very week game, im going to use 2 players for My Player of the Game Mix. I'll be using Juwon and Alston. So check the "Rockets Video Thread" in the "Rockets Lounge" for this mix and others.
JVD,please stop palying Wesly. In order to watch this game.I missed two classes,but rokets again disspointed me!!! T-M,hurry back to the court
If we lose 2 games to teams like the Hornets and Magics at HOME, how the hell are we going to beat playoff teams on the road??? This is sad.
I dont blame the Rockets since there offense is built around T-Mac and Yao, but some players need to seriously NOT STEP UP, BUT AT LEAST GET THE NUMBERS THEY ARE SUPPOSED TO HAVE! Wesley get the F off the court when you cant hit 2 wide open 3s. Seriously give him a 2-3 weeks paid vacation or something. Send him to the D-League just don't put him back on the cour when one of the leagues best shooters can't even hit the open jumper. Swift and Howard played well. We are so the opposite of clutch. Our team isn't clutch, T-Mac is clutch. I miss him taking the big shots, and closing out games. Even though I am pretty sure we wouldn't have needed him to take any big shots late in the game if he were playing. ROCKETS PLEASE TRY TO GET SOME WINS! YAO GO CRAZY!!
<div class="quote_poster">Quoting chineseafro:</div><div class="quote_post">You need to stop bashing one of the teams veterans, and better defensive players. So his shot is off, it'll come back.</div> Yes master, i'm sorry i've displeased you, next time i'll do exactly what you tell me because your all the hope I have left, are your shoes polished enough? I'm not bashing, i'm stating what is really happening he was 0-4 again today, I may sound harsh, but that's reality i'm not a blinded Rocket fan that see's positives in everything, what do you recommend I say? "Wesley hit a shot against the Hornets! it was great! I hope he hits one tonight!".
