Since I just found out there wasn't a game thread (thanks Dream), this is just a quick throw up. <div align="center">http://i32.photobucket.com/albums/d36/RocketsPreview/matchupsver1.jpg"> [b]Rockets David Wesley, Tracy McGrady, Ryan Bowen, Juwan Howard, Yao Ming Clippers' Starting Lineup Sam Cassell, Cuttino Mobley, Quinton Ross, Elton Brand, Chris Kaman Today we have the Rockets squaring off against a hot Clippers team. In our defense, we're on a four game winning streak and have momentum going into this game. Yao has been pretty hot as of late so against Kaman, he shouldn't have too hard of a time contributing. The problems Houston faces are Cassell and Brand. Sam I Am will be posting up Wesley and will and knocking down jumpers so Wesley needs to make sure he plays defense and not back down. Brand's who I'm most scared off. He's matched up against an average defender in Howard and will undoubtly exploit that. Plus, he could very easily put Yao in foul trouble. Good luck Rockets. </div>
49-49 at the half Tmac with 25....the way both teams are shooting, it looks like this one might go down to the wire
AH! I seriously can't find time to make Game Previews. I've had Computer Problems, and have also been very busy. I've been out of town since Thursday night, and I just got back Today at 3:00 PM. I guarantee I'll make a preview on my next game. I may need to start it now that way I don't miss it.
^^^you're cool man....computer problems can be a pain.........right now the Rockets need someone else to get involved, besides Tmac and Yao edit: We really need DA back, Bowen is great on the defensive end, but the dude couldn't hit a open jumper if his life depended on it
*sigh* ITS SO FUSTRATING... bowen can't shoot.... WHY IS HE IN THE NBA IF HE CAN'T MAKE ANY JUMPSHOT OUT OF 10? he takes all DA minutes and shots... then the refs.... they don't call a foul for yao OR TMAC...
Well I would suggest sitting bowen, but the dude hustles so much and with Head in the game, the Clippers kept posting him up, because of his height.............bottom line is we need DA and Barry back (for offense and defense)
The Clippers did about as good a job as you can do on McGrady in the second half. You kind of knew the Rockets were in for a tough second half after they outrebounded the Clippers by a wide margin in the first half and the score was still tied. The Clips got all the loose balls in the second half. I think we're going to miss Derek Anderson for the next few weeks. On the winning streak it seemed like we won more with our offense than defense, but we were playing against some pretty bad defensive teams as well. Head has been in a slump the past 3 games as his minutes have gone down. But he's also had to play against some tough competition (Davis and Richardson, Allen, and today Cassell and Mobley). I think he'll be alright.
<div class="quote_poster">Quoting tr@cy&ya0:</div><div class="quote_post">*sigh* ITS SO FUSTRATING... bowen can't shoot.... WHY IS HE IN THE NBA IF HE CAN'T MAKE ANY JUMPSHOT OUT OF 10? he takes all DA minutes and shots... then the refs.... they don't call a foul for yao OR TMAC...</div> Bowen does the things that don't get noticed. He gets the team extra possesions which can turn into points. Remember the Golden State game? I seriously think we would have lost that game if Bowen didn't get those crucial rebounds and layups. So Bowen can help the team, but not every game. You can credit this loss to all the Injuries.
^^^^yeah........these are one of those loses that I can live with, the Rockets didn't play to bad, it's just that we were missing some key guys.
Awwww end of 5 game winning streak...too bad. And they did it without Corey Magette, too, I wonder how good the Clippers could be with him. Livingston was a beast, 10 assists off the bench? Wonderful. Anyway I guess Yao and McGrady had their usual above average games, but too bad no one else produced much, and we couldn't really defend their guards. Sad that Barry and Anderson couldn't be here. Really sad to see Moochie was our best man after Yao and McGrady, I mean 8 points, 2 steals? And how did Bowen get 11 shots? I also would have been very scared of Elton Brand, but I guess we did as good of a job on him in the first quarter as the Clippers did McGrady in the second. Yao is rebounding pretty crappily.
Sigh, we'll be facing a pretty strong Lakers team tomorrow, better have McGrady or maybe Bowen guarding Bryant, and better be watching out for Lamar Odom, Smush Parker, and maybe Kwame Brown. Then we have a nice long rest I think and maybe Barry will be back by then we have a home game against the very winnable Raptors? And Rafer Alston should be back soon, he had a micro-anthro fracture, something small that takes time to heal. Somehow I don't think Memphis is a legit playoff contender. Yes, I know we lost to them twice, but what good teams have they actually beaten?
<div class="quote_poster">Quote:</div><div class="quote_post"> Somehow I don't think Memphis is a legit playoff contender. Yes, I know we lost to them twice, but what good teams have they actually beaten?</div> Miami, Cleveland, Phoenix (borderline good), and Dallas. I think the strategy for tomorow would be just to try and shutdown the role players like Odom, Mihm, and Parker. Just make sure they aren't left wide open and not double team Kobe. If we do, it'll leave the other guys left open for jumpers which causes their offense to run a lot more smoothly. Hey, Kobe can't beat us by himself.
The Rockets have come full circle since last year. With DA J.Barry and SKIP all out, the size of the back court hurt them as C.Mobley and SAM I AM took turns posting up our undersized backcourt. Losses exploit all weaknesses. Aggressive rebounding and size at guard hurt the Rockets. Sound familiar. A lil too much like last year.
<div class="quote_poster">Quote:</div><div class="quote_post"> Losses exploit all weaknesses. Aggressive rebounding and size at guard hurt the Rockets. Sound familiar. A lil too much like last year.</div> We did have size at the guard. Sura was 6-5. But you're right about the rebounding anyways. The only real rebounder we have and had last year was Mutumbo but other than that, everyone were pretty lackadistic. EDIT- What does Ryan Bowen do in practice? Isn't it natural to think that practice makes perfect (okay, but close to it)? So if Van Gundy makes Bowen shoot jumpers over and over again with a shooting coach wouldn't his shot get better? I seriously think I'm missing something here. And I'm sure he doesn't have a disease which stops him from making shots.
Seemed like Yao and TMac had normal games, but no one else was able to step up and put the ball in the basket consistently. Moochie Norris is looking like he can contribute now; that's two straight games he's played well. Wesley had 8 assists, and hit two threes, but from the box score, not looking like he did much else.
The really crappy officiating caused us to lose. The same thing that happened against Dallas in the playoffs happened today. Wilcox was out of bounds and stole it from Yao. The official was standing right their and didn't call it, but did call the technical against JVG. That missed call cost us 3 points, and the momentum to switch to the Clippers team. They missed many fouls commited against Yao and T-Mac (reall obvious ones) but called small touch fouls for Cassel against Wesle. This caused Wesley to have 5 PF w/ 7 minutes left. Then the Clippers backcourt scored 8 straight posting up Head and Moochie. Why are officials so anti-rockets? Bowen 2/11 FG (wide open) really hurt us.
