New Jersey (33-28) at Houston (29-34) Game Info: 8:30 pm EST Mon Mar 13, 2006 TV: NBATV, FxSW Without Tracy McGrady, the Houston Rockets playoff push has gotten considerably harder. The Rockets will try to get back on track when they host the New Jersey Nets, who they've beaten three straight times. Houston dropped to 2-14 this season without McGrady after an 88-81 loss to the San Antonio Spurs on Sunday. The Rockets' leading scorer has had back trouble all season and could be out for the next five weeks after aggravating the injury March 5 in a 102-84 win over Portland. Houston is in 11th place in the Western Conference playoff race, three games behind Sacramento for the eighth and final spot. <u>Team Stat Leaders</u> -Points V. Carter NJN 24.0 T. McGrady HOU 24.4 -Assists J. Kidd NJN 8.4 R. Alston HOU 6.7 -Rebounds J. Kidd NJN 7.3 Y. Ming HOU 10.1 Preview courtesy of Yahoo Sports. ------------------------- Damn Yao and Howard came out to play today! Predictions: -36 points 12 reb for Yao. -14 points 6 reb for Howard. -Rockets win 93-88
Except for Yao, the Rockets really are offensively inept. Swift missed two point-blank shots and air-balled a jumpshot. This seems to be one of Swift's many off-nights. Hayes had a very good couple of minutes, but had a bonehead play of traveling on a fast-break.
<div class="quote_poster">Quoting playmaker15:</div><div class="quote_post">Can I get a score?</div> 47-41, Nets on top. Yao with 19 and 6, and Howard with 8 and 7. Noone else contributing anything significant.
Yao, Alston and Head put in good games, but that's it. Bogans is shooting 1-12 and Howard is 3-13. Simply put, that's not gonna win us games. It's good to see Chuck Hayes at least get off the bench though. I'd love to see Swift stay there.
No perimeter D whatsoever once again by the Rockets. Playoff chances 0.00%. Yao got the 36 points. 29-35, 18 games left. If we lose 12 of them we should be in good shape.
Clifford robinson made his open shots. I think yao the only guy playing..the bonehead swift and wtf 1-12 from reliable bogans? I hate rafer alston! where is mike james
Rebuilding for next season should be the theme for the rest of the year. Rockets are going to have to spend some money on a consistent outside shooter first and foremost, then try to get a big athletic SF that can be a future shut down defender in the draft. No playoffs without TMac. Deke and J.Howard should be able to rest their old bones. Wesley injury is not a real big loss at this point. Another guard has to be picked up from somewhere. Skip Brunson Head Bogans Bowen Swift Hayes Yao Lampe With the playoffs not realistic anymore I would rather watch these young guys try and show what they bring. Hayes, IMO is a keeper, and would be a real good piece if the Rockets had better scoring. J.Howard's jumper earns his minutes.
This loss really kill any optimism I had left for the season. This team is absolutely horrible, aside from Yao. The Rockets not named Yao shot 17 for 59. To anyone without a calculator, that is a little under 29%. No one can win with a supporting cast this bad.
<div class="quote_poster">Quoting moeinhouston:</div><div class="quote_post">Rebuilding for next season should be the theme for the rest of the year. Rockets are going to have to spend some money on a consistent outside shooter first and foremost, then try to get a big athletic SF that can be a future shut down defender in the draft. No playoffs without TMac. Deke and J.Howard should be able to rest their old bones. Wesley injury is not a real big loss at this point. Another guard has to be picked up from somewhere. Skip Brunson Head Bogans Bowen Swift Hayes Yao Lampe With the playoffs not realistic anymore I would rather watch these young guys try and show what they bring. Hayes, IMO is a keeper, and would be a real good piece if the Rockets had better scoring. J.Howard's jumper earns his minutes.</div> Yes, what you said is indeed correct! Rebuilding for next season must be considered now for CD. I predict that next season David Wesely, Mutomobo,Bowen, Brunson, and even T-mac will disappear in the rolls. From the day YAO coming into Rockets, the job of rebuilding has been around him. These years on the rolls only YAO is still here and his mates changed year by year. Therefore,Yao is the base stone of Rockets. Maybe K.G. will be here next season. Looking at Timberwolves' grade,you will know how K.G. disappoints. Expecting??
Does anyone think that Jason Kidd's attempt at a triple-double at the end of the game was as bad as Ricky Davis' attempt a few years ago? Any interest the Nets had in swift must have dissappear with his performance tonight.
evolidiot: <div class="quote_poster">Quote:</div><div class="quote_post">Does anyone think that Jason Kidd's attempt at a triple-double at the end of the game was as bad as Ricky Davis' attempt a few years ago? </div> i like jason kidd... it's nice that he has his triple double... so what if our team lost by 13 rather than 10? big difference... I was actually pissed off that Bogan jumped in front of Yao and get the last rebound away from him... it'd be nice for Yao to have another double-double.... would be a nice consolation for the loss.... oh well....
Whoa! I'm a Celtics fan, so I'm secretly hoping that every team in the East manages to lose every game left this season. I tuned in to the Houston game because I also happened to hate New Jersey. I didn't know what I was in for. It looks a lot like JVG has lost his team. They may not believe that they can play without McGrady. I had heard that Houston still had the opportunity to make the the playoffs, but they obviously don't believe this is true. Van Gundy teams don't usually play defense this poorly. Only Hayes and Yao showed much effort. Lawrence Frank was smart in going to the zone, because no one on Houston was hitting anything. It's a testament to Yao's abilities that he managed to put up thirty six, because he really didn't get many shots. Granted, half his points were on foul shots. Also, when I watched Yao earlier in the year, he wasn't gett ing up and down the floor well. His stamina seems to have improved. Here's hoping that carries over to next year. I also believe that he doesn't trust his teammates, because once that ball went in, it wasn't coming out for anything but a re-post. All of you folks that cane Stromile Swift are correct in doing so. I thought it was hyperbole, but he really just doesn't get it. It looked like he was dogging it to me. I like Luther Head. He's a good athlete, can score and handle the ball. Not sure if he'll ever really be able to defend a two, but maybe the one? Because of AND1, I want Rafer Alston to be better than he is. I bet JVG pulls his hair out thinking of his defense. He had some really nasty drives though. I hate to say this, because his gives such a good effort, but Keith Bogans is one of the worst regular players in basketball. I know that this game wasn't representative, but I've seen him before, and he's almost always bad. When did they get Rick Brunson? Did someone cut him? Juwan Howard had a bad game. It happens. Was David Wesley hurt? I agree with the assessment that this team is going to have to rebuild. I'm not sure what's wrong with Tracy McGrady, so I'm going to leave that out, but the pieces they have now aren't going to win games for them. There is a huge difference between a complimentary player and a mediocre one, and Houston seems to have a lot of mediocre players and few complimentary ones. It's apparent that Yao can play high post or low post, and that he can pass from either set. I hate to say it, but he's young enough that they could trade McGrady for some shooters with range, so that the zone doesn't work. Make sure you have a defensive center to spell Yao, try and find a power forward that can play some D and rebound. A backup point that can shut people down, mix, stir, enjoy. It might take three years, but the Rockets have the pieces to trade for good players. And McGrady is the type of player that bad GM's will trade the world for. The only reason I'd even begun to suggest trading McGrady is because of his back problems. They generally don't go away, especially in a professional athlete who will be constantly jarring his lower back. It might be time to cut losses. It also might be time to find new coaching. JVG wears on teams, and his style isn't suited to Yao Ming's game.
Some good neutral analysis postpoint. And to answer some of your questions, yes, we picked Brunson up after Seattle waived him two weeks ago. We had to release Jon Barry in the process, but Brunson has been playing well. And Wesley hurt his rib on Sunday against the Spurs after landing on a cameraman on the sidelines. I think that yes, Yao should be utilized more in the high post, but the problem is he's our best offensive rebounder, and with TMac's errant shot selection, someone has to be down there to crash the boards. Howard can do a decent job, but if we put him down low we aren't properly using his mid range game. Swift was meant to be that guy, but he's been a huge bust. I guess Yao playing in the high post won't materialize unless we acquire someone like Tyson Chandler or Adonal Foyle to get some second chance points. Meanwhile, Yao will play in the post with Juwan Howard stretching the defense with his J.
