57-45 at the half. And Yao has 27 & 11 boards! So Yao is shooting 8/10 and hs been to the free-throw line 14 times already, while the rest of the team combined is 7/20 from the field ... are they going to Yao every time down the floor? (I don't have tv coverage) And if not then why not? Yao is unstoppable at the moment.
We're down 12 though. Someone other than Yao needs to step up. Luther Head had a 28 point game earlier this season against Dallas, but he's taken just one shot this game. Dallas is just letting Yao do what he wants, but they'll still win because no one else on the Rockets can hurt them.
He cant do it all by himself...he better get more help from the backcourt in the second half.. Luther Head is playing good defense.. And we also need to play better defense by stoping them from makeing the 3's.. They need to give it more to yao ming, and we need to hit the 3's.. we didnt hit a 3 in the whole first half..let yao dominate and alston and howard need to score more.
Sorry, I forgot it was my turn to create a Game Thread. It's just hard to get exited about the Rockets right now, so I forgot. Anyways....Yao = the best Center in the NBA.
^^^agreed Yao is the best center already 27 pts and 11 boards wow hes giving it to the ''second best center in the L'' our backcourt needs to step it hit some threes take it to the rim draw some fouls, do something to get some points.
We just can't stop the Mavs defensively. Avery Johnson is doing a great job of getting guys from the weak side to double Yao whenever he touches the ball and we can't swing it fast enough to find the open shooter. Alston's jumper is really wonky.
Good game tonight. I can tell the Rockets are getting alot better. Dallas is clearly a superior team, but I think the rockets have an outside shot at the 8 seed vs. Dallas @ the 1 seed. Tonight was good practice for them giving Houston and oppurtunity to play against a great team, and watch true teamwork in action. I do not think that the Rockets are the worst team in the league though.
My thoughts after watching the game: -Yao was pretty good tonight, but considerably slowed after Dallas threw two, three defenders at him everytime he got the ball. He popped it back out pretty well but we couldn't hit a lot of open shots. -Head was too passive. He drove the ball but several times passed up layups to dish it off to Yao or Hayes in the post and they couldn't catch the ball. -Bogans was terrible. He'd drive it in with 2 defenders in front of him and throw it up anyways, with Alston/Head wide open on the perimeter and within his eyesight. The fact that Bogans kept taking the shots when he wasn't hitting them also pissed me off. -Dallas just couldn't miss a shot.
Credits to Dallas defense, they really rotated very well when double teaming Yao. Yao was also limited for only 9 pts in 2nd half.
Yao held to 9 points, 1 reb in the second half. Notice a pattern is emerging here since McGrady has been out. Yao's has incredibly fast starts, and then fades in the second half when teams start doubling and triple teaming him. Every team is playing him this way. Single coverage (for the most part) in the first half, and aggressive double-teaming in the second. I don't understand why teams aren't double teaming him from the very start. No one else on the Rockets are going to hurt them.
<div class="quote_poster">Quoting Locke:</div><div class="quote_post">-Yao was pretty good tonight, but considerably slowed after Dallas threw two, three defenders at him everytime he got the ball. He popped it back out pretty well but we couldn't hit a lot of open shots.</div> I think the main problem in the second half was the Rockets reluctancy to reposition Yao. If you watched closely, the guards seemed as if they were panicked by the situation. The team is down by 12, and time is running out. But I can't blame them, the Rockets couldn't stop the Mavericks defensively, so they had to try to run and gun, or force up shots. Ideally I would've liked to see Alston, Bogans, and Head allowing Yao to repost, and getting the ball right back in his hands. Yao is without question the man now. And regardless of how many defenders are being thrown at him, when he's the only guy on the team with a shot that isn't ice cold, you have to go to him. However, the mistakes made in this game include Yao. I don't want to say that he has to be a selfish player, but I have to. There were times where Yao kicked the ball out to a perimeter player when he should have probably taken a shot.
chineseafro: True, but you could see that Yao was just too tired to bother reposting again. He was mostly the last guy up the court and didn't look energetic at all. I only tuned in after the first half but Yao was pretty passive. He seemed content on watching the guards create.
Bad loss by the Rockets. I don't know why they did not feed the ball to Yao more during the 3rd quarter. I only recall a few times where he actually touched the ball, and only two shots I think. Rafer Alston had a nice couple of minute, but could no sustain it. Also, the Rockets are horrible in the paint, aside from Yao. No one can finish around the rim, and I saw many instances where a player under the basket was stripped. Almost as bad as The Rockets on a fast-break. And can the players practice more FT's. The only reason to follow the Rockets remaining games, at least to me, is to see whether Yao will reach 25 ppg by the end of the season. Playoffs are out of the question, and if the roster is not upgraded in the offseason, I don't see hope in the near future either. Anyone see the new Stromile Swift. For the few minutes he was out there I saw a different player on the court. I'm not talking about his game though, I'm talking about his apperance. A Swift sans headband. Different look, but same game.
How 'bout them playoffs, guys? My wager seems to be lobsided, but my ROCKETS will COME THROUGH. Mind the short post, I am a little short on time. But did anyone catch JVG's "Yao hasn't played defense in the past few (or maybe he said 3?) games." On NBATV? Something along those lines. I have been a JVG lover and supporter, but this guy is really pushing the limit. Yao has played his friggin' heart out, and Van Gundy has to stop pouring all the anger and near hatred on Yao. Jeff, the role players you brought in suck (except Alston. . Bogans hasn't shown much except the Indy game). Old vets no longer cut it. Your star player is out, and you expect ONE PLAYER to carry his team against the BEST (record wise. .) team in the West? We kept it close without T-Mac against San Antonio, New Jersey, and if McGrady played, we woulda blown out all 3. No, it's not the players lack of effort, buddy. Ryan Bowen and Juwan Howard are terrible players. Howard doesn't deserve the money he gets. The man can't play WEAK SIDE defense, steals boards from OUR guards (and takes Yao's tipping on rebounds), makes a few open jumpers and he has "effort." We call that stat-padding. Bowen doesn't even play anymore. Name one player who led a team that was at one point 11 under .500 (maybe even more..), to the playoffs. Mind you, had T-Mac been in the lineup, if we made the playoffs it would be amazing, but to ask that of Yao is unfriggin'believable. I haven't given up on the playoffs. But Jeff Van Gundy? Yeah, almost. BTW. . what is this "Trade T-Mac" stuff?! Back surgery is risky, but the man is still a huge threat no matter if he can dunk or not. I shall get to that soon. Oh yes, BELIEVE . .
Tough loss tonight,we cut the lead down to 6 inthe 4th qt,but didn't come through.Yao had a great first half,in the second half, he went a respectable 4-7, but only scoring 9 more points.During the 3rd quarter, Yao got the ball a grand total of three times.I can understand we need to get other players going as well,but come on,at least we get through Yao once in a while to get other players the open shot.
These players Rockets employed such as bogus,brunson, hayes are just playing to secure their short term contract for the Rockets. They perform for a few games and then they become ordinary, nonexistant scrubs once again. Watching Rockets supporting cast is pretty sad. I give luther Head credit cuz hes only a rookie who has potential and although Rafer pops more shots than he makes, he gets allover the floor dishing quality passes, gets an "a" for effort. yea its really slim for rockets to go to the playoffs now.......... The only thing to look forward to is yao's 30+ points streak and a top 5 draft pick and pray for another lebron/melo. And my opinion about the "trade tmac" discussion..... IS only if we get another superstar in return. We're getting the better end of the deal. Tmac has had back problems 4 times this year reoccuring since his magic days.. Thats not a good sign. And hes got too many personal problems whether legit or not, it doesn't matter. Its about the basketball club not himself. Even kobe had the biggest personal problem gettin charged for rape, did it stop him to lose games? He still had the will to play cuz he had a big heart and passion for his team. If rockets only get role players in return, then obviously its a no go. Unless the role players are tony parker, manu caliber....... [red]The 'edit' button's there for a reason. Use it to add stuff on to a previous post.~Locke[/red]
<div class="quote_poster">Quoting aznkillabeez:</div><div class="quote_post">yea its really slim for rockets to go to the playoffs now.......... The only thing to look forward to is yao's 30+ points streak and a top 5 draft pick and pray for another lebron/melo. And my opinion about the "trade tmac" discussion..... IS only if we get another superstar in return. We're getting the better end of the deal. Tmac has had back problems 4 times this year reoccuring since his magic days.. Thats not a good sign. And hes got too many personal problems whether legit or not, it doesn't matter. Its about the basketball club not himself. Even kobe had the biggest personal problem gettin charged for rape, did it stop him to lose games? He still had the will to play cuz he had a big heart and passion for his team. If rockets only get role players in return, then obviously its a no go. Unless the role players are tony parker, manu caliber.......</div> I think our chances of getting a top five draft pick is as slim as getting into the playoffs. We suck, but we don't suck enough to get that high a pick. Since the Bulls will have two high picks (one from the Knicks) I think we should trade for one of them if we want to move up in the draft. I would not like a trade of Mcgrady for another superstar. We have a need at every position so doing a 1 for 1 trade of superstars would still not complete our team. This supporting cast is horrible. But I am not in favor of trading T-Mac for scrubs either. Like you said, they should be of parker and Manu's caliber. Hopefully, a miracle happens and we are able to upgrade without losing the Big Mac Combo. Also, has anyone noticed how horrible Bogans and Howard have shot the ball the last two games. They are shooting under 19%. If they could shoot at least 40% we would've had a good chance of winning the last two. I use to like Bogans and his hustle, but he is morphing into Ryan Bowen. The smaller end of our satrting lineup, positions 1-3, are all shooting under 70% at the line. This must be the first time ever where the best FT shooter is the Center, and the next best one is the PF. Aren't guards and SF supposed to be better shooters. It's mind-boggling. [red]Use the 'edit' button in the future to add to a previous post. Thanks.~Locke[/red]
<div class="quote_poster">Quoting evolidiot:</div><div class="quote_post">Also, has anyone noticed how horrible Bogans and Howard have shot the ball the last two games. They are shooting under 19%. If they could shoot at least 40% we would've had a good chance of winning the last two. I use to like Bogans and his hustle, but he is morphing into Ryan Bowen. </div> Maybe it is losing, but in the spurs game when Bowen was on the wing, he couldn't get the ball into Yao because he was being double teamed. Ryan had an open shot but he was going to miss it. He can't shoot and how much can a person actually hustle. I'm starting to thing he is JVG's son in law or something because I don't understand how he is on the team.
