<div class="quote_poster">Quote:</div><div class="quote_post">After two straight impressive road wins, the Sacramento Kings return to Arco Arena and look to maintain their hold one of the final playoff spots in the Western Conference as they host the Houston Rockets. Sacramento prevented the Los Angeles Clippers from clinching a playoff berth and won for the fifth time in six games with a 96-93 victory Friday. Mike Bibby scored 30 points and Ron Artest had 14 of his 23 points in the fourth quarter as the Kings held off a rally by the Clippers to remain tied with the Los Angeles Lakers for seventh place in the West. The Kings, who posted a 97-87 win Wednesday over the conference-leading San Antonio Spurs, used only eight players Friday and received just eight points from their reserves. Brad Miller, who now faces the tough task of trying to contain Yao Ming, had 18 points and seven rebounds in 40 minutes. Sacramento, trying to reach the playoffs for the eighth straight season, is 22-13 since acquiring Artest from the Indiana Pacers for guard Peja Stojakovic on Jan. 25. . Houston improved to 1-3 on its six-game road trip with a 100-93 victory Friday over the Golden State Warriors. Yao had 30 points and 14 rebounds, and rookie Luther Head added 26 points -- two shy of his career high -- and eight rebounds as the Rockets held a 61-32 advantage on the boards. "I didn't do anything," said Yao, who is averaging 27.2 points and 11.6 rebounds in his last five games. "I just did what I'm supposed to do. In the third quarter, our patience wasn't good enough. If we don't play with patience, we're not leaving here with a victory." Rafer Alston added 16 points and hit a 3-pointer to start a late 10-2 run after the Rockets struggled in the third period and blew a 10-point halftime lead. </div> Preview Courtesy of Yahoo
The Rockets have no business winning this game. Ping pong balls are more important than wins right now. Hopefully they give a good effort and play well, but lose. They say Yao is averaging 27.2 and 11.6 in his last five. Why don't they mention that he's averaging 26.9 and 12.0 (in 36.5 mpg) since the Allstar break? That's even more impressive.
<div class="quote_poster">Quoting TmacGarnett:</div><div class="quote_post">Are the Rockets eliminated from contention?</div> They are officially eliminated. JVG should play Wesley, Juwan, and Mutombo limited minutes (if any) from here on out.
Rockets dont need to try to win like usually. all they need to do is play hard and not play as hard at the end.. They better lose..
man i still wish we were in Eastern Conference. If we were in the eastern conference we would've had homecourt advantage last year in the playoffs. When its like 4-5 games remaining JVG better start all the benchers like Lampe. I still dont know if he's good or not. He should also give Hayes more time.
