<div align="center"> VS <font color="red">Rockets(1-1)</font>at<font color="blue">Hornets(2-0)</font> Sunday, November 5,2006 New Orleans, Louisiana 06:00 PM(CT), NBATV, FSNSW</div> Starting Lineups: <font color="red">Houston Rockets:</font> <div align="center"> <font color="red">R.Alston(PG),T.McGrady(SG),S.Battier(SF),C.Hayes(PF),Y.Ming©</font></div> Leading Scorer: Yao Ming(29 PPG) Leading Rebounder: Yao Ming(7.5 RPG) Assist Leader: R.Alston(8.0 APG) <font color="blue">New Orleans/Oklahoma Hornets:</font> <div align="center"> <font color="blue">C.Paul(PG),D.Mason(SG),P.Stojakovic(SF),D.West(PF),T.Chandler©</font></div> Leading Scorer: David West(19 PPG) Leading Rebounder: Tyson Chandler(12 RPG) Assist Leader: Chris Paul(8.0 APG) Keys To The Game: <font color="red">Yao The Main Man:</font> Yao has been able to pick up the slack last game when TMac were'nt able to find his shots as well as being bothered by foul troubles. His shooting percentage (71.4% FG) shows why he's the first option on offense. Although Chandler is more athletic than his previous nemesis(Diop and Dampier) the other night, he's prone to foul trouble. Yao will still dominate but he has to be aggressive because Chandler is a good shot blocker. Lastly Yao has to cut his turnovers down. <font color="red">TMac Needs To Gain Confidence:</font> TMac has been shooting poorly in the first 2 games. Add Free Throws to his woes. He seems to be playing passively on offense due to his injury precautions but he should let the game flow into him. The Rockets needs him to spark the offense. With the way he saw his team play the last game he should be inspired this time to contribute. Look for him to dominate this time against either Mason or Butler. <font color="red">Give Bonzi Some Playing Time:</font> Since there's no preseason games to play and practice games not available because of the tight schedules(4 games in 5 nights), the only chance for Bonzi to get back into peak playing condition is to let him play the regular game. He seems to be a little bit slow and overweight but give him few games and he'll be back to his own self. <font color="red">Keep The Defensive Intensity Flowing:</font> Making up for their defensive slack against the Jazz, the Rockets tightened up last night against the defending Western Conference champs(Mavs) limiting them to 41% shooting and putting the clamps on their backcourt scorers. Battier has been anchoring the defense of the improved Rockets. Last night's lockdown defense on the paint frustrated the Mavs' slashers limiting them to jumpshots. Look for the Rockets to limit Chris Paul's slashing game. Defending the 3 point area is a must as the Hornets have capable players like Peja knocking down the 3s with ease. Not to be taken for granted is David West. He almost have the same game as Boozer. The Rockets should have learned their lessons from that game. <font color="blue">Good Ball Rotation:</font> Good passing game will be factor in generating the Hornets' offense. If the Hornets rotates the ball well to find easy shots it will make the Rockets scramble on the defense trying to chase the open man. The Hornet are young and athletic enough to run around and provide some sreen for their team mates. <font color="blue">Inspired To Play At Home:</font> Displaced in their home arena due to Hurricane Katrina, the Hornets are back to give their fans enlightenment and joy. No one is as inspired to play in their home than the Hornets. Look for the Hornets intensity to build up as their loud crowd cheers them up. <font color="blue">Guards Slashing Game:</font> Slashing guards are a common problem for the Rockets on the defensive end. Although Claxton has already gone to the Hawks, Bobby Jackson is as capable. Paul and Jackson are good slashers capable enough to score on the drive, do pick and roll and fishing Yao for fouls. <font color="blue">Contain Yao and TMac:</font> All teams have a common goal when playing against the Rockets. That is to contain Yao and TMac. Containing them is to gain upper advantage. But that maybe hard to do as the Rockets have build up their roster with good offensive players capable of taking some burdens from their All Stars. Keeping the defense honest and making the Rockets work for their shots gives the Hornets the chance to take the game away. Predictions: The Hornets have started the season impressively. Like the Rockets they had made significant additions to boost their offense and defense. They will be pumped up playing for the the crowd of New Orleans but the Rockets won't be denied since they have enough bodies to match up against. Yao and TMac will be too much the Hornets. Expect a good game by Kirk Snyder. The Hornets have doubted his performance during the Summer League on which he played poorly prompting them to trade him to the Rockets for cash and future 2nd Round pick. Snyder will make them pay this time. Rockets win this game by a close margin.
Nice preview blueracer. Snyder was basically traded by the Hornets for a bag of peanuts and you have to wonder how much he'll want to bring it to the Hornets, especially after the role he had on the team. It'll be interesting to see Chuck Hayes guarding David West. Battier could blanket Stojakovic effectively, but Chris Paul would be hard to cover for Alston. We could try to use Spanoulis more for his speed. I think the Rockets will take this one, 98-91.
It should be interesting to see how we play after blowing out the Mavs. I hope we don't get overconfident. I really wany Tracy to show signs of his former self. Last night he had a few shots that made me excited, but they weren't eye opening. BTW, Good job on the preview bluerace.
Make that three fouls in the first quarter. Man, the refs really aren't going easy on Yao at all. Bad news for the Rockets and my fantasy team. So far McGrady is pretty quiet too, just 1-4 from the field with two points. I can't help but be somewhat disappointed in McGrady these first couple games. I know, I know, I'd rather have a healthy McGrady, but seriously, the least he can do is work on his jump shot or something. Battier's actually our leading scorer with 9 points from 3-3 three pointers. Hopefully, he can step it up on the offensive side of the ball tonight, so we're probably going to be missing Yao for an entire second quarter.
T-Mac looks like he's fixin' to take over. . you can see it in his eyes (maybe that's just his lazy eye). Yao has had a rough time from the refs, surprisingly it's still pretty close. I'd expect us to take over in the second half. Let's hope the role players can STEP STEP it up.
<div class="quote_poster">Quote:</div><div class="quote_post">It looks like he's startin to heat up a little bit now.</div> That was actually what I was going to post, but I didn't feel like jinxing him. Anyway, at the end of the third quarter and we're just down by one now. Hayes is an absolute fouling machine, but he did get ten rebounds by the third. However, he also turrned the ball over five times already. I guess he just needs to work on watching his fouling and being more carefull with the ball. Battier really kept us in the game, and so far he has 18 points and 7 rebounds on very efficient shooting. This my friends, is why I prefer Battier over Gay. He plays very efficiently (no turnovers so far) and is 5-10 from the field while going 5-8 from the three point line. Only negative is that he's 3-6 in foul shooting, but whatever. Even with limited minutes, Yao is such a beast. Off the bench in the third quarter he gets a bunch of points and rebounds to put him back up to a nice 10/5.
Bobby Jackson is having a great game for the Hornets off the bench. He just made a huge play by stripping Mcgrady and getting the and one on the other end of the court.
Just great. Stojacabich decides to break out this game. Just our luck. The Rockets always face teams when one star player has just returned from injury or when they are hot. I wonder how good our team would be with an 04-05 T-Mac, and a 05-06 post ASG Yao. EDIT: I hate it when the Rockets face teams that effortlessly get points, especially since we have to struggle every possession (unless it goes to Yao) to get points.
The Rockets were'nt just taking care of the ball well tonight and just got beaten by Chris Pauls on the pick and roll. Just like when he was still playing in Sacramento and Memphis, Bobby Jackson tear the Rockets apart. Bad shooting was another important factor to the Rockets loss. TMac has suffered again on his shooting and it seems uncertain when he'll get those shots back. Bonzi had a good rebounding and hustling game but the ball was always stipped off from his hands. He still has a long way getting back to peak form. Although the Rockets lost, its good to see the people of New Orleans getting a good game from their own team at least they would have a good season to look forward to. They'll gonna play only 7 home games there with the rest(33 games) being played in Oklahoma.
tmac still has 4 years in his contract.. hemmm..and it gets more expensive every year..not to mention he's one of the highest paid
Battier was really impressive last night. He's almost automatic from the corner. Bonzi Wells was a force on the offensive boards but I don't why he always called for the ball in the post even in the second quarter, when he went something like 0-6. The Rockets looked really lost and incohesive out there. That might be because of McGrady's woeful shooting, but eventually something's gotta give.
Tmac needs to stop taking difficult shots, Bonzi needs to get in shape, and we have to play better defense out there.
