<div align="center"> <font color="red">Rockets (11-5)</font> vs <font color=""darkblue"">Warriors (9-9)</font> Tuesday, December 05, 2006 @ The Toyota Center (Home) 7:30 Central; FSNSW, SportsRadio 610 AM </div> [div=50%] <div align="center"><font color="red"> <font size="1">(R. Alston, T. McGrady, S. Battier, M. Yao, C. Hayes)</font></font> <font size="1">Leading Scorer: Yao Ming - 25.6 PPG Leading Rebounder: Yao Ming - 9.8 RPG Assists Leader: Tracy McGrady - 6.5 APG Steals Leader: Rafer Alston - 1.5 SPG</font></div> [/div] <div align="center"><font color=""darkblue""> <font size="1">(M. Ellis, B. Davis, M. Pietrus, A. Biedrins, T. Murphy)</font></font> <font size="1">Leading Scorer: Baron Davis - 19.9 PPG Leading Rebounder: Andris Biedrins - 9.8 RPG Assists Leader: Baron Davis - 7.9 APG Steals Leader: Monta Ellis - 1.2 SPG</font> </div> [div=50%] <div align="center"> <font size=""1""><font color="red">Luther Head (6th Man)</font></font></div> <font size=""2""><div align="center">22.1 MPG, 9.3 PPG, 3.7 RPG, 1.8 APG</div></font> [/div] <div align="center"> <font size=""1""><font color=""darkblue"">Mike Dunleavy(6th Man)</font></font> <font size=""2"">28.2 MPG, 11.1 PPG, 4.3 RPG, 3.3 APG</font> </div> <font size="3">Keys to the Game:</font><ul> [*]<font color="red">Close out the game</font> - The Rockets have had problems retaining leads late in games on more than a few occassions early in the season. And Goldenstat is the kind of team that's capable of mounting a comeback late in games especially with Baron Davis. The difference is Goldenstate's defense isn't at the same level as San Antonio or Chicago this season, so it's hard to imagine the Rockets having the same sort of offensive collapse as they did in those two games. But Goldenstate remains a potent offensive team, and while Davis has struggled from 3-point land early on (only 25.0%), he can still single handedly bring a team back. [*]<font color="red">Limit Turnovers</font> - The Rockets average 16.1 turnovers per game. Many of them are caused by petty mistakes such as carrying the ball, traveling, and stepping out of bounds. They need to be careful with the ball-but not too careful, because they still need to work the ball around in order to have a smooth offense running. They also need to stay focused on both offense and defense. It's amazing how fast a nice lead can disappear for the Rockets. [*]<font color=""blue"">Attack Yao</font> - The most effective way to limit Yao Ming is to get him out of the game as soon as possible. Goldenstate has a number of quick guards they can throw at Yao. Monta Ellis, Baron Davis, and Anthony Roberson are all good at penetrating so they need to be active this game. If the Warriors can attack Yao, create the contact and get some fouls called on him early, they will find defending the Rockets much easier on the defensive end. [*]<font color=""blue"">Push The Tempo</font> - If Goldenstate can get a fast paced game going, they can mess up the Rockets offense. This will hurt Yao especially, causing him to be too tired to stay in. The earlier they can do this, the better. If the Warriors play up-tempo right from the beginning, this should put the Rockets down by a big margin early. [/list] <div align="center"></div> The Warriors have lost 3 in a row. They just came off of an 89-129 loss last night to San Antonio. Goldenstate will come out early trying to push the tempo and possibly get Yao in to foul trouble, but will not have the legs to finish the game. Watch out for their guards: Monta Ellis-a rookie straight out of high school has been wrecking lately, Baron Davis-no explanation necessary, and Anthony Roberson-this kids been putting up some good numbers in the past few games. Prediction: Rockets over Goldenstate, 98-90. <font color=""Red""><font size=""1"">ESPN - Status Alert: Richardson (sore knee) will not join the Warriors on their two-game road trip beginning Monday at San Antonio due to soreness in his knee, the San Francisco Chronicle reports. (Dec 4)</font></font>
Damn, we're absolutely killing the Warriors right now. So far they have no answer for Yao who's 7-9 from the field.
Wow!!..that guy Juwan Howard has put together two great games back-2-back. But who cares, he sux!! (according to 90% of you in this forum).
<div class="quote_poster">Rock4life Wrote</div><div class="quote_post">Wow!!..that guy Juwan Howard has put together two great games back-2-back. But who cares, he sux!! (according to 90% of you in this forum).</div> Hilarious. You disappear for weeks when Juwan isn't doing a damn thing, and now that he's finally contributing you decide to chime in.
<div class="quote_poster">Rock4life Wrote</div><div class="quote_post">Wow!!..that guy Juwan Howard has put together two great games back-2-back. But who cares, he sux!! (according to 90% of you in this forum).</div> Wow!!..that guy Chuck Hayes has put together 10 great games back-to-back-to-back...to-back. But who cares, he sux!! (according to 1% of you in this forum.) JUWAN HOWARD ROX!!! Love that TMac is actually shooting above 50% this game, Rockets should go up to 12-5 comfortably. How many wins on the season fellas?
<div class="quote_poster">durvasa Wrote</div><div class="quote_post">Hilarious. You disappear for weeks when Juwan isn't doing a damn thing, and now that he's finally contributing you decide to chime in. </div> hail Durvasa. I'm going to say that. Damn you, you beat me to it...
Howard and Hayes both had good games. 11 pts 11 rbs, good FG%, in 24 minutes is a nice contribution from Juwan Howard. 8 pts, 15 rbs (6 offensive), good FG%, in 31 minutes is also good from Hayes.
Like the last game against the Cavs, I think the Rockets have already learned how to protect big leads. Leading by only 16 after building a 24 point lead in the 3rd, they responded well by making a run to put the lead to over 20. Baron Davis was beginning to be on fire but he was extinguished right away destroying his momentum. If not for those tons(they only have 5 in the first half but added 16 in the 2nd half) of silly turnovers in the 2nd half we could have blown the Warriors to more than 30 or even 40 points like what the Spurs did the other night. Last game the Rockets feasted on 3 second calls this time it was those lousy passes that can be easily stolen and read by every opponent's mind. Anyway it's been good to see them winning this way. Yao, TMac, Battier and Alston have been well rested tonight to prepare for tomorrows game against the Wolves. The Rockets are playing 4 games in 5 nights this week with only the Wizards posing as a big threat. I hope we can sweep this 4 game series.
Today we just caught a glimpse of how good this houston rocket team can be when T-Mac and Yao are both dominating.
From game thread to debate thread. Go take this to the other thread. haha don't really care about who should start or get more minutes just as long as we're winning.
Great game. I knew we would get the win, but didn't think we would blow them out. It's really good when the Rockets blow out their opponents. Teams were beginning to think we were soft or something and they would pushing hard at our 10-15 point leads (especially in the 4th q.) As long as we avoid blowing big leads in literally 1-2 minutes and blow some more teams out, that image of the Rockets as the team you can come back on should disappear.
The rockets were great last night, but I must say that Golden State's defense was some of the worst that I've seen out of a professional basketball team.
Chuck > Juwan, because the Red Rowdies said so...lol....Howard is okay in spurts, but he's not as good defensively as Chuck, Haye's is a better rebounder, and to be honest offensively he's better at this point in his career than Juwan.
Why you guys keep arguing a pointless topic? The fact is we are winning and Chuck is the starter. Why should we dispute to death about who's good and who's sux? They both contribute to the team.Stop it, Let's look forward to seeing the game tonite with Wolves.
