<div align="center"> <font color="red">Houston Rockets (44-25)</font> vs <font color="mediumturquoise">New Orleans/Oklahoma City Hornets (31-38)</font> Sunday, March 25, 2007, Ford Center, Oklahoma City, OK 7:00 Central; FSNSW, SportsRadio 610 AM <font color="red"> <font size="1">(R. Alston, T. McGrady, S. Battier, C. Hayes, Y. Ming)</font></font> <font size="1">Leading Scorer: Yao Ming - 24.8 PPG Leading Rebounder: Yao Ming - 9.4 RPG Assists Leader: Tracy McGrady - 6.3 APG </font> <font color="mediumturquoise"> <font size="1">(C. Paul, D. Brown, D. Mason, D. West, T. Chandler)</font></font> <font size="1">Leading Scorer: Chris Paul - 17.6 PPG Leading Rebounder: Tyson Chandler - 12.5 RPG Assists Leader: Chris Paul - 8.8 APG </font> <font size=""1""><font color="red">Luther Head (6th Man)</font></font> <font size="1"><div align="center">27.6 MPG, 10.4 PPG, 3.2 RPG, 2.5 APG</div></font><font size=""1""><font color="mediumturquoise">Rasual Butler (6th Man)</font></font> <font size="1">26.5 MPG, 10.0 PPG, 3.0 RPG, 0.8 APG</font> Predictions: <font color=""Red"">Rockets 89</font>, Hornets 75</div> Keys To The Game: <font color=""Red"">Rockets:</font> T-Mac had an OK game after the good win against the Pistons. Yao was playing pretty good but needs to stay more positive on the offensive side of games. The Rockets had a great offense after blowing a few games before and the Rockets need to continue that. Bonzi may also play in this game if JVG lets him so it will be good for the Rockets. T-Mac needs to continue the offense but also now the Rockets need to start using Yao on offense alot because the Rockets will need it for the playoffs. The Rockets defense needs to continue and they need to lower the opp ppg. We have to contain Chris Paul and David West because they are great shooters. Juwan needs to continue to do good, and Yao also needs to continue and do a good job on Chandler. The Rockets need to rebound, score, and defend. Devin Brown and Desmond Mason are big players to so they need to contain them. The Rockets have to contain the penetration of Chris Paul. <font color=""Red"">Luther Head hit some 3's!! </font> <font color=""mediumturquoise"">Hornets:</font> Keep Tmac from scoring more than 30. The Hornets need to rebound and get points in the paint. Paul should continue what he is doing and keep scoring on and on. There is a chance Stojakovic might play so if that happens the Hornets may have more offensive power. Rasual Butler will come off the bench so he needs to contribute well and they also need Chandler to score. The bench needs to produce and Pargo needs to give them energy with Points. Mason is also a key player because he is offensive minded and he can help the Hornets on the offensive end. West needs to use his perimeter offense to force the Rockets to open the paint a little bit. Use West to space out the offense and give Chandler the ball from time to time on offense to score on Yao so he can ware Yao down. The offense needs to go through Paul and Pargo. Cover luther head on 3's! <font color=""Black"">Bottom Line:</font> This is another game to help the Rockets to get a home court advantage in the playoffs so the Rockets need to win this. The Rockets need a streak because every good team has been on a streak lately and they need to prove that they are good and also to clinch the playoff berth. The Hornets have been struggling with injuries and just not playing good so the Rockets would just need to close the game out early. The Rockets mainly need to score because you cannot win a game if you do not score. All the Rockets need to do is pickup their offense and defense and not play Lazy then they will win. If the Rockets can close the game out well they will come away with the victory. The Hornets are still a tough team to beat because they have Chandler at the C to contain Yao and West at PF and they are both tall players, nonetheless the Rockets should do good. The Rockets lost the 2 earlier games in the season against the Hornets so they need to go good, but also close it out early. There is a chance that Stojakovic may play so that may very well help the Hornets on the offensive end but its not for sure that he will play. Hope for a great game and may the best team win.
I heard on the news he's expected to start, regardless (he has a Stomach Virus, I believe). The Hornets and the Suns are the two teams in this league that have had our number, they've won all of our previous match ups to date. The Rockets need to take this one with authority, Utah came off a win against Memphis and that puts them 1 game ahead of us. If we can overtake them before the last game of the season IN UTAH, it would be a lot better. The Rockets play better as the underdog, but it may be too little, too late if we're planning on overtaking them at the Delta Center. Specifically on the game, the Rockets have to be aware of Yao's game first, then let T-Mac take over. They've been doing a good job of that the past few games, but whenever a team gets a run going, the Rockets shy away from Yao instead of going to him. On top of that, McGrady needs to be a lot more assertive coming into stretches in which he's expected to score. I love the play making ability of his, but he'll serve us better doing all that and hit a higher clip from the field (he's at what, 38% since Yao came back? Less?). Saving yourself for the playoffs is great, but the Rockets need confidence if they're going to win a series, and there's no better way to gain confidence than coming into the playoffs on a huge win streak. We need to watch Paul's ability to create, this'll be a good test of Rafer to see whether or not he's truly improving for our squad. I believe Peja is coming back in this game as well, so we're not guaranteed a win unless we can truly execute. Prediction: Rockets 108, Hornets 91
Hornets have beaten us in 6 of the last 7 meetings. We need to keep up with Utah and eventually get ahead of them since we are only a game behind them. Even though Hornets have owned us in previous games, we must beat them this game. We have to beat easy teams like this to have a chance at homecourt. We have a good streak going at 5 games, and I expect Houston to keep it going. My prediction: Houston 87, Hornets 73
For a guy who averages less than 1 three pointer made per game, Paul sure is making a lot. Some teams put a man or even two on him. The Rockets - ZERO
Rockets are gonna lose! This is BS! How the hell do we lose to a sorry team like Hornets? We have to murder these types of teams if we want to have any chance of beating Jazz in playoffs. We played like crap! We let them go on a 16-5 run to close out the game! Rockets STUNK!
T E R R I B L E O F F I C I A T I N G ! ! ! It's going to be tough to catch up to Utah now. We can't afford to lose more than one of the two games we have left against them.
They called it out of bounds on Yao, when it clearly went out on Chandler. They called continuation on 2 plays for the Hornets that didn't deserve it. They called a foul on Snyder when he blocked Chandler and got all ball. Yao Ming shot 7/22 and only went to the line once. Need I say more? However, NOK played like the better team today. They showed a lot of resilience when they were down.
<div class="quote_poster">igotask8board Wrote</div><div class="quote_post">T E R R I B L E O F F I C I A T I N G ! ! ! </div> Although I will agree that Yao was getting killed down low theres no excuse to blow a big lead in a game. But 10-28 in three is never gonna cut it, and damn JVG sometimes leaves me pulling my hair out!!! He'd rather luther play 27 minutes and jack up 8 threes and plays Kurt 12 when it's obious Snyder could have put pressure on the Hornets going to the basket . Simply moronic.
<div class="quote_poster">Blurr#7 Wrote</div><div class="quote_post">Although I will agree that Yao was getting killed down low theres no excuse to blow a big lead in a game. But 10-28 in three is never gonna cut it, and damn JVG sometimes leaves me pulling my hair out!!! He'd rather luther play 27 minutes and jack up 8 threes and plays Kurt 12 when it's obious Snyder could have put pressure on the Hornets going to the basket . Simply moronic.</div> ^^^^^^Give this guy an award. Took the words right outta my mouth My conclusions have all been right about this team. We're strictly a jumpshooting team without Bonzi Wells. If Yao or Tmac aren't on there games, we lack a consistent half court option. So if we get down in the 4th quarter the odds we come back are VERY slim, bein that we're depending on 3's to make up the difference. New Orleans posted up atleast three different players last night. That's how we SHOULD be using Bonzi, especially when the game gets outta control. It just irks me that we have a guy of Bonzi's caliber not even activated. It also irks me how we respond when our jumpers aren't falling, JACK UP MORE JUMPERS. That's not how you win championships or a playoff series in the Western Conference. But it seems good enuff for JVG
