<div align="center"> <font color="red">Houston Rockets (45-26)</font> vs <font color="blue">Los Angeles Clippers (34-36)</font> Wednesday, March 28, 2007, Staples Center, Los Angeles, CA 9:00 Central; ESPN, 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 - 24.5 PPG Leading Rebounder: Yao Ming - 9.3 RPG Assists Leader: Tracy McGrady - 6.3 APG </font> <font color="blue"> <font size="1">(J. Hart, C. Mobley, C. Maggette, E. Brand, C. Kaman)</font></font> <font size="1">Leading Scorer: Elton Brand - 20.3 PPG Leading Rebounder: Elton Brand - 9.4 RPG Assists Leader: Sam Cassell - 5.1 APG </font> <font size=""1""><font color="red">Luther Head (6th Man)</font></font> <font size="1"><div align="center">27.5 MPG, 10.5 PPG, 3.2 RPG, 2.4 APG</div></font><font size=""1""><font color="blue">Tim Thomas (6th Man)</font></font> <font size="1">27.1 MPG, 10.8 PPG, 5.0 RPG, 2.3 APG</font> Predictions: <font color=""Red"">Rockets 97</font>, Clippers 88</div> Keys To The Game: <font color=""Red"">Rockets:</font> T-Mac had an good game after the great win against the Bucks. 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 Corey Maggette and Cuttino Mobley because they are great shooters. Juwan needs to continue to do good, and Yao also needs to continue and do a good job on Kaman. The Rockets need to rebound, score, and defend. Jason Hart and Chris Kaman are big players too so they need to contain them. The Rockets will have trouble guarding Elton Brand as they had in the previous matchup but they need to do their best on him because there is a possibility chuck hayes might not play in this game because he is listed day to day because of the shoulder injury. The Rockets have to contain the penetration of Jason Hart. <font color=""Red"">Luther Head hit some 3's!! </font> <font color=""blue"">Clippers:</font> Keep Tmac from scoring more than 30. The Clippers need to rebound and get points in the paint. Hart should continue what he is doing and keep scoring on and on. The Clippers need to feed the ball to Brand in the post so they have an advantage on the offensive end and run alot of plays for Maggette. Tim Thomas will come off the bench so he needs to contribute well and they also need Kaman to score. The bench needs to produce and Ross needs to give them energy with Points. Mobley is also a key player because he is offensive minded and he can help the Bucks on the offensive end. Hart needs to use his perimeter offense to force the Rockets to open the paint a little bit. Use Maggette to space out the offense and give Kaman the ball from time to time on offense to score on Yao so he can ware Yao down. The offense needs to go through Hart and Maggette. 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 they are good and also the Rockets clinched the playoffs on the Monday win against the Bucks. The Clippers have been struggling with injuries and just not playing good so the Rockets would just need to close the game out early. The Clippers though are hot of late winning 4 game in a row. 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 Clippers are still a tough team to beat because they have Kaman at the C to contain Yao and Brand at PF and they are both tall players, nonetheless the Rockets should do good. The Rockets won the game earlier in Houston so the Rockets need to do the same in this game. Chuck Hayes got injured in the game against the Bucks and is listed day to day but I think he will play in this game because he is a strong player. Sam Cassell is also out of the lineup for the Clippers so the Rockets need to use Rafer Alston more on offense. Hope for a great game and may the best team win.
we cant have another 37 from Brand. we have to hold him down, and we will win. yeah if Yao has to hold him, its over. thats not a smart match up. I hope Yao starts to get that rythm he has been looking for. this will be close to playoff atmosphere because the clippers need every win possible. should be a good one. Go Rockets.! great preview as usual!
<div class="quote_poster">Rock4life Wrote</div><div class="quote_post">Brand is gonna give it to us. If Yao's gonna be holding him again, we're gonna lose.</div> Fire Van Gundy.
<div class="quote_poster">tracymcgrady_01 Wrote</div><div class="quote_post">Watch this video -> http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BFj4762ICZA absolutely amazing...</div> i cant watch Youtube here at work, but the title tells me its highlights of kobe scoring 50, WTF!! why is this in here?
Great game by Kobe but I don't want this thread to turn into a discussion about his recent streak. Let's keep this thread dedicated to the game.
Well Houston lucked out. That was obviously a shooting foul at the end, and he was obviously behind the 3 pt line. Terrible call....
Tough call for the Clips. If Mobley got those three free throws, the outcome of the game might have been different. But you could also argue that he wasn't in the act of shooting when the foul was commited. It looked to me like Rafer swiped at his arm before he got into his shooting motion.
<div class="quote_poster">Marbire Wrote</div><div class="quote_post">Well Houston lucked out. That was obviously a shooting foul at the end, and he was obviously behind the 3 pt line. Terrible call....</div> Terrible call, but Mobely missed first one anyways. I swear Rafer leads the leagues in fouling 3 point shooters with the game on the line. He definately needs to play smarter.
<div class="quote_poster">Marbire Wrote</div><div class="quote_post">Well Houston lucked out. That was obviously a shooting foul at the end, and he was obviously behind the 3 pt line. Terrible call....</div> I think they called a foul before the play, therefore its a 2 shot foul no matter what. Anyways it didn't matter in the end because Mobley missed his first FT.
<div class="quote_poster">durvasa Wrote</div><div class="quote_post">Tough call for the Clips. If Mobley got those three free throws, the outcome of the game might have been different. But you could also argue that he wasn't in the act of shooting when the foul was commited. It looked to me like Rafer swiped at his arm before he got into his shooting motion.</div> That wouldn't matter. It would still be continuation and still be a foul. I also don't get why JVG didnt make a defensive substitution. Rafer is not a guy you want to count on in these situations.
<div class="quote_poster">igotask8board Wrote</div><div class="quote_post">Looks like J-Ho is taking a page out of Webber's book.</div> Somehow I don't think Rock is going to comment on Juwans performance. Afterall, if he plays badly, it never happened.
<div class="quote_poster">foo82 Wrote</div><div class="quote_post">That wouldn't matter. It would still be continuation and still be a foul. I also don't get why JVG didnt make a defensive substitution. Rafer is not a guy you want to count on in these situations.</div> Who else would you put in there? I trust Rafer more than Luther, Lucas, Spanoulis, or Snyder. <div class="quote_poster">Quote:</div><div class="quote_post">Somehow I don't think Rock is going to comment on Juwans performance. Afterall, if he plays badly, it never happened.</div> Tough night for Juwan. After having a really nice stretch of games where it seemed like he couldn't miss, he's slumped offensively the last several games. He's shot under 40% for the 5th game in a row, and last 5 games he's now 10-35 from the field (28.5%). He'll have a significant role leading the second unit for us in the playoffs, so he has to get back into his rhythm. He has rebounded better the last couple games. Give him credit for that. Chuck's been rolling. He's converted at least 50% from the field in 13 straight games. Last 5, he's 17-21 (81%). I think he played a season high in minutes tonight as well; unexpected considering his shoulder injury. He's a tough dude. He did make a mistake down the stretch against the Clippers, giving Tim Thomas too much space for a 3-pointer. I could tell JVG wasn't pleased on the sideline. Other than that, he had a nice game. He had 8 points (4-4 from the field) and 5 boards just in the third quarter, when we outscored the Clippers by 16.
<div class="quote_poster">durvasa Wrote</div><div class="quote_post"> Chuck's been rolling. He's converted at least 50% from the field in 13 straight games. Last 5, he's 17-21 (81%). I think he played a season high in minutes tonight as well; unexpected considering his shoulder injury. He's a tough dude. He did make a mistake down the stretch against the Clippers, giving Tim Thomas too much space for a 3-pointer. I could tell JVG wasn't pleased on the sideline. Other than that, he had a nice game.</div> Chuck is a beast!! Tough as nails, great defender, knows the game and his role on this team. Tracy was attacking the rack and the team as a whole didn't go into a 3 point shooting rage. I think the smartest move Jeff made tonight was inserting JL3 into the game, he shut down Hart who was killing us and made his pressence felt on the offensive side too. Great win!
<div class="quote_poster">durvasa Wrote</div><div class="quote_post">Who else would you put in there? I trust Rafer more than Luther, Lucas, Spanoulis, or Snyder. </div> Actually defensively, I would rather have Snyder in there instead of Rafer. I've seen countless amount of times where Rafer fouls a 3 point shooter or any shooter for that matter when the game is on the line. He is good defensively when it comes to swiping the ball, but in an inbounds halfcourt pass with less than 5 seconds and up by 3, a steal isnt excatly what you are looking for. Durvasa can you get stats for Hayes since Yao has been back?
<div class="quote_poster">foo82 Wrote</div><div class="quote_post">Durvasa can you get stats for Hayes since Yao has been back?</div> Here are the stats for Chuck and Juwan since Yao returned (per 30 minutes): <div class='codetop'>CODE</div><div class='codemain'><br/> mpgpts ts%oreb reb ast stl blk to pf <br/>Chuck24.4 11.570.6%3.610.01.0 1.7 0.2 0.74.4 <br/>Juwan24.5 10.656.9%1.76.8 1.8 0.4 0.2 1.53.1<br/></div>
Uhm I don't get it. JVG's strategy was never to use Howard alongside Yao because he wanted a scorer and rebounder for our front court. Thus, Yao=scorer, Hayes=rebounder. When Yao gets into foul trouble or is tired, Dike comes in as=rebounder and Juwan as=scorer. So why compare his stats while with Yao? I'm neutral in this case as I think BOTH Chuck and Juwan are valuable in their own ways to the Rockets. Along with Luther, I believe Juwan is the leader of the bench and doesn't deserve all the hate he's getting from some fans. I've never heard him demand or complain even when JVG was sitting his ass in the bench during the start of the season and he's done nothing but be professional and play hard for our team. So I really wish we could just drop this issue and realize that these two are our main PFs and stop bickering as to who is the main man at PF.
