<div align="center">Im so lazy today. So im not going to make a preview. Rockets.com Preview:<div class='quotetop'>QUOTE </div><div class='quotemain'>HOUSTON --Rockets coach Jeff Van Gundy isn't pleased with his team's inability to close out games.The coach, however, imagines that things can't be all bad if the Rockets are off to a 6-3 start.The Rockets have struggled to hang out to big leads in the early part of the season, but the team will visit the Detroit Pistons Saturday night with a winning record after dealing with a pretty tough schedule. "We obviously have some trouble right now closing out games," Van Gundy said. "But we?re doing some good things to get ahead. If you had looked at our schedule coming into the year knowing we were down a couple of guys and had played our last three games against Miami, San Antonio and Chicago and won two of the three, regardless of how the game ended, you would say (our team) is doing some good things. (But) I?m not happy at all with not playing up to our capabilities." Houston has allowed six different opponents back into a game after holding a 19-point lead and has lost one of those games. The good news is that the Rockets are still scoring some big wins over some pretty good teams. The Rockets have knocked off last season's NBA Finals participants, Miami and Dallas, by a combined 53 points and are so far 2-1 over their past three games against teams considered contenders.That's the positive side of things.Houston believes they merely have to find a way to sustain their leads against such talented teams. "I think it shows the potential we have as far as we have been getting victories on teams," Rockets forward Scott Padgrett said. "Now we have to find the way to close it out. Granted, if you look at the last two games, San Antonio was a comeback and they won, and then Chicago tonight with the comeback. These are not chump teams. These are teams that are going to be there at the end of the year. It was good that we were able to get out to big leads on them and we have to figure out a way to sustain it."The Pistons shouldn't make things any easier.Despite losing center Ben Wallace to free agency, the Pistons came into the season as one of the favorites to contend in the Eastern Conference.The Pistons have gotten off to a sluggish start with their worst record through eight games since 2000-01, but Houston still views Detroit as a formidable challenge on the road.The Rockets can still find a sliver of silver lining, even if there is still work to be done. "We can find out where we are over this stretch," Rockets forward Tracy McGrady said</div>Records: Houston (6-3), Detroit (3-5) When: Saturday, 6:30 p.m. Where: The Palace of Auburn Hills Injury Update: F Chuck Hayes (knee) and G Bob Sura (knee) are out for the Rockets<u>Starting Lineups:</u><u><span style="color:#FF0000">Houston Rockets</span></u>PG: Rafer AlstonSG: Tracy McGradySF: Shane BattierPF: Juwan HowardC: Yao Ming<u><span style="color:#3366FF">Detroit Pistons</span></u>PG: Chauncy BillupsSG: Richard HamiltonSF: Tayshaun PrincePF: Rasheed WallaceC: Nazr MohammedLETS GO <span style="color:#FF0000"><u>ROCKETS</u></span>!!!!!!</div>
78-86 Rockets. End of 3rd Quarter.We need to stop getting turnovers if we want to win this game. McGrady got a Full Court shot in but he shot it when the Buzzer already went off.
MAN! WE GOT TO STOP OUR STUPID SHOT SELECTION!GOD DAMN MAN!OMFG! TURNOVER AFTER TURNOVER AFTER TURNOVER!WTF?! YAO TOTALLY DISAPPEARED IN THE 4TH QUARTER! HE CAN'T HIT sh*t ALL!IT'S TURNOVER EVERYTIME! GOD!
Goddamn am I ever pissed at the Rockets play. McGrady did fine despite the 5 fouls but the rest of the team played sloppy. Yao did fine for 3 quarters but didn't do sh*t all in the 4th and got 8 turnovers overall.Geez.
I said this in the Rockets blog..."We shot 20 freaken 3 pointers and only made 5. Now what's up with that?Havn't you heard the saying, Learn from your mistakes? Well the Rockets never learned sh*t. Houston shot 30 3 pointers in the game against Chicago, Only making 10. C'mon now."
Man I was so MAD in the 4th quarter. The Pistons got like 3 straight breakaway fast breaks. Yao disappeared, the pistons' 1 on 1 defense was superb, Mcgrady and Yao had to work like hell just to get the ball.
Dude, You don't know how pissed I was in the 4th quarter. Yao kept turning it over and he couldn't get sh*t in.McGrady gave some Rockets nice passes, They were open for threes, STILL MISSED!
Yao, despite the nice numbers still sucks. He does not have a big impact, and hsi 30 poinst a night are the least dominant I have ever seen. There is a reason why yao doesn't get superstar fouls, and that is that he doesn't have respect. Neither from the refs or opposing teams. Tmac is doing a nice job getting himself back into his old self. He is not forcing anything, scoring less nontheless, but hes still helping the team. In order for the rockest to be victorious, they defenetly need Tmac as his old self
