Who: Houston (19-15) at New York(14-22) Where: Madison Square Garden When: Thursday, January 8th Time: 6:00 CST TV: TNT :mrgreen: Coaches vs. Jeff Van Gundy/Don Chaney Probable Starters vs. Jim Jackson/Keith Van Horn vs. Kelvin Cato/Kurt Thomas vs. Yao Ming/Dikembe Mutombo vs. Steve Francis/Stephon Marbury vs. Cuttino Mobley/Allan Houston Rockets Offensive Keys to the Game 1. Feed the ball into Yao - He had a horrible game last night when he was double and tripled team by the Pistons. Lets try to get him involved early in the game as later on I expect the Knicks to double him every chance they get. 2. Space the floor - The Rockets need to space the floor well tonight so that when the Knicks double Yao in the post they will have a wide open jump shot instead of a contested one. 3. Shoot the mid range jumper - We rely way too much on the 3 point shot. Few NBA teams know use the mid-range game well and if you are shooting well it is very hard for the defense to stop this. In the past we have settled for the 3 point shot over the 17 footer. Lets change that tonight. 4. Limit the turnovers - We give up 3+ more turnovers a game then our opponets. This is simply unnacceptable. 5. Give the entry pass to the post where he is able to do something with it - Lets face it Yao Ming and Kelvin Cato 17-19 ft from the basket is not a good spot for him to touch the ball. Lets get the ball to our players in a scoring position. Rockets Defensive Keys to the Game 1. Follow Houston Around wherever he goes - This guy is a great shooter, he has excellent range and if left open he will light you up. The Rockets must know where he is at all times on the court. He is the player I am scared to death of on that team. 2. Marbury - Let him shoot the fadeaway. I would much rather him shoot an off-balance shot then allow him to get to the paint. Make him show you he can hit it before you start playing up on him. 3. Control the Boards - The Knicks start 3 players who can all go up and rebound with the big boys. It will be crucial to box them out any time a shot goes up. We cannot allow this team to get second chance points. One shot and they are done is how is has to be. 4. Stay out of foul trouble. This goes for mainly Yao, but it applies to Cato and Taylor as well. They must stay out of foul trouble tonight. We need all three of them to be able to play. The last thing we need is Yao sitting on the bench because of foul trouble and the Knicks start taking it to the paint. Game Prediction This game should be very exciting to watch. Two of the best PGs in the league will go head to head tonight. Both of them have something to prove coming into this game. Also Jeff Van Gundy returns home to NY where he coached the Knicks a few seasons back. In addition Norris and Weatherspoon will each get to face their teams that just traded them away. I really hope we can play the type of game Minnesota played against them when Sprewell returned home. You know Van Gundy does not want to lose this game. This game will be close all the way thought it, however I have to give the edge to New York here. I think they will get the victory here even though I want the Rockets to win. Rockets 92 Knicks 95
Gonna be a great game. I cant wait. I say the Rockets take this one, in a close one, 84-80. Marbury will be too pumped in playing his first game at MSG as Knick and will force shots and passes. Yao will have a huge game after the weak performance last night...I'm thinking 24 points/12 rebounds. The key to this game is Jim Jackson, and whether he can force KVH to spend energy on defense. I look for the Rockets to have a huge game, 1) because they played horribly last night and 2) as a huge dedication to JVG, as he makes his return to the Garden as well.
It's gonna be a very uptempo game. Yao will probably have his first 20-10 game in a while and Maurice Taylor and Kelvin Cato will torment Kurt Thomas and KVH. Taylor offensively and Cato defensively. I'd say Rockets win in a very close one, 91-88.
<div class="quote_poster">Quoting HoustonHoopa33:</div><div class="quote_post">oh, and Dex...in ur "who" you have it marked as Houston vs. Detroit, not Houston vs. NY...</div> Thanks a lot. I fixed it.
WOw this is gonna be a great game and I'm gonna be able to watch it on TNT... ..Does anyone know if the game is gonna be at 7 pm (LA time) or not? Yao always plays a big game every time I watch the rockets play on TV. Hopefully Marbury doesn't have a big game and make Francis look bad..the Knicks still haven't got their strategy right since their team is too new so we'll win this one. They have Marbury but they're lacking in quality inside players since they've lost Mcdyess. I hope Moochie plays his usual game like when he was a Rocket.
Rockets get the Win by 32 points, sounds good right? Not really. The game seemed to be played sloppy. I am just glad that the knicks aren't that great yet.
One of the offensive keys for Houston was to give the ball to Yao and they have done that. Decent game by Yao scoring 15 points and 7 boards.
I love yao but when you look at the numbers of him and taylor. they're kinda similar Yao 15 pts 9 reb 2 ast 1 blk 5-6 FT 5-10 FG Mo 15 pts 9 reb 1 ast 1 stl 5-6 FT 5-9 FG Does this mean that we can trade Mo taylor for the first pick in the draft next year
<div class="quote_poster">Quoting Phi_Slamma_Jamma:</div><div class="quote_post">I love yao but when you look at the numbers of him and taylor. they're kinda similar Yao 15 pts 9 reb 2 ast 1 blk 5-6 FT 5-10 FG Mo 15 pts 9 reb 1 ast 1 stl 5-6 FT 5-9 FG Does this mean that we can trade Mo taylor for the first pick in the draft next year</div> Yea, true about the stats, but theres no need to trade Mo. He would be a perfect back-up.
Rockets played great and made up immensely for last nights horrific showing. The defense was outstanding as usual, and they milked Yao early and settled for high percentage shots. This is the Rockets team that we should see on a nightly basis. While, yes, NY did play horrible due to new players, give credit for the Rockets taking advantage of that and never backing down.
TO hoopla and ming, I don't know if you guys watched the game or not but I did and I found that Yao didn't get much touches since everyone wanted to shoot including Cato who tried to do fade aways!! Yao's shots were like points that he created himself..no one really passes to him when he was posting up or when he was open...Yao isn't the problem..that's for sure..his teammates never consider him as the go-to guy..
I think the Rockets always do a good job of establishing Yao early...he gets most of his offense within the first half usually...they just dont always do a good job of making it a point to give him atleast 10-15 touches a quarter...lately they have been a team that starts very well yet slides during the game, and thats because they let Yao score and get touches early, then try to establish Francis and Mobley as perimeter scorers, so that the defense is off-balance...And I do think that his teammates are seeing him as a go-to guy, but Yao has a difficult time establishing position and being aggressive with his moves...
<u>GAME RECAP</u> The Knicks fans came to welcome Marbury back home however they did not get what they wished. The Houston Rockets stunned the New York Knicks by beating them 111-79 in a game that could be described as a complete domination from start to finish by the Rockets. The Rockets started the game on a 23-2 run and from then on out the Knicks never got closer than 11 points. The Rockets were led by Kelvin Cato, Jim Jackson and Yao Ming on the opening run as the Rockets hit their first 7 shots. The chants of fire Chaney started happening during the opening game run by the Rockets and continued till the end of the game. Stephon Marbury didn't have the type of homecoming he would have liked. He scored only 6 points and made 4 turnovers while allowing Steve Francis to go for 27 points. The Rockets came into the game looking to take out their anger on the Knicks after losing to the Pistons in a blowout and they certainly did that. Key Players - New York Stephon Marbury - 6 points, 10 assists, 4 turnovers Allan Houston - 8 points, 5 rebounds, 2 steals Keith Van Horn - 17 points, 11 rebounds Kurt Thomas - 6 points, 2 rebounds, 3 turnovers Dikembe Mutumbo - 6 points, 6 rebounds Shandon Anderson - 11 points, 3 rebounds, 2 assists Moochie Norris - 17 points, 2 rebounds Key Players - Houston Steve Francis - 27 points, 6 rebounds, 8 assists, 3 steals, 2 blocks Cuttino Mobley - 14 points, 3 rebounds, 3 assists Jim Jackson - 21 points, 7 rebounds, 3 assists, 3 steals Kelvin Cato - 10 points, 7 rebounds Yao Ming - 15 points, 9 rebounds Maurice Taylor - 15 points, 9 rebounds Important Game Stats Field Goal Shooting - Houston 35-71(49.3%), New York 26-78(33.3%) 3 Point Shooting - Houston 11-21(52.4%), New York 8-17(47.1%) FT Shooting - Houston 30-37 (81.1%), New York 19-27(70.4%) Turnovers - Houston 13, New York 17 Box Score The Rockets next game is Sunday at home against the Celtics.
The one positive thing that I saw in this game was the 13 turnovers in a game which I can live with anyday.
