GAME: Houston Rockets(39-26) vs. Phoenix Suns(21-45) LOCATION: Toyota Center, Houston TIME: 6:30PM PROBABLE STARTERS SF Jim Jackson/Shawn Marion PF Kelvin Cato/Amare Stoudemire C Yao Ming/Jake Voshkul PG Steve Francis/Leandro Barbosa SG Cuttino Mobley/Joe Johnson TEAM LEADERS Rockets: Yao Ming-17.5 points per game Yao Ming-8.8 rebounds per game Steve Francis-6.0 assists per game Suns: Amare Stoudemire-19.3 points per game Shawn Marion-9.4 rebounds per game Howard Eisley-4.2 assists per game INSIDE THE TEAMS <u>Rockets</u> <div class="quote_poster">Quote:</div><div class="quote_post">Houston has struggled against Phoenix this season, including two blowout losses in America West Arena. In Phoenix?s previous trip to Toyota Center the Rockets came away with a 90-85 victory behind 26 points from Steve Francis and a Yao Ming double-double (21 points, 14 boards). The Rockets have encountered difficulties matching up with the Suns athleticism in the earlier meetings. Versatile Phoenix forward Shawn Marion went off for 31 points while shooting guard Joe Johnson poured in 27 during Houston?s most recent visit to Phoenix (a 99-79 loss on Feb. 2), in what was perhaps Houston?s low point of the season. </div> <u>Suns</u> <div class="quote_poster">Quote:</div><div class="quote_post">The Rockets will have their hands full trying to contain second-year forward Amare Stoudemire. The Suns forward, who edged Yao in last year?s voting for the NBA Rookie of the Year award, has stepped up his game this season. Despite missing 27 games with various ankle injuries, Stoudemire has increased his numbers in nearly every statistical category and pairs with Marion to form one of the most explosive frontcourts in the NBA. Stoudemire recently eclipsed 20 points in 11 straight games, a feat that had not been accomplished by a Suns player since Charles Barkley had a similar streak during the 1995-96 season. </div> Full Rockets.com preview GAME OUTLOOK The Rockets go for 6th straight tonight after beating Memphis on Saturday. This game will be an easy one to take. The Rockets have to go down to Yao Ming tonight to maximize their potential. Steve Francis and Cuttino Mobley will also need to bring their A games. Keep Amare Stoudemire in check and we'll be fine. GAME PREDICTION Rockets-95 Suns-88
You go down two spots in the the Probable Starters list and you think is going to be a fun match , but then you see the other three spots and is done. Easy one for the Rockets. Rockets by 14.
The Suns have been playing bad ball and have lost alot of games. The Rockets are playing great right now and will need to play great defense. I predict the Rockets by 5. But on the bright side,the Suns have Amare who is playing exceptional ball lately and will be a great player to build a franchise around.
The suns are the worst team in the west and Rockets are on a roll, so it should be an easy one for the Rockets by 12.
<div class="quote_poster">Quoting Accord:</div><div class="quote_post">Steve Francis just broke Barbosa's ankles, hysterical, LMAO.</div> Too bad he couldn't go over Barbosa. It was even funnier when Barbosa threw the ball right at the backboard on the layup right after.
Haha! Nice! Francis did break barbosas ankles! But! Barbosa recoverd and stole it but then blew the lay up lmao. Funny last seconds of a half, Rockets will win by 18 id say.
Steve just shoved or push Amare with his arm.Amare was just shouting at the crowed after he dunked and Francis just did that to him. Anyway,Amare is struggling a bit right now but he dunked pass Yao twice.
LMAO. Mark Jackson(or someone else) passed Yao the ball on the top of the key, but Yao threw it to nobody. LOL
If mo taylor was healthy, there wouldn't have been an over time. The turnovers and the lack of touchs to yao in the second and third quarter killed us. Maybe if Padgett shot 3 more times we would have won. He's got a good shot and he's not a good passer. If he would have shot instead of pass it would be a pretty good lead because thats where the turnovers came from. Yao was awesome 4th quarter. Why doesn't Van Gundy put in Piatkowski? He was pretty good for the Clippers and shot the ball pretty well. We didn't need Padgett's rebounds because Yao had it covered. We needed scoring. Don't get me wrong i loved to watch Padgett shoot the 3's but he isn't used to the inside out play, because he's rarely ever plays with Yao.
You know what? i take what i said back about injuries. Rockets could have won if they made a quick sub at the end. Replace Padgett with Cato. Cato would have helped on the defence in the paint and there would be no worry about the paint. Its not JVG's fault. Padgett was better 3 point defender. For those that are saying JVG failed to foul at the end of regulation: he told him to foul, but the passer faked a shot and whoever was gaurding him backed off. Tough break. It was a heartbreaker. Francis had shot to end game in regulation but bad luck and Yao had a shot at end of OT to tie but bad luck. Both shots hit the rim and would have gone in if they were just 1 inch closer. That's basketball.
The Rockets are making the same mistakes, and its killing them. This is a game they should have won, even without Mo and Spoon. No excuse for the 27 turnovers. Rockets need to learn how to break trapping defenses, or they can be beat by ANY team in the league. Spectacular game by Yao was wasted. Turnovers are truly the achilles heal of the Rockets. I'm tempted to insert Mark Jackson into the starting lineup, just to provide some discipline on the offensive end.
I agree about the turnovers. But hey, we're pretty far from the 8th spot and - lets admit it - pretty far from 6th, so this can be a great game for rockets to lose. Its like that game with Mav's. They had 30 turn overs that game and they won. What did they learn fromt hat game? Nothing. This loss will stick in their minds. I'm sure JVG will pound the tapes into their id and back to the ego. It could be good that they lost this game and will probrably save them from losing one in the playoffs. Ahh yes always the optimist .
Don't bet on it You think they learnt the lesson? It has been the same thing over and over again when they play sub teams. They play different style basketball when they play teams like laker, Wolves. They do stick with inside outside game. But then they could just reverse. If I were Yao, I would be pissed. How do you explain he only 16 shots a game with over 50% accuracy? With a weaker inside team, they should pound the sh*t out of the opponent. Yao got to stand up and assert himself to be the man!
Turnovers are turning me mad! I guess waterpanzer is right, they do play differently against sub teams and lakers, twolves ... you could see the last few games. They really should have won, their turnovers just look like the ones in our team actually And yeah, Yao is still a bit shy ... which doesnt work against amare!
Can't believe the Rockets lost. The way the game started I thought the Rockets had this in the bag. So I didn't know the Suns won until just now. Anyways, atleast Yao had 1 dunk on Amare. J-White had a pretty good dunk too. I don't know why Steve gotta be hatin. If he dunked on somebody that tall, he would do the same thing. Especially at his height.
The Rockets Lost???? What!? They were dominating the first half so I turned off the T.V, damn! Its cool that Amare Posterized Yao but Yao should get the ball more often agaisnt a team like that. Why cant Francis understand its easier to get assists then points when you have Yao on your team!
