GAME: Houston Rockets(1-2) vs. Sacramento Kings(0-2) LOCATION: Toyota Center, Houston TIME: 7:30PM PROBABLE STARTERS SF Jim Jackson/Peja Stojakovic PF Maurice Taylor/Chris Webber C Yao Ming/Brad Miller PG Charlie Ward/Mike Bibby SG Tracy McGrady/Doug Christie TEAM LEADERS Rockets: Tracy McGrady-23.0 points per game Yao Ming-7.7 rebounds per game Tracy McGrady-5.0 assists per game Kings: Chris Webber-19.5 points per game Chris Webber-9.5 rebounds per game Mike Bibby-4.5 assists per game KEYS TO THE GAME <u>Rockets</u> 1: McGrady/Yao Duo Produces-The newest combo that the Houston Rockets have to offer has not shown up yet. Yao Ming was pestered by an elbow injury suffered in preseason, and did not do well at all in the first three games of the season. McGrady, meanwhile, was his usual dominant self, but that won't be enough to defeat the Kings. For the Rockets to win their home opener, Yao Ming will have to contribute at least 15 points and pull down 15 rebounds. If Yao Ming can be somewhat a threat down low, this game should be ours. 2:Ride The Home Crowd-This will be Houston's first home game of the new season. Undoubtedly, the fans of the Rockets will cheer the home team on. With the deafening cheers coming from the fans, the Rockets should be pumped up and ready to take over the game. If Houston uses their home court advantage wisely, the game will be much easier to win. The Kings have not won a road game in two tries, don't let them get their first win in our house. 3:Bench Contributes-The Rockets' bench stars Juwan Howard and Tyronn Lue. While these guys might be not be superstars and the Houston bench is not the strongest in the league, we have plenty of depth and flexibility at every position. Dikembe Mutombo had 6 blocks against Memphis last night in 26 minutes, and Juwan Howard had a solid 11-9 game off the bench, although his shot was off. Lue logged big minutes as well in the 89-81 win over the Grizz. The bench will have to be strong tonight and do a good job when the starters take a rest. <u>Kings</u> 1:Drain From The Outside-The Kings' post players, Brad Miller and Chris Webber, are both very good perimeter shooters as well. Their shots will have to be on against Yao Ming and Dikembe Mutombo's interior defense. If Miller and Webber can drain the outside shots, it would force the Rockets' big men to be honest on defense and thus open up the lane for guards Doug Christie and Mike Bibby to drive in. 2:Get Out On The Break-The Kings are a great running team. They get a fair amount of fast break points each game, and against the Houston defense that is not good transitionally, the Kings will have to take advantage. Mike Bibby and Doug Christie are both very fast and get out on the break often. They should have monster games if they outrun the Rockets defenders off steals and long rebounds. 3:Peja Gets Hot-Predrag Stojakovic, last year's runner-up in MVP voting, has been in a shooting slump in the start of this season. In the Kings' first two games this season, Peja shot just a combined 8-29 from the field, and averaged only 13.5 points. For the Kings to win, Peja will have to shoot the lights out from the perimeter. However, he will be going up against Jim Jackson, a former King whose stifling defense is his best asset. The odds here are that Peja will get his points in this game, but still miss a fair amount of shots. GAME OUTLOOK Defense meets offense in this game. The Rockets, despite losing their first two games, still have a very good defense that has opponents shooting only 41.7% from the field. The Kings, meanwhile, are a traditionally good offensive team, and they should get their points tonight. Given the fact that the Rockets have lifted spirits for this game after the win against Memphis last night, and that this will be their home opener, the Rockets will get the win tonight. GAME PREDICTION Rockets-97 Kings-92
This will be a tough game for the Rockets. They're just coming off of a tough road-trip, and Sacremento is hungry to get their first win and are more rested. Peja could very easily break out this game, as he's struggled in Sac's previous 2 games. Prediction: Sacremento wins, 95-89.
I think Brad will do a good job on Yao and contain him to less than 15 points today. T-Mac will go off again, but in a losing cause, as C-Webb leads the Kings to victory, with 23 Points and 11 Boards in a 93-84 win.
Yao can't afford to get into foul trouble. If he dosen't he should be able to contribute 15 points and 15 rebounds and the victory of Sacremento.
If yao contributes at least something good instead of his foul trouble and Tmac gives his superstar numbers like last night..it's gna be hard to stop us.
I'm going to take the Rockets here. The Kings match up well with the Rockets, but chemistry plays a very big factor in a teams ability to succeed. The Kings do not have chemistry on their team, and thats why they'll lose this game and many others this season.
If the Kings want to win,than we are going to have to Stop T-Mac & Yao,and be on our Best defensive game. Our Guys Webber,Miller,Bibby,Peja,and the others are going to have to be really good tonight against the Rockets.and we not only need to have good scoring efforts from these guys if we want a chance to win. If Our Boys from Sacramento can keep T-Mac & Yao from domination,than we can win the game.if not,forget about it.
Looks like a good first half by Yao here, scoring 11 already. All our guys are doing good, but T-Mac has to take less shots and less impulsively. Mo Taylor is really doing a good job on the offensive boards and hustling on defense. It seems he's always ready to take a charge. If Yao can keep his performance up, we'll take this game easily.
FINALLY!!! Yao produces... I just logged on to the internet and went straight to nba.com WOW!! If only I could watch the game on TV. This must be a real thriller.
<div class="quote_poster">Quoting dakeem1:</div><div class="quote_post">FINALLY!!! Yao produces... I just logged on to the internet and went straight to nba.com WOW!! If only I could watch the game on TV. This must be a real thriller.</div> It is on NBATV. Rockets win 104-101. Yao Ming with 33 points and 12 boards. T-mac with 23 points, 13 rebounds, and 5 assists!!
Great win, but a MAJOR problem showed up today. Rockets can't rebound. The only reason they were in this game today, was because they didn't turn the ball over, and the Kings couldn't hit their shots. The Kings got so many more rebounds, and they aren't a great rebounding team either. Rockets play posession basketball, and they need more posessions. Rockets cannot afford to get out rebounded. Taylor and Howard are playing very poorly so far, one of them needs to be traded for a defensive/rebounding PF.
Big game for yao. He probably been listening to all the crap people been saying to him on this forum(even me ) Good thing he did. Go rockets. One step closer to the playoffs.
<div class="quote_poster">Quoting ZhuangCorp:</div><div class="quote_post">Great win, but a MAJOR problem showed up today. Rockets can't rebound. The only reason they were in this game today, was because they didn't turn the ball over, and the Kings couldn't hit their shots. The Kings got so many more rebounds, and they aren't a great rebounding team either. Rockets play posession basketball, and they need more posessions. Rockets cannot afford to get out rebounded. Taylor and Howard are playing very poorly so far, one of them needs to be traded for a defensive/rebounding PF.</div> People are wondering why JVG is playing Taylor over Howard. Many say its because JVG is trying to raise Taylor's Trade Value. If this is true, then a defensive PF might be coming our way before the trade deadline.
Yao showed that it is right to run the O through him. He bounced back in a huge way with those 33 pts and 12 rebounds... he gotta stay playing mean and tough like this, noone will be able to stop him. Injuries? What injuries? It's about getting comfortable with his new teammates, who are also learning the system. Well, T-Mac is the fastest learner as proven with those assists and Van Gundy calling him "our best decision maker" and Yao has now arrived too. I will wait and see how these this deadly combo play and feed off each other in the next couple of games before ever shouting, "watch out Pistons!".
Yes i want a defensive PF as well, but i'm starting to doubt trading Maurice Taylor as opposed to Juwan Howard. Juwan Howard has been playing TERRIBLE, he hasn't been rebounding or scoring. He's small too. Taylor reminds me a lot of Eddie Currie. When i watch him play, i'm always amazed at his post moves, and the way he can score. But then, he does all these dumb things, picking up stupid fouls, turning the ball over carelessly, etc. I'm starting to think maybe we should keep Taylor and trade Howard instead, we'd probably get a better value out of Howard, and Taylor is much bigger also. I also think that once we get that Defensive PF, he's probably going to start. Taylor seems to do much better off the bench than Howard does. Although Howard brings leadership and professionalism, he's been playing so terribly, i want to trade him.
