Official Game Thread: Houston Rockets (4-4) @ Atlanta Hawks (1-5)

<font size="4"><div align="center">Houston Rockets vs. Atlanta Hawks</div></font>
Our beloved Houston Rockets travel off to Hotlanta to face the struggling Atlanta Hawks in today?s second game of a back-to-back. The Rockets are looking to slide over the .500 mark with a victory today. Atlanta, on the other hand, is looking for their second victory. For the Rockets, they are still looking to find an identity for themselves as a team and coach Jeff Van Gundy is still looking for a reliable rotation for his ballclub.

<u>
Center</u>
The Rockets are still looking for consistency out of center Yao Ming. After positing consecutive games of 25 and 32 points, respectively, Ming came up with a horrendous 6 point, 2 rebound effort against an inferior New Jersey team. He still has not learned how to apply himself alongside Tracy McGrady, but he should still easily win tonight?s matchup against the Hawks? Jason Collier. Collier, a former Rocket, is a nice shooter for his size but simply does not have the height or quickness to matchup against Yao. If the Rockets are playing smart basketball, expect to see Yao get 20-25 shots tonight against a weak Hawks frontline.

Advantage: Houston.

<u>
Power Forward</u>
Hawks forward Antoine Walker is clearly the go-to guy for Atlanta, and he?s having a nice season, posting 22 points/game, 8.7 rebounds/game and 3.8 assists/game while shooting 44% from the floor. His versatility could be a problem tonight for the Rockets? Maurice Taylor, who does not have the quickness or lateral movement to stay with Walker. What Taylor can do is make Walker play defense, which is by no means his strong point. Taylor must learn to stay out of foul trouble, which he has a nice habit of getting into.

Advantage: Atlanta.


<u>Small Forward</u>
Rockets forward Jim Jackson has been maddeningly inconsistent thus far this season. However, he is coming off an 18 point night last night versus the Nets, where he shot 6-10 from the floor, and 3-5 from downtown. He?ll have a hard matchup against the Hawks? physical Al Harrington, who can both shoot and post up with equal ability. Jackson will have a difficult time guarding Harrington in the post, and if the Hawks manage to get Jackson in foul trouble, it will be a long night at this position for Houston.

Advantage: Atlanta.


<u>Shooting Guard</u>
Rockets guard Tracy McGrady is playing in his second game after sitting two games out due to injury. McGrady should have his way with the Hawks? inexperienced starter Boris Diaw, who is neither athletic nor physical enough to contain or matchup against T-Mac. It would be wise for the Rockets to run a lot of 2-man game with Yao/McGrady to exploit the weaknesses of Collier and Diaw. But expect McGrady to be aggressive and get back into his rhythm by attacking the weak corp of the Hawks? backcourt.

Advantage: Houston.


<u>Point Guard</u>
This matchup between Charlie Ward and Kenny Anderson is pretty much a wash. Both players are on the downside of their careers; however Anderson works without the ball more now that Walker and Harrington demand so much attention. Ward will likely be the help defense as the Rockets would be smart to make Anderson beat them instead of Walker or Harrington. Whoever plays well at this position could be the deciding factor in the game since the teams pretty much even out at the other positions.

Advantage: Even


<u><div align="center">Keys To The Game</div></u>
For Atlanta, it?s pretty simple. Limit Yao?s touches and force McGrady to shoot jump shots. Make Charlie Ward, Jim Jackson and Maurice Taylor beat you, and force Yao and Tracy out of their rhythm. On offense, push the ball because the Rockets can be easily exploited in transition defense and attack the boards since the Rockets have been lethargic in the rebounding department.
For Houston, force Harrington and Walker to take a great majority of their shots from the perimeter. Walker has a tendency to fall in love with the trey so force him to shoot and not put the ball on the floor. Force Harrington to beat you from midrange and not post-up. Limit transition opportunities and make Atlanta play halfcourt offense and defense.


<div align="center">
Outcome
Rockets 94
Hawks 78</div>

 

Nice preview. We will have to avoid complacency against Atlanta tonight. Last year, we took three overtime periods to beat a different-looking but just as bad Atlanta team. We will have to defend hard and play efficiently on offense. The Hawks' two centers, Kevin Willis and Jason Collier, are both former Rockets, and neither could match up to Yao efficiently. We should see a good night from Yao; maybe even a 40-point performance like he had last year. McGrady will also have a field day against Diaw and Childress. If these two stars can just play their game, we should have an easy win on our hands to get above .500 in our season record.

 

.................. Ok, what the hell happened... did Charlie Ward lose us the game??

 

WTF HOW DID WE LOSE?

We had a freakin ELEVEN POINT LEAD PEOPLES!

Rockets went ICE COLD in 4th quarter and Hawks had a 14-0 run to whoop us.

GOD I AM SO PISSED!

 

VERY dissapointing. I will really start to lose hope if we lose games like this with Sura available.

I don't understand, because statistically, we did ok this game. We had 4 players with double digit points, and our team stats were better than Atlanta's. More rebounds, higher FG%, it doesn't add up, but that's the way the cookie had to crumble.

 

wow i dont even know what to think...

we lost...to...atlanta...

this team is really starting to frustrate me...we're now officially underachievers, and if this game doesnt make us look in the mirror, i dunno what will...

 

im really getting sick of charlie ward. he is shooting like 25%

 

Omg...I saw on nba.com and there was like only 4 minutes left in the 4th and Houston was up by 10. How could they lose?!!?!

 

Just a quick question...

How do you feel about trading Francis and Mobley for McGrady now? Positive or negative, I don't care...I'm just curious. Could Francis, Yao and Mobley win this game?

 

this is very emberrasing for me a rockets fan. I do not know what went wrong. But im happy this happened early in the season and not 60 games from now. I hope the rockets can learn from this and learn how to finish games.

 

<div class="quote_poster">Quoting realdealbneal:</div><div class="quote_post">Just a quick question...

How do you feel about trading Francis and Mobley for McGrady now? Positive or negative, I don't care...I'm just curious. Could Francis, Yao and Mobley win this game?</div>

I still think the trade will benefit the Rockets...Francis just could not mesh in JVG's system...right now we just have some major chemistry issues but I like how our centerpieces are Yao and TMac instead of Yao and Francis...the supporting cast (or lack thereof, in this case) is what our real problem is...its still early in the season, so thats good, and our GM is not one to just sit around and not fix problems...I still have complete faith in this team, but how it is constructed at the current moment still has some major flaws...

 

your "beloved" houston rockets just lost me 20 bucks lol

<font color="red">If you're going to keep posting such useless stuff in my forum, there is no point for you to even come here. -Trip</font>

 

<div class="quote_poster">Quoting realdealbneal:</div><div class="quote_post">Just a quick question...

How do you feel about trading Francis and Mobley for McGrady now? Positive or negative, I don't care...I'm just curious. Could Francis, Yao and Mobley win this game?</div>

I still think its a good trade. McGrady and Yao could win this game, but they just didn't. Sometimes, it happens. Francis, Mobley, and Yao have lost games to terrible teams also.

Tracy got cold in the fourth quarter, and Atlanta figured out how to shut Yao down (you can't allow him to easily catch the ball with his back to the basket, you have to front him). And, most importantly, our point guards played terribly in the fourth quarter. Particularly Lue -- I swear that guy is just killing us.

 

LoL after 8 games lets start second guessing this trade.

One thing you all need to remember. This team is Yao, T-Mac and nothing else. I have said it once and i will say it again. The Rockets will not be successful until we have another go to scorer and better role players.

One top of all that houstons so called strength Defense has not really showed it head yet.

The Rockets still have ALOT of holes to fill on this team.

 

<div class="quote_poster">Quoting B-Baller:</div><div class="quote_post">LoL after 8 games lets start second guessing this trade.

One thing you all need to remember. This team is Yao, T-Mac and nothing else. I have said it once and i will say it again. The Rockets will not be successful until we have another go to scorer and better role players.</div>

When we get Sura back, I think we'll have enough talent. It's just a matter of not getting complacent and playing hard through the whole game.

Keys to improving:
- Figure out how to get Yao the ball when teams defend him more aggressively and front him.
- Improve defensive rebounding
- Cut down turnovers
- Spread the floor better to allow Tracy more room to create on penetration

If the Rockets can do those four things, I think we'll improve dramatically. We're shooting ourselves in the foot when we turnover over the ball and give up offensive rebounds.

 

Sura should make a world of difference, so although I'm not pleased with this start, I'm not ready to proclaim anything yet.

If, however, Sura does not have an impact on how this team runs after he's gotten about a dozen games under his belt, I'm second guessing things.

We do have to remember though, that we have Tracy and Yao for multiple seasons and a lot of our other contracts expire in a year or two, so we will eventually have some room to bring in the right players. I'm not a patient person so I hate to admit this, but perhaps the real rewards will only be reaped in seasons to come...

 

look at the positives.. look at how many shots we had to miss to lose this game..like 15 plus. This is just one of those days. Ward needs to play more energetic ..mark jackson showed more energy than this scrubby old hag Ward..pitiful how he misses so much open 3's and having these stupid turnovers late in the game when it mattered..

 

Well, I didn't see the game, so I can't have a clear-cut opinion on Charlie Ward. However, one thing's for certain: we lost to the friggin Atlanta Hawks!! This team in Atlanta is without a doubt the worst team in the league, so how did we lose to them? We really have to work on protecting our leads. New Jersey almost caught up on Monday, and we were not able to preserve an eleven-point lead with four minutes left?

 

trip, why you trippin? what's wrong with my post?

 

<div class="quote_poster">Quoting BODY_COUNT:</div><div class="quote_post">trip, why you trippin? what's wrong with my post?</div>What's wrong with it? The only point you made with the previous post was a complaint about the game losing you 20 bucks. Is that a mature and productive post?