Official Game Thread: Phoenix Suns @ Houston Rockets <div align="center"></div> <div align="center"><font color="orange">Phoenix Suns</font> VS <font color="red">Houston Rockets</font></div> When: Wednesday January 5th, 8:00 PM (EST) Where: Houston,Texas Toyota Center Local TV: ESPN <div align="center">Predicted Starters <font color="blue">Jazz</font> <font size="1"><font face="Arial"><font color="purple">Steve Nash, Quentin Richardson, Joe Johnson, Shawn Marion, Amare Stoudemire</font></font></font></div> <div align="center"><font color="red">Rockets</font> <font size="1"><font face="Arial"><font color="red">Bob Sura, Tracy McGrady, Jon Barry, Juwan Howard, Yao Ming</font></font></font></div> Keys to The Game For Phoenix <ul> [*]Run the break. The Suns are a very good fast breaking team and a lot of their points come from running the floor. [*]Perimeter Shots. For a team that depends on the three largely to help them win, the Suns will have to be hitting from outside to win the game. [*]Rebound the ball. The Suns have two very good rebounders when focused in Stoudemire and Marion. Marion is 4th in the league in rebounds per game and MVP candidate Stoudemire is averaging just as many per game as the Rockets leader Yao Ming. [*]Stoudemire scores big again. Amare Stoudemire has averaged 42 points in the past two games, and he looks to score big again on a Houston team he's had a good history against. The Rockets have no one to guard him. [/list] Keys To The Game For Houston <ul> [*]Try on defense. The Suns average 110 points per game, and the Rockets' defense, as good as it is, might not even be good enough to hold the opponents under offense. At least make that 100 hard to get. [*]Yao/McGrady come up big. The duo of Yao Ming and Tracy McGrady will have overmatched defenders on them in the game, so they have to combine for at least 50 for the Rockets to have a good chance of winning. [*]Execute down the stretch. The Suns have not a lot of depth on their bench, so their starters are forced to play big minutes, and that has caused them to be tired towards ends of games, including almost losing to a Minnesota team last night when they had a 21-point lead. If the Rockets are down in the final few minutes, don't let up. [/list] Game Outlook This game is the first real test for the Rockets after their three-game winning streak against mediocre teams. If they can win this game against the best team in the NBA, the Rockets might just be showing up. If not, the three-win streak is almost nothing but a fluke. They have to come out motivated tonight to take the victory. Prediction Suns-101 Rockets-105
Good Preview, Good keys, but sadly I don't agree with your prediction but If history repeats itself, I say we lose, then I check the boxscres and we've won, hopefully this is one of those games...
I don't know how we're going to stop their frontline of Marion and Staudamire defensively. They're too quick and athletic for Howard and Yao. Yao, at least, can post up Staudamire and hopefully get him in foul trouble. But he'll have a hell of a time trying to avoid foul trouble himself on the other end. I expect Wesley to guard Nash to start the game, and Sura to chase Richardson around the court. If JVG is smart, he'll play Padgett a lot at PF, as he matches up much better against Marion than either Howard or Taylor. I expect that JVG will try playing Taylor at C and Padget at PF, though I can't say I'm very happy with that option. The Suns get a ton of baskets in the paint, and Mutombo would be very useful in neutralizing that. Taylor has been weak defensively all year, and for the most part is offense has sucked too. I'll say Suns over Rockets: 110 to 95.
This is going to be a tough one for Houston. Even if they play their hardest, I don't even know if they'll win or not, its that sad. Van Gundy probably won't have a clue on how to switch the lineups and such- and that would be a huge key to the game. I think it would be much more ideal for us to go with the 2-2 Zone for defense. We're obviously no match for them man to man wise, so why not? Houston can put Yao in the middle with Howard and Taylor in the low post. McGrady and Sura will be our two guards up front obviously. A few drawbacks I see with this is that Yao would be picking up some fouls and that our powerforwards aren't the best at rebounding. However, it really doesn't matter which strategy we use, but rather we play full our defense- complete suffocation. Don't give them any open shots, layups, and be more aggressive with the steals. And like Trip said, never give up. Play this game all out, full out, for the entire game. Their players will obviously get tired so we need to keep biting away to come away with a win tonight. Every players needs to play their hardest- Sura, Taylor, Howard, and Wesley. Each of them has the skills to post up about 15 points a night, and they're going to need to do that in this game. Don't exclude that from Yao and McGrady either. McGrady will need to be knocking down shots- none of that inconsistent shooting, and Yao must MUST get at least 10 boards in this game. If they do all that, they have a slim chance at winning this. Phoenix win, 102-94.
National TV is getting a treat tonight, this is going to be a great game, possibly even 5 all-stars on the court for both teams. Hope you guys bring your "A" game, the Suns have been hot as of late and Amare shows no signs of slowing down. Houston is going to have to double Amare in the post leaving one of our three point bombers (Q, JJ, Matix, or Nash) open for the three ball. Defending the perimeter is the #1 key for the Rockets... Suns win, 110-105
houston Is Going To Win Just Like San Antonio Did. Defense Is Going To Keep Suns Under 100pts And Houston Is Going To Easily Score 100+ Points For The Win houston Wins 104-98
the rockets can win this if they really try. Itll mean stepping up a lot on both defense and offense. The suns are the bst team in the nba right now maybe, after the rockets. Suns are fast and a lot on the 3, things the rockets dont do well at all in but will hopefully defend well. rockets take this, i hope we keep it from coming down to a shootout rockets 101 suns 96
Very close game so far. The Rockets were down 14 at one point but have battled back to 46-41 with 5 minutes to go in the second quarter. As predicted, the Suns are shooting 60% from downtown, but what's surprising is the fact that the Rockets have 9 fast-break points to Phoenix's 6. The Suns should have been running away in this division. Yao is still scoreless at this point.
It's cool that the Rockets didn't get blown out in the first half, but then Phoenix is on the road on the second night of a back-to-back so we shouldn't feel too happy about it. I can't understand JVG's decision to give Phoenix the 3 pointer. That's a strategy you use against BAD 3-point shooting teams, not good ones. It just doesn't make any sense.
Man, I was really glad to see Dikembe come off the bench and start banging down low. He really put some fire into the team and got them to wake up and play. Now if only Yao would start doing the same. I think if we can control Phoenix's fast break and outside shooting we'll be on our way to a win. On the other hand, if we don't keep banging down low and stop giving Phoenix wide-open looks from the perimeter, the Rockets will be looking at a hard loss.
Rockets gave the Suns a run for their money, we were 3 points down then we went COLD!! It was a close game.
Eh..we lost, ah well at least we didnt get destroyed, it was a good match...*sigh* :'( heres how the team went...
I can't say im disappoointed. The Rockets had the Refs against them the whole game. Though we got away with some travels -- Yao getting his first free-throws midway into the 4th is terrible. I saw progress in that game -- we need to just pull our shots together, the chemistry is coming. If Yao got the calls Amare did, we might've had a different game. If Mo played half as good as he played last year, we might've had a chance. But that's basketball for you. It was a fun game to watch, and I predicted an OT win for us -- now I owe a lot of people money. The Rockets can rebound this loss against the Lakers, but I would've been nice to see a W -- I really thought we deserved some compensation for the effort some guys put our there.
You noticed like 5 shots in a row, went in and out..That killed us. I was pleased, but 2 pts by Sura...that doesn't help any.
It was such a good game but houston just couldnt keep up the scoring all game. Mutombo played great off bench. But i rather see Yao have a great game. Why cant he play like he did the second half. We need to get another person to tutor yao. Because hes no different than last year.
Yao should have asserted himself more on the offensive end. And that one play where he just watches as a pass from Jon Barry skips off his hands out of bounds typifies his play this year. That was just terrible. Wake up, big fella!
<div class="quote_poster">Quoting JuLiO-R-:</div><div class="quote_post">It was such a good game but houston just couldnt keep up the scoring all game. Mutombo played great off bench. But i rather see Yao have a great game. Why cant he play like he did the second half. We need to get another person to tutor yao. Because hes no different than last year.</div> Moses Malone! he'll whip him into shape lol
