The Rockets face the San Antonio Spurs tonight in what promises to be an exciting matchup. Both teams are coming off wins, but what will haunt the Spurs will be Tracy McGrady. The last time these two teams met, McGrady burned the Spurs for 13 points in the final 35 seconds, including the game-winning three pointer with 1.7 seconds left in the game. Houston will have to hope that they won't have to depend on McGrady again. For Houston to come out on top again, the usual suspects, McGrady and Yao Ming, will have to combine for 50 points, and if Bob Sura feels like exploding for 35 points again like he did two nights ago against New Jersey, it will be a huge bonus. The Rockets on defense will have to keep the Spurs from getting open three-point shots, and at least try to prevent Tim Duncan from getting more than 27 points. If we can just play like how we did against Dallas, Houston should win. Rockets by 4. <font color="red">PS: Aznxballer, if you're on anytime during the game and have a full preview done, just post it in this thread. I started it to get the discussion started early.</font>
Rockets play like a team now so i wouldn't worry to much. Hopefully T will be in good form and Yao will turn into a monster and if they don't then we always have Sura and Howard. Or T can score several conmsecutive 3 pointers in the last minute.
Last time the rockets played the Spurs, Houston wasnt that good and still looking for an identity. It took a McGrady Miracle to win. Now Houston is capable of playing good ball and they can beat the spurs if things go right. I predict a very competative game that can go either way. I also think McGrady will have another 30pts+ game. He averages 26.5pts against teams in the same Division and 31.5 against Texas teams. Yao is also capable of playing well against this team. His game was overshadowed by McGradys 33secs. In the last meeting with the spurs yaos numbers were 27pts 10rebs 2bs 9-15fgm-a 9-10ftm-a So if Yao and McGrady can have similar games tonight and the rest of the team contribute well the rockets can easily win. But the Spurs are the #1 defense in the NBA so it wont be easy. Cant really predict a score but I think Houston will somehow come up with the win.
Oh man, sorry Trip, but I really don't have a full preview done for this game. I thought magnomonkey would be doing this since I filled in for him in the one game. Anyways, this will definitely be a great game. However, if I do have enough time during the game, I'll post up a full preview. Some important aspects of this game for Houston is to play aggressive and make sure open shots are knocked down. San Antonio is a great defensive team, so any open shot that they let up, Houston should take advantage of it. In addition to that, Mutumbo and Yao must do their job inside and grab rebounds. I don't even care if they post up that many points. They need limit San Antonio's possessions and not let any easy shots for them. Hopefully, McGrady will be able to play this game with his injury and not make it worse. He will definitely be a big factor offensively for us if he shows up. In addition to that, it would be great if Sura and Howard are still hot this game and keep up their great offensive game. This will be a close game, since both teams are pretty good defensive team. Thats why its key that our bench needs to come through. We need to outlast San Antonio tonight, since we won't be able to burn them offensively. Houston win, 101-99.
<div class="quote_poster">Quote:</div><div class="quote_post">Oh man, sorry Trip, but I really don't have a full preview done for this game. I thought magnomonkey would be doing this since I filled in for him in the one game. Anyways, this will definitely be a great game. However, if I do have enough time during the game, I'll post up a full preview.</div>No problem, it's actually my fault for telling you that he'd fill in for you but I actually forgot to PM him to tell him that. Sorry for the mix-up. As for the preview, you don't have to do it if you don't have enough time. I'm sure the guys won't mind.
Defensive game right now. Rockets are up 64-59 with 1:22 left to go in the game. McGrady has 25 and Yao has 11, but no other player is in double figures scoring-wise. Real ugly game but we should be able to pull this out.
Oh man this is an ugly game. McGrady is having a horrible shooting night and no player has really stepped up to contribute points. Both Howard and Sura who had great games are cold as ever tonight. However, we're definitely beating San Antonio on the boards and thats probably why we're winning with a few seconds to go in this game. Mutumbo has a whopping 15 rebounds! Incredible. The only reason why we're winning this game is because San Antonio is making tons of mistakes too, so many turnovers. Not a great win for us, but nevertheless, a win is a win.
Omg! WE WON! One of the ugliest boring games of the season!, but who cares?! WE BEAT THE SPURS!!! 2 times! YAY! 4 games in a row! Mutombo was a beast! 15 rebounds in 20 minutes! - Sorry i'm just really excited!
I guess Van Gundy decided before the game that we would counter the Spurs' defense with our own. The game became slow and shots never fell because both teams were playing great defense. This game shows that the best for the Rockets to do is to switch up on their style depending on the opponents.
Good win for the Rockets. We caught another break with Ginobili getting injured (seems like we've been getting a lot of those type of breaks lately) in the second half, but then he wasn't having a great game either. Mutombo was the difference maker, in my opinion. His defense on Duncan was great, and he was a monster on the boards.
I love how the Rockets can play both ways-either an up-tempo game or a grinding game...on any given night they can score over 100 or hold a team under 80 ppg...I love the energy Barry brings to the game...Wesley really needs to find his jump shot...I love Mutombo's contributions as well and I wish Yao would just hurry up and start attacking people...his play (or lack thereof) has been ridiculous...
I was at the game and I was very happy to see that they were treating this much like a playoff game. There were giveaways, it was Hispanic Heritage Night (had no idea until I got there), they had tons of stuff setup outside the entrance including a stage with a live band. I just love the atmosphere so much when big games like this come around. There was a pretty strong showing of Spurs fans. In fact there was one area in the lower bowl that had about 40 Spurs fans all wearing Spurs jerseys and they brought their own noise makers (the balloon stick things) and when the Spurs jumped out to an early lead, they were actually making more noise than the Rockets fans. The pompous attitude didn't last long though So anyway, it was a big win for the Rockets. Unfortunately the teams we're fighting for the 5/6/7/8 seeds with all won tonight (Grizzlies, Lakers, Timberwolves, Mavericks) so we don't gain any ground. I'm not entirely sure how much this outing really showed as far as the Rockets ability to play with the top teams in the league, because both teams were shooting pretty badly, even when they were open. Yes, there was good defense played both ways, but I think for the most part both teams were just in a funk tonight. In other words, if they played again tomorrow I'm not so sure I'd be putting my money on the Rockets. A win is a win though so I'm not complaining. I sure wish Yao didn't look so freaking helpless out there though... BTW: Carl Herrera was there tonight for Hispanic Heritage Night. It was cool to see one of the players from the championship years, which so many of the fans tonight didn't even recognize, I'm sure. It was like seeing an old friend.
^^^^man how easy people forget....how can u forget Amigo, even though he wasn't a big superstar he came up big for us in the finals against the Knicks.......but good win last night.....TMac is the ultimate Spurs killer, they have no one who can guard him (think this will be big in the future)....and great game for Deke, the rockets got a great steal with him in the offseason.....but I like the rockets chemistry right now, it seems like they're really playing together............but I have one question for van gundy............why did we have Mo Taylor in the entire 4th quarter, when Howard has been playing great as of late.....I was just shocked to see that Mo was still in after every timeout......he made a couple of mistakes, but fortunately we still won
