I think the story of the series so far is that the Rocket's poise and experience is beating out Dallas's superior athleticism and quickness. Somewhat reminicent of the Rockets-Magic Finals series, in that regard. How cool would it be if WCF ends up being between Houston (5) and Denver (7)? That would have to be a first, given that both teams looked were fighting just to get in to the playoff picture midway through the season.
The Mavs are truly in trouble (understatement). Bradley has to hold the record on "teabag" dunks in the NBA (another understatement). Having said all that, the series is NOT over. The Mavs have improved from game 1 to game 2 (then again you can only go up from there), and I have confidence that they can step it up some more in game 3. Will it be enough to win game 3? I guess that's why they play the games because no one really knows.
The series isn't over until one team wins four games. The Mavs are probably very pissed off at losing both games to the Rockets at home and they would be out for blood with their backs against the wall. However, as a Rockets fan, I would hope the series ends in four games, to give us more time to recover for the next round.
I don't mean to sound arrogant, but I really believe the Mavs are mentally crushed after what happened last night.....I just can't see them beating this Rockets team 4 out of the next 5
It sucks that I'm reporting in this so late, but last night's game was crazy...the atmosphere was intense and the Rockets are starting to look like a real contender...everything is clicking at just the right time...Yao was huge, but we expect this kind of play out of him...hopefully the first game was just nervousness, and it seems like Tracy is really maturing...the man has really progressed into a great winner and seems to have trust in his teammates...Toyota Center better be electric on Thursday because the Rockets are known to play better on the road than at home...We need the fans to be up the whole game...
I'm torn, because I'm SO FREAKING PUMPED for Game 3 and would LOVE to be there to give our guys an insane welcome home, but I have Game 4 tickets which has a chance to be the clinching game in a 4 game sweep. I wish I could just go to both!!!!! lol All I can say is that anyone who is at that game needs to be going absolutely NUTS for the entire 48 minutes. I believe in a situation like this, the crowd can truly WILL a team to a win. One very promising aspect of having two games at home is that Yao plays much better at Toyota Center, and right now it doesn't matter if McGrady is playing on Mars, he's going to be money.
Winning on our home games to sweep the series would be great but it's still a long series. The Rockets might continue their intensity flowing if they want to finish it off. I know Dallas are still capable of coming back. Just remember the 2000 playoffs 1st round wherein the Mavs went on to beat the Jazz after a 0-2 deficit. Anyway the only difference is, their series was a best of five. I expect the Rockets to gain more confidence if they will win game 3. Overconfidence and poor shooting will be their downfall. Let's just cross our fingers that the Rockets can pull it through without going down the stretch to either game 6 or 7 which will put so much pressure on them.
Great game for Houston. Although they started losing some momentum going into the second half, the played hard and pounded this one out. Nice performances by Yao and McGrady while the role players filled in the gaps perfectly to win this. Although I was a bit disappointed in Wesley's shooting, the rest of the guys did their job and kind of evened things out even with him being in a shooting slump. All I can say is, McGrady is clutch. Plus, that was a great play too, symbolizing the dynamic duo- Yao sets a perfect pick for him, McGrady sinks it. Next up, two games in Houston. Its going to be so loud there.
2-0 up without a playing in the comfort of their own home? Wow this is really something. To tell you the truth, Earlier in the season (when we were struggling) I wouldn't have expected our Rockets to pull this off. This is great. As they say, don't count your chickens before they hatch, but its hard not to when everything is heavily favoured our way from now on.
<div class="quote_poster">Quoting kingrex:</div><div class="quote_post">The Mavs are truly in trouble (understatement). Bradley has to hold the record on "teabag" dunks in the NBA (another understatement). Having said all that, the series is NOT over. The Mavs have improved from game 1 to game 2 (then again you can only go up from there), and I have confidence that they can step it up some more in game 3. Will it be enough to win game 3? I guess that's why they play the games because no one really knows.</div> Yea. As a fan of de Rockets, I've been starting to worry about that. Both Tmac and Big Chinese has already done their best in the second game of series, the Rockets beat the Mavericks by a tiny margin. And I cannot make me to be any optimistic if Dirk gets crazy in Houston.
The Rockets have done a great job taking the Mavs out of their comfort zone. They have disrupted their offensive schemes and kept their defense off-balance. On the other hand, the Mavs have not played up to their level. If they play like they did in game 2, but eliminate the mental errors, then this series might actually live up to everyone's expectations.
This series is over! there is now way the Mavs are goning to win 2 in Houston. Because thats what its gonna take to tie up the series. like vince said in the dunk contest.....(hand motion)"ITS OVER!!!!"
<div class="quote_poster">Quoting michiganave17:</div><div class="quote_post">This series is over! there is now way the Mavs are goning to win 2 in Houston. Because thats what its gonna take to tie up the series. like vince said in the dunk contest.....(hand motion)"ITS OVER!!!!"</div> This series is far from over man, let's not get ahead of ourselves. Dallas is a very good team and is very capable of catching fire and win 4 games in a row. We have to keep our level of intensity and momentum up until the last game. I'm sure Tmac's thinking the same thing cause he already said that he doesn't wanna jinx himself and the team again like when he was in Orlando dropping 4 straight games to Detroit after being up 3-0.
It was quite scary how good T-mac and Yao looked in game 2, looked like the way Shaq and Kobe were during their title run. The Rockets have built the prefect team around T-mac and Yao. Filled with good spot up shooters, energy guys and defenders. Dallas have their backs against the wall for game 2 and must find a way to get Dirk going. They have not showed they can stop Mcgrady but really who can? It's all about Dirk stepping up. It's shocking to see how little he has done when you consider he is not going up against any well known power forward.
With all due respect to the job Bowen and Houston's defense has done, but Dirk really has taken himself out of the game. Everytime he settles for a jumpshot when his jumpshot is just not there, then he plays right into Houston's hands. His improvement as a player this season was due to his commitment to take the ball to the basket to compliment his jumpshot, and in these playoffs, he just hasn't done that enough or with efficiency. Again, kudos to the Rockets D, but Dirk isn't helping himself either.
<div class="quote_poster">Quoting kingrex:</div><div class="quote_post">With all due respect to the job Bowen and Houston's defense has done, but Dirk really has taken himself out of the game. Everytime he settles for a jumpshot when his jumpshot is just not there, then he plays right into Houston's hands. His improvement as a player this season was due to his commitment to take the ball to the basket to compliment his jumpshot, and in these playoffs, he just hasn't done that enough or with efficiency. Again, kudos to the Rockets D, but Dirk isn't helping himself either.</div> Yeah although Bowen has been great it's obvious that it's not only him, Dirk's game has just been off for some reason, he's missing alot of shots that he would normally make and like Kingrex said he'll just settle for a jumpshot when he could take it hard to the ring and gain some confidence to shoot that jumper, but yeah like I said Bowen has been great but he's still not going to be known as the Dirk-Stopper from now on...
