<div class="quote_poster">Quoting whatever:</div><div class="quote_post">is it just me or our crowd was not loud enough? seems like Dallas crowd were a LOT louder than us</div> I was at that game and for some reason it was very hard to get the crowed going. When the Rockets played well the crowed was loud but the crowed got quite very easily. A timeout seemed to stop the cheering even if we were playing well. When the crowed was told to get load it was like they didnt want to until they hit a basket.
I just watched t-mac's interview on nba tv, and i just cant believe what i saw.. he basically said that he doesnt believe that this lost will build mavs confidence to turn around the series, because he thought Houston didn't play well but they still get the game under control until the 20-0 run. So he said if they back to their normal style of play they should take care of the homecourt on saturday.. I dont know if he's trying to sound confidence but it sounds too cocky for me... I hope my interpretation is wrong though.. And for the crowd.. that's just sad chearing out loud only when they score.. And one more thing, when t-mac was shooting the free throw they were chanting "MVP, MVP"..i thought that was very stupid coz it can disrupt his concentration shooting the free throws, and it turned out that t-mac did miss 2 free throws in a row.
That was a heart breaking lost. Can't belive we blew that 8 point lead in the 4th. Everything was good till that point. This is a bad sign as Dirk and Dallas has found their shooting touch and their confidence has been given a much needed boost. The next game will be a nail bitter for sure. We have to be focused on both ends for the whole game and we dozed off at the most important point of the game. we must bounce back and win the next game or else our cushion will be gone and the momentum will shift.
I'm not going to say Houston has the worst fans in the NBA, but I am going to say they have the worst ticket holding fans in the history of the NBA. I have never seen stadium so quiet when the team is in the playoffs.
No matter what you may think of the home court atmosphere, to be frank, I think we play comparatively better on the road than at home.
Dirk Nowitzki got going for the Mavs in this one. He scored 28 on 9-16 shooting from the court and he went 10-10 from the line. Michael Finley and Jerry Stackhouse also made big contributions offensively for the Mavs with 20 and 18 points. The Mavs as a team got to the line 37 times, and made 32. Game 4 will be big for both teams. Dallas were very close to been down 3-0 in the series, which would be extremely difficult to come back from. But now with the win they have the chance to level the series at 2-2, and the series is heading back to Dallas for game 5. If Houston wins, they take a commanding series lead 3-1 and would be just one game away from winning the series and advancing.
<div class="quote_poster">Quoting whatever:</div><div class="quote_post">when t-mac was shooting the free throw they were chanting "MVP, MVP"..i thought that was very stupid coz it can disrupt his concentration shooting the free throws, and it turned out that t-mac did miss 2 free throws in a row.</div> I'm not going to blame the crowd for T-Mac missing the free throws, in fact it should of pumped him up. I could argue that the crowd shouldn't cheer at all in games because it would make the shot harder with a defender in their face and the crowd disrupting their concentration, the reason T-Mac missed has nothing to do with the crowd in my opinion, many other players have had the crowd cheer them on when they shoot free throws and they made them, players get booed when they shoot free throws, and it builds up their confidence, a crowd chanting MVP to you is bound to give you confidence.
I think that TMAC is getting a little over conident right now by his comments. The rockets were perfect till that 20-0 run. Then we just lost it from over confidence. I just hope we win game 4 because if we dont, i will really start doubting this team. As for the crowd, i just think that they are really emotional.
The crowd noise was terrible. I cant believe how quiet it was. The last regular season game when Rockets were in Seattle, it was 10x louder there and it wasnt even a playoff game. Please make some noise on Sat.
<div class="quote_poster">Quoting back-on-track:</div><div class="quote_post">No matter what you may think of the home court atmosphere, to be frank, I think we play comparatively better on the road than at home.</div> i concur...i thnk it's ironic that the road team won all those 3 games so far in the series...what's wrong with their homecourts? lol....
I hope TMac doesn't change our luck with his comments, just like two seasons ago when he was with the Magic. Sounding confident is good, but that could just give Dallas more competitiveness. Either way, I'm still confident we'll take the series, although we might be down 3-2 before TMac wakes up and leads us to a thrilling 4-3 finish. We have to remain competitive for 48 minutes and not let up like we did last night.
Like you Trip, I was a bit puzzled by McGrady's post game comments and demeanor. He seemed to project a very casual demeanor towards the loss. He pretty much no-big-dealed it. He's right to say that Houston is still in the driver's seat, but his laissez faire demeanor seemed to belie the intensity of this series. It's probably nothing, but it seemed strange to me.
<div class="quote_poster">Quote:</div><div class="quote_post">he basically said that he doesnt believe that this lost will build mavs confidence to turn around the series, because he thought Houston didn't play well but they still get the game under control until the 20-0 run. So he said if they back to their normal style of play they should take care of the homecourt on saturday.. I dont know if he's trying to sound confidence but it sounds too cocky for me... I hope my interpretation is wrong though..</div> I think everyone is overreacting a little bit......I think it's more of what the rockets didn't do than what the mavs actually did.....we got away from Yao in the 4th quarter and for some odd reason we started doubling down on dirk and leaving people like finley open for 3's.....the key to winning game 4 is to go down to Yao (because when the mavs put that small lineup in, they have no answer for him) and not to leave people like finley open for 3's..............I wouldn't call tmac's comments arrogant, I just think it's the truth..........the dallas defense still wasn't that great imo, it's just that we missed some open 3's that we normally knock down........Rockets in 5.
The Rockets definitely still have the edge, but to ignore the pressure of game 4 would be blind. This game 4 is pivotal for the series, and I just hope both teams will be at the top of their game.
^^^Oh yes game 4 will be pivotal, but I don't think TMac is going to take it lightly like an earlier poster said.
<div class="quote_poster">Quoting kingrex:</div><div class="quote_post">Like you Trip, I was a bit puzzled by McGrady's post game comments and demeanor. He seemed to project a very casual demeanor towards the loss. He pretty much no-big-dealed it. He's right to say that Houston is still in the driver's seat, but his laissez faire demeanor seemed to belie the intensity of this series. It's probably nothing, but it seemed strange to me.</div> I think he recognized that he and his teammates play better when they're confident. That's the most important thing for him, mentally. He felt the Rockets lost, not due to a lack of energy or intensity, but rather because they started losing confidence in the 4th. That's why he reacted the way he did. He doesn't want the team's spirits to plummet. Of course, they need to bring it, energy-wise as well. He knows that.
Sounding confident was fine, but he didn't have to say that the loss didn't hurt the Rockets, although it certainly did, a lot. We threw away a great chance of being one win away from clinching the series, instead we let the Mavs go on a 20-0 run and regain confidence and belief in themselves. TMac should at least have blamed the Rockets' misdoing instead of brushing off the impressive Dallas victory as something that wouldn't haunt the Rockets.
well, what tmac said was true... the rockets D has been inconsistent at best all season and with Yao in foul trouble and Ryan Bowen in foul trouble, the game was still very close. It sucks to lose game 3 but they can't hang their heads because of one bad game they almost won.
That kind of thinking that can cost us to lose the next game. The thought "we almost won by playing bad game so it should be alright" will put our chance to advance at stake. I mean, who can guarantee you will not play bad again? We have to go to each game respecting opponent team and cautious mentality. Like i said before, i think the Rockets were too complacent after leading 2-0 in their home..
Don't worry, if anything, Van Gundy will make this team work harder for the next game. I'm sure McGrady didn't really mean anything- I mean it sounds like a press conference after any other game that you lose so I don't think its that big of a deal. He knows whats on the line and he knows that they have to work hard to get back to the groove they were playing in before. Van Gundy will probably go over everything that this team needs to work on during practice or whatever and make them focused and prepared. Overall, this game was a bit disappointing to me since it was their home game and all. I guess I expected a bit too much. Basically, our players broke down on defense and just let them knock down uncontested shots. Our perimeter defense was horrible, no one was putting a hand in Finley's face. You think defense didn't have anything to do with Finley not being in his groove in the first two games? Plus, what I predicted in the preview was actually true, sort of. Avery Johnson went with Don Nelson's small ball lineup and completely killed us. Their guys were faster and drew more fouls in the paint- leaving Yao completely useless. I hope Van Gundy fixes this problem somehow or else we will be abused by this time and time again next game.
