<div align="center"> Dallas Mavericks VS Houston Rockets </div> Position-by-Position Analysis <u>Center to Small Forward By Aznxballer</u> C- Yao Ming vs Erick Dampier- This is a pretty crucial matchup here. Very different players here, Yao plays through jumpers and finesse while Dampier plays more physically and bodying. However, Houston's fate in the playoffs depends on this matchup. Yao Ming needs to really step it up and bring down rebounds and points. First off, since Dallas makes a lot of their shots, its very important to grab the ones that they don't. Between these two guys, Yao has more capabilities of scoring than Dampier- but has to score as well. He has the obvious height advantage over Dampier as well as a bigger offensive arensal. Question is, can Yao step it up for the playoffs and bring his A game? Houston Advantage PF- Ryan Bowen vs Dirk Nowitzki- Definitely not a matchup of the century. Here we've got Dallas' best player against Houston's weakest position. However, thats not really the point here. We already know that combined, all the power forwards on Houston probably can't outscore Dirk on a given night, so the key here would be for Bowen to contain Dirk's scoring. Bowen's got the height, speed, and hustle to do it, so the question is if he can keep up with Dirk and draw double teams away from McGrady. If Bowen gets open shots, he needs to take it to make Dallas think twice about doubling McGrady. Meanwhile, Dirk will probably have his usual game on- hitting the threes, scoring inside, and giving Houston a world of troubles. Dallas Advantage SF- Tracy McGrady vs Josh Howard- This matchup hopefully will even things out with the whole Dirk thing going on. Basically, Dallas is sticking their best defender on McGrady and trying to contain the game that he brings. On any given night, McGrady can light up the crowd and will the team to victory. Plus, he has a huge arsenal of offensive weapons at his disposal- the one on one game, the long range, the inside, and the midrange. Which is like the entire court. Don't underestimate Josh Howard however, if he stays aggressive, he can put up around twelve points a night and grab a decent amount of boards. However, the just doesn't equal McGrady. Houston Advantage <u>Shooting Guard to 6th Man by magnomonkey</u> VS. SG- David Wesley/Michael Finley Key matchup here, Finley still hasn't lost that explosiveness he once had, and Wesley is a deadly spot up shooter. Shooting-wise, both are basically even, but Finley's ability to score in the oddest situations, whether he is tripled, or throws up a random shot, seperates the two. If Wesley can just hit his shots, this matchup shouldn't be as uneven as it could be, but by going by pure talent and stats, Finley wins this. Advantage: Dallas VS. PG- Bob Sura/Jason Terry These two are very streaky players. Both can go off for 30, or give you 7 a game. But both have the ability to keep their team in the game. Whatever defense you throw at him, Terry can will his way into scoring points. Sura can will anything into happening, battling back from surgery and asserting himself in our offense well. Terry is to big of an offensive threat to be left alone, so do not expect Sura to be doubling Dirk. This is a tough one to call, so I'll say it even, but Terry has a bigger advantage on the offensive end. Advantage: Even VS. Sixth Man- Mike James/Jerry Stackhouse A Former Superstar in Stackhouse, versus an experienced, talented role-player who won a ring last year with Detroit in James. Most people would pick Stack' in this matchup, but they shouldn't be playing each other straight up consistently. James is just as explosive as Stackhouse, and his defense is rated higher. If the Rockets take out Stackhouse in this series, they have a HUGE chance to win it, that being said, Dallas should have a really hard time taking James out of the series. Like Terry, he can find a way to score. Advantage: Even <u>Keys to the game by Trip</u> Threes - The Rockets attempt quite a few three pointers every night. With great perimeter shooters like David Wesley, Jon Barry and Mike James on the roster, it should be deemed reasonable that the Rockets live and die by the three at times. If Houston wants to win on Saturday, they'll have to make their three point attempts. Yao/Mac Produce - Like a lot of teams that rely on stars to pull them over the hill, the Rockets' success each night depends on the MacMing combo. Both players will have physical defenders on them, so they would have to be smart and not get stupid offensive fouls. McGrady would have to make his shots and Yao would have to do a good job getting offensive rebounds and scoring in the post. Keep rest of Dallas in check - Houston will most likely feature Ryan Bowen, Scott Padgett and Clarence Weatherspoon in an effort to stop Dirk Nowitzki, he the same superstar who scored 53 points on the Rockets in December. The team will have to face this bleak reality: Nowitzki will score at least 30 on you. Thus, it is very important to make sure no one else on the Dallas roster scores too much. Keep everyone else from putting up big stats; Dirk can't win games by himself. <u>Keys to the game by Dan for Mavericks</u> Stop T-Mac - In the last meeting Tracy Mcgrady scored 34 points to lead the game in scoring, that needs to change, the Rockets have a very good win record whenever Tracy scores over 30 points, they'll have to rethink their defence and try to come up with a way of retaining him or at least holding him to just over 20 points because as it seems whne he has a good game, everything changes, the confidence, the defence, and this isn't just by him, it's by the whole Houston team! Draw Fouls - They're going to have to get to the rim, try and draw the foul to get them 2 easy shots, in the last game Yao Ming only played 20 minutes of the game before being fouled out, he had only scored 11 points and only grabbed 8 rebounds, Ryan Bowen was also fouled off after 31 minutes of play, although on offense he wasn't too flash he played great defence on Dirk, but couldn't stay out of foul trouble. Dirk had 13 free throws and 11 points from free throws alone, if they can get Yao into foul trouble and maybe even T-Mac they'll obviously have a huge advantage, but easier said then done. Shooting - I don't know if I can be any more straight foward here, this is the same as any game for any team but is really a key to the Mavericks success, they will have to find a way for Dirk to score, although the Rockets did a great job on guarding him, he should find another way to get the ball in the basket, another player who didn't shoot too well is Michael Finley he only scored 5 points on 2/8 shooting and he's another one of their key players, it may of been the defense that stopped him, it may of been that he was just in a slump, but he has got to get out of it, Jerry Stackhouse had 14 points but was also 4/13 from the field which is far from impressive, this all had to change, but Jason Terry did have a good shooting night and Josh Howard got the points on the board before being fouled out too. Rebounds - The Dallas Mavericks really have to take advantage of this on the offensive and defensive end, they should have a big advantage in this, the Rockets only above average rebounders are Yao Ming and Dikembe Mutombo, where as the Mavericks have Josh Howard, Dirk Nowitzki, Erick Dampier and even Keith Van Horn, in Game 1 the Mavericks only had 5 more rebounds, which is still good, but if they want a really big advantage they'll have to fight for every single rebound, be agressive about it to stop a second chance basket or to create one for themselves. Trip's Prediction The Mavericks are definitely revitalized for this series, and Game 4 could be decisive as to who will win the series. If the Rockets win it, the series is in a much better position to be sealed, but if the Mavs do, they might just go on to win the series. Thus, tomorrow's game will most likely feature huge efforts from both games. If Yao Ming and McGrady can have the type of games they did in Game 2, it'll be much easier for Houston to win but the job has to be done defensively as well. Eliminate Finley and Stackhouse's scoring will be key. Rockets 102 Mavericks 96 AznxBaller's Prediction After dropping both in Dallas, the Mavericks played with great intensity and focus in Game 3 and beat the Rockets at their home. That night, nothing was really working for Houston- shots not dropping, defense dying, and losing agressiveness, they're going to be going back to their roots tonight. If Houston can contest shots, find the open man, and most importantly keep up with Dallas' small ball lineup (I have no clue how), we might be able to get away with the win today. Hopefully, they do just that and give us a 3-1 lead on Dallas going into Game 5. And just because I'm superstitious, I'm saying that Dallas is going to burn us since everytime I predicted a Dallas win, Houston wins. Prediction Dallas wins, 102-101. Magnomonkey's Prediction Rockets can't afford to let this slip. It's just that plain and simple. They don't bring the goods, they lose the game. If we take a 3-1 advantage, we can wrap this up before game 6. If we do, decide to force a game 6 .. We better be ready. Rockets win, 108 .. 100 Dan's Prediction In game three T-Mac and Yao Ming looked to be human again, Bowen didn?t get his minutes due to foul trouble and everything just didn?t work for us, Dirk was finally himself, Finley and Stackhouse played well and while we were leading by 8 in the fourth we just couldn?t handle it?a 20-0 run lead the Mavericks to victory. Like many others I agree that game 4 could very well decided the winner of the series, I don?t know how many times I have said this but still Yao and T-Mac have to play well, besides from guarding Dirk and making sure Finley and the rest of the gang don?t catch fire there?s nothing else I can say? Rockets ? 112 Mavericks ? 106 That?s right folks, I predicted a victory, let?s see how this turns out.
Also I must note that Keith Van Horn will not be playing tonight.. <div class="quote_poster">Quote:</div><div class="quote_post">Apr 29 F Keith Van Horn suffered what appeared to be a serious left ankle injury early in the second after turning his ankle while coming down for a rebound. He stayed down for a few moments, then had to be helped to the locker room and did not put any weight on the ankle. ... After scoring a combined 15 points in the first two games</div> You can scroll to the bottom of this page for confirmation.
My Internet has been a little wookie as of late, so I'll put my 2 cents up here. Rockets can't afford to let this slip. It's just that plain and simple. They don't bring the goods, they lose the game. If we take a 3-1 advantage, we can wrap this up before game 6. If we do, decide to force a game 6 .. We better be ready. Rockets win, 108 .. 100
The Rockets need to treat this like a game 7. It is the most important game of the season. I can't imagine they will be lacking in energy or intensity. They simply need to keep fighting even during stretches when things aren't going so great. Look for the Rockets to make a more concerted effort to get Yao the ball. I expect him to have a very good game. Another important barometer for the Rockets is Mike James. I think if he and Yao play well, we'll probably win.
This is a crucial game if we are to win the series. If we lose, the series will be even and the Mavs will have high confidence to finish the game off in 6. We gotta win this game and stop them at the tracks to give us the momentum going into game 5 at their homecourt. Tracy should be his allround self for this but Yao must have another awesome game for us to win. Everyone must contribute and I'll see us winning this. Hopefully Dirk will have a bad shooting night as well as Finley lol. Rockets to win by 7.
its gonna be a close game, because of dallas tasing this win but i will expect houstont o pull this off tonight
I expect to see a great game by Houston. I think the whole team will feel like they let 1 go on Thursday and they dont want that to happen again. This game is very important in my opinion. If Dallas wins the momentum will be going their way while they go back home. If Houston wins it gives them 3 games just to win 1. And even though McGrady is know for giving up a 3-1 leads I don't think he will let it happen again.
Rockets have to stop fouling if they want to win this game. We foul like crazy every game and it really keeps the mavs in the game. Houston is up a point right now and i dont know why the mavs are still in this game.
Halftime score is 51-48 our lead, we are having we having way to many turnovers and fouls, our defense needs to get better but according to some friends our crowd is alot better! T-Mac already has 17 points, Yao has 9 points and hasn't missed a field goal!
Not a bad first half. James played pretty nicely for the half, tallied up 7 points along with 3 boards and 2 assists (had 2 TO's though). In Ming's 13 minutes he only pulled down 1 board, he should be getting down there and fighting for rebounds in the second half, G-d knows Van Gundy will tell him to get down there. Sensational offensive night for McGrady thus far, 17 points off of 6-11 shooting and he's 4 of 4 from the line. McGrady also pulled down 5 boards and got a few assists. I want to see James step it up further in the second half along with Sura and McGrady, then I'd feel comfortable in picking Houston for the win.
We lost, i'm trying to keep calm about this...but I don't think I can WE BLEW ANOTHER LEAD! THIS TIME A 6 POINT LEAD! WE HAD A CHANCE WHEN STACKHOUSE MISSED THE SECOND FREE THROW! BUT T-MAC FUMBLED IT OUT OF BOUNDS! Argh! We can't even blame the crowd here, they were good, Mike James tooks some stupid shots..Damnit i'm pissed off...
Wow. Heartbreaking defeat, McGrady should've tucked the ball immediately after the board. I feel you, chinesefro. I'd be crestfallen as well if I were you. Tough loss, I wanted to see more from Yao and James in the second half. Yao got 11 more points but only 4 more rebounds, and Sura didn't play too nicely - same for James. Ah well, it was a good game. Crazy "homecourt advantage". Should make for an exciting series though, when it's all said and done.
Now you guys see why your coaches always tell you to be strong on your rebounds and lock the ball to make sure those type of things dont happen. I am furious about the outcome of this game.....I'm going to the gym to workout.
WTF. I am about to beat the **** out of my sister (who is smiling in a mavs jersey). We went dry once again in the clutch. I hope we loose this series, cuause we dont deserve to win anymore
Thoroughly depressing loss. We can take solace in one thing, though: we still have the road-court advantage. Mike James is slumping at the worst time, and the Rockets need to figure out how to stop Dallas without getting in foul trouble. I think McGrady was fatigued physically and mentally down the stretch. It's too much to ask him to dominate the WHOLE game. Others need to step up big.
I skipped dinner to give my thoughts on this terrible loss. We stay competitive all game until the last three minutes, what a bad time to not be able to buy a shot. Props go out to Jason Terry who went 6/8 from three, but that shouldn't have happened. We let Finley get open mid range jumpers, and that won't help you win games. Yao IMO had a pretty good game. He was willing to block shots tonight, and although he didn't get too many rebounds, the reason so was because he boxed out his guy so that teammates could get the rebound. I'd rather the team get a rebound than not getting one at all. TMac got cold at the most undesirable time. We have to pick it up now; like durvasa said, we do have road-court advantage.
I think the main reason the rockets have lost the last two games is TMAC. He hasnt been the guy taking our shots in the clutch. I know he shouldnt get greedy, but at these times, you gotta ball hog because you are our star. Tmac is the guy that is gonna win us the series, not mike james or yao ming or anyone else. Its gonna be tmac. So take the ball and be the only guy to shoot for the final 2 minutes of the game. I think we still have an ok shot at the series if we take the road game.
