man i dont know why we did not see this sooner, it started happening in the second game on how well the mavs can score, geez this sucks
Wesley, Sura, James, and Barry were a combined 10 for 30, while Terry and Finley scored 50 points combined. It looks like they bit it both offensively and defensively, while Ming and McGrady did their jobs well. There's your loss. Our role players bit the big one in this game. McGrady blew it with that last rebound, but he had a great game and so did Ming with 20 points and 5 blocked shots. Again....5 blocked shots. That's what we need from Ming and anytime he scores 20 and does that also, we SHOULD win, but you can't win with only 2 players. 2 points I want to make: 1) I can't remember the last time I saw Wesley shoot well in a game, and 2) James needs to stop trying to be another McGrady. He took to many wild shots today that only a T_Mac or some other superstar could actually make regularly. The most frustrating thing to me was probably seeing Bowen (I think it was him) take what should have been a steal caused by Tracy and just knock it up in the air instead of grabbing it. He reacted brainlessly and I knew when it went up that Dallas would get it and score. When you have 2 defenders trying to take the ball from one offender, there are more offenders on the rest of the court. You knock the ball off somewhere else and they're going to get it back--and somebody's going to be open. It's like getting an offensive rebound and banging it off the glass as hard as you can just to make the point that you got an offensive rebound. Not good. I think the Rockets need a football coach to teach them something about fumbles and possession of the ball. They now have a 3 game series with 2 in Dallas. Somebody's going to win at home. I think our chances of winning this series are at about 33% right now. Sadly, I have a prediction for Ming's next game: 11 points, 1 blocked shot, 4 rebounds and most likely fouled out. He's up and down too much and not consistent yet. Doesn' necessarilly mean we'll lose though.
<div class="quote_poster">Quoting Dan Le:</div><div class="quote_post">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...</div> I was at the game and from where i was (very close) I would say 1) he was fouled (but the refs sucked and so it wasn't called) and 2) it was out on the guy who slapped it (don't remember who, i was looking at his hands not his back.) I could be wrong but this is my opinion.
Pass the ball on to Yao, that's the key to the series! <div class="quote_poster">Quote:</div><div class="quote_post">2) James needs to stop trying to be another McGrady. He took to many wild shots today that only a T_Mac or some other superstar could actually make regularly. </div> Totally agree! Maybe we need some SG like Hinrich? Steve Nash would be even better if he'd like to be paid at the same level with Bobby
<div class="quote_poster">Quote:</div><div class="quote_post">2) James needs to stop trying to be another McGrady. He took to many wild shots today that only a T_Mac or some other superstar could actually make regularly. </div> Totally agree! Maybe we need some SG like Hinrich?
<div class="quote_poster">Quoting RogueNine:</div><div class="quote_post">I was at the game and from where i was (very close) I would say 1) he was fouled (but the refs sucked and so it wasn't called) and 2) it was out on the guy who slapped it (don't remember who, i was looking at his hands not his back.) I could be wrong but this is my opinion.</div> 1. It didn't look like a foul but given the situation there is no way the referees are going to call that kind of a ticky tack foul even if it was a foul. 2. They showed the up close re-play on TV and it is clear that Josh Howard deflected the ball off Tracy McGrady's forearm.
<div class="quote_poster">Quoting Hunter:</div><div class="quote_post">1. It didn't look like a foul but given the situation there is no way the referees are going to call that kind of a ticky tack foul even if it was a foul. 2. They showed the up close re-play on TV and it is clear that Josh Howard deflected the ball off Tracy McGrady's forearm.</div> K' I was to busy screaming to notice the replay but seriously, T-Mac should have called time as soon as he got the ball, and you would have to agree that regardless of what happened with that rebound it was a badly officiated game. And now in response to myself I will say that you can never expect a perfectly managed game (though I think I had one once, a long time ago...)
Damn, I cant believe we lost yet another game in the 4th. This is pathetic, everything was going so well untill that certain point. Yao and McGrady has very good games but the role players didnt produce. Hopefully we'll be able to get the W at their homecourt yet again because if we dont, we're out just like that. btw RogueNine, your sig is too big for this forum, you gotta resize it because I think the limit was somewhere along the lines of 468 x 100.
Really dissapointing! Its all evened out, and what was predicted to be the closest match in the 1st round of this year's playoffs may just be even closer!!! The rest of this series whould be great, but for the sake of the Rockets, wrapping up a quick series would've been great going into The Suns (assuming they win).
We just have a cursed number and it is 88! In game 3 Rockets had an 88-80 advantage before suddenly we stop to play. Yesterday an 88-82 and same situation with Dallas going to a 91-88 lead. Yao (again, and again, and again) played just 25 mins with 5 PF with 9 minutes left in the 4th. McGrady again disappeared, managing just two of his 36 points in the 4th quarter. And Sura? Why did he play just 24 minutes? How do we think we can win the series playing just 2,5 quartes and not four? Yes, because we are not playing good even in the first, always down by 8-10 after few minutes. We are not clutch at all.
Guys, I really can't explain how i'm feeling, sometimes it's the best to be a Houston Rockets fan..It feels great to be one, but after you blow fourth quarter leads two times in a row, you start to get depressed..I mean how can you let that happen twice?! Why didn't they do something about Terry's hot shooting? I know its easier said then done but still...I dunno i'm depressed...But got to take in the good and the bad in this series, but i'll be frank, like I said in my prediction, it think Dallas will win.
Dear Dan Le, it didn't just happen two times in a row. I myself really am unable to count out how many times had they let that happen in the season.
Good point DaRocket, next game, they should shoot around that number somehow. We just all of a sudden start to suck when the quarter is about to end. If the rockets want to win this, TMAC has to get a bit more greedy. He doesnt need to pass the ball anymore, just take it and score. He is the star and the only hope for us to get out of this series. If we loose this series, the city is to be oficially reknown as CHOKE CITY.
You cannot ask more from Yao. The Role players lost this game for us. And dare I say it, my best buddy (seriously) Jeff Van Gundy's decision on the defensive end. Putting McGrady on Dirk for a very long time, is admirable, but McGrady was tired. IMO, Bowen did an ok job on Dirk the first three games. Even if Dirk dropped 35 that game, I would've still let Bowen take him, as it was obvious how tired Tracy was at the end of the game. One thing they could improve on, is get the Friggin Refs to call some fouls for the Rockets. Had they called the McGrady Fumble a foul, that would've been stupid, because that shouldn't be considered a playoff foul. But anytime Dirk pulls a Vlade, Good God call a damn offensive foul. I've just noticed, anytime in the playoffs I predict a win, we lose, and vice versa. So the Rockets will get pwned tommorow, a blow out loss by 20, Dirk goes off for 89 points, and has triple double in points, blocks, and steals.
the only reason why i still watched the game with like 10 seconds left was because i wanted to see if tracy could give the rockets another miralcle, well, i was wrong, miracles only happen once a season i guess.
I already agree when someone said game 4 is pivotal but i will say it again for the next game. GAME 5 IS REALLY PIVOTAL!! We should, we must, we have to, even if we die on the court, we must get a win. But it will be extremely hard. Dallas now had a very high morale and confidence, while i bet rockets now are very depressed.. even more depressed than the mavs when they lost the first 2. And one thing that changes from JVG tactics, why the hell does every play must go through TMAC?? Why is he always acting like a point guard?? In regular season JVG has a lot of variation of setplays. And everybody must keep their freaking hands ready whenever tmac's open from a screen!!! How many TO do we have because they didn't ready to catch the ball.. #@$&*$(@*&#@ i'm really pissed... But one thing i'm almost sure.. Dallas will win the series..
Yeah, it wasn't McGrady or Yao's fault. They did their jobs. I mean, Yao had twenty points and five blocks, and he was kept in foul trouble- so he put up those stats in like 25 minutes. What more do you want from him? Again McGrady helped carry this team, no surprise- so the only thing that held this team back were the role players. Houston is crumbling under the new Mavericks strategy of limiting role players points and letting the stars go wild. Guys just need to get open and knock down shots or else we're going to lose again. McGrady and Yao can't do this alone but I have no idea how Van Gundy's going to find a way to stop Dallas. Basically, in my opinion, we've got to play tighter defense through the whole game but especially down the stretch. From an offensive viewpoint, we need to drive in and draw fouls or else Dallas is going to burn us through Finley, Nowitzki, and Terry knocking down threes and jumpers. Good luck for next game to Houston.
I'm going to put this on Jon Barry. He took a bunch of stupid shots where he could have dumped, and he seemed way too cocky given the situation.
Wow, its funny how everyone have given up hope on Houston when a couple days ago everyone were thinking about sweeping Dallas...
<div class="quote_poster">Quoting Dan Le:</div><div class="quote_post">Guys, I really can't explain how i'm feeling, sometimes it's the best to be a Houston Rockets fan..It feels great to be one, but after you blow fourth quarter leads two times in a row, you start to get depressed..I mean how can you let that happen twice?! Why didn't they do something about Terry's hot shooting? I know its easier said then done but still...I dunno i'm depressed...But got to take in the good and the bad in this series, but i'll be frank, like I said in my prediction, it think Dallas will win.</div> Both Terry and Finley are hot from three point land. And often, one or the other gets left open due to penetration. The only way to stop is hope one of them has an off night (doesn't seem likely) or figure out a way to cut down the penetration. I'm thinking that the latter will be a focus for the Rockets. I also think that Mike James needs to snap out of his funk. He's arguably our best perimeter defender, which we need, but when his offense isn't going he can turn into a liability for us offensively.
