GAME: Houston Rockets(28-21) @ Atlanta Hawks(17-34) LOCATION: Philips Arena, Atlanta TIME: 7PM EST PROBABLE STARTERS: SF Jim Jackson/Stephen Jackson PF Kelvin Cato/Shareef Abdur-Rahim C Yao Ming/Theo Ratliff PG Steve Francis/Jason Terry SG Cuttino Mobley/Dion Glover TEAM LEADERS Houston Rockets: Steve Francis-16.6 points per game Yao Ming- 9 rebounds per game Steve Francis-5.9 assists per game Atlanta Hawks: Shareef Abdur-Rahim-20 points per game Shareef Abdur-Rahim-9.3 rebounds per game Jason Terry-5 assists per game ROCKETS' KEYS TO THE GAME: 1:Attack Early And Often-The Hawks are a strong post defense team with Theo Ratliff, the league's leader in blocks, holding down the fort. Steve Francis and Cuttino Mobley are great slashers and if they can draw fouls and get Ratliff two quick fouls to start the game, we'll be looking good early on and Yao will understandably shine tonight with no big man to guard him. 2:SAR's Attack-Shareef Abdur-Rahim is one of the sad stories of the NBA. He's a star player who has played on bad teams all his career. However, he's still one of the best players in the NBA and should not be taken lightly. Kelvin Cato will have a hard time guarding him as SAR is extremely versatile and has credible range. 3:The Battle Of The Jacksons-Jim Jackson and Stephen Jackson are the two unsung heros for these their respective teams. Both players played vital roles in their teams' respective victories yesterday. Whichever of these players can shut the other down will play an important role in this game. With Jim Jackson's veteran savvy and experience, I believe he will come out on top. GAME OUTLOOK Both teams come into this game enjoying two-game winning streaks. This is the Hawks' first streak this season and they'll be coming into this one with high spirits. If the Rockets can come out with a run and shut down the Hawks guards, this could be a blowout. Yao Ming has a bit of a rivalry with Theo Ratliff and it'll be interesting to see the sparks fly. Maurice Taylor must be a force on both ends of the floor to take some offensive pressure off Yao. If Steve Francis gets 6+ assists, we'll be fine. GAME PREDICTION Rockets 94 Hawks 87
Rockets by 10. For some reason when I think of the Hawks, I think of a lazy team. When a lazy team plays a defensive team like the Rockets, I don't see a win coming their way, even if its on their home floor.
Great preview. I agree, the Rockets should win, but Hawks surprise some teams when they are looking past the game. Rockets by 8
The game is in Atlanta, so the Hawks have home court advantage, obviously. The Rockets haven't been playing their best on the road (barely squeaked by Chicago) and the Hawks always bring their A game against the top teams in the league - to include wins over the Spurs and Timberwolves. I'll looking for the Hawks to go off. Hawks by 5.
Great preview man. The Rockets have been playing well, and will move up in the midwest. Whether or not they can retain a high seed is another question. They won't be able to stop SAR, but the Hawks can't stop Yao or Stevie. Rockets by 9.
Nice Preview, Franchise3. Good comment on Shareef, sad to see him go to waste on such a bad team. But Don't count the hawks out, because Rockets this year have been inconsistent with their scoring, I believe if Yao has a solid game, Rockets win. But I believe for the rockets to win they should jump on the hawks early, hawks do not have much firepower for comebacks, and their bench has been nowhere to be found all year. Plust Rockets are one of the better Defensive teams in the League, so if they can get up, it's gonna be too much for the Hawks to come back. Blake
This is one of the better previews I've seen, franchise3, good work. The Hawks' winning streak says more to me than the Rockets'. The Hawks have been doing great all season with wins over the Pistons and Spurs, but they have struggled to mesh. They've been a team with no chemistry, and part of that can be contributed to the Atlanta fans. Having little or no support at home games is a real confidence killer. People underestimate how important a crowd is in winning basketball games. Atlanta's crowd has been showing up lately though. The last home game they played was on a Wednesday and they managed to draw in nearly 17,000 people, compared to 9,000 people like they were used to pulling in. The team's they've beaten have been high quality teams as well. They killed Milwaukee, Boston, and surprisingly Minnesota. I think they'll take this one as well. Hawks by 4.
Rockets by 5. It would be more but I just don't see Yao playing his all-star self in this one. Maybe he;ll prove me wrong and play like he did against us
Everyon is counting the hawks out.. i think the rockets will have a flat game and lose this one in another low scoring game, by around 7
Nice preview. This game should be a cakewalk for the Rockets, who seem to be on a roll right now. Their key players, Terry, Jackson, Reef and Ratliffe all will have a tough time this game. Terry will be outmatched from the start in the game, since Steve Francis is simply better at almost every facet of the game. Jackson will have a tough time with the very physical play of Jim Jackson, but could use his quickness to become a factor. Reef, of all Atlanta's stars, will have the best game, but it won't be enough. He's seriously disadvantaged in size versus Kelvin Cato. And of course Yao will just overpower Ratliffe. Ratliffe thrives on playing guys his size or slightly larger. Yao is just too big for his 'defense' to be of much effect. Watch for Yao to simply shred Ratliffe and the other Atlanta big men. Rockets by 14.
Nice preview. I think the Hawks do have a chance, but they have to play the same inspired ball that they did when the beat the Wolves.
Nice preview man keep it up. The Hawks can play really good when they want..but I think Yao will have a great game. Rockets by 7.
<div class="quote_poster">Quoting starman85:</div><div class="quote_post">This game should be a cakewalk for the Rockets, who seem to be on a roll right now. Their key players, Terry, Jackson, Reef and Ratliffe all will have a tough time this game. </div> That's where you're wrong. The Hawks' second best player in my opinion is Boris Diaw. I was upset when I didn't see him on the Rookie All-Star roster, but he's really become a productive player for the Hawks. The other night he missed a triple double by about three assists. He fills in all the wholes the Hawks have, kind of like a Shane Battier or Richard Jefferson type player.
<div align="center"><u>GAME REVIEW</u></div> The Rockets come away with a big-time victory. They proved their worth again as they rallied from a deficit as big as 14 to win by 9. Yao Ming was rendered ineffective by the duo of Nazr Mohammed and Theo Ratliff as he was held to 2-11 shooting. However, the other key players on the Rockets stepped up big time. <div align="center"><u>franchise3's Key Players To The Game</u></div> Steve Francis was 6-12 from the field, 2-2 from 3 point land, 10-12 from the free throw line and passed for 4 assists as he racked up 24 points. Jim Jackson also once again proved his value with 18 points on 5-8 shooting. Maurice Taylor was great off the bench again for 11 points.
This game looked out of reach when the Rockets were down by fourteen near the fourth quarter, but like all young or innexperienced teams the Hawks folded in the last minutes. When you look around the league at teams like the Magic, Cavaliers, Wizards, and Hawks you'll see that they stay close in every game but fall apart in the fourth quarter. In the fourth quarter there's just added pressure that some of these teams can't take. Their opponents step up their games while they dont. This was a quality win for the Rockets. It could have gotten out of hand. I'm kind of dissapointed, mainly because I'm a Hawks fan and rooting for the Rockets to move under the Grizzlies in the playoff picture though. Some of you were predicting fourteen point wins by the Rockets, and while the Rockets won by nine it should have bee more like one or two. If you would have watched the game, you would know what I meant. The Hawks gave up when they fell under in the last two minutes and the score really inflated.
Francis really, really, really pimped them in this game. That's a big turnaround in the fourth. Defense is the winner here, too.
