There's a lot riding on this game. Portland looks to be a probable first round matchup, and we greatly increase our chances of getting home court advantage against them if we win (because it also gives us the tie-breaker). With a win, we win the season season and go a 1/2 game ahead. With a loss, they win the season series and go up 1 1/2 games. Game preview: http://www.nba.com/games/20090405/PORHOU/preview.html
This game is a must-win, not just because of the potential playoff matchup and homecourt but also because we can't afford to go on a big slide. Losing against Portland would make it a 3 game losing streak and would make Tuesday against Orlando extremely difficult. We NEED to get the ball to Yao, no matter how well Portland fronts him. Scola's gotta be active, and sneak around for layups when the defense keys in around Yao.
I hope Yao destroys that Ogre Oden. That POS said Howard was the best big man and claimed he already played against Yao this season when he didn't.
According to BigBigRed at CF, our chances of having home court advantage in the first round drops from 62% to 14% if we lose this game. This is probably the most important game of the season so far.
As long as we utilize Yao on both halfs. We will win.... The only reason why we have been losing to elite teams this season is because we utilize Yao in the 1st half and we ignore him in the 2nd half. Example would be all the Laker-Rocket games this season and the Spurs earlier this year
So how's the game going? Yao seems to be getting touches, is Portland fronting him or playing him straight up?
didnt know there was game thread in the rockets board. game is good at the half. rockets 54/portland 43. yao and lma ballin, roy and ron doing ok. deke gotta tech on the bench gettin mad at a lma charge. aldridge took a while to get up from that fall thx to 6'ft 165lbs aaron brooks lmao. nah it was a hard ass fall tho. i thought brooks was gonna be the one on the floor in pain after the knee to the groin area or borderline low stomach area lmao. foul shots is wats keeping houston a double digit lead. both teams shooting over 50%...defense is gonna tighter in the 2nd half. ron and roy have yet to explode to its gonna be a good 2nd half.
It's always fun to read a recap from the opposing side: http://www.blazersedge.com/2009/4/5/824157/game-76-recap-blazers-88-houston And here's a couple nice dunks in the game for those who missed it: [video=youtube;jtf5F8j4zYE]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jtf5F8j4zYE[/video] [video=youtube;EgZi6kajBuc]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EgZi6kajBuc[/video]
Ah I was just gonna post them, great stuff. I was over at the Blazers forum during the game and the Portland guys were really incensed about how Yao of all people was getting favoured by the refs. As a Rockets fan, do you agree with that? Normally all I see is defenders get away with roughhousing Yao. Yao did a good job of sealing off Oden.
