<div align="center"> VS Monday, April 10, 2006, 08:00 PM(CT) Delta Center, Salt Lake City, Utah FSNSW, NBALP </div> <font color="red">Houston Rockets:</font> The Rockets already out of playoff contention with their dissappointing road trip will try to end the trek hopefully with a win before going back to Houston. Yao Ming has hurt his ankle during last night's game but he seems positive that he can play tonight. For precaution he was rested in the remaining minutes of the game although he does'nt want to go out. That shows his character and determination to help his teammates eventhough they're already losing the game and has long been out of contention. Luther Head continues to play well while Wesley did manage to play despite being limited by his injuries. Good thing about Bogans and Wesley is they try to play naturally and in the flow of the game instead of jacking up shots to pad their stats to increase their stocks in the upcoming free agency signings. Except for defensive meltdown after they made some runs, the Rockets have played well. They just did'nt have enough offensive firepower and have allowed opponents to grab lots of offensive rebounds which in turn leads to second chance points. <font color="blue">Utah Jazz:</font> The Jazz on the other hand are still in the playoff contention with so much pressure to win all their remaining games to catch up with either the Lakers or the Kings. Their performance have been a 50-50 all season long and they can't seem to go into a winning groove. With almost all their key players in full force with exception of Gordan Giricek, they should be in the playoff mix. They have beaten a lot of good teams but has also lost lots of winnable games. Boozer is almost back in peak form but the Jazz needs more than luck and exceptional performance to contend. <div align="center"></div> The Jazz has been known to be a physical team so the Rockets must prepare for this kind of game. AK47 will continue to hound Yao on the defensive end and he's been so good at help defense. Meanwhile Okur's perimeter shooting capabilities will move Yao away from the post. With Yao out of his defensive position, Boozer and Kirilenko will have a field day grabbing those offensive rebounds whenever the Jazz missed their shots. Head will have a chance again to play against his Illinois teammate Deron williams. It will be nice to see them competing against each other. The Jazz are in a must win game situation so they'll gonna give it all out tonight to win the game. The Rockets will be playing as spoilers so there's no pressure on them. If the Rockets decides not play Yao the Jazz will have a much easier time taking this game. It would have been great to see if Swift plays well tonight. Barring a bad shooting night and a good one for the Rockets, the Jazz are favored to win this game. <font color="red">2005-2006 Rockets' Season Analysis:</font> This will be my last preview schedule for the season so I might as well give my final analysis on the Rockets. Last offseason has been a promising one for the Rockets with acquisition of Swift,Anderson and Alston but everything change quickly as the season began as the Rockets have been marred by various injuries to both key and role players. They were never completely healthy even except for game one with just Sura on the injured list. After that everything seems to fall apart game by game. Each time they made a comeback someone falls down to break the momentum. When someone goes back someone goes down until it became a routine occurance. The biggest casualty was when they lost both Yao and TMac to injuries. Their loss has sealed the Rockets' season. Swift and Anderson who were supposed to step up and be the 3rd and 4th option have failed beyond expectations. Veterans like Mutombo and Barry have their ages caught them. With Sura being destined to be out for the season, it's up to Howard, Wesley and Alston to keep the team from falling. It has been very hard to get a win without TMac not only until recently the Rockets been able to accept the reality and finally able to win some games minus their Top Gun. Anyway each dissappointment has it's promises. Rookie Luther Head have been given more than any chance he could have created by unfortunate events. This have given him confidence to take over in the following seasons. The acquisition of Bogans and Hayes have bought youth and some athleticism to the Rockets. Both deserves to be resigned this summer for a modest contract. The Rockets Organization from the coaching staffs, the ownership, the administrative staffs to the player personnels have learned a lot of lesson from this season. They might try to go into different directions and lots of changes has been expected to be made. Carroll Dawson will be in his final year of contract next season as well as coach Jeff Van Gundy. It remains to be seen if CD's successor in the name Daryl Morey will be able to build a stable franchise using analytical stats as basis for evaluating players to be maintained and to be acquired in conjunction with VP for Basketball Operation's Dennis Lindsey's traditional scouting methods. JVG has experienced his first losing season as a head coach. Despite a losing season mainly due to injuries, the remaining healthy Rockets have played well and all of them have been very professional about their roles. It has been a dissappointing season but there's a lot of lessons to be learned as well as to prepare very well for the seasons to come.
Once again, the Rockets have no business winning this game. Utah is a tough team to guard as their big men can go inside and out, and I think that's where the Rockets will suffer at. Yao couldn't guard Brad Miller last night, and I think Mehmet Okur will also be unguardable at the center spot. Yao'll get his on the offensive end, though. Rafer Alston didn't even make a shot last night in 11 tries, would like to see him tone it down a bit and look for his teammates more often, especially when his own shot isn't falling. I'm taking the Jazz by 9.
Yes, I agree, we have no business winning this game. Maybe we can use the grand opportunity of gold shining light to play people like Lampe, Swift, Gerald Fitch, Head, and Hayes?
First of all, I'd like to say BlueRacer is god. Secondly, at the start of the fourth quarter, the Rockets are losing by 9 and Yao is out with a broken leg if I remember correctly. Refer to the other thread about that for further explaination. Anyway, Hayes finally gets some burn time now and hasn't really done too bad (4 points and 4 rebounds in 8 minutes). Still would like to see him get more minutes though, since Howard's been getting way too much minutes and it really serves us little purpose. The only one I can think of is raising his trade value, but who wants an overpaid old guy anyway? Nothing else really warrants mentioning.
Trailing by one, Hayes misses both free-throws and the Rockets lose 85-83. Your game previews were very enjoyable blueracer, look forward to seeing them next season.
Hayes missed those two free throws, but he was put in that situation after getting an offensive rebound. And he made numerous great plays throughout the third and fourth quarter. This loss definitely shouldn't be put on Hayes. Other than the free throws (big as they were), he played fantastic. He had 9 points (4-4 from the field), 10 rebounds (4 offensive), and 3 steals in 21 minutes. What else does this guy need to do to get some freaking playing time?
this game was unfair. I was listening to 610 radio, and the commentators said that it was a lane violation like 2 secs before Hayes shot the second free-throw. He should've gotten 1 more. But it was a lane violation. Man but hayes needs to work on his free-throw. Missed 2 clutch 1's
So what if Hayes missed dem free throws? We didn't need to win this game for any reason. Hope Swift gets to start at center now, and we have time to have him develop even though he sucks at center. Hopes Yao and T-Mac have a great summer recovery. Can you believe it...another injury...to one of our superstars? It was cool that Yao finished the play and even made the shot on the play where he broke his foot.
<div class="quote_poster">Quoting durvasa:</div><div class="quote_post">Hayes missed those two free throws, but he was put in that situation after getting an offensive rebound. And he made numerous great plays throughout the third and fourth quarter. This loss definitely shouldn't be put on Hayes. Other than the free throws (big as they were), he played fantastic. He had 9 points (4-4 from the field), 10 rebounds (4 offensive), and 3 steals in 21 minutes. What else does this guy need to do to get some freaking playing time?</div> For real! Funny thing is we've been getting killed on the boards and he does'nt get any PT!! I'm getting real sick of JVG's PT distribution, hopefully with Yao out we can see what evaryone else can contribute for next year.
Thats just crazy. What kind of injury bug looms on the Houston Team? Thats nuts.....another injury....
is it serious????????????????? <div class="quote_poster">Quoting TmacGarnett:</div><div class="quote_post">YAO BROKE HIS FOOT. ESPN reported it. Guess it doesnt matter and that we should rest him.</div> is this as serious as it sounds??? is it a career threat???? how long does it take???
<div class="quote_poster">Quoting Franchise4Ever:</div><div class="quote_post">Thats just crazy. What kind of injury bug looms on the Houston Team? Thats nuts.....another injury....</div> This just in!!!!! Clutch the bear tore his ACL in an attemp to dunk off a trampoline!!!
Hey guys thanks for the compliments. I would surely look forward doing this again next season. The game was close and the Rockets almost had it. Too bad we lost Yao to injury again. Anyway great performance by the rest of the Rockets. Eventhough we lost our two all stars for the rest of the season, the remaining games will give Hayes, Head, Bogans, Swift and even Lampe chance to step up. I guess everything happens for a reason.
