<div align="center"> <font color="red">Rockets (2-2)</font> vs <font color=""darkgreen"">Bucks (2-2)</font> Wednesday, November 8, 2006 7:00 Central; FSNSW </div> [div=50%] <div align="center"><font color="red"> <font size="1">(R. Alston, T. McGrady, S. Battier, C. Hayes, M. Yao)</font></font></div> <font size="1">Leading Scorer: Yao Ming - 24.8 PPG Leading Rebounder: Yao Ming - 8.0 RPG Assist Leader: Tracy McGrady - 6.0 APG Steals Leader: Shane Battier - 2.5 SPG</font> [/div] <div align="center"><font color=""darkgreen""> <font size="1">(M. Williams, M. Redd, C.Villanueva, R. Patterson, A. Bogut)</font></font></div> <font size="1">Leading Scorer: Michael Redd - 27.0 PPG Leading Rebounder: Charlie Villanueva - 10.8 RPG Assist Leader: Maurice Williams - 6.0 APG Steals Leader: Ruben Patterson - 1.5 SPG</font> <div align="center">]</div> [div=50%] <div align="center"> <font size=""1""><font color="red">Luther Head (6th Man)</font></font></div> <font size=""2""><div align="center">7.5 PPG, 2.3 RPG, 1.0 APG</div></font> [/div] <div align="center"> <font size=""1""><font color=""darkgreen"">Charlie Bell (6th Man)</font></font> <font size=""2"">6.0 PPG, 1.3 RPG, 2.5 APG</font> </div> <font size="3">Keys to the Game</font> <font color="red">Keep Feeding Yao</font> - Yao Ming is the best offensive weapon the Rockets have. Shooting a spectacular 63% from the field, it is important to give him the ball and let him do his thing in the post. Somehow, the Rockets back court tends to forget the seven footer is in the game and stop giving him the ball in the second half. Yao should at least get 18 shot attempts per game, and the team needs to recognize and actually do this every night, starting tonight. <font color="red">Limit Turnovers</font> - The Rockets had 24 turnovers last night against Memphis. Many of them were caused by petty mistakes such as carrying the ball, traveling, and stepping out of bounds. They need to be careful with the ball, but not too careful, because they still need to work the ball around. <font color="red">Stay Focused</font> - The Rockets tend to get a nice lead early, then blow it away in just a few minutes. They need to stay focused on both offense and defense. They need to watch the three point line tonight. Michael Redd can drain threes all night long, and if he finds any room to get his shot up, he will. He's not shy, so the Rockets better not shy away from him on defense. If Battier is guarding him, we should be fine. <font color=""darkgreen"">Attack Yao:</font> The most effective way to limit Yao Ming is to get him out of the game as soon as possible. Andrew Bogut needs to post him up early and try to get some fouls called on him. Milwaukee needs their big men to set screens so they can free up Maurice Williams. If Williams can attack Yao, create the contact and get some fouls called on him early, they will find defending the Rockets much easier on the defensive end. <font color=""darkgreen"">Contain Tracy McGrady:</font> Ruben Patterson and Michael Redd have to contain/slow down Tracy McGrady. Pester him on defense, double team him when he comes off of screens, and keep him out of the painted area. He isn't shooting the ball well so don't let him drive to the bucket. Instead, give him some space and see if he can knock down his jumper, which has been off lately. In general, just do whatever it takes to stop him from getting into rhythm. <font color=""darkgreen"">Push The Tempo:</font> If the Bucks can get a fast paced game going, they can mess up the Rockets offense. This will hurt Yao especially, causing him to be too tired to stay in. The earlier they can do this, the better. If the Bucks play up-tempo right from the beginning, this will put the Rockets down by a big margin early. <div align="center"></div> A low scoring affair, Rockets win 82-81. The Rockets are going to be tired from yesterday. Hopefully they can win it on defense, because they don't want to go back under the 500 mark. Tracy McGrady begins to show signs, and ends up on ESPN's Top 10 highlights.
this will be a tough one tonight, the rockets need to try and control the tempo of this game.....get Yao involved early and keep it a low scoring, half court affair....I don't want to get into a shootout with Michael Redd. EDIT good preview.
