<div align="center"> <font color="red">Rockets (39-25)</font> vs <font color="blue">Clippers (29-34)</font> Wednesday, March 14, 2007, Toyota Center, Houston, TX 7:30 Central; FSNSW, SportsRadio 610 AM <font color="red"> <font size="1">(R. Alston, T. McGrady, S. Battier, C. Hayes, Y. Ming)</font></font> <font size="1">Leading Scorer: Yao Ming - 24.9 PPG Leading Rebounder: Yao Ming - 9.3 RPG Assists Leader: Tracy McGrady - 6.1 APG </font> <font color="blue"> <font size="1">(J. Hart, C. Mobley, C. Maggette, E. Brand, C. Kaman)</font></font> <font size="1">Leading Scorer: Elton Brand - 20.1 PPG Leading Rebounder: Elton Brand - 9.3 RPG Assists Leader: Sam Cassell - 5.1 APG </font> <font size=""1""><font color="red">Luther Head (6th Man)</font></font> <font size="1"><div align="center">28.0 MPG, 10.7 PPG, 3.3 RPG, 2.5 APG</div></font><font size=""1""><font color="blue">Tim Thomas (6th Man)</font></font> <font size="1">27.1 MPG, 10.6 PPG, 5.1 RPG, 2.1 APG</font> Predictions: <font color=""Red"">Rockets 93</font>, Clippers 83</div> Keys To The Game: <font color=""Red"">Rockets:</font> T-Mac had a bad game after the loss against the Suns. Yao was taken out of the game basically, but he needs to continue on what hes doing and play well. The Rockets had a great offense after blowing a few games before and the Rockets need to continue that. Bonzi may also play in this game so it will be good for the Rockets. T-Mac needs to continue the offense but also now the Rockets need to start using Yao on offense alot because the Rockets will need it for the playoffs. The Rockets defense needs to continue and they need to lower the opp ppg. We have to contain Corey Maggette and Cuttino Mobley because they are great shooters. Juwan needs to continue to do good, and Yao also needs to continue and do a good job on Kaman. The Rockets need to rebound, score, and defend. The Rockets also need to stop Elton Brand and that will be tough so we hope to shut him down. Tim Thomas is a big player to so they need to contain him. <font color=""Red"">Luther Head hit some 3's!! </font> <font color=""blue"">Clippers:</font> Keep Tmac from scoring more than 30. The Clippers need to rebound and get points in the paint. Hart should continue what he is doing and keep scoring on and on. Tun Thomas will come off the bench so he needs to contribute well and they also need Mobley to score. The bench needs to produce and Maggette needs to give them energy with Points. Kaman is also a key player because he has struggled this season against Yao. Kaman needs to score on Yao so he can ware him down on offense. The offense needs to go through Hart and Maggette. Cover luther head on 3's! <font color=""Black"">Bottom Line:</font> This game is needed by the Rockets after losing to the Suns. The Rockets need a streak because every good team has been on a streak lately and they need to prove that they are good and also to clinch the playoff berth. The Clippers have alot of injured players so that might favor the Rockets and they are having a bad season. The Rockets mainly need to score because you cannot win a game if you do not score. All the Rockets need to do is pickup their offense and defense and not play Lazy then they will win. If the Rockets can close the game out well they will come away with the victory. The Clippers are still a tough team to beat because they have Brand at the PF and Kaman at C so height will be an issue for the Rockets, nonetheless the Rockets should do good. Hope for a great game at Toyota Center and may the best team win.
Only about 17 more games left I think. We need to win as many as possible to get home-court. We also need to win as many easy and winnable games as we can. Clippers haven't been all that tough this year. I am predicting a 20 point win here.
<div class="quote_poster">TmacGarnett Wrote</div><div class="quote_post">Instead of Luther hitting some 3s lets have Yao not re injure himself</div> Remember when Luther had like a streak of 35 games with a 3 pointer? tracymcgrady_01 has put that in his game thread ever since. Ey, it doesn't hurt to have Luther hit a three. After all, he is like 8th in the league in three point %
I'd like to see the rotation expand. Luther doesn't deserve the minutes he's gettin lately. Time to shake things up a little. Maybe a Snyder/Bonzi sighthing (That would be nice). I'd also like to see John Lucas get some minutes.
<div class="quote_poster">Rock4life Wrote</div><div class="quote_post">I'd like to see the rotation expand. Luther doesn't deserve the minutes he's gettin lately. Time to shake things up a little. Maybe a Snyder/Bonzi sighthing (That would be nice). I'd also like to see John Lucas get some minutes.</div> I TOTALLY agree with the Snyder & Bonzi but I'm against having Lucas on the floor. Dude's a total ballhog, looks for his points too much... he does bring energy but doesn't pass.
OMG see what happens when the offense runs through Yao. Yao touches the ball every possession. The Clips double everytime --> 10-0 Rockets!!! Open 3s, open layups, I LOVE IT!
Anybody notice this... Whenever Hayes gets the ball in the post and it looks like he's "STUCK" ... and you get that feeling that he has to do a move and shoot it... he always manages to score like he just did against Elton Brand.
Rafer Alston plays really dumb sometimes... On fast break he just sort of throws the ball up at the goal instead of trying to go for a LAY-UP.
Well... I was wrong we didnt blow a 3rd quater lead, we blew a 4th quater lead... Clips on top, 1 Timeout remaining.
Wow. Dramatic win for the Rockets. I thought Chuck was phenomenal in this game. He got shafted by the refs with a bunch of ridiculous fouls. If you notice, the Clippers made their runs while he was out. Fortunately, we made enough plays down the stretch to pull it out.
What a cold-blooded game at the end. We blew our lead but good job on getting it back and securing it for the win. We made about 3 key plays. Yao's tip in on Luther's miss, McGrady's jumper on Mobley, and a tight rip by Rafer Alston! Go ROCKETS!
Rafer with the clutch 3s and steal-lay up on a crucial play! Yao/Hayes started the game, T-Mac/Head finished it.
I thought we played with alot of heart tonight. Fortunatley the Clippers didnt front Yao like Phoenix did, allowing Hayes and others to get better looks. One thing that DID bother me was JVG putting Yao on Brand early in the 4th quarter I literally cringed watching Yao (and his recovering knee) tryin to stick with Brand. First off, Yao is too big & slow to stick with Elton. Second, that's a little too much for ur franchise player to be doin on a knee that's not 100%. EARTH TO JVG, we're supposed to be bring Yao back SLOWLY. Yao's a better match up with Kaman.
You guys noticed when rafer plays good, rockets play good? I think rafer will be the key guy who will need to step up when it comes to playoffs.
<div class="quote_poster">Rock4life Wrote</div><div class="quote_post">I thought we played with alot of heart tonight. Fortunatley the Clippers didnt front Yao like Phoenix did, allowing Hayes and others to get better looks. One thing that DID bother me was JVG putting Yao on Brand early in the 4th quarter I literally cringed watching Yao (and his recovering knee) tryin to stick with Brand. First off, Yao is too big & slow to stick with Elton. Second, that's a little too much for ur franchise player to be doin on a knee that's not 100%. EARTH TO JVG, we're supposed to be bring Yao back SLOWLY. Yao's a better match up with Kaman.</div> JVG didn't like the Brand on Juwan matchup. I guess he preferred Brand to be facing up rather than posting up. Plus, Juwan had 5 fouls, and Chuck had fouled out. Juwan would likely have picked up the 6th pretty quickly if he had to guard Brand in the post.
