Hmmm...I guess no one is going to make a thread and the game already started. I guess I'll start one then? This game should be a W in the Rocket's record now. NO is argubly the worst team right now. And plus all their star players are out injured. Basically it's a bunch of NBDL players and some borderline NBA players on the team currently. Should be an easy Rocket win. Rockets - 97 Hornets - 76
I think the Rockets will win, but nothing comes "easy" with this team. They're up by 6 in the second quarter, currently.
Easy win for the Rockets definitely. I can't think of a single player on the Hornets team that could outmatch any of our starters or maybe even one or two of our bench players. I don't want to be too confident though, seeing what happened in Atlanta. Still, I see a huge win for the Rockets tonight whether or not Yao or McGrady step up tonight.
I thank ward and lue the two scrubs who got injured..which means sura gets more playing time..and Barrett is a great pickup..
Well the Rockets won 89-81 but it didn't come easily as they have to struggle finding their shooting touch and defending the smaller line-ups of the Hornets. Anyway thanks to the 4th quarter heroics of A. Barrett we were able to get this one. Surely the presence of JJ would make the game better. I hope he plays against the Spurs on thursday where we needed him most. Although Yao has 4 blocks he's still struggling with his defense and rebounding. You don't have to jump up when defending against a driving Dan Dickau(6"1). For heaven's sake all he have to do is just to stand up and raise his arms. By doing this he can draw a charge or even block the shot without giving in body contact. Many games have passed and I saw a lot of small players, shooting guards and point guards respectively taking advantage of Yao's weak defensive positioning and they often get a foul from Yao. I wish Van Gundy would change his offensive set-up. The Rockets are taking too much time(with the exception of course of protecting a small lead in the dying seconds) to set-up a shot. The more time they take the more they become predictable especially when a lot of supporting players are depending on set-up shots or open shots. Let's just see how the Rockets will fare against the Spurs on thursday and the Mavs on saturday. I hope also that TMac will regain his shooting touch by then.
The problem is that when Yao is under the basket, he can't just take a charge. The refs will call a foul on him. He needs to be able to block the shot with minimal body contact. Yao appeared to be more aggressive going after blocks this game, which is good. He still gets the ball knocked out of his hands too much. He needs to work on strengthening his hands.
This was a great win by the Rockets. We seem to be out of our slump now after beating two mediocre teams, but the real test of whether we are for real or not will be our next two games, both of which are very tough. Let's hope Yao can carry through his performance and Barrett continues surprising us.
