Hmm, no one else has done a preview yet, so I guess we can use this thread to discuss the game. It's a late start tonight -- 8:30 pm CT. It's playing on TNT. NBA.com preview I think the Rockets should win this game, convincingly: 95-83.
<div class="quote_poster">Quoting durvasa:</div><div class="quote_post">Hmm, no one else has done a preview yet, so I guess we can use this thread to discuss the game. It's a late start tonight -- 8:30 pm CT. It's playing on TNT. NBA.com preview I think the Rockets should win this game, convincingly: 95-83.</div> The Rockets simply dont have it together. The Knicks should pull this win off and leave the Texas Triangle with one win.
Oops, I didn't realize that there was a game tonight and I forgot to remind SupraJames to do the preview. Thanks for making the thread, durvasa. On to the game, I think that we have a very good chance of winning this game. We might be 1-2 at home right now (at least I think we are), but homecourt advantage is homecourt advantage. The Knicks lack the inside strength to contend with Yao and no one could guard McGrady effectively. We should take this one as long as we don't lose focus. Rockets by 8.
The Rockets don't have it together right now, which can be seen from their Atlanta loss. However, that is exactly what will make them win this game, the last game should motivate them to player harder with the few games that they played, they should improve as a team. I see Yao getting the ball alot and McGrady getting not as much minutes since he may have that injury to worry about. Hopefully, Jim Jackson and Taylor will step it up tonight and produce some nice numbers for us. Rockets by 5
both teams arent playing their best...however, I expect Yao to dominate the Knicks inside...for the Knicks to win, their backcourt of Marbury/Crawford needs to get about 45-50 points combined tonight, which I dont see happening...I expect the Rockets to show some pride and effort and win tonight...
My bad guys.. forgot to do the preview... but WOW.... I'm at a lost of words right now.. We simply can't put games away....
Houston Rockets Should Model After the Indiana Pacers team in 90s. Rockets is still missing lots of key players to be a strong team. Center: Yao Ming = Rik Smith (played inside) Power Forward: ? = Antonio Davis, Dale Davis (defended, rebounded, and dunked if Rik Smith missed his shots) Small Forward: Tracy MacGrady = Jalen Rose (on attack mode to relief pressure if Rik Smith didn't have a good day) Shooting Guard: ? = Reggie Miller ( consistant 3 point threat) Point Guard: ? = Travis Best ( can pass,shoot, and penetrate inside out)
man, why did they leave crawford so wide open? juwan howard (or mo taylor), whoever the guy was just under the top of the arc should've stepped up....the rockets lost me money again, i aint bettin on them no more...
Yeah, that was a costly mistake to allow the 3-point shot. I remember when we lost a playoff series on a similar play against Utah when Stockton buried a game winning 3. Turnovers and rebounding really hurt us. I'm surprised the Rockets would lose a lead like that for the second game in a row. Hopefully the team will rebound from the tough loss. The play that really pissed me off was McGrady not getting back in transition after turning over the ball. He just let that guy get an uncontested layup. With his length and athleticism, he could have possibly blocked that shot, but he didn't even bother. A play like that could have made the difference. Also, we really need to improve our rebounding. Yao is a weak rebounder, and Mo and Juwan are poor rebounders at the 4 position as well. Maybe it wouldn't be a bad idea to play Weatherspoon more. Even though he's small, he rebounds much better than Juwan or Mo. If our rebounding and point guard play continues to suck, I think we should consider trading Mo Taylor and Lue for a better point guard and give Spoon more minutes. He's a skilled player who should be playing more, in my opinion.
yea, if i'm van gundy i'll get whoever works at the AV department to make a little video of kobe's play against denver when he blocked andre miller's shot and ran 3/4s of the court to do that and mix it with mcgrady's lazy ass play...then i'll make mcgrady watch it for 2 hours every day...the bad thing about it is that you don't teach people things like effort, heart, and toughness...you either have it or you dont
I think there's a herb who's giving us bad luck..i pray for him to leave with his pocketless emptiness. The knicks got a miracle three that would have missed 9 out of 10 times. I'm not worried..when i watched the first half yao and tmac played well together..and their stats were pretty efficient. When we get sura back we'll get even better
you know what? there are players in this league who can make that three at least 3 out of 10 times...crawford was about 2 feet above the three point line, that's not a bad shot with 2.9 seconds left...
Yeah, that wasn't a miracle shot at all. He was wide open. Lots of NBA players can hit that shot easily. And he was having a good shooting night, so I'd expect him to hit that shot most of the time when he is wide open like that. Like Barkely said afterwards, there's NO excuse for allowing a 3-pointer on an inbounds play where the defense is playing 5 against 4. Van Gundy should have known that they'd attempt to win the game and he should have had an extra man guarding the three point shooters. What the hell was Ryan Bowen doing guarding the inbound passer? He didn't contest the pass at all. It was just mind numbingly poor defense. Like JVG said afterwards, we thoroughly deserved to lose that game.
Take my word for this..I hated ryan bowen from the start that I've watched him play..i'd rather play nachbust or better yet padgett than him. Padgett has a more reliable looking 3 point shot than him..and everytime i see bowen defend..he's just hustling one step slow in pointless directions ..and when he shoots , his shot looks as reliable as charlie ward's shots..hence i have no clue why they don't give padgett any minutes..every time he does get a chance to play..he gets the contested rebounds, open 3's and his hustle on both ends is a lot more important than the inconsistency of bowen and nachbar
Losing by one is the worst feelin in the world. I hope the ROckets can bounce back. Yao had a pretty solid showing despite the loss
<div class="quote_poster">Quoting trenchteam:</div><div class="quote_post">Losing by one is the worst feelin in the world. I hope the ROckets can bounce back. Yao had a pretty solid showing despite the loss</div> it hurts yea it does ..when i was watching the game till half-time we were winning and i was laughing lightheartedly saying 'it's the knicks' and laughing at allan houston on the bench and at nazy mohammed's inability to guard yao. But i checked it out and we lost and i was like ..nooooo way! what went wrong...etc.
Yao and Tmac both produced, which must make this even more disappointing for you guys. Sure you could ask them to score more, but I dont think that's the issue. Just goes to show that defense wins games. On a positive note I saw a little bit of chemistry between the two in the beginning of the game. Nice dishes from Tmac to Yao, especially the one where he dunked and got the and 1.
<div class="quote_poster">Quoting drm2dnk:</div><div class="quote_post">Take my word for this..I hated ryan bowen from the start that I've watched him play..i'd rather play nachbust or better yet padgett than him. Padgett has a more reliable looking 3 point shot than him..and everytime i see bowen defend..he's just hustling one step slow in pointless directions ..and when he shoots , his shot looks as reliable as charlie ward's shots..hence i have no clue why they don't give padgett any minutes..every time he does get a chance to play..he gets the contested rebounds, open 3's and his hustle on both ends is a lot more important than the inconsistency of bowen and nachbar</div> I like Bowen more than Nachbar. Offensively he's somewhat inept, but I think he's a very good defensive player. But I agree with you that Padgett should get some minutes. But Padgett would have to play SF in our rotation because he can't defend the 2-guard position, and JJ also would have a tough time guarding some of the quicker 2-guards. What killed us in the NY game was that we didn't defend the pick-and-roll effectively and we gave up too many offensive rebounds. We had some late turnovers at the end, but really we should have been up by much more than just a few points given how we were playing on the offensive end. In JVG's system, we always trap the ball handler on the pick and rolls, which requires quick defensive rotation. But when its Yao's responsibility to make the rotation, we get in trouble because he just isn't very quick. The other thing that hurt was when the Knicks got off 9 straight points to start the 4th when Yao and TMac were on the bench. The 5-man unit of {Lue, Nachbar, Jackson, Howard, Mutombo} is a real liability in our rotation.
