<div align="center"><font color="red">VS</font> 02:30 PM(CT), Sunday, January 29,2006 Toyota Center, Houston, Texas TV: ABC(National Telecast) </div> <font color="black">Miami Heat</font>: Although not as bad as the Rockets' record, the Heat is in a see-saw season. Their inability to defeat the league's top echelon team prevented them from ruling the east or somehow be a serious threat. Frustrations cannot be hidden in their faces. From Pat Riley to Shaq and to the rest. Shaquile has shown signs of fading and his effectiveness lessens. Is it because of his overweight frame or because of his age and fragile body? Although they have enough firepower and experience, team chemistry is not perfect as they have more than one player who's used to have the ball in their hands to be effective on the floor. Wade has been performing well and has been carrying the team throughout the season but he needs consistent performance from his teammates especially from Shaq to bring back the Heat to contention of being one of the NBA's top teams. <font color="red">Houston Rockets:</font> The Rockets on the other hand showed signs of improvement but continues to let some winnable games get away from them like the last game against the Wolves. Chuck Hayes being signed for the rest of the season brings needed help and stability on the bench. Good news might come this coming week with Yao being ready to play but we have yet to see. The Rockets must overcome their shooting woes if they want to vie for the playoffs. Home record and performance has been a dissappointment. For how the Rockets take advantage of the remaining home games depends on how they try to motivate themselves to bring the game in Houston and make Houston fans happy. It needs everyone's participation to overcome their home game woes not just from TMac alone. Another factor aside from their FG shooting woes is their free throw shooting. TMac and Wesley has been missing a lot lately. The Rockets are on of the top in FT shooting percentage but recent results showed they are slipping away. Everyone knows FTs makes a difference in deciding the outcome of the game so better make most out of it. <div align="center"></div> After missing friday's game, Dwayne Wade and J.Williams should be back this time around for the Heat to add depth and try to spell the Rockets the second time around this season. The Rockets have missed Juwan Howard last game and is doubtful to return because of a flu-like symptoms. The Rockets medical staff are too cautious(in fact the most cautious in the league)exaggerating a minor injury or illness causing a player to miss more games than usual. Although Shaq is not as dominant as he is before, he can still overpower the opposing center. So Mutombo might need some help in dealing Shaq. If the Rockets' offense work this time and we can see some intensity, chances are they'll gonna win this game otherwise if Shaq dominates this game and Wade goes on a shooting spree the game belongs to the Heat. The Rockets won a close one in last season's home game but it's a game wherein they have a comfortable lead only to almost have the Heat stole the game because of missed FTs and last second errors. I hope the Rockets won't stumble this time. **Sorry guys I'm out of town. I don't have enough time to include the players' match ups.**
It'll be hard to stop Shaq this game, especially when Mutombo leaves the game, leaving just Hayes and Baxter, both tremendously undersized, to guard Shaq. Having Swift guarding Shaq could mean a lot of problems, as Swift will probably make some stupid fouls on Shaq and he'd have trouble establishing position on defense. Rafer Alston and David Wesley's defense on Wade would also be extremely important in the outcome of the game.
Howard: 27 minutes, 1 defensive rebound, 0 offensive rebounds Swift: 8 minutes, 0 defensive rebounds, 0 offensive rebounds Chuck Hayes: 23 minutes, 4 defensive rebounds, 6 offensive rebounds
It seemed that we could have gotten back in the game earlier if Hayes and Baxter had been in the game before the fourth quarter, when the Heat got out to a 19-point lead. Although Howard was maiming the Heat off the pick and roll today, he was reluctant to take fouls and did not do a good job on the boards. Baxter and Hayes, though undersized, provided a lot of rebounding on both ends of the floor.
For some reason i think swift would be a lot better if he'd bulked up 20 pounds and gotten a lot stronger becuz today with alonzo and shaq he couldn't do much
<div class="quote_poster">Quoting tinyballer:</div><div class="quote_post">For some reason i think swift would be a lot better if he'd bulked up 20 pounds and gotten a lot stronger becuz today with alonzo and shaq he couldn't do much</div> he's not gonna make some monster dunks if he bulks up 20pounds. And I would say he still cant do anything against them if he's getting stronger.
<div class="quote_poster">Quote:</div><div class="quote_post">For some reason i think swift would be a lot better if he'd bulked up 20 pounds and gotten a lot stronger becuz today with alonzo and shaq he couldn't do much</div> If he bulks up 20 pounds, he'd lose one of the only things going for him- athleticism. Its not his weight or strength that needs to be worked on, its his attitude and instinct. He just doesn't hustle or want the ball when grabbing for rebounds while Chuck Hayes or Lonny Baxter simply leave everything out there.
<div class="quote_poster">Quoting durvasa:</div><div class="quote_post">postgame quotes: http://www.nba.com/rockets/news/Post_Game_...-166064-822.htm</div> Add an 'l' to the end of that link But yeah, I didn't expect to win so i'm not too disappointed although T-Macs shooting was a letdown...
TMac's two straight three-pointers down the stretch yesterday made me confident in another 13 in 35 barrage. But Dwyane Wade made every free throw and the Heat did a great job of double-teaming TMac right off the inbounds. Essentially, the Rockets' poor third quarter cost us the stab at the comeback. Van Gundy had to burn three timeouts (I think), and we ended up down six with no timeouts. We dug the hole for ourselves, and even though we tried to climb back up when we realized we were about to be buried, it was too little, too late. Seems like Baxter and Hayes have already taken most of Swift's minutes. Will Howard be next?
