<div align="center">http://i32.photobucket.com/albums/d36/RocketsPreview/frontcourtver1.jpg"> [b]Rocket Tracy McGrady, Juwan Howard, and Yao Ming Here I present to you, the core of the Rockets, Tracy McGrady and Yao Ming. And, of course, Juwan Howard. One of the most dynamic duos in the league, McGrady and Yao have shown last season they can work together, and when they do, basketball is a thing of beauty. McGrady is one of the best players in the league, period. When he's hot, he's hot and nobody can stop him. One on one, McGrady can abuse the defense while when he's on defense, he has shown that he can effectively limit the other player's points to the minimal. Yao on the other hand, needs to worry about his foul trouble. Originally, he's a great scorer, perhaps the most effective in the league, and a pretty nice inside defender. Scarier than that is he's actually bulked up over the offseason and has improved his game in the paint. However, if he racks up three fouls by the middle of the half, don't expect Yao to be getting too many points. Next up, we've got Juwan Howard. An underrated defender, he's got a decent game with a mid range shot, one or two post moves, and rebounds here and there. In the last game, he was ice cold from the field, we'll see how he does tonight. Hornet's Frontcourt Bostjan Nachbar, David West, and PJ Brown After trading away Magloire, the Hornets' starting frontcourt is shall we say, depleted. After being traded by the Rockets to the then New Orleans, Bostjan Nachbar has been developing quietly on the young Hornets team. And so far, he hasn't exactly improved by leaps and bounds. He's still a decent shooter and a pretty good shooter. In other words, Nachbar is decent. West on the other hand, has matured quite well. From the opening two games, David West has shown he can rebound the ball well, put some points up on the board, and hold his own in the low post. Meanwhile, at last we come to the anchor of the Hornets- PJ Brown. Serving as the veteran leader for this squad, he brings some points and boards along with being the glue for the team. In opening night, he got a double double and put twenty points on the board for the Hornets. However, he's slowed down against Cleveland and put up much smaller numbers. Still, he's a force to be reckoned with. Great rebounder and great low post defender. _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ Must we really make a comparison here? We've got two all stars against a young squad coupled with a gritty low post veteran. Anyways, McGrady should be having a field day against Nachbar in this matchup while West and Brown potentially can be giving Yao trouble down low. Both are pretty good rebounders and might be outmatching us in offensive rebounds. Plus, Brown's physical play will be giving Yao fits down low and will be trying to limit Yao's points. The key here is for Yao to stay out of foul trouble first and foremost. If that happens, we shouldn't really have a problem as far as the front court is concerned. Houston Advantage. *Note- McGrady is questionable for the game due to back spasms. After Jon Barry stepped up on Wednesday against Kings, the Rockets prevailed. Every night it seems, a bench player steps it up and dazzles the fan with a great win. And indeed, the Rockets have deep and strong bench. Consisting of Wesley, Barry, Mutumbo, and Stromile Swift, they have everything. Rebounding? Check, Mutumbo's a beast. Shooting? Wesley and Barry cover that, although Wesley has not been impressing with his opening night performance. Meanwhile, Swift adds a bit of a spark. Powered by Speedy Claxton, Rasual Butler, Chris Andersen, and Desmond Mason, the Hornets' bench is surprisingly solid. They've got a nice rebounder/shotblocker, two nice wing players including an explosive Mason, with a decent backup point with Claxton. So who has the advantage here? Tough to say actually. Hornets have an incredible player in Desmond Mason, who has been benched for no seeming apparent reason. If he explodes tonight off the pine, his bench will prevail. Still, its hard to overlook the Rockets' depth. Even Advantage. Key Matchup Yao Ming vs PJ Brown Usually, you would be seeing McGrady's name here, but who wins this game really depends on the matchup between the centers. Brown will need to shutdown Yao down low, or at least keep him in foul trouble while Yao is going to have to fight for points and boards down low. Here's their projected stats for tonight's game- Yao Ming- 21 points, 9 rebounds, 1 block PJ Brown- 15 points, 11 rebounds, 2 assists With new role players trying to find their places on the team, the Rockets will need good numbers from their two star players to win this game. After an uplift from Barry in their opening game, its obvious Rockets will need some role players to step up tonight. Most notably, Swift needs to play better defense and stay out of foul trouble while Wesley, Alston, and Anderson need to be shooting more effectively. Don't sleep on the Hornets. They're a different team from the last place team last season with Paul and Mason. Plus, out of nowhere, they can surprise us like they did against Sacramento. I predict a Rockets win, 99-87. </div>
I like the chances for the Hornets in this one if T-Mac is out with that back injury I think. Chris Paul can take it to Skip and JR has DA in check, so I think the backcourt play is going to be critical in this game, PJ Brown is a great player and means so much to the Hornets franchise and I think he can still take Yao. David West might be able to keep Juwan Howard to a bad game if he can step up his D on him, and Nachbar is gonna get killed by Tracy. All In All I think it'll be an interesting game and the Hornets take it if Tracy's out but if Tracy's in its the Rockets.
It's official - Tracy McGrady is out for tonight's game. This dramatically increases the Hornets chances of winning this game, but Houston with or without McGrady is a handful. First off, there will be little dribble penetration with Stromile Swift, Dikembe Mutombo and Yao Ming in the paint. This will force the Hornets to take many more outside shots. With the exception of J.R. Smith, and Arvydas Macijauskas, there aren't many good shooters on this team. The rest are average at best. The Hornets will have to win this game with defense. They did only allow 95.5 points per game last season, so there defense wasn't as bad as many think, but it probably won't be good enough to stop the Rockets tonight. I'm sorry I'm not as optimistic, but with or without McGrady, I still see the Hornets losing this game. I'll take the Rockets 99-88. Btw, nice preview, AXB. I like the graphics you put in them.
Beautiful graphics. The Rockets fell down early, but they tied the game up at the half. Free throws have kept the Rockets in the game, they've already made 20 out of 23 shots from the line. Yao is leading the Rockets with 12 points, he needs to step up with TMac out. The backcourt duo of Paul and Speedy are getting it done again for the Hornets. I'm still waiting for Dez Mason to move into the starting lineup and give the Hornets an exciting young, athletic trio on the court.
Speedy is playing real good off of the bench, and why did JR only get 22 minutes this game? David West is playing good, and hopefully he can keep this up. The Hornets have there veteran presence with PJ Brown getting him numbers every night but I dont see why Desmond Mason doesnt play.
Kudos to the Hornets....yall played a great game and just abused us with your speed on offense...yall played with more heart and effort than we did so, you guys definitely deserve the victory...
yeah...i wonder why desmond is still NOT in starting line up now that it's a week since tip off. Also, i wonder that now speedy play so well with chris paul...is that going to threaten JR smith's minutes and contribution overall? i noticed that he didn't even attempt a 3 if i am not wrong...and only played spare minutes wonder what's with that Byron scott is a weird coach...
Well, this win definitely surprised me. I didn’t know they were capable of beating such a good team in Houston. Granted, the Rockets didn’t have McGrady in the lineup, but Houston without McGrady is a very good team. I still see them as playoff contenders without him. The game leader was Chris Paul who had 15 points and 8 assists with only one turnover. Speedy Claxton wasn’t shooting well going 3-10 from the field, but he contributed with 14 points, 5 rebounds, and 8 assists with only 1 turnover. Something you’ll notice about New Orleans is they only had 8 total turnovers to go along with 23 assists. That’s nearly a 3/1 assist to turnover ratio. The Rockets were being very sloppy with the ball and had a 1/1 assist to turnover ratio with their 17 assists to 17 turnovers. I could only see the first half of the game, but judging by the box score, it seems as if a lot of isolating was taking place and very little ball distribution. As a whole, both New Orleans and Houston were struggling from the field, but I think in the end the turnovers came back and haunted Houston. This game should stir up confidence in the young Hornets.
