Houston Rockets at Philadelphia 76ers @ February 2nd at 6:00 pm on Fox SW at the Wachovia Center in Philadelphia. Starting Lineups- Position by Position Analysis vs PG- Bob Sura vs Allen Iverson. Both of these players aren't really point guards, the difference is- Allen Iverson is just plain the better player. He can hit tons of shots, a very athletic player, isn't afraid to drive down low, and can spur up his team with his performances. Bob Sura has been injured and may not even play for this game, but if he does, the injury will definitely affect him and he will obviously get tired in the game chasing Iverson. Plus, Sura has been in a bit of a shooting slump for the past few games so we'll see if his shooting picks back up. Philadelphia Advantage. Note- Bob Sura is questionable for this game. vs SG- David Wesley vs Kyle Korver. Here are two great three point shooters and both are decent quick players. Only difference is, Kyle Korver has been on the upswing as of late and his three point shot is getting more and more consistent. Meanwhile, Wesley has been on his downfall and is someone inconsistent- sometimes hitting his threes, other times not so. On the defensive end, both aren't really that great of defenders- Wesley being a bit undersized while Korver isn't the best defender. However, Korver is a much more athletic player, this being his sophmore year and all. Philadelphia Advantage. vs SF- Tracy McGrady vs Andre Iguodala. A very athletic matchup here. Very quick players and both have the ability to drive into the lane and wreck some havoc. But, you have to give McGrady some advantage here. He just knows the game better and is a better perimeter and midrange shooter than Iguodala. Plus, now he's making smarter passes and has really stepped up to be somewhat a playmaker for Houston. Don't underestimate Iguodala however. He's a great defender racking up a lot of steals and rebounds, so watch for him to keep McGrady in line for this game. Houston Advantage. vs PF- Juwan Howard vs Kenny Thomas. Offense plays against Defense in this matchup. Howard has been known for his one dimensional game bringing just an offensive game, while Thomas is a great dirty work defender. However, Thomas' game is definitely not one dimensional. Though he is undersized for a power forward, he can pound inside for points and brings some toughness for Philadelphia. The man was one of the only players last year that averaged a double double so look for him to represent in this game with his three dimensional game. Don't forget Howard's midrange game though. Although he has some nice post up skills, he can also knock down the open jumper from pick and rolls, which gives him some edge over Thomas. All in all however, Thomas is a much more athletic player and has a deeper game than Howard. Philadelphia Advantage. vs C- Yao Ming vs Samuel Dalembert. Both of these guys get into foul trouble very often, so it all depends on who can control that in this game. Yao has stupid fouls, while Dalembert has aggressive fouls- so we'll see who can keep their fouls to the minimum in this game. Yao just had a great game in Boston on Monday while Dalembert seems to be on the upswing after O'Brien is giving him more consistent minutes. Very different players here though. Dalembert is one of the fastest centers around, is a top notch defender, and is very aggressive in the inside. Yao is a post up player, has a height advantage over everyone, and his midrange shots seem to be picking up. Don't forget Yao is a pretty nice defender as well, he puts some pressure on players on the inside with his height, so look for him to exploit Dalembert. Houston Advantage. Keys to the Game - Be aggressive and pound the ball down low time after time. Philadelphia is a very undersized team so Houston will have an advantage in the low post. Have Howard, Mutumbo, and Yao get the offense going in the low post. Also, get players like McGrady or Sura drive inside to draw up fouls and get easy buckets. - Beat them with the perimeter shooting. Since acquiring Wesley and Barry, Houston is a much better perimeter team now. That means Houston have players look for the open man waiting on the perimeter so that they can knock down some three pointers. -Role players need the step up. Philadelphia has arguably the best depth in the league, so McGrady and Yao can't win this game alone. Philadelphia has an assortment of players on the bench that can get at least ten points a game- Green, Salmons, Williamson, Jackson, so Houston should try to combat that with defense to keep their bench points to a minimal. -Yao and McGrady need to play their A game. Philadelphia is a great team, so they need to be focused and aggressive. Which means, McGrady should not take any questionable shots that he takes but instead, drive in and be strong to the basket. Yao needs to watch out for fouls with Iverson, Green, Dalembert, and Jackson all able to draw fouls on him. Not only that, he needs to step up on offense to exploit Philadelphia's undersized team. -Play the run and gun strategy successfully- meaning hit the open shots and burn Houston on offense. Philadelphia has a much younger and more athletic team, not doubt about it so they should try and take advantage of it. Run the floor quick and overwhelm Houston with tight offense. Hopefully Korver and Iverson will get hot downtown and show what perimeter shooting is to Houston. -Play solid defense. With the two stars in Yao and McGrady, Philadelphia needs to be sure to guard everyone out there and not give up any open shots. That includes everyone, not just McGrady and Yao. Both Wesley and Barry can hit the open three's so Philadelphia better watch out for those- they can't play lazy. -Show Houston what perimeter shooting really is. Philadelphia has a better perimeter game with solid players like Iverson and Korver- so Philadelphia should try and execute their plays and find the open man at the three point line. -Grind out the win with the bench. Philadelphia has arguably the best depth in the league with the likes of Williamson, Green, Jackson, and Salmons all on the bench compared to Houston's much weaker bench. Philadelphia should try and wear out Houston's starters with their running game and play their bench to add energy in their favor. -Get Yao into foul trouble. With players like Green, Iverson, Salmons, Iguodala, and Dalembert who can all drive into the lane and draw fouls on Yao, it will be an easy game for Philadelphia. With Yao out due to foul trouble, it will be one less aspect of the game to focus on and it will be a much easier ball game without Yao's large prescense in the low post. Prediction - 102 - 99 *Note- My bad, Korver is a small forward for Philadelphia, not Iguodala.
Nice in-depth preview I think it should be a good game, I hope we win, I have a $2 bet on this, so the pressure is on! haha! I never post predictions anymore as most of you would know but I'd like to see Iverson & T-Mac to both have great games!
Nice preview, good job. I think Sura and Wesley would switch on defense, since Wesley is undersized to guard the two, and Sura is a bit oversized at the point. These two are interchangeable on defense. Dalembert and Jackson can't really stop Yao, so he should go off for 20+ points. The guy we have to be careful of is Kenny Thomas. Juwan Howard needs to box him out on defense as this guy is a great rebounder.
Final Score 118 - 95 Yay! We absolutley owned them 76ers! Mcgrady was great! he scored 35 points and shot the ball from behind the arc quite well, he went 5/10. Yao didn't play very well only finishing with 12 points and 5 rebounds but Jon Barry (4/6 from the field, 4/5 from 3pt) and Scott Padgett were awesome! they both only missed 3 shots in total 12 points for Jon and 13 Points for Padgett (5/6 from the field, 3/4 from 3pt) and Juwan Howard finished with 14 points and 13 rebounds, thats the kind of power forward we need every night! 2 Things I forgot to add! A) I'm 2 Dollars Richer!!!!!! WE HAD 35 ASSISTS!!!
Great shooting by the Rockets as well as excellent passing game. Everybody share the wealth with 7 players in double figures although it would be 8 players had Mutombo made his final shot which clanged though it's an easy one. Van Gundy should have let Barret play the last 5 mins to give Sura a rest instead he got a chance to go in the last 50 seconds. I just hope also Padgett will be able to build his confidence in contributing more points. He has a nice shooting touch. The Rockets can add another outside scoring threat in Padgett just as the Sonics have Radmanovic.
A huge win for us. The team needed to win this game and we came out for the game flying. we scored 30 points in 3 quarters and that is huge for us. All 5 starter got double digits while 2 from the bench scored more than 10. Barry and Padgett have been awesome off the bench lately and they're continuing that streak today. IGlad to see Tracy getting his usual again after his back acted up again. He was even able to notch up 9 assists, just one away from a double double. Juwan was amazing in this game with a double double getting 14, 13, 3. A huge game for him. If we keep this up, we'll definitely have that playoff spot wrapped up. Hope this continues on into the season and maybe onto the playoffs.
If we can keep playing like this, finishing in the top 6 of the Conference would be a breeze. Yao needs to find some consistency. He went from a 22/9 night to a 12/5 one. What's next? 19/12? He needs to give us something that we can count on every night, maybe he can learn from McGrady there. You always know that you get 25+ points from him every night. And also, if Scott Padgett and Barry can continue their hot shooting, the Rockets will be able to depend on 20 points from that duo every night, and 30 overall from the bench. That will be a number that will place us in the tops of bench production.
Great game, McGrady had a phenomenal night. At first, it really seemed like it would be a scoring contest between him and Iverson, but Iverson kind of fell short half the way and started to miss a lot of his shots. Nice group effort by everyone, and its definitely evident by the fact that so many of Houston's players were in double digits. However, I'm really disappointed in Yao. And maybe Dalembert did do a incredible defensive job on him, but I really expected him to play a lot better. The Philadelphia frontcourt is very undersized, so he should be towering over them and scoring big time. Oh well, anyways, nice game and hopefully Houston's momentum will be picking up.
