Houston at Phoenix @ This game will be on March 11th, at the America West Arena in Phoenix on Fox SW at 9:00 pm. Starting Lineups <font color="DarkRed">Houston Rockets</font> <font color="DarkRed">PG- Bob Sura, SG- David Wesley, SF- Tracy McGrady, PF- Juwan Howard, C- Yao Ming</font> <font color="Indigo">Phoenix Suns</font> <font color="Indigo">PG- Steve Nash, SG- Quentin Richardson, SF- Joe Johnson, PF- Shawn Marion, C- Amare Stoudemire</font> Keys to the Game - Defense, Defense, Defense. I don't know if I can stress this enough, but there is no way Houston can beat Phoenix trying to keep up with them offensively. By putting a hand in their face, hustling, outrebounding them, and playing aggressively, the Rockets should be able to slow down Phoenix's offensive game. - Control the tempo. Playing half court basketball here would definitely be the smart way to go. Since Phoenix mainly plays on fast breaks and quickness, Houston should try to slow down and play set up offense in order to hit Phoenix off tempo. That way, it would at least give Houston some sort of edge, as small as it may be against Phoenix. - Get bench points. Since Phoenix's bench is still somewhat weak even with the acquisition of Jim Jackson and McCarty. Hopefully Barry, Mutumbo, and James will be able to step it up and give Phoenix a run for their money. That way, their starters will tire out and our bench should be able to dominate their bench. -McGrady and Yao come up big. Once McGrady gets going, nobody can stop him- only problem is, he needs to be triggered and play aggressive. Hopefully, since Houston's going against a good team he'll be able to step it up and burn out Joe Johnson. Yao on the other hand needs to grab rebounds and put a bunch of points on the board if Houston wants a chance to win this. Both can change the outlook and rhythm of the game, enough said. - Burn Houston out on offense. Play the fastbreak game and win the game with transition buckets. Basically do what they have been doing for the entire year. With Phoenix's athleticism compared to Houston's veteranship, Phoenix should be able to come out with a win on this one. - Play the perimeter. Since usually plays the zone defense- weakening their perimeter defense, Phoenix should be able to take advantage of that with likes of Joe Johnson, Richardson, Nash, Marion, and Jackson. If anyone gets open, Phoenix should make them pay with the big three. - Put Yao into foul trouble. Although Van Gundy has somewhat changed the stance on Yao's foul situation, Amare should be able to change all that. Basically just play agressive, have players drivev in, and make Yao pick up a bunch of fouls. Prediction - 95 - 102
Yeah I agree with you on all that, we can't keep up with them if we try and fast break every possesion, I wonder what Jim Jacksons feelings are towards the team..
<div class="quote_poster">Quote:</div><div class="quote_post">Yeah I agree with you on all that, we can't keep up with them if we try and fast break every possesion, I wonder what Jim Jacksons feelings are towards the team..</div> Probably he respects the players but hates the organization. Who wouldn't after we promised him he can stay here and finish out his career here.
Interesting game on our hands here. Sura has been mediocre on his return, but James isn't any better. Looks like Yao is on track for a 20/10 night, while McGrady and Wesley have 17 and 16 respectively. Notted at 60 at the half.
Currently 104-96 Rockets as I post this. Regardless of whether we win or lose, they've shown that they can hang with Phoenix in their house. I know Marion is out, but we have our own problems too (Sura and James together for the first time). Not to mention Phoenix is on fire from 3. I'm proud of our guys, regardless.
119-102 ROCKETS UP! I love Yao, just got a 20-20-5 game, McGrady has GREAT STATS TOO! We made BARKLEY eat his WORDS. Man, I am so vamped up. We can take on anyone..
GOOD LORD! Do the Rockets have the biggest balls in the world? Going into Seattle and Phoenix and withstanding three point barrages like this? I'm loving this. I could not be happier with our rotations now either. Everytime I look on the court now I see scorers and defenders. Gotta love that behind the back pass Yao made from the floor too! lol
looks like we gave Phoenix a little of their own game. Fast Break Pts Houston 20 Phoenix 9 WOW! 41pts in the 4th quarter!?!?
Did it just happen? Did we just beat Phoenix by twenty points 127-107? Man, I really didn't expect this. Houston kept with Phoenix for about the entire game then just took the game away at the last two quarters. Awesome effort by Houston. I can't stress this enough. Almost all the role players stepped up and did their job today. Wesley was phenomenal for the first two quarters going for twenty points while Mike James stepped up at the last two quuarters to help give us the lead. Incredible. Sura had only two points, but I would totally excuse that since he just came back from his injury. Both McGrady and Yao had great nights with McGrady going for 38 points while Yao had 27, this should really happen more often. By the way, Phoenix didn't have Shawn Marion so this sours this win a bit, but not a lot. Still great game for Houston.
Awsome game, we completely owned them. Yao was great, he dominated the glass and stepped up big time through the 2nd half. Looks like rockets are better off with james. At this rate at least, we beat the suns, sonics, and held dallas to a 90-69 loss the rotation cant get better.
That was such an awesome game! David Wesley at the beginning of the match was just drilling three pointers (finished with 20 points), towards the end of the second quarter T-Mac started to catch fire and was awesome throughout the rest of the game finishing with 38 Points (16-27) and 9 rebounds, Yao was awesome as well, one of his best games this season, he had 27 points, 22 rebounds!(is that a career high?) and 5 Blocks!, Mike James hit some clutch threes in the fourth! and some other mentions are Mutombo, he played quite well finishing with 7 Points and 8 Rebounds all in 9 minutes of play and also Jon Barry chipped in with 11 Points! Bob Sura wasn't very effective throughout the game, but thats understandable since it was his first game back from injury...
Go Rockets! Whoaaa! Great win by the Rockets and I'm so proud of them. 41 points in the 4th quarter wow! TMac and Yao do their thing. Yao has been playing his heart out tonight with his 27/22/5 performance. If he could do this every game we will be tough to beat. TMac has been performing well these past few game. Excellent stats of 38/9/6 for the night. And to our role players I salute them for their excellent game. The Rockets overcome the Suns' 3 point barrage with their good offensive plays. What a great week for us Rocket fans. Though the Suns didn't have Marion a win is still a win.
Holy crap! 22 rebounds for Yao!! 20 was Yao's previous high..27 pts and 22 rebounds..not to mention 5 blocks..Yao's stats took my breathe away. Tmac also had a great all around game but Yao is definitely the player of the game in this one. Credit to David Wesley and Mike James for stepping up! Sura is totally understandable. He'll do better in the next games Go Rockets!! Prove to everyone you guys are one of the elite teams in the league!
GREAT GAME! What really impressed me was that everytime the Suns went on a run, Houston came back with one of their own.
Awesome. We beat the best team record-wise in the NBA by 20 on the road. If this is the way we're going to play for the rest of the season, we'll be top four for sure. Yao had an amazing game, as did T-mac and Howard. Mutombo had 8 rebounds in just 9 minutes, and along with Barry and James, showed how good our bench has become. We have just proven that we can hang with the best teams in the league, and I'm now a firm believer than we can hold our own against Phoenix.
omg, i feel great after this win but i was hanging with my gf and didnt see the whole second half!!! any chance it is replaying tonight? *Note* Who said Yao was "soft"?
<div class="quote_poster">Quoting T-Clutch-Mac:</div><div class="quote_post">omg, i feel great after this win but i was hanging with my gf and didnt see the whole second half!!! any chance it is replaying tonight? *Note* Who said Yao was "soft"?</div> I think they might show the game again after the STANFORD/WASHINGTON college game. Ima wait and see cuz I missed the 1st qtr.
<div class="quote_poster">Quote:</div><div class="quote_post">*Note* Who said Yao was "soft"?</div> That would be Charles Barkley, who said the Rockets were "Softer than my stomach." To make matters worse, this is a pure outrage: <div class="quote_poster">Quote:</div><div class="quote_post">NBCSports.com has taken on the task of examining the top duos in the NBA and analyzing each pair?s odds of taking home the golden basketball.</div> http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/7083360/ How are McGrady/Yao NOT MENTIONED?! A somewhat, well-written article, yet it confuses me how Yao Ming and Tracy McGrady, are no better than, Iverson/Webber, James/Ilgauskas, Arenas/Hughes (not bad, but still.. COME ON!).. Pierce/Walker (even though they are 5-1 with him back..), comes into question.. Allen/Lewis, same thing, I see McGrady/Yao better than them, also. But these are disputatious. The ones above, are not.
Dont worry about it. I dont think Yao and McGrady will get respect until next year or maybe in the playoffs depending on how they do.
