<div align="center"></div> <div align="center"><font color="red">Houston Rockets</font> VS <font color="silver">San Antonio Spurs</font></div> When: Sunday March 27nd, 1:00PM EST/12:00PM CT Where:SBC Center, San Antonio Local TV: ABC <div align="center">Predicted Starters <font color="silver">Spurs</font> <font size="1"><font face="Arial"><font color="silver">Tony Parker, Manu Ginobili, Bruce Bowen, Robert Horry, Rasho Nesterovic</font></font></font></div> <div align="center"><font color="red">Rockets</font> <font size="1"><font face="Arial"><font color="red">Bob Sura, David Wesley, Tracy McGrady*, Clarence Weatherspoon, Yao Ming</font></font></font></div> <font size="-2"><font color="red">*Tracy McGrady is questionable for this game.</font></font> Keys to The Game For San Antonio <ul> [*]Guard play. The Spurs, who have been on a three game losing streak after the loss of all-world forward Tim Duncan to injury, finally won a game against the struggling Atlanta Hawks, where they received excellent play from Parker, Udrih, Ginobili and Barry. These players will have to pick up the slack on the offensive end again, in an effort to make up for Duncan's 25 a game. [*]Perimeter Play. The Spurs have some very good spot up shooters in Ginobili, Horry, Udrih, Bowen and Barry. These players will have to hit from the outside for the Spurs to have a chance of winning this game. [*]Rebound. Robert Horry, the starting power forward in place of TD, is not a strong rebounder, and the Spurs find it hard to make up for Duncan's 12 rebounds every night. Mohammed and Nesterovic will have to pick up the slack and it has to be a team rebounding effort. [/list] Keys To The Game For Houston <ul> [*]Game of smarts. Both these teams sport great defensive systems, and every game these teams have been in have been ugly affairs. The Rockets will have to tatically outsmart their opponents and make good use of scoring chances. Any missed layup or free throw might eventually make or break the game. [*]Yao/McGrady come up big. They have to every night, but if Mcgrady doesn't play, Yao will have to come up with a big game. He's been on a pretty quiet stretch recently, and this game would be a great opportunity to break out of it, without McGrady and with the weak defender, Nesterovic, on him for most of the game. [*]Bench Production. The Rockets' bench players, namely Jon Barry, Mike James, Scott Padgett and Dikembe Mutombo, have to produce off the pine tonight. Padgett, Barry and James would have to score big, while Mutombo needs to be in form tonight to give Yao breathers or if Yao gets into foul trouble like he has recently. [/list] This is an excellent opportunity for the Rockets to win this season series. With Duncan out, the Rockets can afford to focus their offense on Yao and let him win the game for Houston. However, if McGrady is out as well, this could be a ugly game for both sides. Prediction Spurs-82 Rockets-89
Its a good idea for T-Mac to sit this one out since Duncan is injured. Its actually good luck that we play the Spurs after an injury to our star player. The mathcups are as follows: Yao - Nesterovic Spoon - Horry Barry? (maybe padgett) - Bowen Wesley - Ginobili Sura - Parker Spurs definitely are in favour in the backcourt, but its a getable game for us. Bowen is a good perimeter defender, but if they happen to paly a big body like Padgett, it could disrupt his defensive game.
My gut tells me that McGrady will sit this one out. That means Bowen on Bowen! They obviously have the advantage in the backcourt, although it's not so bad when we have Barry and James coming off the bench now. We have the advantage in the front court with Duncan out, and they are also missing their x-factor in Devin Brown. If Brent Barry or Beno Udrich don't go off, and the Rockets aren't throwing up bricks all day, I see the us taking this one...hopefully!
We have not beaten the Spurs on their home court since a a 103-94 victory on April 20, 1997, which makes it a 14 home game win streak for the Spurs against us. We will really need to find some scoring if T-Mac doesn't play, Wesley will have to hit all his open jumpers, Mike James has been taking some stupid shots in the pas few games, and I hope Jon Barry's game the other night was only 1 bad night and it won't happen again tonight. Weatherspoon had a pretty solid night against the Hornets, getting 11 rebounds which is a season high for him. Dikembe Mutombo has been great too, he is such a great rebounder and defensive player! I just don't like his 15ft jumpshots! Yao Ming is gonna have to play great tonight, I think sometime during the game we should try the Dikembe at PF with Yao and see how it works, I heard we did that against Miami (I think) and I didn't hear any complaints so it must of been pretty good or at least decent!
Yao has to come out big. really big if T-Mac is not playing. This win is vital as it times to consolidate at the 5th seed.
Tough game for both teams although San Antonio has the advantage in this one. If McGrady doesn't play, everyone on Houston has to step it up, Yao especially. Since Yao has just Nesterovic and Mohammed guarding him, he needs to have a huge game. Which means he shouldn't get into foul trouble and playing aggressively at both ends of the court. Plus, James and Barry need to get hot off the bench to even things up a little as well as Sura keeping up his game. However, the stress here would definitely be defense. Both of these teams are incredible defensive teams so expect this one to be grinded out. So heres my prediction- Houston win, 90-87.
Im impressed. T-Mac with 16 points in the first half. Not only against the best defensive player in the league but hes not even 100%. Jon Barry and Sura will have to really step it up in the second half.
Nice little interview with JB. He said Yao probably will never become a dominant player because he is not selfish and doesnt ask for the ball as much as he could, he is truly a team player. It is never about Yao Ming, and he gets down on himself everytime he plays bad and alot of the guyz have to talk to him and tell him that it is ok. Accept him for what he is he wont change his way and his culture, he just such a nice player, a team player.
T-MAC 26 points Yao 14 We are doing well so far,but other players gotta step up if they want to win this one.
hey guys, i've just arrived home from church, can you guys give me some summary bout the game? who won the game?
ok this is ridiculous. The refs called it fairly even throughout the game but now in the fourth they are kinda straying away from that.
Spurs-Rockets 69:62 4th quarter 5:41 left T-MAC 26 points, 7 rebounds, 4 assists YAo 16 points, 6 rebounds
omg so f'in lucky No heart. A injured TMac and Deke were the only ones that showed up. Very dissapointing loss.
wow, i managed to watch last 5 minutes of the 4th , do we play like that the whole game? coz if we do then we deserve to lose..
<div class="quote_poster">Quoting whatever:</div><div class="quote_post">wow, i managed to watch last 5 minutes of the 4th , do we play like that the whole game? coz if we do then we deserve to lose..</div> San Antonio's player all got hot and we got extremely cold in the last 8 mins of the 4th. Before then Rockets had up to a 5 or 7 point lead and it was tied going into the final like 7 minutes
The key turning point in the game was when JVG inserted Yao back into the game with 8 minutes left in the fourth quarter. We were tied 60-60, and over the next 5 1/2 minutes we were outscored 17-4 (Yao scored those only 4 points). The problem is that Yao isn't nearly as strong a defensive presence and rebounder as Mutombo, and additionally the Rockets offense tends to stagnate looking to get the ball down to Yao. It's no fluke that the statistically the Rockets have been a better team with Mutombo on the floor all year. Yao simply wasn't effective in the post all game, and if he's going to be receiving the aggressive double teams and traps that San Antonio gave him tonight then we're better off playing Dikembe instead. Of course, the loss shouldn't all fall on Yao's shoulders. After playing very hard on the defensive end through 3 quarters, it looked like our perimeter defenders (in particular) ran out of gas in the final quarter. An anemic offense has a way of sapping energy on the defensive end as well, and there looked to be some of that as well in the fourth quarter. Hopefully the Rockets can bounce back and win tomorrow night.
Well, Houston just lost fuel in the last seven minutes of the game and that cost it. After a surge to take the lead in the fourth quarter, somehow the players got tired and just couldn't play offense or defense. They were leaving perimeter players like Ginobli and Barry get wide open shots while San Antonio's defense was just too much for Houston to handle. The bright side of this is that McGrady seems to be out of his slump and playing fine after his injury. Some problems from this game were turnovers and lack of energy from role players. Alot of it has to do with San Antonio's defense, but it also has to do with focus. James and Barry weren't really attempting the smartest of shots while Wesley just couldn't get that open to get hot from down town. Hope they fix these problems for tomorows game.
Didn't see the game but sounded like a very bad loss. 83-70? I mean, c'mon. San Antonio's defense is good but our offense isn't that bad! How could we score just 70? Yao had an okay game, but no one besides him and McGrady could put points on the board. We're going to need much better support if we're going to win in the future. What a letdown this one was.
