The Rockets look to get back on the Winning Side of things, and pursue a higher seed in the Playoffs Sunday, March 20th, 2005 Target Center, Minneapolis, Minnesota 6:30 PM (CT), ESPN (National) TV 51 (Local) Inside The Numbers <font color="red">Rockets</font> Leading Scorer: Tracy McGrady (25.6 PPG) Leading Rebounder: Yao Ming (8.4 RPG) Assist Man: Tracy McGrady (5.9 APG) The 'X' Factor: Bob Sura (10.5 PPG, 6.0 RPG, 5.3 APG) <font color="green">Timberwolves</font> Leading Scorer: Kevin Garnett (22.4 PPG) Leading Rebounder: Kevin Garnett (13.9 RPG) Assist Man: Kevin Garnett (5.6 APG) The 'X' Factor: Wally Szczerbiak (15.8 PPG, 3.8 RPG, 2.5 APG) Probable Line-ups: <font color="red"><div align="center">Rockets <font size="1">Bob Sura, David Wesley, Tracy McGrady, Clarence Weatherspoon, Yao Ming </font></font> <font color="green">Timberwolves <font size="1">Troy Hudson, Trenton Hassell, Latrell Spreewell, Kevin Garnett, John Thomas </font></font></div> <div align="center">...</div> Position-By-Position Point Guard: Sura/Hudson .. This is probably the most even match-up in the game, with both players having the ability to be potent. Sura is recovering from injuries, and with Hudson playing through an injury, they should negate each other. Advantage: Even Shooting Guard: Wesley/Hassell .. Not one of the Marquee Matchups, but both players can light it up if you under-estimate them. Wesley is a better spot up shooter, and with Hassell using his defensive skills to maybe double McGrady, Wes should have a good night offensively. Advantage: Rockets Small Forward: McGrady/Sprewell .. T-Mac has been doing well in a Rockets Uni this year, Sprewell cannot say the same thing. With McGrady being McGrady, and Sprewell trying to feed his family, the Rockets take the advantage here. Advantage: Rockets Power Forward: Weatherspoon/Garnett .. Garnett is the reigning MVP in his prime. Weatherspoon is .. lemme get back to you on that one. As lob-sided as this looks, Weatherspoon has had the burden of guarding Shaq, Duncan, and Garnett throughout his career with the Rockets. But Garnett leads his team in 3 important categories, and is carrying his team. Advantage: Timberwolves Center: Ming/Thomas .. Yao wins this.. Advantage: Rockets <div align="center">...</div> <div align="center">KEYS TO THE GAME </div> <ul>Rebound the Ball. When the Rockets rebound, they win. With Juwan out, someone has to pick up the slack at the PF spot. Garnett leads the league in rebounds with an impressive 14 a game.[/list] <ul>Get Yao involved. Tracy can take over the game at any point, but Yao, needs to get warmed up. Give him the ball early in the game, and keep feeding him till he can't take anymore. Thomas is a guy Yao can really take advantage of. Height and Ability are two things Yao has to use to his advantage.[/list] <ul>Limit Hudson and Szczerbiak. These two are potent threats. Wally does under-achieve, but he can pull himself out of any slump throughout the game. Mike James, Jon Barry, and Deke better be ready to match their bench, point for point, which shouldn't be a problem.[/list] <div align="center">...</div> Prediction - The Rockets should take this early. They have been hot, winning their last 6 out of 7, expect them to be mongering for a W. Rockets 109 Timberwolves 97
The Rockets did not put forth a convincing effort against Boston, but the Wolves have been on a downward spiral. This should be an interesting game, but Yao has been big against Minny this season, so I'll expect a big one from him. If McGrady can get his norm, with Sura and Wesley contributing, we should overcome KG and Minnesota. Houston by 8.
This game should be fairly easy for the rockets. The wolves are a better team then the record shows but we should still easily pull this win away with defense 102-86.
wow duncan just got hurt really badly i doubht he will play against us on sunday good break for houston.
well, t-wolves have 57 points agaisnt the famed houston defence, im keeping my fingers crossed and hoping KG and his boys pull away with this one.
Another dissapointing game by the Rockets. They made a little run near the end, but that doesn't nearly make up for the poor quality of play over the first three quarters. Mike James has cooled off considerably the past 3 or 4 games, and we were killed on the boards. Free throw shooting was a again a problem, which shows the Rockets weren't mentally prepared like they should have been. Kevin Garnett demonstrated why he's one of the top two players in the league, and McGrady had a terrible game overall (for a second straight game). About the only thing interesting for a Rockets fan was Van Gundy experimented with Yao and Mutombo in at the same time for about half of the third quarter. Obviously JVG was just searching for some combination that could work, so there's no guarantee that he'd go back to it. Edit: I check the boxscore, and we actually got 18 offensive boards. But to me, particularly in the first half, it appeared like the Rockets were sluggish going after rebounds. The Wolves aren't a particularly strong rebounding team, and its important to take adantage of that when facing them.
McGrady was really struggling from the field tonight, as was Wesley. I think that affected the Rockets only 13 assists. I really do think they'll win their next game against Miami though. They made a valiant effort with the run, but it was to no avail.
He used that big man combo quite a bit, but it really didnt work cause they just killed us on long range shots. We sucked on the glass and if we dont ffind someone, we just might get stuck trying to get into the playoffs. KG had like half a foot on Weatherspoon and Yao didnt step up at all with the boards. He had like 1 in the first half. He also could have done better offensively, i know i m being a , but when you have such an advantage you have to take a lot more shots. I should have seen like 30 points.
i really confused of JVG system of play, how can mike james take more shots than yao ming? we all know that yao leads the team in FG%, and i dont think timberwolves has answer for yao just now.. considering that t-mac had an awful night, shouldn't JVG try to use Yao more at that game? why they still give the final shot to t-mac and mike james?
Is it just me, or does Matt Bullard really suck on Dream Job? He has a good voice, but he doesn't say anything interesting or insightful.
<div class="quote_poster">Quoting whatever:</div><div class="quote_post">i really confused of JVG system of play, how can mike james take more shots than yao ming? we all know that yao leads the team in FG%, and i dont think timberwolves has answer for yao just now.. considering that t-mac had an awful night, shouldn't JVG try to use Yao more at that game? why they still give the final shot to t-mac and mike james?</div> Yao took 16 freethrows, so you should really add 8 more shot attempts for him. I thought the Rockets did a good job as a team getting him the ball when he was open. He just didn't make his presence felt in the second half like he should have.
<div class="quote_poster">Quoting durvasa:</div><div class="quote_post">Yao took 16 freethrows, so you should really add 8 more shot attempts for him. I thought the Rockets did a good job as a team getting him the ball when he was open. He just didn't make his presence felt in the second half like he should have.</div> You cant be serious. What do you want Yao to do? Hold up a sign that says give me the ball?? They shouldnt be getting the ball to him when he's open they should be getting the ball to him when he has an obvious advantage. The Rockets assisted the T wolves in their(Twolves)win by not giving Yao the ball enough. I know there are times when Yao doesnt always dominate the way he should have but he was doing his thing tonight. They really should have gone down to him on every posession especially when Thomas came in for Kandiman. And can someone tell me why exactly Weatherspoon was starting? I'll take Vin Baker with a bottle of whiskey in one hand over Clarence Weatherspoon anyday.
Torraye Braggs? I got no idea what happened to him. No word on his arrival on the official Rockets site, and sitll nothing on the transactions page on nba.com, but that could be updates soon. He might come in next game when all the paper work is cleared. This was a dissapointment for us since the Wolves have been underachieving this season. That being said, you could also say it is expected since our short stint with Juwon injured has been bad.
