Rockets @ Cavaliers Tonight! <font color="Red">Houston Rockets</font> (13-10) @ <font color="DarkRed">Cleveland Cavaliers</font> (6-18) Wednesday,7:00 pm EST Gund Arena, Cleveland, Ohio TV: FSOhio, NBALP Previous Game Cavaliers 85 @ Pacers 95 Rockets 75 @ Timberwolves 92 Streaks Cleceland: Lost 2 Houston: Lost 3 Head Coaches Paul Silas/ Jeff Van Gundy Probable Starters LeBron James/Steve Francis J.R. Bremer/Cuttino Mobley Darius Miles/Jimmy Jackson Carlos Boozer/Kelvin Cato Zydrunas Ilgauskas/Yao Ming 6th Men Eric Williams/Maurice Taylor Players To Watch LeBron James/Steve Francis James: 18.1 points, 6.3 rebounds, 6.2 assists Francis: 17.4 points, 5.7 rebounds, 5.0 assists Fast Fact Eric Williams, Tony Battie, and Kedrick Brown make their debuts for the Cleveland Cavaliers tonight. LeBron James has been scoring over 26 points per game over his last 3 games. Injury Lists Cleveland Cavaliers Dajuan Wagner Bruno Sundov DeSagana Diop - out Ira Newble - out (flu) Houston Rockets Adrian Griffin Mike Wilks Keys To The Game Cleveland - The Cavaliers must keep the backcourt duo of Francis of Mobley out of the paint and force them to take jump shots with a hand in their faces. I attack the basket early, as cato and Ming are 2 of the best shot blocking duos in the league, any any way they can initiate contact to get some early fouls could be a huge plus. - By the Sandman Houston - The Rockets are in nesperate need of a win right now. They are on a three-game losing streak, with no bright spot to even think of. They were spanked 92-75 last night against the Wolves. Tonight however they have an easier game. The Cavaliers like the Rockets are not doing to "hot" at the moment either. Cleveland has lost 34 consecutive away games however they will be playing at home tonight where they are 6-5. The key to tonights game as always is Yao Ming. Ilgauskas. - By Dexter The Sandman's Take Time to see how well some of these new additions fit in for coach Paul Silas. I expect a low scoring, turnover filled game. Rockets by 4. Dexter's Take What is there to say? If the Rockets shoot well tonight they will win the game, if they dont they will get their ass kicked like they have the last three games. There really isn't much more to say. I hope to God that the Rockets have a good shooting night tonight, If you think the morale is low now, wait till they lose to the Cavaliers. I don't think they will lose tonight thought. My prediction: Rockets 92. Cavs 84 <font size="1">Please visit NBA.com</font>
The Rockets desperately need a win here tonight for morale purposes. Losing against the Spurs and Timberwolves is understandable however losing to the Cavaliers is unacceptable. Look for Yao Ming to get involved heavily tonight after his dismal performance last night. Ilgauskas<font color="black"><font color="black">is having a great year averaging 15 and 7 a game. Combine that with Tony Battie coming off the bench and Yao will have some decent competition. The Rockets losses can be summed up in one word: FG percentage. Last night they shot 38% from the field. We will not win shooting 38% from the field. The Rockets need to settle for better shots in general tonight. Shooting outside jumpshots all night won't win you many games.</font> <font color="#f1f1f1"><font color="black">On defense, the key to tonight is rebounding. The Cavs are a very good rebounding team, averaging 47 rebounds a game. The Rockets need to do a good job on the boards tonight on both ends of the court. I am not worried about Yao's defense tonight. He should really</font> <font color="black">have no problem covering the Cavs big men. The one person I am worried about is Lebron James, simply because of his size advantage on Steve Francis. The Cavs have 5 players that average in double figures so they can score the ball in many</font></font></font><font color="black"> ways.</font>
Rockets look very tired in this one, though shooting 43.5% compared to the Cavs 38.6%. 74/69 Cavs, 4th Qtr 7:35 left
Rockets aren't doing so hot. Looks like my prediction won't come true. cavs you're proving me wrong for right now. Let's see if ya'll can keep it up and win the game
Mobley and Frances just went on a huge scoring run to put Houston back up by one. Cavs did have a 7 point lead. This one will come down to the end, easily.
What a relief! The Rockets actually won. I was pretty scared going into the game considering the Rockets were shooting under 40% in their three loses this past week. The Rockets however turned things around last night as they beat the Cavaliers 89-85. The game went back and forth the entire night. I have to give credit to the Cavs, they put up a really good fight against us. The first thing to mention is the field goal percentage. The Rockets shot 45.7% from the field last night I have said it since day one that the Rockets this year will depend on two things, Yao Ming and field goal percentage. When the Rockets shoot well (42%+) they will win most games. However when they shoot bad(40%-) they will lose most games. Coincidence? I think not. Yao Ming didn't take enought shots(8), but I can live with that at this point in the season, since we shot such a great % from the field and our bench put up solid numbers. We really need Yao to shoot the ball between 12-18 times a game. Players Stats- Rockets Steve Francis - 18 points, 7 rebounds, 9 assists Cuttino Mobley - 18 points, 7 rebounds, 6 assists Jim Jackson - 11 points, 6 rebounds, 6 assists Kelvin Cato - 4 points, 10 rebounds, 2 steals Yao Ming - 12 points, 6 rebounds, 3 blocks Maurice Taylor - 14 points, 3 boards, 3 blocks Eric Piatkowski - 10 points I wish the game wouldn't have come down to the wire like it did however a win is a win and this team desperately needed one. Lets hope this shooting streak holds up when we play the Clippers tomorrow night. If you didn't see the end of the game, you missed one heck of a comeback on the part of the Rockets. Being down seven (78-71) with 5:31 remaining, the Rockets went on a 12-0 run led by Steve Francis and Cuttino Mobley. James got Cleveland within 87-85 on a long three-pointer off the glass with 9.8 seconds left. Francis answered with a pair of free throws to ice the game. Postgame Quote "Not to take anything away from Cleveland, but we haven't done that in a while," Francis said of the late surge. "It's not about me thinking shot first. It's more important for me getting guys involved." He must finally have realized what Rockets fans have been saying for 24 games.
