<font color="Red">Houston Rockets</font> (15-10) vs <font color="Orange">Phoenix Suns</font> (9-17) Saturday, 9:00 P.M. Eastern America West Arena, Phoenix, AZ Previous Games: Rockets 99 vs. Clippers 85 Suns 94 @ Portland 101 Probable Starters: <font color="Orange">Suns:</font> C- Jahidi White PF- Scott Williams SF- Shawn Marion SG- Joe Johnson PG- Stephon Marbury <font color="Red">Rockets</font> C- Yao Ming PF- Maurice Taylor SF- Jim Jackson SG- Cuttino Mobley PF- Steve Francis Players to Watch: <font color="Red">Rockets:</font> Cuttino Mobley is coming off a twenty-two point game against the Clippers. His hot hand can continue going into tonight easily if Joe Johnson and Penny don't come out with the right defensive frame of mind. <font color="Orange">Suns:</font> Jahidi White is the big offensive rebounder for the Suns. He has also found himself to be the one who gets to the free-throw line more frequently than his teammates. He is very physical so watch for him to use that strength to get Yao out of his game. Best Matchup: The Francis and Marbury matchup is going to be one that everyone is watching. These two are consistently being talked about as two of the top point gaurds in the league. Marbury has been leading the team all year and is coming off of his best assists outing of the season. Francis is going to try to prove something tonight that he is on the same level as Marbury. Keys to the Game: <font color="Red">Rockets:</font> Get the ball to Maurice Taylor and Yao Ming as often as possible. Taylor is a good scoring forward already, but against the Suns he can have a career game. These guys need to demand the ball everytime down the court and they need to crash the offensive boards against the Suns due to the Suns' lack of a rebounding presence on the inside. <font color="Orange">Suns:</font> What the Suns need to do is spread the floor against the Rockets. Try to do what they did against Portland to open the game, get the ball to Scott Williams for his little jumpers from the baseline and elbow. Doing that will force Yao to go outside to play defense and that leaves the open middle for Marbury to penetrate and get the rest of the players involved. They also need to be frantic on defense. Lately they have been horrible on their defensive rotations which leaves a lot of people open around the three point area. If the Suns can attack the basket and limit the touches Yao gets inside then they can win the game. Outcome: Marbury is going to try to attack the basket tonight in hopes of scoring points and letting others score points. That is when the Suns offense is at its best. However, I don't think that will be enough to make up for Yao in the middle. Yao's presence will ultimately lead to the Suns losing this one. Rockets by 8.
Good game. Got to watch it since they were playing the Rockets and it was aired on a local channel. Huge game by Marbury and Marion. Jacobsen hit some big shoots too. And I think Scott Williams needs to shoot from the outside more lol. He showed his range during the Portland game and then he drained two 3's today.
