Observations from the game courtside

Just got back from the game and here's what I saw.

I had some really good seats this time. I sat right on the floor in one of their court suites. I got to hear EVERYTHING.

First of all, I didn't really notice that much communication between the players on the floor during the game. They rarely spoke to each other. Also, as you all saw on TV, Francis had a couple of really bad turnovers. He was trying to be too fancy at times with his dribble. He did have ONE SWEET DUNK in the second half that got the Nets crowd WOWing. Cuttino was complaining a lot to the refs in the second half that I think everyone in the bleachers could hear him.

There were quite a few Rocket fans in the stands which was half empty. Section 226 comes to mind. There were some DIE HARD Rocket fans there chanting Defense when the Nets had the ball and were Cheering for the Rockets at every chance.

As for me, I was having fun with the Nets Mascot SLY and the Nets Dancers. I told SLY that Clutch and Turbo can whip his sorry butt any day! After that he was messing with me the whole 4th quarter. He threw popcorn, tried to make fun of me, and made some funny hand gestures. However, Sly was pretty cool. It made the game go by a lot faster.

Here's a funny moment on the TV monitors in the arena. They showed Calvin Murphy drinking a beer and zoomed right at the beer. Hmmm... No wonder why Calvin sounds the way he does.

After the game, I met up with my hookup and got a chance to talk to a couple of the players.

I asked my man what did Rudy say after the game. Rudy didn't really say much except "That's it". He looked really frustrated coming out of the locker room. He went straight for the bus not talking to anyone - the same with Hakeem, Kenny Thomas, Moochie, and Cato all heading straight for the bus. I also asked him about Hakeem coming back next year. He wouldn't really comment on that but all he said, "You just never know with Dream."

Walt, Carlos, Cuttino, Calvin Murphy, Mo Taylor, Steve, Matt Bullard, all hung around the visitors area and talked to people, sign autographs, took pictures, etc. I didn't really get a good conversation with anyone except for Dan Langhi and Steve. Carlos Rogers is a really nice guy too.

I asked Dan so you gonna be back next year? He told me that originally he wanted to sign a one year contract so he could try to bolt somewhere next year and get a little more money. However, Rudy and Co. told him at the beginning of the season that they were gonna exercise their options of resigning him. They obviously like him.

O yea one more thing about Dan Langhi. During Warmups, Matt Bullard tried to Front Langhi and went for a DUNK! Dan JUMPED UP and BLOCKED HIM! It was pretty funny but Langhi really got some HOPS! He's a really nice guy and I can see why Rudy likes him.

Also during warmups, Dream was guarding Cato and Cato did a mini fade away Dream shake on Dream and MADE it. Could Dream be teaching Cato the shake?

Back to the end of the game.
Steve Francis is a down to earth guy. He asked me how I liked the seats and when am I coming to H-town? He is very polite with people and likes kids. He signed a lot of autographs and tried to accomodate everyone. Speaking of which, my friend was able to get me his game shoes that he wore tonight. That definitely made up for the game loss. They are Black with Silver, DMX Reeboks, Size 13. I'm not a Reebok fan but can someone tell me if the inner soles have a tattoo in them? His shoes have a tatoo of a Cross and it says "In Memory" "Brenda" "Mom". I was trying to figuire out if all of the Francis shoes has this tatoo or if it is custom made just for Steve.

It was very apparent that the team was bummed out by the loss. They know their season is coming to an end. No practice scheduled for tomorrow even though they have a tough game with Dallas Tuesday.

One more thing, I asked about Webber coming to Houston. Let's just say...
It ain't gonna happen.

Well, I hope to see some of you in Houston for the last game as I am trying to find out if I can take some vacation time. It's always good to hear the Rocket Fans in NJ.

GO ROCKETS!



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cato looked like he could care less when he came out. they killed me tonight.

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I have said in previous posts about Cato that he really doesn't care. Ever since he got his big fat paycheck, he just don't give a rat's A!!

Wow, we were right in the same area under the stands when the players came out. Did you see me? I was wearing all blue with a blue baseball cap. I was kinda in the middle of the area up against the railing talking to my friend. He introduced me to all the players as they were walking to the bus.

Gene looked like he was ready to go to sleep. He changed into some Grey Sweats. Rudy looked like he lost his keys the way his facial expression was.

Calvin is a SUPERPIMP! Nuff SAID!



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To answer your question...
BOTH

It is such a longshot from what people were saying however, I won't say it's absolute truth that he won't be in Houston. Just that it is HIGHLY and I mean HIGHLY unlikely.

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[This message has been edited by ROCKET RICH NYC (edited April 02, 2001).]

 

I think Rudy was just upset with the loss because he went straight for the bus and didn't talk to anyone. Calvin was hanging out talking to some people looking really happy. I guess he had one too many beers during the game.



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