Is David Wesley gonna have to run over a b****? Everyone cheered when Wesley ran over her in the 4th quarter.
Jon Barry was the only guy shooting well from the outside tonight. Van Gundy chose to take him out for a major portion of the game.
I hate to admit it but the suns are just head and shoulders above the rockets right now. A gargantuan effort by league mvp couldnt stop the suns even with amare being ejected with still more than 5 minutes left, what can u expect with a ****ty game by tmac and a half hearted effort by yao. Its so sad becoz tmac has all the talents in this world to make his teammates look better but he is just a selfish b****, just like kobe. Lebron is a much much better player than him right now becoz bron is willing to let his teammates shine especially his big men Z and Gooden. Unless tmac would integrate yao in his plays, that trade would be useless. Imagine, hitting only 8 out of more than 20 shots? Wow. Unbelievable. He is a 6'8 AI but at least AI has heart, a scoring champion and a league mvp.
From watching the game last night, I am frankly amazed we managed to score 98 points. How the heck did we score so many points, with so many shots just SO close but bouncing out?? Just from running up and down the floor more, and simply taking a lot more shots than normal I guess. *MEMO TO JVG* Demand this team run like that more often, substitute liberally to keep the defense fresh, and watch the wins start pouring in. 98 a game, when both Yao and TMac were not having even average-good games? Are you kidding me! Let's drink from that well more often please - TMac and Yao will be fine; if they had had even regularly-decent games, we would have scored 20 more points than we did. This team has nothing to hang its head about from last night's game. We got plenty of the shots we were looking for, they simply weren't falling, for whatever reason. Looked to me like the Rockets were just slightly too pumped up for this game, and their nerves were showing. They played with some pride, and it showed. Unlike so many of the losses earlier in the year, where the team looked like it had simply given up, last night we played with some determination and heart. There's just nothing you can do when the shots you normally make just won't go in the hoop. And I'm sorry, but if Phoenix thinks it is going to be able to win in the playoffs by relying completely on the 3-point shot, they have another think coming. Amare? Maybe against other teams, but against us, Yao and Dike neutralize that guy. After that game last night, I wouldn't mind one bit if the season ended and we had to face those guys in the playoffs. They may get hot like that once in a blue moon, but it can abandon them just as easily. Put it this way: The Rockets are only going to get better over the rest of the season. The Suns cannot get any better. The only direction they have to go is down. Good move bringing Barret in for extended minutes by the way. High energy was exactly what we needed against those guys, and he delivers that in spades. Also, towards the end of the game, I found myself wondering what it would have been like having Yao *and* Mutombo on the floor at the same time.. not for every game, of course, but against the small-ball Suns, when the game was in the process of getting away, something in me was just hoping JVG would bring Dike in alongside Yao.. dunno how it would have worked, but for certain situations, it might have been just the ticket.. *ah well* I predict the Suns fairy tale season will be coming back to reality pretty soon.. Big difference between now and the early part of the season: I am now actually eagerly looking forward to each next Rockets game, whereas in the early season, they were practically unwatchable. Go Rox!
I'm not too disappointed in this loss. Right now, the Rockets simply don't have the team speed to keep up with a team like the Suns. They did well and fought well as long as they could. There simply is nothing you can do when they run like maniacs after every missed or made shot on their defensive end and hit everything they throw in the general direction of the basket. Had the Rockets shooting percentage been a little higher we'd probably be talking about a win. However, most say that the Suns aren't good defensively. If you slow them down, they aren't. But I think that running is their defense. You actually have to worry about getting back before you hit the ground while taking a shot. It affects rebounding as well. Instead of staying under the basket, they make you get back giving them the easy rebound. Of course, it also affects conditioning. All in all, this is not a loss to worry about.
I think JVG should watch the Spurs vs Suns game over and over again. We have to play running and inside-out mix in order to win. How could the slow Rockets outrun the young Suns? There was good chance for Rockets control the game when Muto caused AM into foul trouble. But...... This is the Rockets we will see all season long. No more hope. Would barely make or miss the palyoff.
The Suns are leading the league in 3 point shooting, even ahead of the great Supersonics. It's also not that they are only making a few of 3s each game. They are making a lot. Q. Richardson just made 9 3s in the game recently. On the otherhand, the Rockets might lead the league in wide open 3s launched and yet we are not even close to a good 3 point shooting team this year. Last season, at least we were top 3 in 3 point shooting in the league. Both JJ and Cat had their best season shooting 3s from the outside.
Q and JJ have been taking 3s like crazy this season. I dont understand how we left those guys open in most of the game. They are not great 3p shooter, but if you leave them open they will knock it down. When we put a hand on it, they usually miss. I blame this on Gundy. You gotta recognize your opponent. Close down the lane is good, but you cant afford to leave those hobits open, it's not like they have much of the inside threat. Put Yao on Amare one on one was enough. Now the drive and kick was a problem and their backcourt was much faster, but the way they were going on the 3, I would rater take chance on the 2s.
Im sorry...Dak is right. I saw way too many times when the ball got swung to the open man...and no one ran to get a hand in his face. It was almost like they were afraid to abandon the paint and decided to let them have the 3. go back and look again. also....credit needs to be given for the Suns switching on defense...whenever we swung the ball around the perimeter...they always seemed to have someone reaady to step out and get a hand in our shooters faces.... fact of life.....they were good...we just werent good enough. on any other night...that kind of effort woudl have produced a win...but the Suns were simply ON FIRE.
I think our problem last night on offence was spacing. The suns were doubling & tripleing yao & tmac. The other guys needed move around a little bit, back up dont let one guy hold two people. Yao was gettin good position ( or better than he usually does) but the other guys were so close to him that the let the double guy drop down on yao while still being able to cover them. I think if they were more conscious of that Yao would have had a bigger impact on the game.
