ClutchFans Game Thread: Rockets @ Pacers 12/26/2006

Actually, the Rockets played better than I expected. They're without Yao, their anchor whom they rely so much on, and now basically have to come with a new style of play. T-Mac is coming back after three weeks and showed the rust and lack of conditioning expected.

But still, they showed me enough today to make me believe our season's not lost. I think we have enough to steal some games and hold the fort until our big fella gets back. And if Yao can return as scheduled (and can raise his level of play again) and we're in the middle of the pack somewhere, I can still see us making some noise in the playoffs.

There's still hope for this season!

 

Yeah I was thinking that too.

Three things to watch for with McGrady:

1. How long he can stay on the floor without getting a spasm (to see if it's related to last season or not)
2. How he plays in the next couple games (does he get back to aggressive T-Mac or does he play soft?)
3. The new ball (will it help him with his shot/handle?)

2007 please be better to the Rockets than 2006 was.

YAO MING COME BACK STRONG. Can you just imagine the frustration he must feel right now? Not being able to play for that long when he KNOWS he's that crucial to his team???

I really feel sorry for him. Not for the team, not for myself as a fan, but for him. He's a great young player coming into his own in the best season of his career and he has to deal with this. I feel so bad for him.

 

That's pretty interesting point, but think about Yao, no one competes with him for the 5, but he still works his ass off every day ...

 

playing heavy minutes and being forced to play PG (which is JVG's fault) can cause a bad game, you are right, but they have absolutely no correlation with a costly mental mistake like jacking up a three in the last seconds of a game instead of passing it to a wide open Battier who had a very nice shooting game

 

Man, the first game after lose your superstar is like fighting as a wonded warrior, fresh in pain.
The Nugs could still beat a pretty good Wizard team first game after losing Melo and Smith to the ban.

I was really expecting a mini two win streak due to the "get it for Yao" factor, before the 20 game losing streak. I honestly dont see a day light from here and on. Al fxxking Harrinton, Jeff Foster, and Matson who?

 

LOL.

the irony is, we wished the exact same thing in 05. we were like "2006 gotta be better than 05". but it seems like it's a curse buddy

 

I don't know what you guys are expecting him to do. He had a silly turnover and he committed some loose ball fouls. Nothing egregious. He was doing a good job on the boards, but it's kind of tough for him to battle three Pacers by himself which was what was happening when we had a Chuck-Bonzi front court. He had one FGA, which he made.

We could have used more offensive rebounding from him. He only had one. But he' been doing an excellent job on the offensive boards for the most part this year.

 

give me loose balls, show me some hustle. Get out there and look ALIVE

thats all I ask.

Id been hearing at the start of the season this guy could be our backup centre - and most def. our starting 4 man.

Juwan Howard looked a hundred times better than Hayes , at least based on todays game.
At least J-Ho had an impact.

 

Well, you're not watching the game. He had two steals and a block. He dove on the floor for a loose ball, which he got to Bonzi who then got an And-1.

 

How can JVG play TM for 38mins (or 39mins) in the first returning game? It seems that we are repeating last season.

 

Battier was on the opposite side of the court and Luther was under heavy duress with the game clock running down. Under the circumstances, I don't blame him for taking the shot rather than risk turning the ball over or letting the clock run out. Better to get a shot off than risk trying to make a cross-court pass where a defender could slap the ball away, or he could get the pass intercepted or the game clock could run out.

 

One loss and you have practially jumped off the bandwagon already. What a loyal fan you are. Please change your screenname if you don't believe in Tmac and the Rockets anymore. You don't deserve to call yourself RocketsMac.

 

He should have called a timeout (assuming we had one). I was surprise the shot was as close as it was. It was a terrible shot.

 

We didn't have one at that point. I don't blame him for the play. It wasn't a good one but he couldn't get the ball back to T-Mac and i'm not sure if the pass to Battier would have been wise either with the defense covering him like that.

 

we can make the playoffs right ? I hope that we are atleast the 6th seed we can play with the JAZZ in 1st round of playoff... I just hope the roxs are a 500 team without Yao any comment I need to hear that we should be in the playoffs

 

I did watch the game

the play your talking about it was Battier who hit the floor, passed it to a stationery ( standing) Hayes who then layed it off to Wells.

 

They were both on the floor. I'm certain of it. And, again, 2 steals and a block. Chuck makes more hustle plays than anyone on the team while on the court. If you get a chance to watch a good number of games, you'll see this.

 

Read my sig.

 

i still think if we can get a decent amount of games til yao comes back, we will make the playoffs. we arent the only team hit w/ the injury bug. chris paul was just carted off the court with an ankle injury, and the clippers are struggling as well.

 

What was the play supposed to be? I don't get who the target was. I assume Luther was supposed to shoot off the hand off from McGrady. And if he didn't have a shot, then he drives and kicks out for (hopefully) an open three. But the first option was easily foiled, and the second option won't work because Luther can't create off the dribble. As soon as he lost handle of the ball, he should have passed it back out to McGrady, or even Novak. Both of them could have gotten off a better shot then what he ended up taking.