ClutchCity.net Game Thread: Clippers @ Rockets 12/14/2002

He MIGHT AS FREAKING WELL have done that. If you are getting killed with EG "guarding" Brand, why not change things up?

RT just loves to leave his hand on the VERY hot stove.

 

It seems like he wants to give Rice playing time and so far, it isn't working out at all. It sucks to see Hawkins getting limited time. I think they should bring in Hawkins as a 6th or 7th man role, put Cato in as the backup at the power forward slot so it can clear the rebounding issue. It would be a great combination to put Cato and Ming in the lineup. Cato isn't going to be much of an offensive threat and he can pull out the opponent PF out of the paint.

 

rudy Blows.

 

right on about the fan's speaking truth here

 

best quote ever!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

 

No way. Cato's too slow for the Clipper big boys. He had 4 fouls in 13 minutes. At that rate, he could have played about 6 more minutes and then would have been gone.

When Brand is hot, I want to see anyone try and stop him.

 

I couldn't agree more. We just can't sit on our pretty little ass and pretend nothing's wrong. There are fans who just like to sit on their ass and let the actions do the talking(nothings wrong with that) and fans who wants to voice their opinions or concerns(also nothing's wrong with that).

 

An honest answer from Yao first, Rocket second Fan:

I never come to post whenever Rockets win. I just browser most of posts and enjoy reading them. Maybe it is because 80+ pecent of posts are related to Yao. Reason for this: 1)I do not think I need to add more positive stuff about Yao here because he has proved himself and will continue to do it. I do not think i am in a right position to rave about Yao as a chinese baised fan. I just enjoy reading more praises and recongnisions from non-chinese fans' posts, especially rox fans. 2) I have not developed much chemistry with the whole rox team. It is quite understandable because I become to support rox for Yao is playing here. I have not been a rox for a while. But I sincerely hope rox will win because My boy Yao will succed that way.

I come over to post when rox loose. but Not always. When rox loose because of selfish or stupid play, I come over here to point out problems. I am not the guy who just call out every other player but Yao. I would say so far Yao did not make any big mistakes that cost the whole game. (agree for not, whatever) Therefore, I do not call my boy out. I agree I might be a little bit too harsh on some guys, especially steve and cat. I know that My boy will not win with the backcourt continues to paly stupid ball. I want Yao win, therefore I get a little bit personal with rox guards. It is quite understandable, isn't it? If you agree the problem with guard's play is hurting rox, you will not totally pissed off at my hursh words, I hope that.

Hope I will develop more chemistry with rox team and eventually become rox fan. But now, my major concern is how to keep rox winning so that my boy Yao will suceed through winning.

 

we came out flat. 2 losses in a row. I hope Rudy T can fix this mess before Monday Night's game at Miami. We got to beat Heat and get to 13-10 .. NO JOKE !!!!!

 

How about Yao on Brand and Cato on Kandi? Yao shut out brand in the minutes he guarded him in the first game.

 

I agreed with you. I will also make my try to make my point across and like most people here if a player(s) is a concern to the team. It's hard and frustrating most time when people come on and argued and call you name for picking on their favorite player(s) and they are so blind to see the real point.

You're right about Yao and as a rookie he's doing really well and that's more then we could ask of him and he hasn't really cost us a game yet.

 

if we continue to play like this , we can't even beat the chinese team

 

where was Yao? I didnt hear anything about him on the front page...

 

This is the first time I went to the Rox game in this season.
The environment and game atmosphere were good, you know, things like the drums, fireworks, turbo as well as those power dancers and getting a look at Yao etc. are exciting.

However I left Compaq center disappointed. Rox lost. Hey, guys, don't blame this loss on players or the coach.
This loss is on me. Had I not been the game, the Rox would have won it. I have to ponder if I will go to another Rox game

Joking aside, Clippers do play a good game, they led all the way
from start to finish. KandyMan was not able to do that much due to Yao's defense, but Miller and Brant has put up a huge number.
Jaric, Richardson and even Wang zhizhi came from bench had done some damage to us with their shootings, penetrations ...

Yao did not shoot the ball well, that led to Rudy's decision to posting up Rice, which I am not against at all. Rice had provided
some half court offense for us. The problems that I do have or concern are:
1. bad shot selection. Too oppotunistic.

2. missing layups. I dno't know if anybody noticed this in last a couple of games even when we won, Stevie had missed tons of layups. I am wondering what the problem is. Mechanic or mental or just bad luck. It got to be a big concern.

3. did not go inside or use Yao enough. At one point during 4th quarter (about 4 min remaining), Brand got his 5th foul.
Fans yelled to have Rockets attacking him. But Roc chose to go to Rice...

4. defense and defensive rebounding.Clips got many those long offensive rebonds that really hurts. Rosx guards were to close to baskets to get those.

Just a couple of my points..

 

he was a non-factor.

 

Did you even watch the game? Yao had 16 points, 5-9 FG, 6-6 FTs, 9 rebounds. And he pretty much shut down Kandiman (7 points, 3-11 FG).

The real problem is Rockets offense is not going through Ming! It just reminds me of the 5-game road west road trips we had 2 weeks ago. Ming cann't does his thing if he does not get the ball! It freaks me out in the second half, to see Rice posting near the basket, and Ming just got lost near the arc and not get the ball offensively...

 

I thought about that. We were getting killed on the boards, it seemed. I thought about having Cato and Yao in there at the same time to help. EG was the only PF we had out there and he totally was getting out muscled. Having Cato at PF would have been a help.

 

Did you even watch the game? I honestly wonder. You did see that Cato was in foul trouble most of the game trying to guard Kandi, didn't you? And you expect him to guard Brand while in foul trouble? Cato was getting beat on the boards by Brand just like anybody else on our frontline would've. Brand was boxing out ANYBODY we threw at him : Ming, Cato, TMo, or Griffin.

And this needs to be moved to the Game Thread...

 

Uh, I would rather be a "victim" of Brand's "speed" than putting EG in their to get bullrushed by Brand.

Since when was speed a bigger concern than strength, when guarding a PF like Brand?

 

"(Wang) helped us tremendously," Gentry said. "He told us his two best moves; he told us about his pump fakes and head fakes. So we were probably as prepared as any team that's played him. But on the other side of that, you can see it doesn't matter. The guy is going to be a great player.

"Every game I see him, I think he gets better and smarter -- his up-and-under moves and things like that. I think we're probably doing as good a job as you can do on him, considering his talent."