Yao calms Francis, who's triple-dip' sinks Warriors

[story_teller]

From ESPN.com's recap of Rox-Warriors game:

OAKLAND, Calif. (AP) -- When Steve Francis started to lose his cool, Yao Ming told him to cool it -- and that showed Francis how far the Chinese rookie has come in the NBA. Francis had 13 points, 12 assists and 11 rebounds and all five Houston starters scored in double figures as the Rockets defeated the Golden State Warriors 117-107 on Friday night in a key game for playoff positioning. "He told me to chill out,'' said Francis, who became frustrated because he thought he was being fouled late in the game. "Yao showed me he's maturing. My big man took care of me.'' The Rockets stayed tied with Phoenix for the final playoff spot in the Western Conference, 3½ games ahead of 10th-place Golden State. The Suns beat Washington 109-83 on Friday. Yao had 23 points, 14 rebounds, four blocks and five turnovers for Houston, which has never lost in The Arena in Oakland. The Rockets are 12-0 in the building and are victorious in their last 15 visits to Oakland. Yao calmly made his first NBA 3-pointer with 43 seconds left, setting an example for Francis. "He's our leader and we need him to lead,'' Yao said. "If he falls apart, it can cause the whole team to fall apart. Everyone can see that.'' Several members of San Francisco's large Asian community waited outside the Houston's downtown hotel on Thursday night in hopes of meeting Yao. At the game, Jane Gong, 25, who was born in China, held a sign in Chinese reading, "Please sign an autograph for my mom!'' She had a Yao bobblehead for him to sign that she planned to send to her mother in Shanghai as a surprise. Cuttino Mobley had 26 points and James Posey added 21 for Houston, which lost the first two games of its five-game Western road trip. Francis had his sixth career triple-double, and his 12 assists were two below his career high. Gilbert Arenas had 25 points, six assists and five rebounds for Golden State, the league's turnaround team under first-year coach Eric Musselman. The Warriors had won three of their last five. They haven't made the postseason in nine years. Antawn Jamison had 21 points and eight rebounds, but had only one point and one rebound in the second half. "It's an opportunity lost, but it's still not over with,'' Jamison said. "We play Phoenix again. We've just got to do our end of the bargain. If we continue playing like we did before this game and continue to execute and make strides forward we might put ourself in the position.'' After trailing big, Golden State got within five twice in the final 3:29, but couldn't get closer despite holding the Rockets to two field goals over the final 7:25. The Rockets played their third game without coach Rudy Tomjanovich, who is in Houston recovering after tests that detected a cancerous tumor on his bladder lining. Assistant Larry Smith is filling in during the road trip. The Warriors pulled within two, 57-55, on a basket by Erick Dampier with 9:14 remaining in the third period, but the Rockets answered with back-to-back 3-pointers by Posey and Mobley. Those 3s started a 21-4 run over the next four minutes as Houston built a 78-59 lead. The Warriors hurt themselves by being sloppy with the ball, committing seven of their 15 turnovers in the third. Earl Boykins kept Golden State in the game with 14 straight points during one stretch, including his team's final 10 points in the third quarter and first two baskets in the fourth as the Warriors pulled within 90-78 with 10:24 left. Boykins, referred to as "Sparkplug,'' finished with 22 points, and the Warriors got 47 points from their bench. Troy Murphy returned to the Golden State starting lineup after missing two games with a bruised right knee, but was limited to one point and four rebounds in 14 minutes. Houston shot 61.9 percent in the first quarter and led by as many as 10. The Warriors scored seven straight points in the final 1:17 of the first half, but Mobley made a 3 at the buzzer as the Rockets took a 53-48 lead into halftime. Game notes The crowd of 20,193 was the largest at home in Warriors team history. The previous high had been 20,181 on March 6, 2001, against the L.A. Lakers. ... Musselman had three friends fly in for Friday's game _ two from Florida and one from Hawaii. "It's interesting, you have a lot more friends when you win,'' Musselman said. ... Some Asian fans got too close to the court before the game as they tried to take pictures of Yao and security stepped in. http://sports.espn.go.com/nba/recap?gameId=230321009

Man, Yao and Stevie are really developing a great repoir on the court. It was awesome to hear Francis say, "My big man to care of me." And how about Yao letting Francis know he needs to calm his ass down (not quite as blunt of course *hehe*) and just play ball. I thought it was also cool hearing Yao say Stevie is the Rockets leader.


Dynasty & Franchise!!

[gr8-1]

Too bad only one of them sowed up tonight.

[Mr. Clutch]

Yao is going to be a great leader. And he's a pretty good one right now!

[story_teller]

Originally posted by gr8-1 Too bad only one of them sowed up tonight.

huh??? You mean too bad just one TEAM showed up?

[story_teller]

Originally posted by Mr. Clutch Yao is going to be a great leader. And he's a pretty good one right now!

Totally agree. Is it safe to say that in subtle ways Yao leads now? Stevie does it @ times, but more so with his play (as opposed to being vocal like Yao).

I'd call 'em co-leaders now. And Rice is the veteran-type leader.

[jamalccc]

Originally posted by Mr. Clutch Yao is going to be a great leader. And he's a pretty good one right now!

Yep. The wanta-be leaders yell and cuss. The real leaders lead by examples.

[Jonhty]

Originally posted by Mr. Clutch Yao is going to be a great leader. And he's a pretty good one right now!

can't you see that Yao regards Steve as the leader of this team? He said it!!

[jamalccc]

Originally posted by story_teller Totally agree. Is it safe to say that in subtle ways Yao leads now? Stevie does it @ times, but more so with his play (as opposed to being vocal like Yao). I'd call 'em co-leaders now. And Rice is the veteran-type leader.

Cat: a leader in trash talking.
Moochie: a leader in shotclock melting.
Boki: a leader in bench warming.
Cato: a leader in paycheck ripping.

The leadership on our team runs deep...

[jamalccc]

Originally posted by Jonhty can't you see that Yao regards Steve as the leader of this team? He said it!!

yeah... Steve also said Saddam is evil, earth is round, tunafish stinks...

[ivan_zhang]

Originally posted by jamalccc Cat: a leader in trash talking. Moochie: a leader in shotclock melting. Boki: a leader in bench warming. Cato: a leader in paycheck ripping. The leadership on our team runs deep...

Haha, I think
SF: a leader in asts
Yao:a leader in scores and rbs.

Who is the leader of Jazz? I think it is Stockton when he is young.

[Jonhty]

Originally posted by jamalccc yeah... Steve also said Saddam is evil, earth is round, tunafish stinks...

I think Yao's being geninue. he's just reluctant to assume responsbility of being the leader of this team.

[story_teller]

Originally posted by Jonhty can't you see that Yao regards Steve as the leader of this team? He said it!!

Exactly. Yao knows in the end Francis is the leader of the team. But @ the same time, from reading Stevie's comments, he respects Yao in the same way. It was Francis who started doing stretches during workouts @ practice with Yao b/4 anyone else on the team. That's why it was comical to me how some ppl wanted to start a "Yao-Francis -- who's more important to the team-rivalry." *lol*

[story_teller]

Originally posted by jamalccc yeah... Steve also said Saddam is evil, earth is round, tunafish stinks...

What?? Stop bein' an ass, man. *lol*

Kinda funny what you said, though.:D

[WinkFan]

Originally posted by jamalccc Yep. The wanta-be leaders yell and cuss. The real leaders lead by examples.

Actually, the real leaders do both.

[GATER]

Originally posted by gr8-1 Too bad only one of them sowed up tonight.

This is a joke, right? A triple double, only 3 TO's, a direct responsibilty for at least 37 points, and 2 steals is not showing up? Part of a guard group which held the offensively oriented Arenas and Richardson to 10-38 shooting is not showing up? (I'll take my chances letting Boykins beat me any day).

I was busy and had to tape the game so I have yet to see it. From the game stats my initiial conclusion is the Steve got his teammates involved in the game. IMO, that is more important than individual numbers. Perhaps I will have a different opinion after watching the tape of the game, but right now I am skeptical that will occur.

[C-Kompii]

Both players were awesome tonight, and others played their part. Probably the only downside was the amount of turnovers the team had.

-G'day-

[MacBeth]

Originally posted by WinkFan Actually, the real leaders do both.

Don't agree...the greatest sports leader i have probably ever seen was Joe Montana...everyone who ever played with him said his just walking onto the filed made you sure you'd win, no matter what the score was...and his nickname was 'Joe Cool' because he never lost it and yelled...perfect example:

Super Bowl...49ers down 3 with a couple of minutes to play in what had been a hard-fought defensive battle. Montana starts the final drive with his heels literaly on his own goal line, and knowing that one big mistake or 2 or 3 little ones, and he loses the ig game...On the Cincinnatti sidelines, these flollowing conversations take place, not in a booth, but in real life;

Bengal (can't remember name ) after Bengals had just seminglt broken open game with touchdown drive with only minutes left... " Yahoo! We win! We win! Man, this thing is over."

Chris Collinsworth: " Um, have you seen who's playing quarterback for the other team? "


And Cincy head coach Sam Whyche : "God I wishh we hadn't given ( Montana) that much time...He's the best at this thing ( 2 minute drill)...*To his defensive coordinator who had been playing predominantly 3-4 2 gap rush* If you sit back there, he'll just cut us into pieces...this guy is a surgeon."

And the drive begins...by the end, Montana was perfect; his only incompletion on the entire drive was when he threw one out of bounds to stop the clock, and this on a drive where the defense knew he had to throw...but the best part, the Joe Cool part that is the reason I am telling this story here, took place towards the end of the drive...

When they had gotten about 2/3 of the way down the field, and there was about a minute left, they came into the huddle...The 49ers players were finding it hard to maintain control given the pressure of the circumstances, and one, their very young left tackle Harris Barton, admitted to finding it difficult to catch his breath, literally was almost hyperventilating he admitted later, and couldn't focus on the play call...so there, in the middle of the huddle, in front of the till then largest television audience ever, in the final drive of the Super Bowl, with almost no time on the clock, Joe Montana turns to his young LT and says " Hey H ( Bartons; nickname)...look over there, isn't that John Candy? " Barton turns and looks to where Montana is pointing,and sure enough, there is John Candy eating popcorn...Barton says he was literally amazed..he says, like everyone else has always said about Montana, that he was so incredibly calm it was as if he were playing catch in the backyard...After the Candy thing Montana then said " Okay guys, let's win this thing..." and proceeded to calmly call the play...2 plays later he hits ( his 4th option on the play!!!) John Taylor in the endzone for the Super Bowl victory...That is leadership...and it's hardly of the firey type. I admire the Messiers, the Steve Youngs, the Magic Johnsons...the fiery leaders who drag there teammates to victory, screaming along the way..but given my druthers, I'll take the Montanas, the Gretzkys, the Birds...the guys who seem to unaffected by pressure that they carry their team to victory by making each and every player calm ebough to get there on his own two feet.

[littlefish_220]

No matter who is the leader or who will be the leader, the good thing is our two best players have developed a REAL good relationship.

[Sane]

On a side note: Anyone notice how Jason Williams got 16assists and 0 Turnovers followed by 15 assists and 0 TO's in his last 2 games for the Grizzlies?

Wow. That guy's come a long way. That contract doesn't look too bad and next year, Sacramento will wonder why he's making HALF of what Bibby will be making.

[story_teller]

Originally posted by littlefish_220 No matter who is the leader or who will be the leader, the good thing is our two best players have developed a REAL good relationship.

EXACTLY. And that should pretty much wrap it up there.