ClutchFans Game Thread: Rockets @ Celtics 1/2/2008

what's with all the negatives on this board? boston doesn't scare me. i think we have a decent chance of pulling a win there.

the key for us will be rebounding and shooting the ball with confidence.

 

lol, yeah i'm a rookie here too and i've noticed a LOT of that, but I also think we have a good shot at this one, we just have to keep shooting well and getting some good balance, play some good defense, and just keep doing what we've been doing (besides the 4th quarter against the warriors)

I'm not sure, but will rondo play in this one? he seems to be the really good 4th guy in this team and rafer and AB will have to pay good attention to him (something that other teams haven't really been doing well)

 

agreed. we can only hope boston hits cruise control after their triumphant west coast trip and relaxes now that they are back at home against a struggling rockets team playing with t-mac.

the rockets may have one mismatch, and thats bonzi wells. ray allen cant guard him on the block.

if boston decides they need to make a statement because houston is one of the teams people were mentioning earlier in the season as one of the west teams boston hasnt played yet, and would put them in their place as overrated bums then we lose this game by 20+

t-mac please come back soon

 

We turn our season around with a big win at Boston!!!

I guarantee a win!!!

 

There's virtually no chance we'll pull of a win against a team that just rolled over the Lakers and took out the Jazz on the road.

They are playing with confidence and are very very good.

If we lose by less then 10 pts I think that would be a major accomplishment.

 

Trash!

 

* We took Denver to OT before we lost.
* We won two straight games (Memphis/Toronto)
* We were in the game with a team that we usually struggle against (Golden State and Phoenix) and lost it in the 4th.

We have played very solid basketball for the past 5 games and your telling me we don't have a fighting chance tomorrow? Remember my username Sweet Lou cause I guarantee a Rockets win against the Celts.

 

i think this one is a loss...........garnett will rape our pf's and please dont put head on allen. rondo will make our pg's look like rookies. i hope we dont get beat like the knicks did......that would be a nightmare!

 

I love the Rox but I'm not naive...we have virtually no chance against the Celtics. I'd be happy if we lose by 8 or less and are in the game going into the 4th. We can't stop KG or Pierce. Without Tmac we just can't match them scoring-wise, with Tmac we might have a shot. We could get beat by 15+.

Think about this: We got killed by GSW. Sure we played them well throughout much of the game, but in the 4th we just couldn't stay close. Same thing with Boston. Even if we play them close into the 4th, who really thinks we can pull this out? Boston is easily the best team in the league and we just got punked by GSW in our own house.

I'll watch the game, but if we get killed I'm switching to bowl games.

 

New Year, new luck. Rocket win 98-94.

 

We have a chance because the celtics make teams grind it out. They can score but if you watch their games they make offensive teams struggle with their physicality. The lakers couldn't handle the celtics physical play and they folded. We are a physical team.We still are a very good defensive team,We beat detroit because we made the game ugly and detroit's first mind state is to play and win ugly,the celtcis are the same they jump on teams defensively and they let their star power carry them on offense to close games out.



The game will be a lot of misses early on and it will end up ugly and dirty low scoring fest like the game we had with detroit or the games we have with the spurs. We can match their physicality we just have to make shots

 

Garnett will be settling for fadaway jumpers with chuck hayes defending him.Not too many power forwards can back chuck up and get in close to shoot high percentage shots,Chuck hayes has a strong lower base so garnett aint coming in there when chuck's on him,They key will how scola plays.

 

we are screwed

 

If the team would STOP POSTING UP Bonzi they can win this game.

Bonzi on the post = trash.

Bonzi as a cutter = dunk.

I like dunk more than trash.

DD

 

Frankly I'd be shocked if we came out of there losing by only ten points let alone win the game. Everything has to go right meaning Yao dominates in the post and our shooters put pressure on the defenders to guard them (so Head, Battier and Alston have to hit their open shots) and we have to play strong on the defensive end like we did against Toronto and Memphis. This is the NBA and anything can happen, but I'd be real surprised if we won.

1st post!

 

it's a team game in basketball. and it's the nba, anything could happen.

i hate to look at things from a w/mcgrady-w/o/mcgrady angle. it just ain't work that way. the team has been playing better w/o him as of late (not saying we can't play even better from here once he returns). and look, w/mcgrady, we lost to gsw by 19; w/o we lost (and late in the 4th) by 17. so your way of thinking is flawed.

i have watched boston play this year a few times. while their defense has vastly improved (thanks largely to tib), as a team they don't impress me THAT much. their 2nd unit is thin.

still think we have a decent chance. no less than we play any other team. it's up to the coaching staff to have a good game plan and up to the players to carry it out.

 

True, bonzi killed us last game in the post,He acts like a black-hole,Rick doesn't say anything either,He will force shots in the post,dribble through 4 people, he won't make the extra pass,he settles for stupid fadaway jumpers.

 

* Denver is not Boston
* Memphis/Toronto is not Boston
* Golden State is not Boston
* We lost to Phoenix and Golden State.


We are going to lose to Boston. Sure, there's a 5% chance we'll win because on any given day, any team can beat another team if someone gets hot.

That aside, without T-mac, we don't stand a chance against a team with not 1, not 2, but 3 super-stars and a record of 20-something wins and only 3 losses.

 

I'm not sure if Rajon is playing or not. Last I heard he was day to day with a pulled hamstring. He will probably be a gametime decision.

The key to beating the Celtics.. keep Garnett from being involved in the offense and hope that Pierce has a bad shooting night.

As far as the non-big three are concerned... close out hard on House and Tony Allen... and trust that Perkins can't figure out Yao so that he can have a big night.

Oh it also might be good if the refs stop calling bogus fouls on Yao when he's trying to gain position or turning to shoot.

 

Or what... I got $100?