ClutchFans Game Thread: Wizards @ Rockets 10/23/05

Wesley for 3! unbelieveable...

 

TMac 4 personals, Howard 2 Ts, and Yao was called for 2 3 second violations.

WTF is going on?

 

A third 3 second violation on Yao was called. Unbelievable.

 

OK-that explains why T-Mac only has 2 points in the 3rd quarter and has so far taken only 3 shots.

I thought he was hurt or something....stupid refs

 

i'm not even watching the game but the refs are making the game hard to watch. This is such a ref controlled game it's horrid to watch. if they want the fans to come back, don't mind the clothes they wear, and do something about the gameplay being stopped every 20 seconds. soon as a nice flow gets going with a whole minute of gameplaythe refs blow the whistle at some ticky tack stufff that wouldn't even be called in the wnba.

 

Wow! Anybody watching the game? I am only reading the boxscore. Luther Head is CLUTCH!

 

Super-H for Head!

 

He was hurt. went out in the first quater with a bad back. came back in though so must not be too bad.

 

You left out the part about the play being over Special Olympics MVP Calvin Booth

 

How did this game turn out?

 

<a href="http://sports.yahoo.com/nba/recap;_ylt=AldczaCwL4gzDY4bYGAs1y68vLYF?gid=2005102310&prov=ap"<font size="+1"><b>Houston 75, Washington 71</a></font></b>

By CHRIS DUNCAN, AP Sports Writer
October 24, 2005
AP - Oct 23, 10:46 pm EDT

HOUSTON (AP) -- Houston Rockets coach Jeff Van Gundy didn't see much to like in his team's latest preseason win.

``That was horrific, it was abominable, it was unwatchable,'' Van Gundy said after the Rockets beat the Washington Wizards 75-71 Sunday night. Yao Ming scored 20 points in 24 minutes and Juwan Howard added 14 points as Houston improved to 5-1. Van Gundy has been warning for more than a week that the Rockets' preseason record is deceiving -- that the victories are masking serious deficiencies.

``We looked old tonight. Somehow, we've got to find some life to us,'' he said.

His players are starting to agree. Tracy McGrady scored only two points on a pair of free throws and watched almost all of the second half from the bench. "It wasn't fun to watch, I'll tell you,'' McGrady said. ``We've still got a long way to go to get ourselves together.''

As bad as the Rockets looked, the Wizards were worse, shooting 36 percent (26 of 72) and losing for the fifth time in seven preseason contests. But coach Eddie Jordan saw more positives from his team than Van Gundy saw from his. Jordan praised the Wizards' defense and thought they improved in their offensive execution. "We accomplished a lot of our goals tonight,'' Jordan said. ``We just didn't win the game.''

Caron Butler went 8-of-14 from the field and scored 22 points for the Wizards (2-5). Butler, acquired from the Lakers in August, likes the new offensive system he's joining. "This is working out just as I expected. You have to crawl before you walk,'' Butler said. ``But this is becoming fun. Coach Jordan is putting me in great situations.'' Chucky Atkins added 19 points and eight rebounds for the Wizards.

Stromile Swift had 12 points and nine rebounds for the Rockets, who bounced back from an 82-78 loss at Memphis the previous night. Van Gundy used mostly reserves in the fourth quarter. McGrady left the game with 8:54 left in the third quarter and Yao's night ended about 5 minutes later. Luther Head's fastbreak layup with 8:23 left gave the Rockets a 63-58 lead, but Atkins scored five points and Jared Jeffries sank a long jumper during the Wizards' 11-5 spurt. Swift picked up a loose ball and dunked to put the Rockets up for good, at 71-69. Rafer Alston's layup a minute later pushed the lead to four.

Atkins made a steal and Antonio Daniels' layup trimmed the deficit back to two. But Head sank a fadeaway jumper with 8.3 seconds left for the final margin. Both teams mustered their lowest point totals of the preseason. "We're one step closer to the regular season,'' Van Gundy said. "That's the only progress either team made tonight.''

The Rockets led 15-10 after an opening quarter in which the teams combined to miss 24 of 32 shots. Swift drew the loudest cheer of the opening half when he sank a two-handed desperation heave from 70 feet just after the first-quarter buzzer sounded. The Rockets built a nine-point lead, but the Wizards ended the half with a 9-2 run to trail 38-36 at halftime.

 

I know Van Gundy is doing some experimenting while its preseason but I didnt like the starting lineup. I think thats why the team got off to a slow start. I hope Rafer dosent miss any time due to injury. I also hope Wesley can regain his form.

 

I like the lineup that we had in the 3rd quarter.


Yao
Stromile
McGrady
Barry
Alston

 

was there even a pplive last year? thought it was pretty new stuff. i could be wrong though.

 

It seemed like we had a stretch where we played completely out of control on offense. Then on defense in the second half we just weren't getting up on the wing players. The rotations were off at times. Our double teams turned into accidental triple teams leaving someone wide open.

Does anyone remember who was guarding Butler in the second half when he went on his run?

 

T-Mac is fragile, that's the one thing that absolutely terrifies me about him. I have been to more than a few games (including last night's), and every time I look at T-Mac just walking (during practice or even in the slow moments of the game) he's semi-limping. I pointed it out to my brother yesterday, and he saw the same thing. I was thinking may be those arthritic knees from last season are still bugging him? May be his chronic back pains are acting up again?

I don't mean to alarm people or anything, because he will and has been playing through those pains through the years. But if I had to guess, I would say T-Mac is an old 26 year old as far as his body is concerned. I don't think his body-build will allow him to play beyond his early 30's.

Just a thought I wanted to share...

 

I understand where you are coming from, but disagree. His legs make him look fragile to me, but considering how much offensive production he's put up over the years and how explosive he still is after so many years in the league, T-Mac is actually very durable. I have no idea how long he will last, but his game will evolve over time and he will remain very effective. A player like AI, who would be nothing without his speed, will go into a sharp decline when the tires show some wear. But AI is another very durable player.
That all said, T-Mac's back is a wild card. That could stop him at any time.

 

I bet JVG would give his left nut to have an opponent give these Rockets a sound thrashing while it's still pre-season.

 

Just looked at R2K's highlight video. Skip made some solid plays off of penetration, including a very nice finish. Besides T-Mac 2 pts + 4 fouls and DA's 0fer in 24 minutes, the box score doesn't look too bad. With 4 brand new rotation players, including 2 or 3 starters, I don't expect the team to look fluid and smooth for quite some time. Hopefully the tough November schedule won't bust us in the mouth too hard. With the Wizards not playing Arenas or Jamison, you would hope we would have beaten them by a larger margin. But the lineup we started the game with stinks. DA & Wesley in the backcourt at the same time with T-Mac at point forward just doesn't click. JVG can toss that idea in the can for now.

And that "Hammer Slam" by Stromile was wicked.

 

Stro and Head are just AWESOME !!!!

I'm speechless......