I attended the Rockets Send Off. Besides the fact that there were no refreshments and we had to squeeze in the outside corridor to look to a undersized stage it was pretty cool. The roped off a path for the Rockets to make their way to the makeshift stage. Craig Ackerman was the emcee. And Clutch the Bear entertained along with those halftime dancers and a few RPD's. Everyone was tossing tshirts and rocket stuff to the fans. Brooks was the first Rocket to make his way to the stage. He dressed pretty casual and also started throwing t-shirts to the fans. Craig said he knew there was something going on between him and Fisher the last game and asked him how he felt about that. AB gave a sly sneer and said Fisher was very talented and he was ready but that was all he had to say right now about that guy. Meaning he won't get away with that dirty play again (IMO). AB looked pretty relaxed and overall seemed ready to battle. Next came Artest. Everyone went crazy to see him and he forgot about the roped off path and walked right thru the crowd as everyone mobbed him. Almost like his visit to the in game 6. You cvan tell he loves the adoration. Artest said he respected Kobe and loved the challenge to defend him and he and he and Battier would make him work. Craig reminded that he said the Rockets goal was not to just win the first round. That wasn't the Lakers goal, that wasn't clevelands goal that wasn't bostons goal. ANd Ron said yes we are here to win it all. We have Yao and we can win it all. Artest said no disrespect to LA but we come to battle. And siad a whole lot more but mostly it was just pumping up the crowd for the team. he kept asking them to play his music. I feelt he wanted to start rapping for the crowd. Mutombo came out and thanked the fans. he said he just came from thier practice just minutes before. He said the Rockets were focused and ready to play. He said he was proud of his teammates and the fans. he said they will play good and thanked us for the support. Battier came next and again he thanked the fans. He said the one thing he can promise all the fans is that that will come out ready and they will play hard and tough. After that it was time for a break with Clutch puttin on a Karate display but before he could finish Yao entered from the back and all eyes were on him. Yao was all smiles and shook hands with the fans along the way. definitely got the loudest ovation and I was focused so much on him that I didn't even notice Wafer and Landry were behind him. They all made their way to the stage and you could sense Yao was very happy but a little uncomfortable with all of the adualtion. The crowd was pretty loud and Von and Landry spoke first. VOn didn't say anything different. Landry Just said they were ready and it was Landry and Von and Lowry's job to come off the bench and bring energy and he promised they would ot that. And then Yao started to speak and the crowd roared. He thanked the crowd but I couldn't hear a whole bunch of what he said. Yao is so soft spoken and his slight accent and the loud crowd made it hard to hear so I decided to leave at this point to beat the crowd since Yao was going to be the last speaker. All and all I think it was a good send off. The Rockets seemed to appreciate it. They said all the right things about being ready and playing hard. My sense is this will be close and the Rockets will have a shot to win it in the end. Forget about their 4-0 record against us. Disregard they are more talented than us. Throw out the fact Kobe is probably the best player in the league especially in th 4th. And mark my words the Lakers will not beat us shooting jumpers. I thought the Portland series was about as physical as we have faced in many years and we came out on top. if the Lakers do not play as physical we will win.
Thanks for the insight on the Send Off man.. sounds good, we're going their confident and ready to play.
Nice OMR. Artest can sure grow on you, first his excursion into the stands Game 6 and now the LA send off. He is no doubt the most charismatic figure on this team.
No... I was surprised as many came out as they did. I think it was a kind of voluteer thing. Out of our main core Lowry didn't show either. Some people love attention. You could tell artest wanted to be there and Mutombo loved it. Battier seemed to be happy. Actually all seemed happy but you could sense Yao was doing for us more than the other way around. On a side note Wafer proclaimed he feels fine!
It was a great time. Except when I was elbowed in the head without an apology. People go crazy stupid for free shirts. I got the last laugh and the shirt with an elbow to their stomach later on.
You can't be serious right? They had their last practice before leaving to fly to LA. According to Mutombo they had a good practice. Thhey showered and then took turns visiting the fans. No one spent more than a few minutes on stage. ANd they all seemed to appreciate they love. SO if you think rest is an issue than they expended almost none and got a boost from the crowd at best and if that hurts the team and we lost already.
