Fran Says... We sucked before, we suck now, we will suck again, and even if we don't suck... we suck. FRAN YOU SUCK!!!!
Let him wait until April. He'll predictably say that he knew we would be kicking ass and taking names the whole time, jump on the bandwagon and write crappy "positive" articles in which he blatantly proclaims I told you so about every obvious aspect of the Rockets playoff drive.
I wish the Chronicle would bring Eddie Sefko back to Houston. And let him cover basketball instead of golf. Fran is a goofus and always has been.
Sounds like someone who's been extremely let down by this team over the years. I agree with him on Francis though. I think wink is trying really hard to figure out what he needs to do to take the Rox to the next level. Seriously, most of the quotes I've read describe someone is willing to be a leader and open minded about how he needs to change his game. Steve even said that Yao's going to have a breakout year in their new offense. I feel sorry for how Cuttino is such a media whipping boy. He's a really nice guy and he's never been a personality problem for the team. Rudy wanted him to score so that's what he did. Despite this philosophy of no excuses, last year was truly a transition year.
Sefko wasn't a columnist. Actually, Jonathon Feigen took Sefko's job. There have only been a handful of sports columnists at the Chron over the last 20 years - Fran, Dale Robertson, Ed Fowler (now gone), John Lopez and Mickey Herskowitz who writes the occassional column after coming over from the Post. Beat writers do their own columns, but Blinebury, Robertson, Lopez and Herskowitz are the only columnists who can do general assignment columns for sports meaning they can write about whatever.
If the Rockets make significant improvements and play "smart" basketball, we will all be happy. BUT if the ghosts of the past return (it's almost Halloween, get it?), this board will made Fran's article look like Mary Poppins! Right now, I think JVG can make it happen.
If Fran wrote an article about how the Rockets were bound to make the playoffs, it would still suck. He's just a bad writer. This article actually reflects a turning point in my life. In my daily routine, I would get to work, check the cc.net frontpage, read the basketball articles at chron.com, quickly scan the headlines of si and then work (later, I come here for a break). I was indiscrimant in reading the Chron articles; I read them all. Today, I read the first 2 paragraghs of this article and said to myself, "What am I doing? Fran sucks; why am I wasting my time with his stupid article? Especially when I already know what he's going to say, and especially when I know he'll do it badly." So, as of today, I won't be reading any more of his stuff. If I see his name in the by-line, I'm going to the next article.
Absolutely. Furthermore, if we somehow manage to miss out on the playoffs again this year (even in the tough West), expect to see some MAJOR changes in the off-season. The only untouchables would be JVG and Yao. Even Stevie's and CD's heads would be on the block.
U r too hard on Fran. He did not say anything posters here haven't said in the past week(s). It may be old news to us but not to the general public.
Yep. Will will 10 more games (the close ones we lost)! I really believe that! Please thank JVG, a stronger Yao and a Francis that's willing to do anything to win (even change his game).
I read criticisms like the ones Fran makes and I think how interesting it would to see the Rockets get into the playoffs with the same 43 wins they had last year. Better yet, 43 wins and a trip to the finals. The Rockets have gone to the finals with fewer wins. The way people jump on and off the Rockets band wagon, overstate the negative, then overstate the positve depending on one games outcome. A season like that would make for some real interesting reading.
You're right. I really liked Sefko and he does a good job with the Morning News now for the Mavs. I like Feigen as well. To tell you the truth, who I really miss is Harry Shattuck, from the '80's. My hatred of Fran dates back to that '85/'86 season, when he predicted the Lakers to meet the Celtics in the Finals and gave the Rocks no chance against the Lakers. Of course, he had to backtrack during the series... after the first game in L.A. Harry Shattuck did a great job back then. He wrote columns, like Feigen sometimes does. Fran was still trying to figure out who to suck up to. I guess what I was saying is that I wish Sefko, or someone else, was writing the columns instead of Blinebury. As you can see, my dislike goes back a long time. Here's a sample from way back when, that some of the posters not around to watch the games might enjoy reading. What a hell of a series! Paper: HOUSTON CHRONICLE Date: WED 05/14/86 Aggressiveness turns tide By HARRY SHATTUCK Staff INGLEWOOD, Calif. - Same court. Same teams. Same players. But what a different result. Neither the Houston Rockets nor the Los Angeles Lakers had trouble discerning reasons why the Rockets were so superior Tuesday night in Game 2 of the National Basketball Association Western Conference finals compared to the series opener three days earlier at the Forum. Players cited in particular: Better interior defense, especially by intimidating Twin Towers Akeem Olajuwon and Ralph Sampson. An improved running game. More consistent outside shooting. But what happened to allow these changes in Houston's favor? The athletes and coaches provide insight: The Interior Defense Lakers center Kareem Abdul-Jabbar had dominated the opener, scoring 31 points. In Game 2, he missed 17 of 26 shots. And referring to 12 Houston rejections of Los Angeles field-goal attempts overall, Abdul-Jabbar said, "I can't remember having so many of my shots blocked. "I would beat one of the big men and the other guy would block my shot. A guard would come back and bother me, too. After a while, they had me hitching and looking for somebody else." Ralph Sampson was assigned to Abdul-Jabbar, and all surveyed hailed Sampson's performance. But they gave credit elsewhere, too. "Ralph turned me to his teammates," Abdul-Jabbar said. "That was a big difference. He got help." Olajuwon provided the biggest assistance. "Akeem came from the weak side and made some great individual plays," Houston Coach Bill Fitch said. "We were more prepared to defend against their offense tonight," Sampson said. "We dropped a guard back in Kareem's lap. And we picked up (Lakers guard) Magic Johnson better than we did in the first game. A big key is that Kareem didn't get many points off Magic's passes the way he did Saturday." Johnson had continually penetrated inside, too, for layups or easy assists in the opener. Not this time. "Lewis Lloyd was tremendous on Magic," Houston 's Mitchell Wiggins assessed his fellow guard. "Saturday, Magic ran by everybody, the players, the coach and the trainer. But Lew made Magic work real hard tonight and it slowed him down." The Twin Towers did their part, too. "You can't stop a Magic Johnson with one man," Fitch said. "We had all of our front-liners down low being defenders. You can't let Magic take the ball in the middle on you." And if the plan didn't work? "We didn't have as many defensive breakdowns this game, but when we did, we blocked shots," Sampson said. "The key to blocking so many shots, though, is that the Lakers kept taking the ball to the basket. They didn't back down." Neither did the Towers. It was, according to Rockets guard Robert Reid, merely a matter of reaching. "Our big men reached down deep for a gut-check tonight," Reid said. "And they reached up, too. Way up." The Running Game Following Game 1, some observers dismissed the series as a confrontation between the Lakers' fast break and the Rockets ' half-court attack designed to work the ball inside. Fitch wasn't buying that theory. "We've been a running team all season, too," Fitch said. "But we forgot to run on Saturday. "The Lakers' defense, like any other team's defense, is a lot easier to work against if you don't give it time to set up. We moved the ball up the floor much quicker tonight." Why? "We played harder than we did Saturday," Sampson said. "I wanted to beat them up the court every time. Everybody on our team wanted to run." "I was too passive Saturday," said Reid, who directs the attack. "Tonight, we tried to push the ball whenever possible so that we could get the easy opportunities." The Lakers' Johnson agreed. "They were more aggressive," Magic said. "Their rebound advantage (51-38) and blocked shots show their aggressiveness. And because of the rebounds and blocks, they were able to get the running game going." "They were persistent," Abdul-Jabbar said. "Even when they got behind early, they didn't get discouraged. They kept coming at us." The Outside Shooting Mitchell Wiggins and the Rockets ' other guards are accustomed to oversights. "As long as we've got the Twin Towers, we know we're going to take a back seat in attention," Wiggins said. "But that only makes us dig down deeper." Wiggins' 7-for-9 shooting was critical Tuesday night. He exited the bench to score 10 second-quarter points and was a prime factor in Houston overcoming an early 14-point Los Angeles lead. Meanwhile, Lloyd, another Rockets outside threat, started miserably, throwing one air ball that by Lloyd's admission "missed by about 6 feet. I could hear the crowd laughing." "Lewis wasn't shooting well enough to put a pea in the ocean," Fitch said, "but I left him in there because he was doing such a good job on defense against Magic." By the finish, Lloyd joined Sampson as the leading scorer with 24 points. Like Wiggins, Reid and Rodney McCray, he deposited long shots at appropriate times. "They were giving me the outside shot the whole game and I think I proved it was a mistake," Lloyd said. The Lakers' strategy wasn't lost on Wiggins either. "Their game plan is to make people beat them other than Ralph and Akeem," Wiggins said. "But if we only play even with them in the backcourt, then we should be ahead overall because of our big men." Or as Lloyd said, "When our guards play well and shoot well, we usually win." Mission accomplished. ............... ROCKETS NOTES - The last time the Rockets won a game at the Forum was on Jan. 30, 1985, by 116-113 . . .LA had won 14 of its last 15 games in Houston , though the Rockets took the last one 109-103 on April 6 . . . Both games in Houston are already sold out . . .The referees for Game 2 were Jake O'Donnell and Paul Mihalak. The Rockets are now 5-2 with O'Donnell and 5-3 with Mihalak . . .The Rockets returned to Houston on an early morning flight. The Lakers remained in LA today and will arrive in Houston on Thursday afternoon. The Lakers will headquarter at Stouffers Greenway Plaza. Both teams will work out Thursday at Rice University . . .In addition to the local media from Houston and Los Angeles, Game 2 drew writers from 13 other newspapers in eight different cities . . .The Lakers have won 12 straight playoff series against Western Conference teams since losing a three-game mini-series to the Rockets in 1981 . . .The Lakers have been to the NBA Finals the last four years. That is a streak topped only by the Boston Celtics, who made it 10 straight times from 1957 to 1966. A blast from the past. Let's hope we get to read something like this during the playoffs this season!
