ClutchFans Game Thread: Pistons @ Rockets 12/6/2003

boy, that just pisses me off to the tenth degree. Ive never ever posted in the D & D forum....ever. You crossed the line man. I would rather you come over and raid my fridge and drink all my heineken and kick my dog. Saying I posted in the D&D forum - you dirty rotten sonofabitch - uncool. Thats like me saying hangoutboy posts in the GARM forum - that **** was just not right man.

 

i have noticed since taking the coaching job, JVG rarely praises Yao, and when he does, he goes by it in a cautious way...
when he was doing tvgames on TNT, he always raved about him,

since you asked, I feel JVG loves Yao, and knows that Yao is a smart player, but he is cautious of praising Yao because well, he might feel he gets too much attention anyways, now, do not get it twisted, i am not saying any other rocket players would get jealous anyways, but i am just saying JVG wanted to come in and give everyone a fair approach, although, with Yao's improvement this season, JVG is very lowkey about praising yao

 

Yao, Rockets motor by Pistons
Only traffic delays center in win
By JONATHAN FEIGEN
Copyright 2003 Houston Chronicle
RESOURCES


First, the traffic.

The Katy Freeway was a mess, the Southwest Freeway was worse, and unless you are from Shanghai, you know about the Loop.

Anybody can be late to anything in Houston, as Yao Ming learned when he missed Saturday's shootaround. But he also knew what matters most is what you do when you get where you're going.

So when the Rockets' early offensive roll was not enough, when the lead was slipping away, Yao was in the right place at the right time after all. With his first 20-20 game, Yao helped close out the Pistons, helping the Rockets to an 86-80 win before a Toyota Center sellout of 18,144 on Saturday.

Yao's 20 rebounds were a career-high. Steve Francis had a season-best 11 assists, and five Rockets scored in double figures to push the Rockets' winning streak to three games.

The Rockets had a good stretch of offense in the first half. But by the third quarter, it began to look easy. The ball and bodies were moving quickly. The Rockets did not take tough shots, not because their decision-making was so good, but because they simply did not have to.

When Francis set up Cato on an alley-oop, Francis had his season-high in assists, 10, just five minutes into the second half, and the Rockets had a 15-point lead.

The next time he passed to Cato above the rim, Cato's slam took the lead to 19.

Even when Francis went out with his fourth foul, Cuttino Mobley immediately shot a pass inside to Cato for another slam. But as with the second quarter when Francis went out, the Rockets' offense began to stall.

This time, with the Pistons pressing, the Rockets never did regain their touch, never seemed in sync again.

Still leading by 14 with 7 1/2 minutes left, the Rockets made just one of their next eight shots and missed two of two free throws.

The Rockets went five minutes with just one field goal, Yao finding Maurice Taylor on a cut to the basket. But the 14-point fourth-quarter lead was cut to 80-74.

Mobley finally ended that drought with a tough driving layup, drawing a foul on Richard Hamilton for a three-point play.

With Taylor moving up to trap Chauncey Billups, Francis stripped Billups, drew a foul and knocked down one free throw for a 10-point Rockets lead.

Hamilton cut the lead to eight.

Once the Rockets got going, their offense seemed as smooth and precise as it has in any game this season. After the Pistons scored the game's first six points, with the Rockets missing the sort of shots they would happily take every night, the Rockets flew to a 24-12 lead.

In eight minutes, before he went out with two fouls, Francis had five assists, every Rockets player to have played scored early. By the end of the first quarter, the Rockets were hitting almost 62 percent of their shots.

It did not last. Such things in NBA games rarely do. The Rockets' shooting cooled. But predictably, the Rockets' offense stalled under the weight of their turnovers.

The Pistons did not catch the Rockets, but closed to within 48-41 at halftime.

But the Rockets had seemed to have established something they could call upon again. The defense would be there. It usually is. But their offense had clicked as it rarely had. Better still, it seemed to not be on a roll, but to have actually improved.

 

NBA Game Summary - Detroit At Houston

POSTED: 11:40 PM EST December 6, 2003

Houston, TX -- Yao Ming had 22 points and established a career-high with 20 rebounds in a dominating performance, leading the Houston Rockets to a 86-80 victory over the Detroit Pistons at the Toyota Center.

Cuttino Mobley and Maurice Taylor chipped in with 14 points each while Steve Francis had a season-high 11 assists for the Rockets, winners of three straight.

Mehmet Okur paced the Pistons with 21 points while Richard Hamilton added 17. Detroit had its four-game winning streak snapped.

The game was decided in the first seven minutes of the third quarter, as Houston came out strong in the second half with an 18-6 run. Francis capped the scoring on a jumper with 5:02 left, giving the Rockets a 66-47 lead.

The Pistons chipped away at the Rockets' lead in the fourth quarter, getting as close as six when Okur completed a three-point play with 3:53 left to narrow the gap to 80-74.

Mobley took the wind out of the Pistons' sails with a three-point play of his own 1:30 later to make it 83-74.

Yao put the exclamation point on the victory with a dunk in the closing seconds.

With the Rockets leading 37-34 with 4:22 left in the half, Yao scored four straight points to lead a 8-2 run, extending the Houston advantage to nine.

Ben Wallace's dunk with 45 seconds left in the half got it back to 46-41, but Yao converted a layup in the closing seconds, enabling the Rockets to take a 48-41 lead into the half.

Game Notes:

Houston has won its last six games at home and is 7-1 at the Toyota Center this season...Elden Campbell returned to the lineup after missing a game to attend his grandmother's funeral...The Pistons are 7-5 away from home this season...The Pistons won both meetings with the Rockets last season.


Copyright 2003. Courtesy of SportsNetwork.

 

"I've never seen him take a hook shot before. I had him where I wanted him, away from the basket, but he was still hitting his shots," Campbell said (haha,lazy guy,just go back to check yao's game)
"I consider myself a good post defender, but he is 7-5. And when he is 15 feet out making his shots, it's a little frustrating," Campbell said.
(it is lucky yao is not dunking on him ask Big ben And Okur)



"We all wanted to rebound well against a good rebounding team like Detroit. I just did my job," Yao said.

"Yao is a tremendous player and he had a great game. Houston kept us outside and that was the key to the game," Detroit coach Larry Brown said. "We didn't shoot well, but maybe Houston had something to do with that. We went small and Houston took advantage of that. We shot so many outside shots and they kept getting key rebounds.""Steve in the first half created a lot of great shots for everybody, but when he got in foul trouble we sort of leveled off," Houston coach Jeff Van Gundy said. "Then when he came back in we played well again offensively."

 

and suggest Texas stoke travel a little bit to get to know people from other place better. dont just stay in ur hometown.

 

Just got back from the game. Here's some pictures from my camera:

Pregame warmups


Bill and Calvin


Drums


Rockets Intro


Clutch the Bear


Getting ready for tipoff


Rockets on defense


Timeout


Lotsa Steve Francis foam heads!


More Francis heads!

 

still early days yet jvg needs to use the bench more or the rox will be too tired come the playoffs. even though steve had 11 assists wouldn't it have been good to have boki slashing to the basket with steve taking the perimeter shots? a team is only as good as their bench players allow. develop the talent and don't overwork your money men too early.

 

Warming up for second half






Yao Ming with the ball


Mobley for three


Cato dunks the alleyoop!


Clutch attacks!


Clutch keeps climbing the stands!

 

The breakdancers were awesome! The step dancers were awesome too, but I didn't get any pics of them. :/





Rockets in a huddle


Colin Pine, Yao Ming and Gene Peterson after the game.


Bill Worrell, Steve Francis and Calvin Murphy after the game.



Hahahaha, this was hilarious! "Gimme one of the foam heads! Gimme one of those foam heads!" -- Calvin Murphy.


Steve Francis gets up to go.


Gene and Yao. Cynthia Cooper on the screen.

 

Gene and Yao again. Not many people staying around.


Yao leaving.

 

bored2ru, You chinese? I never said all chinese feel that way. I feel a large portion that come here do root for Yao to succeed because that makes them feel successful in a certain way. But theres a large protion who dont give a damn. I mean c;mon man, talk to me, man to man, not we americans(which i would never be so arrogant and dumb to say) and we chinese. whats up

 

tikwanleap, thanks man. You really had some good stuff to show!! These pictures are awesome.

 

Sharp elbow to the head. Ouch! Yao is learning how to play the NBA way.

 

JVg doesnt praise yao cause he has no need to. dudes a freaking manipulator from hell. Who does JVG praise most? The mentally fragile guys. you all know the two names.

 

Texas Stoke, you got to understand, if Rockets don't make the playoff for 10 years and Yao has 50 ppg every year, NOBODY will be happy. Some people talk about Yao's stats a bit more and don't mind he has ONE monster game where rockets lose, you should just take that and lay off.

As to the feel proud for Chinses stuff I don't know what are you talking about. Why are you a rockets fan ? Isn't that because you are in Houston ? So since when there's a problem that Chinese only support Yao ?

 

1. we not only root for yao ..'that makes' us 'feel successful in a certain way', we mainly enjoy the game and the win of rockets. get it? that's a true fan oughtta do, to my personal opinion.
2. don't provoke any quarrel between chinese and american, read carefuly what I said in my post. thought u understand english better than me though I don't write good english but I make myself clear.
3. really tired of such nonsense which is far from a game and ur team.
4. take my suggestion, take a trip to other places.
5. I was talking to you, not all american.
6. hope and wish u enjoy the game more than sth else.

 

Yao posted in his bbs that he was late for half an hour today. JVG stated at the team's final meeting that Yao owed them a very good game.

Yao sounds scared of JVG. Just like a little kid in front of his teacher. Very typical chinese behaviour.

 

When Yao had 30 pts, 16 rb last year agains Dallas but Rockets lost, were people happy? I think so. But if Rockets lose to Dallas 10 games in a roll but Yao has that number every game, will anybody be happy ? nope.

 

Hey,TS, I am a Chinese too, your post did irritate me. I love Yao becuase I love basketball, I am proud of Yao because he is a Chinese too. So what is the big deal? You are a American, and you certainly feel proud when your national basketball team won the world champion.

By the way, I am talking to you, man to man.