See. That was what I meant. Here is the extract from Yahoo Sport. "Cuttino Mobley and Steve Francis scored 18 points apiece and each made big 3-pointers down the stretch as the Houston Rockets rallied for an 89-85 win over the Cleveland Cavaliers on Wednesday night. Francis made four free throws in the final 16 seconds for the Rockets, who used a late 12-0 spurt to make up a seven-point deficit in the fourth quarter. Maurice Taylor added 14 points as Houston snapped a three-game losing streak. Cavs rookie LeBron James won the matchup of the NBA's last two No. 1 overall draft picks, outscoring Yao Ming 17-12. Cleveland has lost 12 of 14. " http://sports.yahoo.com/nba/recap?gid=2003121705 For those who do not have time to watch the game nor check the stat, here they are: Francis 6-18 FG, 5-6 FT, 7 RB, 9 Assists, 1 TO, 0 Blk James 7-19 FG, 1-2 FT, 1 RB 2 Assists, 2 TO, 0 Blk Yao 6-8 FG, 0-0 FT, 6 RB, 0 Assists, 2 TO, 3 Blk You will be the judge, who the media published as heros. And you'll be the judge why there is no team ball on bad teams! It does not matter how many shots; it matters only if you take the bulk of shots and you hands will be warm at the later part of the game. If not, hopefully warm in the next game.
Steve had 9 assists, 1 TO and hit some clutch shots in the quarter and you have a problem with the media mentioning him him in their story??
So you want the media to mention minute details like that, that didnt affect the outcome of the game?? The media's job is to report the basics. They did that. Their job is not to mention a player's every mistake, unless they were a factor in the game (i.e. Steve Francis' foul with 1.3 secs left in the game gave LeBron James 2 FTs and Cleveland a 92-91 victory). See how that works??
One of the basics is SF kept jacking up bricks in the 4th quarter and almost singlehandly created a 7-point deficit. No mentioning of that fact. Yeah, a couple of big shotss (one from SF) and poor play from Cavs bailed him out, but in no way should he be portraited as the hero of this game. And in no way would I agree that James won the match up, if there was one in the first place. Media sucks!
I am glad that you mention that. That is exactly the point I was making. The media did not go into the details of the facts. They simply published who score most points. They did not care why we went from up by three to down by seven in the fourth quarter when Francis went individual and missed those five shots later part of the game. So, if you are a talent player like Francis. What would you do? Your individual market value or the team ball? I am glad that we won the game. In fact, extremely happy that Francis did pass the ball the final four plays that open up his own shots. But simply beating a bad, bad Eastern team by making ourselves difficult does not solve our long-term problem. We need a different attitude from what was reported by the media.
he had a lousy first half, but played extremely well in the second. i think Francis did a great job tonight
It must really suck to not have as much fodder as you would like for criticizing Steve. Our PG had 9asts. 1 TO, made some clutch points in the 4th and got an assist on Cat's 3 as well. Yes it is possible to find mistakes in Steve's game tonight, but only if you dig through all the good strong play to find it. You seem determined to do that, so I'm sure there won't be a game this year where we can't find something Steve has done wrong. Maybe next time Steve will stink and we can lose and you will have more fun.
acrophobia98, 1) Good luck getting the AP to change the way they report games. 2) The article you cited was a game recap, not a commentary.
Hi FranchiseBlade. Based on your previous postings, I know you have always been a full-time Francis supporter. Mind you, I did that occasionally too. But, in this thread I never said Steve had a bad game tonight. It's your interpretation that way whatever others did not praise Francis as god. I guess I am not as much one-sided as you are although I occasionally give Francis compliments and credits. If you go to the game thread, you will attest what I said about credit be given to Francis in the last couple of minutes. What I criticised was the media? That clearly had effect on some players. In particular, for talent players like Francis who always like to be heroic. That was the same attitude that hurts the team. If you still think that is a criticism on Francis, you better clear your own mind.
LOL. I have seen enough of that; and I shouldn't be surprised. After all, the NBA has been marketing BB as an individual star show anyway. Why should it be team-ball? I must be too naive on that.
acrophobia, Again. That articles, and others like it, are not commentaries, they are recaps. They tell you the significant happenings in the game. Steve missing 3 shots early in the 4th is not significant enough to be in a recap because it didnt affect the outcome of the game. As far as you saying that it affects the players, I would like to hear how you came to this conclusion. Do you really think players just sit there and read over AP recaps and base the way they play on that??? Please. Give the players a lil more credit than that.
You're right. The wire service story clearly should have lead off with the outstanding 12 point, 6 board Zero free throw performance of Yao or the clutch 3 minutes that Moochie turned in. This thread is so dumb I regret having clicked.
OK, let's not looking at the three missed shots before his "key" shots and started analysis from when Francis made the "key" shots. You can see from below, after that, Francis missed both of his two final shots and gave Cleverland four foul shot opportunities in a span of the final 1.54 minutes. The AP ignore what was before and after the "Francis' key shots". Instead they extracted the middle part that you defined as clutch time. Well, on the one hand, we were lucky that Cleverland did not make their shots incuding FT and on the other, I am glad that Francis changed his mind at the end to pass the ball. But the heroic reporting based on the number of points the player got, whether it was Francis, James or Yao, certainly did not do any good to the team. (3:22) [HOU 81-78] Francis Jump Shot: Made (12 PTS) (3:03) [CLE] Williams Jump Shot: Missed (3:02) [HOU] Francis Rebound (Off:0 Def:7) (2:58) [HOU 83-78] Francis Driving Layup: Made (14 PTS) (2:56) [CLE] Team Timeout: Short (2:46) [CLE 80-83] James (13 PTS) (2:18) [HOU] Jackson Jump Shot: Missed (2:16) [HOU] Ming Rebound (Off:1 Def:4) (1:54) [HOU] Francis Jump Shot: Missed (1:52) [CLE] Brown Rebound (Off:1 Def:5) (1:42) [CLE] Battie Jump Shot: Missed (1:41) [HOU] Ming Rebound (Off:1 Def:5) (1:33) [HOU] Team Timeout: Regular (1:23) [HOU] Francis Jump Shot: Missed (1:19) [CLE] Brown Rebound (Off:1 Def:6) (1:12) [HOU] Francis Foul: Shooting (2 PF) (1:12) [CLE 81-83] James Free Throw 1 of 2 (14 PTS) (1:12) [CLE] James Free Throw 2 of 2 missed (1:11) [HOU] Taylor Rebound (Off:1 Def:2) (0:52) [HOU] Taylor Turnover: Bad Pass (3 TO) Steal: Brown (1 ST) (0:42) [CLE] Battie Turnover: Bad Pass (2 TO) Steal: Jackson (1 ST) (0:23) [HOU 85-81] Taylor Jump Shot: Made (14 PTS) Assist: Francis (9 AST) (0:23) [CLE] Team Timeout: Regular (0:18) [CLE] James Running Jump: Missed (0:18) [CLE] Team Rebound (0:18) [HOU] Francis Foul: Loose Ball (3 PF) (0:18) [CLE 82-85] Boozer Free Throw 1 of 2 (5 PTS) (0:18) [CLE] Boozer Free Throw 2 of 2 missed (0:18) [HOU] Jackson Rebound (Off:1 Def:5) (0:17) [CLE] Battie Foul: Personal (1 PF) (0:17) [HOU] Taylor Substitution replaced by Piatkowski (0:16) [CLE] Boozer Foul: Personal (2 PF) (0:16) [HOU 86-82] Francis Free Throw 1 of 2 (15 PTS) (0:16) [HOU] Piatkowski Substitution replaced by Taylor (0:16) [CLE] Battie Substitution replaced by Ollie (0:16) [HOU 87-82] Francis Free Throw 2 of 2 (16 PTS) (0:09) [CLE 85-87] James (17 PTS) Assist: Ollie (6 AST) (0:09) [CLE] Ollie Foul: Personal (1 PF) (0:09) [HOU 88-85] Francis Free Throw 1 of 2 (17 PTS) (0:09) [HOU 89-85] Francis Free Throw 2 of 2 (18 PTS) (0:03) [CLE] James Jump Shot: Missed (0:01) [CLE] Ollie Rebound (Off:1 Def:2) (0:00) [CLE] Brown Jump Shot: Missed (0:00) [CLE] Team Rebound (0:00) End Period
If you have read my posts you would have noticed that in almost every post that I defend him, I also point out that he has weaknesses, and mistakes he's made. I may go over board sometimes in my defense in an effort to balance out unfair criticism he receives but I try not to. Yes you criticized the media. But you criticized them for not criticizing Francis. You seemed disappointed that the media didn't focus on the shooting woes in our victory rather than the clutch play and things that Steve did which helped our team get the win. I don't care if people praise Francis as anything. I do get bummed when people bash anyone on the team including Francis in an imblanced and biased manner. Steve has certainly played horrible at times trying to be the hero. The Toronto game comes to mind. Tonight the clutch shots he took were in the flow and not him forcing anything. Also he got clutch assists and not just clutch scoring, so I don't think he was doing anything wrong tonight when the game came to crunch time. As I said before, Steve didn't shoot well, and hasn't for most of the season. So like other players who aren't shooting well we should want them to do other things to make a difference and hope they snap out of their slump. Steve did do other things(FT's 9assists) and came out of his slump in the 4th a bit, and at the right time. We won so the positive things get the attention.
I feel the same way about the logic in this thread. I just don't see the point you're trying to make.
You certainly should regret after reading I show you the clutch time analysis just now. On the same logic you stated here, why don't you say Taylor make a clutch shot with 6-12, 3 rebounds and 3 blocks in 25 minutes of play. That make sense? That was more factual in depicting someone who missed so many shots, including those in clutch time, as a hero. Not only Francis, but also James.
acrophobia98 The media reported the important details that affected the outcome of the game. Even if Clev had made those 2 FTs, we still win by 2!! Francis fouls at the end didnt affect the outcome, so why is there a need for a basic AP recap to include that??? If the writer has to include every mistake that MIGHT HAVE cost the team the game, then his recap would take an hour to read. Its very standard for an AP recap to a) Focus on player's points and b) Focus on the high point man for the winning team. It has been this way since Ive been able to read a newspaper. They focus on "big stats", not minute ones. Why didnt the AP writer mention Jackson's missed jumper with 2:18 left?? Why didnt the AP writer mention Taylor's bad pass/TO with :52 left??? See what Im saying?? They are insignificant details that didnt affect the outcome. Recaps are not there to make players or teams better. The writer could care less about reporting Francis mistakes that didnt cost his team the game because the average reader could care less. In the end, give players and coaches enough credit and don't say that basic AP recaps affect the way they play the game. That is the most far fetched conclusion Ive ever seen on here.
As JVG said that we were not as good as it seemed in the 4 win streak, we were not good tonight. We won because we got lucky with a few big shots at the end. But you cannot always dig a hole for yourself and then count on luck. The problem with media coverage is that they report part of the story only, and we know most athlets have below-average IQ and don't see the other part of the story unless you tell them. Yes, they say that they saw problems after a win, but that is mostly fomality. A report like this will probably make tehm feel pretty good. I don't want SF feel that he is doing well. OK, he is having a cold and he got more assists, but until he gets his shooting back, he is doing more harm than good by trying to take over the game in the 4th quarter of a close game.
For god's sake, people miss shots! In a tough, low scoring affair(all rockets games these days), 3/8 is not that bad. Francis came up with a critical loose ball, made a key 3, and sealed the victory with 4 clutch freethrows. I'm glad Francis stepped up, because Yao sure as hell didn't do it. He let Cleveland take him completely out of the offense, and when he had a shot opportunity he quickly passed it off. Francis deserves praise, because without him we had no chance. 1 star for you.
