ClutchFans Game Thread: Rockets @ Mavericks 2/21/2004

When I came home and got into chatroom, rox is up 23-7, and then 51-47 in the half time, that is ok. And then comes the 3rd quarter. I swear that I never come to chatroom to watch the game again! Gosh!!

Seriously, does Yao and rox ever watched the game of spurs vs. dallas. I know we are not yet in the class of spurs. But it might teach us a lot how to beat dallas.

 

When does Mobley's contract expire? Get him outta here asap...

Was the 10 assists Mobley dished a few weeks ago a scheme of trying to prevent himself from being traded?

Steve was having an off night so you can't blame on him, and Yao is not getting the touches...

 

i knew after the first quarter we were going to lose. Really frustrating to watch the pbp in the chatroom, and all i see is cat for 3 cat for 3 sf for 3 cat for 3 jj for 3 yao hook cat for 3 bad pass sf for 3 JJ for 3 steal yao spin move to dunk cat for 3.....you get the gist.

 

The Dallas Mavericks are the Seattle Sonics of the 21st century for us, in other words, our worst nightmare, our greatest enemy. We will conquer them.

 

" We had to run the ball to get Yao tired and that is what we did."

Some rockets player joined the "run and gun "team too!

SHAME!

 

I remember Cuttino shooting a 3 point jumper running down the court. Van Gundy should have benched him right there, but he didn't. I think Van Gundy was outcoached severely tonight.

 

Remember how that was accomplished? One of the biggest trades in franchise history had to be done to get past the Sonics. I think it's going to take a huge trade for this team to get past the Mavs.

 

Thats unfortunate because that involves two things that the Rox dont do very well... feeding the ball into the high-post (Yao) and ball movement.

Did anyone notice when the ball FINALLY got to Yao at the free throw line that things finally started happening. Once he upfaked, dribbled and whipped a pass to Weatherspoon, the second time he caught Spoon the roll to the basket, another time in the first half he took a dribble to the hoop and got Cuttino a open three...

I don't know how many times I saw Francis decide to do a dribbling exhibition. It drove me crazy. He has great talent and skill but until he learns to put that within the confines of what the Rockets are trying to do, I think we are in for a long time of heartache.

Stuart

 

Lets wait till we face them in the playoffs a few years, before we give them that title.

Seattle had beaten the Rockets (in heartbreaking fashion) in THREE straight playoff series.

The Mavs have only had some regular season success against us. In fact, I remember the 95 season, when the Spurs DOMINATED us in the regular season... I honestly thought that Rockets team (even w/ Clyde) couldn't handle Rodman, Robinson, Vinny Del Negro, or Sean Elliot.

We all know how that playoff turned out.

If we face the Mavs in the playoffs this year, i'll be very happy... mostly because Dallas is likely a 5 seed at worst, and that would mean either we'd be the 4 seed, or we'd have pulled a first round upset.

 

i didn't see the game.. but check out this quote form jj, what is he talking about?

"Yeah, we learned something," said Rockets forward Jim Jackson, sounding disgusted. "We learned we continue to make the same mistakes. In big games against San Antonio and Dallas, it's always the same thing...

chron

 

my question is how we got outrebounded so badly by what's usually considered a soft Mavs front court...

Yao and Cato and MoTay all with 5 or less boards?

Another observation is that, with our reliance on Stevie and JJax for grabbing defensive boards, don't we lose a lot of fast break opportunities that way? Shouldn't Stevie be streaking down court on most plays?

 

PLUS, when faced with Dallas' 2-3 zone, you had your guards dribbling the ball away which allowed the Mavs to trap the ball handler. EVERYONE on this team INCLUDING the coach needs to get a book on how to play against the zone defense because they have the same excuses everytime they get smoked by the Mavericks.

JVG has transformed the Rockets alright - he's transformed them into the NY Knicks. When he was hired, I posted my concerns that his Eastern Conference style of offense would not play well against the good teams in the West. Last night was exhibit number 1. The Rockets struggle to get 80 points on a nightly basis and this simply will not cut it in the playoffs. Based on what I've seen so far, even if they make it into the playoffs (and that's still an IF), they are almost certain to be quickly swept out the door...

For those who still drink the Rockets red koolaid consider this: The Grizzlies and the Hawks both recently beat the Mavs who just swept the floor up with this so-called "great defensive team". The Grizzlies are now a 1/2 game behind the Rockets for the 7th playoff spot.

 

why isnt steve aggresive anymore?

 

Yeah. JVG show up now.

JVG: If you had accepted the invitation from Les, I couldn't come Houston. I'm grateful you once gave me a chance to coach here. Here is my gift for you,my seniority. I just called 4 timeouts, change tactic a bit when meeting an emergency,then let those Rox guys play as they want...all right?

D.Neolson: ah... Thanks.

 

And the winner is . . . Option A!!!!!!!!!!!!!

 

as long as we have Mobley and Francis in the backcourt,we should all expect inconsistent play by the Rox.

 

Dont expect Yao Ming to become a Beast. Its not the way he is and thats that. He will become a great player is the style of Yao Ming and no other. Steve Francis, how I have wanted him to adapt but seems that its not in his makeup, he doesnt want to play second fiddle to anyone! Rudy ruined him by allowing him to take control of the Team . Both Francis and Mobley played well and under control against the Lakers, it was a sham! They adapted to JVGs game to prevent any possibility of being Traded , even though it was so remote.
The way the Guards have been playing better in many games when Yao Ming goes out is only part of their effort to show their disapproval of JVG and the development of Yao Ming. Dont be fooled by the Media, Yao Ming and our Guards live in two different worlds, although they are in the same City.Their respect for one another is only for the Media, not in the Heart.

 

I agree partially. That player doesn't necessarily have to be a star, but they do need to lead on the floor and dictate the pace of the game. Steve's post game quote shows that he knows what he at least knows where they went wrong:

On Dallas’ zone defense
"We settle too much for the long shots instead of taking it to the basket. We began the game driving and kicking, getting the ball inside and outside, but once they went into the zone, we just settled for threes."

Obviously the message arrived a little late there Stevie. You're teammates could have used that insight in the second, third and definitely fourth quarters.

 

i posted it in the espn message board. here i post it again because i was totally p*ssed off. i was like a fool, fighting anyone who did not believe we could win before the last nite game.

finally, i put my fire away. i've not written anything but the prediction game. i was speechless just like our coach's and players' clueless how to attack the zone defense. c'mon, the zone d was not installed first time last nite. we've been through their d for several times. we still dunno how to solve it. blaming on the bad shooting is totally nonsense. they have to question their iq. are you really smarter than the mavs coach? don't tell me other teams have same problem. if you do, then you tell me they are same stupid as those teams' coach and players. i do believe the zone d has some weakness. i dunno what those are. however, if the coach and players dunno like i do, then what a difference to hire those experts from hiring a fan.

The following is my thought about a future rox.

1) Clarify the role of each player. yao and sf are our main offense options. when yao is on the court and because sf is our pg, yao is the focus point. when yao isn't on the court, sf is our #1 and takes over the offense. other players shouldn't shoot more than both unless they are too hot to be ignored. yesterday is a bad example. how could cat shoot almost double what our stars got? i dunno what the coach was doing. cat should be benched if he dunno his role.
2) Because sf is sth close to pg + sg, our 2 should not be a real and traditional sg. 2 in our team should be like a player who can defend the other team 2 and accasionally burn an open shot. clearly cat is more a bench player than a starter.
3) our pf is our weak link now. mo as a bench player is good but he doesn't have a d that kills us. however, his fat contract clearly limit his value. we can't afford a bench player with this kind of contract if we sit cat on the bench. right now mo is our best bench player or could be one of the best bench players in NBA. it's understandable he could have a big contract. however, if cat sits on the bench, then his contract becomes an issue. well, who should be our pf? cato has his weakness that gives other teams a chance to put extra pressure on yao. that's not good for. do we really need rasheed wallace? he has been considered to be #1 or #2 offense option in any team. bringing him here will raise a question who is our #1 or #2. i won't show interest on him unless he can accept to play as a role player. frankly speaking, i like a kind of robert horry type player as our pf, who can defend, shoot, and know his role.
4) jj is good at the sf position. we should keep him and let boki split his pt. i have no problem with him.
5) we also need a good young and traditional backup pg who can play some min when sf is on the bench.

anyway, this is my future rox.

 

Here are some stats of Francis and Hinrich in Feb.

Francis: 7 games, 3-pointer 7/20, 6 apg, 1.3spg, 3.3tpg
Hinrich: 8 games, 3-pointer 20/54, 8.1apg, 2.6spg, 2.3tpg

Hinrich¡¯s improvement has been just amazing, he is simply playing awesome right now; he is only a rookie, but has already clearly outperformed Francis in terms of assist/turnover, steal/turnover. Also, Hinrich is a good open-3-shooter; but Francis can¡¯t even do catch-and-shoot.

We need someone like Hinrich.