ClutchFans Game Thread: Raptors @ Rockets 12/20/2004

And, who the hell are you to tell me my thinking is wrong? I posted MY OPINION and didn't bash you or even say you were wrong. You have YOUR OPINION and I respect that. If you BELIEVE what you typed, then great! I posted what I BELIEVE I have seen over the course of this season. Nothing more, nothing less. There is absolutley no need to insult someone else's inteligence on this board when all this is is good basketball talk between fans. I too am excited about Yao and his future and the future of the team, so lets agrre that we disagree with the subject and go on rooting for our favorite team.

 

mograd -- calm down

it sounded like someone simply stating an opinion that was different then yours -- getting a little friendly debate going.

nothing in the post sounded personal to me

 

lol.

I think it's the "there's something wrong with your thinking " part that did it.

Mogrod, I'm sure MadMax didn't mean it that way. lol.

 

It's cool. I may have misunderstood it but it's not like I was really upset over it anyway, despite what it may have seemed in my post. I guess I just get a little frustrated with some posters that act like a**es and "know-it-alls" towards others' opinions. I'm not saying MadMax is one of those members that act like this, I guess I just saw his post and that was the first thing I thought of. This board is a great place for fans to express thier opinions and thoughts and I would hate for a few posters to make others second-guess posting on here. That's what I love about this board is reading many others thoughts, opinions and ideas about the Rockets and the game of basketball.

 

LOL @ pic by Moo moo of Yao and Tmac..

two leaning towers.

hahahah

J

 

I think they were playing the song Lean Back by fat joe and terror squad.

 

there's only one opinion that matters, mine.

just kidding, of course, but i must admit that other people's opinions have been rubbing me the wrong way lately. FIRE GUNDY, FIRE GUNDY!!! i just get sick of hearing it. we looked awesome last night and i hope this leads to some uplifting threads in the future.

 

nah...i'd rather fight...meet me at the bike racks after school. by the way, my brother is bigger than your brother.

as for the argument itself..i think you have a hard time finding sufficient evidence that Yao Ming had been good at getting low post position, and that it's the guards' fault for not getting him the ball. in fact, what i've been hearing from yao fans is how van gundy isn't good for yao because he forces a low post game that yao isn't as adept at as a face to the basket game shooting jumpers. which is it?

 

Raptor had no answer for Yao.
There is nobody can guard Yao if he and his teammates put theit mind on how to get the ball deep down low.

 

he needs to learn to hold on to the damn ball. i was at the game last night and me and my buddies definitely noticed that nearly everytime someone hit him on the way up, the ball just flew right out of his hands. very annoying. he could use a little bulking up on his arms if you ask me.

maybe it was just us, but that was the quietest 40 points i remember seeing. it didn't look like yao was playing all the great, but next thing you know, he's pushing 40. we all thought that.

BTW, the toyota center was average all the way around. nothing stood out as being spectaculor or really cool. kinda disappointed.

 

Yeah, that was the beauty. He only took 15 shots to get 40 points, went to the line 18 times becasue the refs actually made calls that werent made in the bobcats game.

I guess pretty much we know Yao's weakness. The team just has to live with it. Keep feeding the ball to big fella, good things will eventually happen.

 

he does need to hold the ball up higher...at 7'6", no one else should be able to reach the ball unless they risk leaving their feet while guarding him. keep the ball up!!!

as for toyota center...just curious, but what did you expect? i dont' find anything all that charming about ANY NBA arena. they are all very similar.

 

My friend and I were saying the same thing last night. Yao dips before going up to the hoop and they swipe the ball just about every time.

I guess I'm a Summit snob, everything at TC seems circus-like. My friend had never been there and he thought it was cool. He said it felt more like walking into a gym than an arena.

 

Highlights...who wants some highlights??

Highlights from the win over Raptors

JJ's Disputed 3

 

Thanks Thanks and Thanks! Thanks some more!

 

Thank you very much!

 

Rockets2K is DA MAN!!!

 

wow, you nailed it. i couldn't put my finget on it, but that sums it up pretty well. it has much more of a gym feel, as opposed to being an arena. i remember walking into the Summit and approaching the court and you just felt an auora that i didn't feel at the TC, and that was my first time there.

hard to explain i guess, but i was still unimpressed.

 

Post Game Quotes 12.20.04


ROCKETS HEAD COACH JEFF VAN GUNDY
(on the Rockets's effort) "We played a good offensive game tonight, not so well defensively, but they're a hard team for us to guard."

(on the play of Tracy McGrady and Yao Ming ) "They put up a lot of points.
He's (Tracy McGrady) a very unselfish player. He really likes to pass, which is nice and the same with Yao (Ming). Yao likes to pass the ball, too, so when your two best players are unselfish, it should permeate your whole team. Some of the things he (Tracy McGrady) does, not the wraparound one (pass to Jim Jackson in the corner), that doesn't excite me, but just like the last play to Yao, to draw the defender, drop it off, those plays look easier than they really are. He likes to make them which is nice. I think we've done better against some teams and not so well against others, but tonight we were pretty efficient in the 2nd half as were they. They scored on us at will, and we scored on them at will, so it was a good win."

(on the Rockets's offensive play progressing) "I think Charlotte (a loss in
OT) was a step back because we turned it over so much, but every team is defending us the same way. Doubling off our point guards, and we did some better things when that happened tonight."

MAURICE TAYLOR

(on the play of Yao Ming and Tracy McGrady) "He (Yao Ming) was dominant tonight. It seemed like it was almost too easy for him. A couple of plays it looked like he wasn't even going to be able to get to the basket and the next thing you know, he is dunking or getting a lay-up. He was great tonight and Tracy (McGrady) was great tonight, too. I think Tracy set the tone and Yao sustained the effort throughout the game. Yao was getting great post position and Tracy was really slashing to the basket. Neither one of them really settled for jumpers; you could see them put the team on their shoulders and they really wanted to have a great outing tonight."

(on how Yao Ming's and Tracy McGrady's play gave opportunities to the rest of the team) "It's really easy when they're drawing that much attention. I think a couple of times when Yao (Ming) posts up strong, people forgot about me and Jimmy (Jackson) and it's easy to get buckets that way. They demand so much attention, all you have to do is knock down shots."

(on if this was what the team hoped when they welcomed Tracy McGrady to the
Rockets) "I think there will be more outings like this. I'm not going to say that this is going to be the last one. There will be many more nights where they get it going and it makes it a lot easier for all of us."

YAO MING

(on how his early success tonight carried through the game) "We were trying to play aggressive inside from the 1st minute (of the game). We have to play hard for all 48 minutes and that doesn't just mean the last few minutes of the game, it means the 1st minute of the game to the last. I stayed so close to the basket (tonight) and we found a lot of good chances. We swung the ball well from the 1st man and I became open on the weak side. Tracy
(McGrady) made the defense come to him a lot and I stayed on the weak side.
All I had to do was duck and catch the ball and I had a lay-up."

(on this being the first time he and Tracy McGrady both scored 30 points in a game) "This was the first time we both had 30 and we played the whole basketball game inside out. I think that is what Coach (Van Gundy) wanted."

(on the play of Maurice Taylor) "Mo (Maurice Taylor) is a good shooter from
17 feet and the defender can not stay in no-man's land; you have to play defense on him when Tracy (McGrady) swings the ball to the free throw line area. That puts too much pressure on the defense."

(on his ability to be aggressive and get to the basket often tonight) "I think that they (Toronto) are a lot weaker on the interior. I think that's definitely a reason. When you realize that and you identify that, then you try to use that to your advantage."

JIM JACKSON

(on his 23-game streak of making a 3-pointer being broken tonight) "They told me about it, but then Keith (Jones) said they were going to send in a tape (to the NBA) to say that it was a 3, so it's a good thing to have. I wasn't thinking about it; I was just trying to be as consistent as possible.

(on the tape of the 3-pointer that the referees called as a 2-pointer that's going to the NBA) "I spaced the court to get behind the line and it wasn't a 3, I was surprised. We'll see (if it's going to be changed)."

TORONTO RAPTORS HEAD COACH SAM MITCHELL

(on Yao Ming's play) "He caught the ball deep in the paint and you can't stop him inside. He's a load when he's going like that. I thought we played good defense on him but he made tough shots."

(on his team's play) "We are going to have to move the ball around better.
We had good shots but we just didn't make them. Rafer (Alston) got good looks but he just missed his shots."

(on McGrady and Yao Ming) "Houston has one of the best scorers in the league in McGrady and one of the best big guys in Yao (Ming). They both had it going and we couldn't stop them."

CHRIS BOSH

(on the key to the game) "They (Rockets) took advantage of our lack of size. The refs let them camp in the lane and we couldn't stop them. It's another on of those games. We let two guys beat us today."

(on Yao Ming's play) "He played more aggressive and I thought we should have double-teamed him more and make someone else beat us."

RAFER ALSTON

(on the game) "Houston got it going and when you have two super stars that get it going like that it is hard to beat them."

(on Yao Ming) "He was more aggressive than usual. Compared to him, we are undersized and we should have given more support and help to our big guys."

(Was he surprised to see the Rockets double him so much?) "I was a little bit surprised. The first game we played them they really didn't do that.
They forced us into different situations and we really didn't have a plan on how to attack it.

JALEN ROSE

(on McGrady and Yao Ming) "The Rockets have one of the most formidable one-two punches in the league. We have to make them work on offense and defense and they both showed the kind of potential they have today. Yao Ming seemed very aggressive and we didn't have anyone size-wise to stop him. When they both play like that they are one of the best one-two combos in the league."

(on Raptors pre-game plan) "The only two things we put on the board were to stop Tracy (McGrady) and Yao (Ming). They are great players and they both found a way to get it going and it was hard for us to stop them."

DONYELL MARSHALL

(on Yao Ming's play) "He always seems to play very aggressive against me.
He can overpower me. I knew coming in I was going to guard him. That was easy, stopping him was another thing. Houston made great adjustments switching on me in the second half and not letting me get my shots. Van Gundy is a very good coach and I knew he'd do that defensively."

 

LUDACRIS TO HOUSTON. CONFIRMED.