ClutchFans Game Thread: Rockets @ Mavericks 4/23/2005 (Playoffs Round 1, Game 1)

clutchfans.net just got some love from the fellas at 610 am. Just feel the love in H town when things go well with our rockets. Lets shut those punks from dallas down! Go rox!

 

I think some of the so called Rockets fans better start respecting the Rockets now. I saw from the other thread, we are HUGH underdog to Mavs

 

What did they say?

 

I would enjoy having less pressure by being the underdog...let them disrespect us like they always have....that way it's sweeter to us when we do suceed.

 

Why some people said Yao played a poor game? The guy played only 20 minutes due to foul problem, but scored 11 with 8rb, and 4 of them are at the offensive board. That's a decent stats line.

JVG's game plan was obvious in this game, use Yao as decoy to move Dallas big man away from the paint, so TMac can attack the hoop with Yao's pick. It was the same play over and over again, but the Mavs just couldn't figure out a way to stop it. Had Dallas stopped the PnR, the Rockets probably would have made some adjustment, sent the ball inside more.

TMac was great, but our back court was sensetional on both ends of the floor. They completely shut down Mavs' transition game, forced them into a half court team. Keeping Mavs under 90pts is a much greater achivement than scoring 98pts, they don't play much defense anyway.

 

Preach it!

Save us a table for Monday night...we'll be heading up there!!!

YES!!!!!!!!!!!

 

1 down, 15 to go,baby!

 

Yao's stats for his minutes are not that bad. But he shouldn't have put himself in that position in the first place. Some of his fouls were pretty dumb.

 

Yao needs to learn how to stay out of foul trouble as that's part of playing well - and playing well when in foul trouble. Anyway, I'm going to try to hold my tongue and let people enjoy the win.

 

Will do...I will be there as well...How many People?

 

Are they replaying the game at midnight? I didn't get to see all of it

On my Yahoo tv listings it says there's a game at 12:00, but it says "Teams TBA." Then there are 2 games at 2 am. On the Duece, they are replaying the Sac/Sea game and on ESPN it says they are showing the Sixers/Pistons which aired on NBA TV I believe.

 

I think we did a good thing by not tanking on the end of the season to play Sonics. JVG knows AJ doesn't have chance against him, and we want to play Suns afterwards

 

I would put it this way
1 down 3 to go, Rox
1 down 3 to go, Rox
1 down 3 to go, Rox
1 down 3 to go, Rox

and NBA Champion of 2005

 

I don't know which one of the guys said it I think it was Matt J but they said they had read a article that was posted on an awesome rockets sports site clutchfans.net and went on talking about the article.

 

I swear that I saw a commercial on FSN a few days ago that todays game would be on their station starting at 4 pm
So if it was on FSN then it should be replayed at 1 or 1:30 am

 

It will be ineresting to see what this kelly dwyer guy writes up after this game

remember he actually picked the mavs to win the series by 4 - 2.

Then when someone on this board pointed it out - he actually posted that he flipped a coin to make his prediction.

ha ha ha

 

I'm tellin ya....Van Gundy has a knack at getting his guys ready for the big series....and this is no exception. I didnt get to see much of the 2nd half...but Deke was the man (as was T Mac obviously) in the 1st half...gotta love it!

 

To a certain degree, Avery Johnson's inexperience with playoff coaching helped us win, at least in game one.

 

In case ya'll didn't see this in the locked game thread, here's the gist of T-Mac's postgame news conference on NBA TV.

Talk about the way you guys controlled the tempo of the game tonight.

We just wanted to come out and hit those guys first. That was the most important thing. We know those guys, it's a different ball club than we faced last time. They're more physical and more defensive minded. We wanted to hit them first and control the tempo.

Talk about Mike James and his contribution in the game.

Came in the game, gave us great energy, knocked down some great shots. That's what we needed from Mike, gave us a great spark.

How important is it to win the first game in a series.

Anytime you win the first game, especially when you're on the road, it's obviously a big win. It's tough starting off on the road, but I think this year we've been a great road team. I think we have confidence coming into this game and we showed it. I don't think Dallas expected that we were prepared for those guys to hit us first. We came out with great intensity and got off to a great roll on the offensive end.

Talk about the curl play you used so many times in the game.

That play is so effective. It's tough. When those guys come down on me, you're either gonna go one-on-one or leave someone open on the weak side. I’m sure they'll make adjustments in game 2. We enjoyed it all night.

It was definitely an effective play for us and we kept running it. Either I was getting an open look or we found the guy on the weak side. Me and Yao have to do the right thing and make our teammates better.

Talk about your teammates trust in you knocking down big shots.

Those guys know sometimes I make crazy shots and that's just the confidence I have in myself. They realize that those shots I can make on a daily basis. They have confidence on whatever shot I pull up and take because I’m just that confident. I have been out of the playoffs for four years so I believe this is my time and I’m just more focused now.

Talk about defending Dirk.

What we did, we started Ryan Bowen and I think that surprised him. The guy gives up a lot of energy and he's a pretty solid defender. He did a great job on him. I just try to keep him out in front of the post. Get off balanced. That's what I was doing. It was great team defense. Gotta give credit to everyone.


Talk about what this game means going into Game 2.

It gives us confidence and we believe in ourselves. I think we realized this is a winnable series for us. It’s not gonna be easy. These guys are gonna come out more focused for Game 2.

Is this as well as you've played in your career or how much is it having the right guys around you?

I think I’ve pretty much played like this the past 3-4 years. I have guys around me to take some pressure off me. You get all the praise when you play well and that’s what’s going on. Before I didn't have that supporting cast and I was not able to make my teammates better to get to that look. But now I have players who believe in me and have a great coach who makes the game a lot easier for myself. In the past, I just don think I had that supporting cast to help me elevate to the next level.

On playing so hard on both ends of the court for so many minutes.

I wanted so bad and whatever it's gonna take to stop him and stop Dallas, that's what I was willing to give. Coach asked me how many minutes I could put in defending Dirk and I said I’d go 40+ minutes if needed. Ryan is a great teammate and it's great to have him coming in and frustrate Dirk a little bit. Like I said before he's great.

Ryan said he was really nervous before the game. Did he say anything to you?

He didn't seem nervous. Really? He did a great job man, I couldn't tell he was nervous. Guy came in and gave us great, great energy. He used all his fouls tonight, but you have guys who sacrifice and know their rolls.

 

pic from Mavs site they do some pics on Tmac-Iraq. f k Mavs, who can show them here? Let Tmac watch it and we will kick their a$$ again and again.


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