ClutchFans Game Thread: Rockets @ Lakers 12/15/2006

Shaq averaged 40 MPG in his MVP year, so that's not true. But his body is very different from Yao's. Yao needs to make up for his fatigue late in games by playing smarter.

 

Can we get the Red Rowdies to shout out, "Rafer Sucks" at the next home game? Maybe that will drive him out of Houston.

 

K.Brown in YAO last shot in first OT was a clearly foul1 damn it damn ! damn ref!. YAO was hacked so many times he should shot 20 FT tonight!

Alston was horrible horrible, no play at all. only thing he and HEAD knew were dribbling the ball for near 15 seconds and throw to YAO and make had to make tough shots!

3 TO from both of them in second OT and YAO even didnt have chance to shoot. Cook's 3 killed us too. Otherwise we could win in the first OT

 

Play like you want it.

That's all I have to say. Our team has ZERO desire.

I want to see inspiration. I want to see the heart, the heroics. Goodness, even Stevie with all of his problems played his heart out (on offense at least).

Not once in our team have I seen that look. That killer look that says, come and take it.

Yao for as good as he is, his detractors have a point. I hate continuously being fed the company line from Bill Worrell and Bullard - "It's the 2nd night of a back to back, he must be tired. Yao has played X number of minutes, its okay for him. Ohh for him to do as well as he is under the circumstances is amazing.

Great players relish the end of games, live for them. Yao - isn't there and may not get there.

To his credit, Yao has hit a few clutch shots. However, for every shot he made, he either got blocked, didn't fight for position, took it to the rim soft, and generally played passive.

Enough. If you are going to be the focal point of our offense, and the primary option in the closing minutes, you need to produce more than once every three shots.

This is also on JVG. That no creativity on offense thread sums it up. With Yao, find other more efficient ways to score than making Yao grind it out all game versus double and triple teams. At the end of games, Yao gets tired (this is also on Yao, but its on JVG to adjust).

There is nothing more frustrating than a meltdown. Mental toughness is something that you either have or you don't. Hakeem, Cassell, Elie, Vernon etc. It's a shame to compare these all time greats who inspired me into loving basketball to any of our current players.

We can't rely on Tracy to bail us out every fourth quarter and everytime we are under pressure. If Yao isn't going to step up, then someone else needs to, or we need to make it a team offensive effort, and not a one man post iso 15 ft away from the basket fadeaway show.

 

Once again Yao plays his heart out and the Rockets loose. JVG is a real genius having Yao who we all is dead tired setting those high picks. Even Walton stated that the Rockets lack the offense creativity to get Yao the ball. This just ticks me off that everytime the Rockets get close to getting a good run going something bad happens to the team. I hope things turn around and the Rockets can get the next three games. As for T-Mac no matter if and when he comes back I just am not confident that he will stay healthy throughout the season.

 

Rafer and head waste the whole team's effort

 

After watching this game, JVG needs to really hire an assistant coach that can help him come up with better offensive half-court sets. The reasons why we are losing the 20+ leads is that our offensive sets are taking way too long to set up. Yao received the ball with 8-6 seconds on the shot clock and if he is doubled team you have Rafer jacking up a wild three. As most people have posted, the offense is too predictable with or without Tmac.

Too many dumb turn overs at the end is what cost us. We need to make a trade for a solid PG, head is great, but he has a lot of work to do on being a PG. Rafer is all over the place. One play you are like yeah take it to the hole, then the next NOOOO don't take that wild shot or go for the AND1 layup move.

I can't believe we lost. SOOO FRUSTRATING!!!

 

Its starting to feel like:

 

f#*k
hate to lose in this way
hate head/RA's TOs in 2nd OT

 

Off course this is JVG's fault, according to what you are saying" it is not the coaches fault when the players do not score". However, it is his fault to keep someone who is a turn over machine and waisting balls left and right in the game without using his bench.

3 days ago we came back from 27 points down with Novac, Lucan, VSpan. Can you tell me why none of them touched the floor today

 

i have yet to question jvg coaching skills yet but after tonight, losing pretty much in the same fashion as last night by our guards(rafer) screwing up royally......rafer alston 7 turnovers ......something needs to change because i have no doubt we can win without t-mac. oh and i almost forgot Yao was a monster tonight playing as many minutes as he did both nights


although many may not agree last years w/out t-mac we would have been blown both games but this year at least we are making a game of it. t-mac's absence only makes the rox stronger which hopefully ultimately will results in wins....the important thing for the rox is to keep their focus and move on to the next game.

 

Wrong. JVG win Phil this time. Duh! Laker has home court advantage, Kobe has better chance of get a call than Yao, rockets guards break down on second OT. JVG really made Yao great with this game plan. Kwame/Bynum duo has less impact on game than last one. Just wondering why in OT there is no single 3pt play, maybe even JVG hope Yao can be god!

For people bark on Yao, looked at last OT and Yao dont get many chance and referee decide to let game go physical on laker side. And if Yao "fade away" in clutch time, there will be no two OTs. So get over it. Head really need to learn from this.

Rockets had a lot of confidence. Just as I thought, this is a tight game. Very exciting and fun to watch.

 

where was luther today

 

Why JVG called that timeout while head is likely to beat LA in a fast break??

Why he put wells and howard on bench all the OT...?

Why Rafer did those stupid things again and again ..........

 

THIRD LOSS of the POST T-MAC SLIDE DOWN THE STANDINGS

CLIPPERS WILL BE 4TH LOSS

SUCKS TO BE A ROCKETS FAN RIGHT NOW.

JUST THINK IF TMAC COULD STAY MOSTLY HEALTHY LIKE KOBE


could Yao be the next Kevin Garnett...Ming wakes up and he is 33 yrs old and no rings......say it aint so.

 

Amid the despondency, just trying to be optimistic...I know that terrible losses like these will become great wins when tmac gets back and wells and snyder are healthy and in good shape

 

good tough loss.

good valuable lesson.

good stepping stone.

good back to back game!

 

what the heck is the last timeout before the 1st OT? Head has almost finished a fastbreak!!!!!!

Didn't JVG know they can never score after timeout if TMAC's not there?????

 

Yao was too tired and he had no way to get closer to the hole most times no matter when the ball was in his hand or not. However, I am concerned that even Tmac comes back, Rockets won't be a real contender due to the inability of create shots, mainly due to JVG's inability in offense and our defective PGs. It would certainly help if we have a third option and Bonzi is showing some of his game. Still, when I envision the playoff games, Rockets doesn't look good. We needs a back up 5, we need a better PG and we need more offensive strategies for JVG when the defense is just gonna swamp Yao and Tmac.

 

The turning point was Luther's 3-point play