ClutchFans Game Thread: Rockets @ Mavericks 2/9/2007

great loss? brilliant!!

I think u lost track of where you are my friend. this is clutchfans.net, here's where you are supposed to post this crap:

http://www.************.com/forum/

 

where was the 10 man rotation?

 

Even more impressive about VSpan was his defense. His man never even got a look. He played his .... off in those 6 garbage minutes, he wanted it more than any other player on the court, on both sides.

 

i see, here is going to be another thread tomorrow, FREE VSPAN, and the REASON is!!!!
great when he plays bad in garbage time, it's only garbage time, when he plays well in garbage time, SEE, HERE IS THE ANSWER!!!

in any case, i'm glad vspan played well tonight, and hopes he continues to have this attitude. it will only help the rox, so i am all for that

 

johnrox, I agree with u that a lot of B.S has been going around about "freeing Vspan", people overhype stuff sometimes, but I seriously believe that he is our best choice in our current situation as a back up PG for Rafer. I've seen enough of Head, really, I cant stand him playing PG anymore. the guy is a great shooter, no doubt about that, but when it comes to PG skillz: freakin 0, nada, nothing! passing ability: terrible. decision making (esp. in fast break): horrible. the dude should be restricted to his role as a spot-up shooter, I dont want him to "develop" new aspects because it's not gonna happen and it will mess up the good aspects of his game. that's why I believe Luther Head shouldn't get ANY minutes @ backup PG.

now, if I was in charge, I would have a totally different starter @ the PG and I would've probably kept Alston as the backup PG, but in our situation right now, we have Alston, and, well, that's pretty much it. we need a starting PG in the 1st place. but if u are content with Alston and u have my mentality of "u cant have a superstar @ every position", your #1 priority right now would be a back up PG. since nothing is available currently, we have to stick with what we have, here's the break down:

Alston= "alright" @ the starting spot, wouldn't be wise to play him more than 35 minutes a game
Lucas= we have already seen enough of John John AKA the Midget Kobe. definately not NBA material
Head= cant handle the ball, terrible passing, cant get the Rockets into their offense
Vspan=haven't really seen much of him, but we all know this: a lot of TOs, not a great outside shooter, has to get used to the game
Tmac= very comfortable @ PG, probably the best Playmaker on this team

now, Alston needs 13 minutes of rest a game to function properly. this means we have to have a replacement for him for 13 minutes while he gets his rest on the bench. Lucas? absolutely no, and I am not gonna elaborate because u know what I am talking about. Head? I thought he could be good, but after a couple games of him @ the PG for extended minutes, I figured it's not a very good choice because: 1. no handles 2. no passing skills 3. takes away from his positive aspects (shooting& cutting). Tmac? YES, Tmac can play PG, but he already has enough stuff to do, and he also needs his rest, so I wouldn't have Mac @ the 1 for more than 5-6 minutes. that leaves us with Vspan for the last 7-8 minutes of the "Alston rest" period. I dont konw how he is gonna do, he might just screw up and turn it over every position, and he might turn out to be great and get the team into a nice rhythm while the starter is on the bench getting his rest.

now, I would really like to see a consistent 6-8 minutes of Vspan for 3 games (preferably easy games) in a row. if he messes up, then sit his a$$ down or send him to Greece or something, if he does O.K, then great, it would be a great temporary solution until we get some kind of help @ the PG position (Atkins maybe, or maybe a miracle to get Sura back).

 

They used a 9 man rotation tonight before garbage time, other then Devin harris and Jerry Stackhouse, I don't really think much of the others. Devin has the edge on Luther but we should have an edge with Bonzi over Jerry. Like Greg Buckner or Devean George strikes fear in anyone.

My point is once the playoffs start teams usually shorten their bench and that will favor the Rockets, I wasn't just "trying" to be positive, but thanks for enlightening me.

 

Nothing like a loss to the Mavs to bring everyone together.

 

Let's be realistic here CLUTCHFANS! You expect the current Rox could beat teams like the Mavs and Suns in a regular basis?

We haven't seen the complete Rox team yet this season. Yao was great while Tmac was in a slump. Tmac is great now but Yao is injured. I just wanna say that this loss serves as a reminder to fans, who like to debate whose team the Rox is, that we need them both to win it all.

If you wanna be optimistic, let's do the "First, win! Second, big win" thing. Thx for "THE" support, real CLUTCHFANS.

 

the mavs bench is not shortened or lengthened. they will play the same way in the playoffs.

 

Uhh I think everyone knows that we need Yao and T-Mac to be a great team...no point in claiming the obvious.

What we know is we have 2 great players to can step it up in each others absence...we need to see them mesh together and get some post-season success.

I think the reason people are happy when we are beating scrub teams without Yao is because:

1. We weren't supposed to win much of ANYTHING without Yao, yet we have somewhat flourished.

2. T-Mac is showing he can still step it up. Against the good teams, his teamates need to step up more, but he won't have his best teamate for a bit longer yet...He's still good enough for anyone under the elites.

And as of now, I only consider Mavs/Suns the elites. Maybe the Spurs will show us why they are a 3 championship team in the playoffs, but it's not showing now. And Utah has almost fallen off the map.

No one is content without Yao because we're winning, I guarantee you.

The media is just being asswipes and writing articles like "Houston, better without Yao?" and sh*t like that.

We need Yao, T-Mac to be great.

We could have won so many more games lately if we had the big fellow.

I seriously think even Dallas would worry about us.

 

Haha, the sky's not falling, people. Sure, it was a tough loss, and we played poorly, but it's silly to think that we can be an elite team without one of our elite MVP type players. Fact of the matter is, we need our two best to beat the best, and that doesn't mean our team is terrible. Yes, we could have played better, but I think everyone knows that we need both a healthy Yao and T-Mac to go far.

Besides, the Spurs lost tonight, too, so we are still good in catching them for the 3rd seed

 

They lost to the best team in the league at their place. Big deal. They lost without 2 key players, expected. They got blown out. Unfortunate but when the ball is not going in the bucket, It happens.

Head BTW is a great 3pt shooter and is a great 2nd year player to have. He is not a good PG and that's a fact. What is this team going to do if Alston goes down? Also, today Howard couldn't make his shots and Battier was not effective.

Overall a lost but look at the bright side, the starters got rest and we get to see VSpan play. They will be fresh tomorrow while the Bobcats play and lost in OT.

Bad sign that Novak is playing and not doing the one thing he is supposed to do well. He is missing his 3pt shots!!!!!

 

no Yao Ming,no Bonzi wells,we have the reason to lose.we could win what we should win,that's enough!

 

dallas is a good team and superior to us when yao's out. we'll see what happens when we play them in the playoffs with a full squad. i'd love to wipe the smirk off their faces.

 

tough loss, but it just goes to show that even though the rockets have performed beyond anybody's expectations w/o yao, we really miss him against great teams like the suns and mavs. but considering how most people including myself predicted the rockets to go like 10-20 w/o yao, we are still in great shape. against teams like the suns and mavs, we need everyone clicking on all cylinders. and obviously we didn't have that tonight.

 

My thoughts exactly. The Mavs are indeed versatile, but what the hell are they going to do when Yao gets back? Put two men each on T-Mac and Yao? That'll leave 2 of our guys open. Play Dirk at 5? He'll get his on the offensive end, but we can just run a zone to slow him down. And how is he going to guard Yao on the defensive end? Double team? In which case Yao will kick it back out to the other guys for the open shot. I mean come on....

 

Exactly well said !!

And we get the Mavs next week in H-Town....payback time baby !!

DD

 

___________________________________________________________

WE NEED YAO TO WIN AGAINST THE BEST TEAMS.

Spoiler

SIMPLY THE BOTTOM LINE

 

No. Van Gundy does not want McGrady to bring the ball up because it allows teams to double-team him before he has a chance to get in a postion to score. Neither McGrady or Van Gundy has said anything about limiting Tracy's ball-handling because of his back.

 

Finally I see something positive and guy who still stays calm.

I hate last night loss, but that is just one game, no big deal.

Both Yao and Bonzi did not play, so who knows what will happen if they come back in lineup.

JVG changed a lot in terms of his coaching style, he gave Bonzi time for full recovery and kept TMAC on bentch for the whole 4th quarter. We need strategic decision like this with both health and money problems. We need to laser on playoff.