ClutchFans Game Thread: Celtics @ Rockets 3/18/2008

My remarks for the game:

1. It was a relief and stress release to finally end the streak and it could not have ended any better than losing to the best team in the NBA. (Thank you Rockets for the wonderful Streak, which puts us ahead of the Western conference). Losing to Boston (eastern team), was not as bad as losing to western team, which not only give them the win to gain grounds but reduce our conference record.

2. Boston played a hell of game (well, the second half). They were more confident after beating San Antonio yesterday. They played a very aggressive defense and are the best team defending the 3 point shot. They controlled the offensive boards and I felt they were going to win in the the first half when Pierce banked that 3 pointer and they made 4 layups in a row and we missed ours.

3. T-Mac was tentative and not aggressive for the second game in a row. He managed to get 8 assists. Missing free throws hurts. Brooks made the final score look more respectable.

4. We need to forget tonight's game and win tomorrow's game against NO, at least to keep our road winning streak alive and to knock down a western team (Huge game tomorrow).

 

Hopefully the ball movement picks up in the next few games. Nobody moved the ball like they wanted too, and that wasn't because of the Celtics defense. Rockets shot their self in the foot. Adelman needs to keep his hot shooters in the game more often, I am starting to get mad seeing our hot hands sitting on the bench(Bobby Jackson) for such a long time and get cold. He was on such a beautiful run before Coach A. pulled the plug on his minutes tonight.

the 2-3 defense got exposed tonight for us, maybe coach A needs to go more into a trapping defense more often. Maybe the 1-3-1? Bigger sized teams like Boston, who rely on the post up before getting the ball to the basket would have fits with it. The 1-3-1 would eliminate those post up's and force the PG,SG to pull up, or make a bad pass, or play a little faster than they would like too forcing errors, and help create more fast break points on the other end. It was tooooo often KG was able to post up, either we need to get better on forcing the passer to look the other way, or we HAVE to get better on defending when those passes come into the paint, before it reaches the PF's or Centers hands(which Landry would have helped in that deparment if he played). If we don't get better at those little things, say goodbye to the second round because we won't make it.

 

Come on, forget about this issue will you? We can't step back and keep on bring up this issue again and again. We have to face it and move on. Certain night the team didn't play well, thats normal. Yao's injury was history. Please don't bring it up again and again. Thanks

 

It is obvious the size disadvange killed us. Too many times you can see the efforts are there, but just couldn't come away with the rebound. And Boston's interior defense is good, just like ours when we played good D. We really need a good plan if we face these teams with big bodies, and we really need a good shooting percentage to win those games.

Anyway, a historical run by the Rockets. Keep it up!

 

All I know is that I have never seen a defense move like that. I swear we could not do ANYTHING to get an open shot. It seemed like we were playing 5 on 7.

I'm not worried at ALL about this loss other than the fact that it did hurt a little to see the scoreboard tonight. I've forgotten what that felt like, but that's not a bad thing!

It all depends on how the team takes this. It could be motivation to get back up and fight again. Or, it could be a start to a very long, long 15 games. It's all up to the Rockets. We matched up with the Celtics in the first half and nearly beat them earlier in the season WITHOUT Tmac. We are fully capable of beating anybody we want to. We just have to think we can.

THANKS FOR THE MEMORIES, ROCKETS. THIS WILL BE SOMETHING I TELL MY KIDS AND GRANDKIDS (when I have them MWHAHA) FOR YEEEEEEARS.

 

Good news, we lost to an EC team! It is much better than losing to a WC team!

 

With the 22 game streak behind, the Rockets accomplished what they needed with the streak.

Before the streak, we were looking like we were lottery bound in 10th place behind Portland and Denver, after the streak, we are still tied for 1st place (or 2nd place, I'm not too sure), so we moved up in the standings.

Secondly, we figured out Adelman's offense. Sure Tmac had his off nights and so did Yao playing with a stress fracture, but their teamates came through for them. That hasn't happened before in the Yao/Tmac era.

Third, we proved to people how tough we are mentally and physically. Even after losing Yao, this team responded.
Our defense and hustle never took a night off, even tonight in a losing effort. Boston is a great team, and if we were to have the streak end, I'm glad it was to a superior opponent. Teams now know that we aren't a joke. They know that in order for them to come out with a victory, they will have to outhustle us, outrebound us, play more physical than us, and play a full 48 minutes. To able to play with that heart and passion for 22 straight games is amazing in an 82 game season, especially in February and March.

I'm not disappointed by the loss toinght. The Celtics are for real, and they beat us. It happens. We are winning the games we are supposed to win, and compete in the harder games. We accomplished a lot with this streak, and it will be forever remembered in Houston sports. It was fun while it lasted, but a loss isn't a terrible thing. We've come back down to earth. They can put it behind them, and if anything build on that momentum and confidence the rest of the way. The Rockets will finish the season strong, hopefully with a top 4 seed, and I'll be happy if we can make it to the 2nd round this year, considering we don't have Yao. I have confidence in our Rockets to do that much.

 

i knew the streak had to come to an end some time in some fashion. and honestly after we beat the lakers on sunday, i really don't care about the streak that much any more. it was so wonderful and i've not been so proud of being a fan for a long time.

but tonight's loss still frustrated me like hell. 20 pts loss to the classless scum bag kg's team? tough for me to swallow.

overall we compete hard, but our chance of winning is close to zero, no matte what kind of offense we run, when mcgrady scores single digit points and no one else has a huge game.

i'm not faulting mcgrady too much, but 2 in a row in big games, he's disappointed. just a fact. and things happen. i just love the double standards by some fans who have a crush on mcgrady. he's tired, he's doubled. blah. my goodness, the extra 10 minutes played were the reasons for sucking 2 games in a row? has he ever been doubled before? what about yao? remember the double ot game in denver w/o mcgrady where yao played almost 53 minutes? how 'bout yao's leading the minutes per game as a 7'6 guy? does he ever get tired? how about the double teams yao receives nightly? again, this is my rant to some posters, not #1 himself.

went to the game. and the saddest moment for me wasn't when the blowout loss was certain; it was seeing many leaving when there're ~5 minutes left. i wasn't angry, i was really sad. i sat there and my heart felt really empty. this is a team who fought hard and achieved amazing streak. yet this is how half of the fans treated them. speechless.

i just hope the team can regroup and best the hell out of the bees in n.o.

 

Completely agree. Tonight was a preview of the playoffs where the lack of a low post threat really hurt us cuz they could key in on t-mac and the 3-pt shooters. I'm hoping we match up w/ Golden State so we don't have to worry about a low post threat. If we do face the spurs or utah, they're going to put the clamps on our offense and we might have trouble scoring points. That's just the way the playoffs are.

 

that's true. but remember, we miss carl landry's presence more than you think. the passes hayes got in the first half -> wide open dunks for landry. hayes missed 3 in the first half on CONSECUTIVE possessions -> 6 points. we were tied at the half so you know how important those are.

when you play hayes with scola, scola doesn't get a lot of open spaces b/c with 2 offensive weapons, tmac can pick and choose where he can pass and make teams pay for the double teams. hayes doesn't draw his (or any) defender to him.

when landry returns, you will see our offensive efficiency skyrocket again. i know we'll miss landry a ton when he went out. we have no dunkers right now in the paint.

 

Harris did a decent job in the paint when things got rolling for him.

 

it's understandable.

 

Oh, I agree totally that we miss Landry big time. I was annoyed as hell Hayes missed THREE layups. Landry would flush those easily. I don't doubt either that when we face teams in the regular season, we'll get our offense going again. But, in the playoffs against the top teams, people are going to play good D (hopefully not as good as tonight). I love Landry, but he scores on the weakside. That's where his value is, but we needed someone to collapse their defense down low to get the right spacing which is why the passing lanes were not clear tonight and that's why it was hard to get the wide open threes we were used to getting.

 

the best post !
injuries are also their excuse ! but yao has played with a fracture ankle for many games let alone his shoulder injury for the whole season !@

this historic streak was over finally , im a bit lot ,but the season isnt over !
GO , ROCKETS.

 

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this game showed why we need yao, but i thought the commentators pointed out a smart reason why - not necessarily that we need more scoring - but you just become worn out playing a read-and-react offense. you're utilizing more screens and cutting more to gain separation from your defender, and that increase in movement is definitely exhausting. although people complain about our players standing around, being able to stand around occasionally provides a break for our players (although i'm not saying that they should stand around regularly, one player should be cutting but the other three not in the post can take a breather). so even though t-mac's comments about being tired make him look like a pansy, i can sympathize somewhat with him.

pierce was also more effective in this game than kobe. my explanation is that they weren't running that many iso plays for pierce - i remember him hitting several shots off of screens (for example, that three 1.5 minutes before halftime). very effective in neutralizing battier - he didn't allow him to set into his defensive position and work with him from there.

 

The Rockets team deserve a long applause for what they achieved for last month and half. The fought hard and lifted team morale tremendously.
Now, it's time to re-focus on the foundamentals of the games and try to finish in a nice position for the playoffs.
I'm confident they will make the playoffs and continue to surprise people from there.

Go Rockets. (from Shanghai)

 

This is the situation Rockets must face in the playoffs. This is also the reason for the Suns to get O'neal. Without a powerful low post player, a team can't go far. Good news is that Landry will be back.

 

Congraluations on their 22 game winning streak.

It was a good long streak that propelled us to the top of the west and proved all the doubters wrong. We went from seemingly out of playoff contention to being a contender. Boston has very good interior D and good big men..which we cannot match since we do not have Yao Ming. The good news is, if we keep playing like we did during our winning streak, we will most likely be matched up with a team who does not have quality big men like Boston. And we will undoubtedly beat that team in the playoffs. In fact, outside of the Lakers (if gasol and bynum get back), Spurs, and to an extent the Suns, there's a lack of quality big men.

Im quite confident if the Rockets play like they did during their winning streak that they can beat all the western teams not named the Lakers, Spurs, or Suns