ClutchFans Game Thread: Jazz @ Rockets 4/19/2008 (Playoffs Round 1, Game 1)

Novak's shooting has been off for the past couple of game he's played, actually. I think it might just be that he gets extremely limited minutes in those games; because I don't see him much, it's like I expect him to hit every shot he takes.

 

It feels the same way when I watch him play.

A few games back, he came in the game and missed a few 3s. I thought he was doing bad, but I see that he made 5 of 9, haha.

 

Without our best player Yao Ming and without the starting 'Point' Guard Rafer Alston, how could we realistically have expected anything more than this? Especially as this is about the standartd that thay have been playing at since just before the end of our fantistic '22' Game streak, with the exception of the Phoenix Game.
It is unrealistic to expect a high performance from our depleted team, they seem not be able to go to a higher level of play. I am proud of them for their effort for this season and hope that they continue to gain experience for future playoff seasons.

 

The Rockets win over the Jazz this season was the result of T-Mac putting up 47pts and funnily enough Mike James making one of his rare appearances from semi-retirement.

 

We do not like a whole team to fight~

 

I missed the first 2 quarters due to my gf....then saw aboutg 7 min of the 3rd where we made a come back. I had to leave when we were up by 1 or 2 pts....then saw the score in the 4th where we were down 13 again.

 

Big Freaking Deal, we're down one game, wake me up when we're facing elimination!

 

Set your alarm clock to tip off of game 4.

 

Series tied, 1-1.

 

We were at our best in the 3rd quarter when we made that comeback - Deke was keeping things real in the paint (even blocked Boozer once) and Scola and T-mac were constantly attacking the basket. But we couldn't hit our foul shots and in the 4th quarter that defensive intensity in the paint just faded, as well was the layups. If the Rockets want to have a fighting chance they gotta play like they did in the early 3rd quarter.

I mean seriously, just have T-mac and Scola drive to the rim constantly, things were looking so good for the Rockets when they were doing that and getting Boozer AND Millsap into foul trouble. I thought we had a very good chance of winning the game at that point.

Keys to winning game 2:
- Give Deke more minutes to patrol the paint. He's in his 40s, but he still wants to be out there. Without Deke our interior D blows and our rebounding suffers.
- I guess Battier's surprising offensive production cancelled out AK47's surprising offensive production. We need Battier to be the DPOTY candidate that he is, though. Jazzholes love to drive a lot, take charges! They also love to get 2nd chance points, block them from behind!
- T-mac and Scola must attack the basket all game. They are good at driving to the basket but they don't do it all the time (especially T-mac). Boozer, Millsap, and whoever guards their paint will certainly be in foul trouble if T-mac and Scola are aggressive.
- We need offensive production from another player. 3 players (T-mac, Scola, Battier) aren't enough. Whether it'd be Landry, Aaron Brooks, Bobby Jackson. . .we need +15 point games from one of them all games.

 

Don't blame everything on Novak, how many minutes does get in the regular season?? It's the whole team. May be they have all forgot the pain they felt after game 7 last year! I am sure Adleman have some strong words to say in the locker room at the end of the game.

 

I hate to say this BUT

It is painfully obvious without Yao the rockets are severely overmatched. They are just too small.

Small teams usually work because the guards are awesome at cutting and finishing. The rockets guards can't do that like other elite teams can.

With Yao in being the anchor the team's makeup works because all the small pf's can roam around a create havok b/c of all the attention Yao receives. Yao also grabs all those rebounds high off the glass. This team's pf's just can't do it and just get pushed around. They're even to small to really play effective offense b/c the jazz can just swat all the dunk attempts away. Again, with Yao there that isn't an issue.

The only way the rockets can beat a determined jazz team is if Mcgrady plays out of his mind and puts up 40+ a game. From the looks of it that isn't going to happen.

 

Bunch of reasons and excuses for the loss at home.

Just like I said, mcgrady isnt passing first round this year or ever. Yea yao isnt here, rafer isnt here, blablabla -> mcgrady not passing first round.

gg houston, trade mcgrady plzkthxbye.

 

amazing. you are just amazing.

How you can still come to this board and troll knowing that no one loves or even remotely like reading your posts is truly truly remarkable. For the first time ever in my years of posting in various forums, I think this is the first time I'd need the "ignore" option..congrats for getting that award ktnxbai

 

Rox are a bunch of overachievers and Tmac... right now..

but... we need to stop mking excuses for Tmac.... what do they say??

winners want the ball at the end of the game...


... its been a sad 29 years since the last NBA team... I cheered for at the start of the season... has won a NBA title.....Tmac being on more than a few of those teams...

11 years that Tmac will be knocked out of the first round again...

worst of it all Tmac would have gotten out of the first round his 3rd year... if he didnt leave Toronto to be "The Man....


funny thing is he is yet to step up and be one...

 

Let's go Rockets.

It's just the beginning. Far from finish line yet.

 

This game reminded me about last season's series. But last year we just didn't have position.

In this game we has a lot of easy blown layups. We has a lot of open 3s, jumpers but Bobby, Aaron, Luther, etc couldn't hit them.

We had a lot of free throws but we also couldn't hit them. Just gotta calm down, focus on those shots and hell knock them down. It will also make life easier for T-Mac.

We had shots we wanted, we just have to make them. 83 points is horrible, our offense looked HORRIBLE or even less.

 

The sad thing is I can't see the determination from these guys expert Scola.So it's not the time.

 

i dont think blaming brooks or head is fair as far as shooting goes. Head only shot one three while although Brooks' FG% was horrible, most of them were attempts towards the basket.

Bjax however...bricked every shot he possible could. He sucked badly but i dont think that'll last. Hopefully he gets fired up in game 2 and be our savior.

 

the problem is Houston cant win with just Scola playing like a man out there.

the comeback was him being a one-man gang, competing with people, jawing with players and refs, grabbing boards and fouls everywhere.

HOUSTON IS A YOUNG ASS TEAM. Utah is a very experienced playoff team. Losing game 1 hurts and Houston is obviously a more depleted team but watching this game and 4th quarter keep in mind that Harris, Novak, Brooks, Head, Landry and everyone else RA put in there to try to get something going are all noobs with jitters.

the vets delivered and fought... scola, battier, tmac. and the over the hill squad of mutombo and Jackson did their part. the rest of the series is about how well the crew responds in their first playoffs

IS IT BAD? yes it is bad. teams who steal the first game win like 70% of series. Utah is a monster at home. but it's not as bad as some of you think it's still a series

if utah lead from jump to buzzer... or showed a single weakness they could expose in houston over and over it would be a different matter. but this game actually could have gone the other way if their late run was contained or AK and korver weren't pulling shots out of their asses. even with no rafer what this game showed is that Houston has the pieces to compete with Utah. it wasn't a surprise that Utah's experienced players responded better at crunch time v noobs. playoffs is a different animal. now it's time to see if houston's crew can rise to the challenge