ClutchCity.net Game Thread: Rockets @ Lakers 2/18/2003

I'm not even sure Denver would've lost to Miami without their star player and also having homecourt. As bad as the Nuggets are they play hard every night.

 

Anyone want to kill Mark Madsen

I know there are going to be bad calls in a game, but Yao got screwed at the end. First the one where he got called for hooking madsen, if you look at it madsen looks to be falling down and throwing he arms up catching yao's arm. Madsen couldnt gaurd him at all. Second the one where Yao jumped straight up and Kobe threw himself into him, what bs is that? I hate when refs give that call to players. Third the one on Yao where he "threw" Madsen down. I guess Yao was hiding his true strength all along and Madsen is the first one to bring it out. Yao can probably bench like over 500lbs, thats why when Yao raised his left arm Madsen went flying. Come on ref! He raised his arm and you give the call to Madsen? Madsen should be nuetered, in his whole NBA career he will not amount to nothing and be remembered for being the worst dancer in the NBA. Madsen should be beaten up next time he come to Houston. We should all start an anti Mark Madsen club.

 

I think Steve is an amazing player, but the question he posed to the Big O was absurd. Do you keep passing to Yao if he starts out cold? Well, does Steve keep jacking up shots when he's cold? Sorry about that rant.

However...
The loss sucked, but the Rockets kept going to Yao even after he started slowly. It did seem like they were trying to get him the ball often. Unfortunately, the other stars had off nights. If Mobley or Francis had anything like their normal nights, we might be saying how things are looking up. Instead, we sit and wonder what we need to win

 

Not without some changes.

 

Madsen is so annoying. He's one of those guys that you like if he's on your team, but when he's on the opponents and especially the Fakers you really hate the guy. He did play hard, but how in the world is he getting calls? The guy is a bench warmer. I know Yao is a rookie, but those calls were insane. Regarding the Anti-Mark Madsen Club, I'll sign up. It's a pretty funny idea. I wonder if the Compaq Center will boo Madsen (if he even plays) when the Fakers come to Houston.

 

Preach preacher !!!

Amen.

 

My take on this game is Yao lost the game with crucial mistakes at key moments in the game. He throws the ball away when posting up with a cross court pass, is called for a blatant offensive hook when he had already swung around his defender, and then is called for another foul on an inbounds play by the Lakers. These all happened at the most crucial points in the game where we could have locked up the win.

On the other hand, I am quick to note Yao did play pretty well most of the night and made his FTs at crucial moments so we might not have been in the position to win.

Other Rocket blunders, like when Mobes takes a crazy shot in the waning seconds that didn't even look like someone shooting a basketball(why couldn't he just take a normal jump shot?), contributed as well.

I am as pissed as anybody about this loss because I was already lacking sleep and I stayed up thinking that we may win only to continually be disappointed at moments when we should have sealed the win only to blow it.

As far as this season goes, it is shaping up to be one of the worst seasons I can remember. We are healthy for the most part...we just cannot play basketball very well or with any consistency. We win big games probably purely being hyped up on an adrenaline rush because we are playing a big game but we lose to teams that fail to peak our interest or who are lacking their key players.

Oh yeah...but it's all part of growing up. Maybe we will do better next year . Maybe the Rockets should take some off-season chemistry classes or something. Trade Mobes while your at it and find a true PG while moving Steve to shooting guard.

That is all...continue the b****fest.

Surf

 

I thought the Rockets played well for the most part, certainly well enough to win. Francis played hard but couldn't hit the side of brick wall. Taylor had a solid game, and Ming got a chance to take advantage of "no Shaq." Too much dribbling again, but more passes to Ming than usual. Kobe was unstoppable, but we still were in a position to win. One of the most entertaining games of the year. However, the chance of reaching the playoffs is fading away.

 

What are you talking about!!!??

Just when Kobe brought out competitive aggresiveness in Yao, the Refs gave the game to the fakes. If Cat can make his FT, the game is over in the 1st OT.

 

What am I talking about? Like I said, Yao made some critical mistakes at key periods in the game. There's plenty of blame to spread around. But, how can one overlook those mistakes by Yao? That's what I'm talking about! We can always share the blame with Mobes and Francis. But, I think if Yao doesn't make these mistakes, then we win the game. It was uncharacteristic for Yao to make those mistakes. But, he did a good job of keeping us in the game with his inside presence. So, you choose to blame Mobes over a FT? To each his own I guess.

 

we still have a 2-1 lead against the lakers this season, and the way the game looked early i am happy to see they at least made a game of it. cuttino w/ two chances to win game? why wasnt mo or yao or anyone else in the situation to win? cat coughed up twohairballs tonite and they were both rancid. Steve looked like someone had a hex on him and well, kudos to kobe who could have gone for 60 or more w/o the bum knee so feel lucky it wasn't worse

 

still a goog game to watch...very entertaining-xcept 4 mad dog madsen

 

Yao made mistakes at the end of the game, but he also pretty much carried the team at the end of the game. Without him it wouldn't have even been close. When a rookie is thorwn into a situation where the team is counting on him so much down the strech, he's bound to make a few mistakes. There are not many rookies out there that would be able to handle so much pressure on them.

 

This lies my biggest fear. I hope I am wrong but I suspect that Mobley and Francis can't have good games when they need to feed inside all the time and give up the ball a lot. Both players need the ball in their hands to be effective.

 

Yao lost the game? He's the only reason we were in the game to begin with. The calls against him at the end of the game were horrendous. He did make a bad pass to Mobley, but aside from that I didn't think he made these so called mistakes. He also took a charge on the ensuing possession at the other end to negate the errant pass to Mobley. Regarding the offensive hooking foul, that was an absurd call. Every post player in the league does that move and they never have that called on them. In fact Yao had done the move several times in that game before the refs all of sudden decided to call it at the end of the game.

I agree Yao made mistakes, but he did not lose the game.

I'm pretty baffled on this board sometimes. Somehow the guy that played best for us lost us the game?

 

Just imagine him saying, "You can stop this!"

Then, breaking into one of his jigs...chanting Yao's name in a taunt.

That should get your blood boiling!

 

The same thought crossed my mind. Maybe it's not possible for the guards to be as productive/successful if they have to feed the ball inside. Maybe they do need the ball in their hands the majority of the time. If that's the case, it doesn't look good. I hope they can adapt.

 

Yao lost us the game? He had the most points on are team and the most rebounds. Rudy for some reason took him out of the game when he was getting started and Mobley decided to take the last shots in the game and get commited to the shot and cant pass off to open players. Man i hope we make a trade for a shooting gaurd like Brent Barry or a power forward.

 

I think Madsen's nickname should be "U-Boat". That's because he dove to the floor last night to get Yao's sixth foul...

"DIVE! DIVE! DIVE!"

 

Sh*t. Why is always Mobley who takes the last shot? Isn't enough that we always screwed by his last shots?