ClutchCity.net Game Thread: Nets @ Rockets 3/8/2003

What is the NBA record of fewest points in a quarter and in a half? Net's 24 in 1st half must be close, if it didn't set a new record.

 

I think a couple of offensive combination on the outside today was quite good. We still need to work on the combination between the inside and outside though.

The defense (especially interior defense) was much better than the last few games.

Hope they keep it up.

 

19 points. I think it's been done more than once.

http://www.basketball.com/nba/records/NBAteamRegScore.shtml

 

what's Griffen's hand doing to Kmar middle section?

 

Good work, Rockets, keep it up to kick LAC's ass.

 

Here's my first game recap. Hope you guys enjoy it!

This was the 7th Rockets game that I had a chance to attend in person this season. As a treat we watched most of the game from just behind the Rockets' bench. (My wife and I got the special treat of winning the Reliant Power Team seats toward the end of the 1st quarter! That's a whole 'nother story!).

This was a great win for the Rockets primarily because of the way they controlled the game with defense. Rockets looked like a team on a mission tonight holding the Nets to 36% shooting overall and an embarrassing 24 points at the half. Once they put the Nets down they never let up their intensity so that New Jersey could have a chance to creep back into the game.

The Rockets defense was definitely strong tonight. Interior-D was tenacious. They did a great job overall playing "in-your-face" defense and it seemed from court-side that there were very few shots attempted by the Nets that went uncontested. Props to the Rockets for really hustling on defense. Even Kelvin Cato got into the act with a steal around mid-court ending in a fast break which turned to free-throws.

The Rox did start out slow and I was beginning to worry that we were going to see the return of the first half funk that they have been in the last several games making 3 out of their 1st 9 shots. Fortunately Cuttino Mobley got the Rox going offensively and would end up with 7-15 shooting and 18 points on some clutch shots and spectacular drives to the hole. I was impressed to see something that I hadn't seen much of all season which was effective use of picks. Several times Yao set picks for Mobley who correctly used them resulting in some open jumpers that the Cat just drained.

Yao had a bit of an off night offensively (4-13 and 12 points) but he definitely made his presence felt on the boards with 10 rebounds while swatting 4 shots. A couple of these were the really nasty variety as the Nets tried to challenge the Rox defense by driving into the lane only to be rejected by Yao. Yao did make a beautiful over-the-shoulder pass to Francis for a dunk in the 4th quarter. Seeing it live and upclose just in front of us was just incredible! Seeing it at their eye level, you really get a sense of how tough that pass is to make!

Steve Francis had a productive night of 17 points on 8-14 shooting including a highlight reel one-handed slam dunk in the 2nd half that had us out of our seats. That dunk was simply awe-inspiring and we had a perfect view from courtside right infront of us as he found a seam in the defense and went airborne! It was a beauty to behold up close! Besides having a great offensive game I was pretty impressed with the way that Francis seemed to be really hustling on defense and staying with Jason Kidd.

Griffin and Rice both contributed offensively also with Griffin making himself known with offensive rebounds and put-backs. Sort of reminds of Cedric Ceballos by the way he somehow slithers in there. I hope Griffin keeps that up. Rice was consistent with his shots and actually posted up a couple of times.

Overall it was a heartening win by the way they kept up the intensity and never let up.

Besides the Francis' slam-dunk here are a few other things that stuck out in my mind:

In the 1st Quarter Francis and Yao played a two-man game with Francis cutting along the baseline to the basket causing the Nets defense to collapse. With the Nets defense committed to closing down the lane Francis kicked the ball out to an open Yao Ming who drained a 19 ft jumper. Yao also had another wide-open mid-range jumper he drained from just beyond the free-throw line. I hope we see more of Yao's mid-range jumpers utilized in this manner since he seems to be money with them.

Francis and Yao tried the pick-and-roll a couple of times if I recall correctly. The first one worked out pretty good with Francis finding a cutting Yao while the 2nd one wasn't so pretty.

I can't say enough about Mo Taylor's defense. From courtside you really get to see how he plays some really great positional defense by fighting the opposing forwards for position and keeping them out of where they want the ball. The guy is pretty physical down there.

Getting to watch the game from courtside was really something else. You really get to see just how fast and how physical the game is. It was fantastic getting to watch the players interact with each other and with Rudy. I was surprised at how often and consistently they were hand-signalling plays the entire game. I was also suprised to see how much Rudy was involved constantly in calling out plays and other direction from the bench. You really got a sense that this wasn't a streetball match.

 

Tango, that must have been awesome! You could not have had a better game to get those kind of seats. Go ROCKS! I am jealous!

 

I think it's obvious Rudy has been getting throught to the players. Imagine how much they gave the ball to Yao at the beginning of the season compared how much they're giving the ball to him now? With the exception of a couple forced shots (no more than any other team takes) the Rockets offensive balance was PERFECT last night.

Eventhough the Rockets still have some more work to do, to suggest that Rudy isn't bringing about any change is ludicrous. I see progress, and I don't want interrupt that by throwing a completely new coach in the mix.

 

http://sports.espn.go.com/nba/recap?gameId=230308010#

just a try.
testing

 

Sorry, but I'm really not impressed.

Defensive intensity? Please. The Nets were getting the types shots that they were looking for and just weren't hitting them. A win against a slumping, eastern conference thing doesnt mean a got-darn-thing. I mean c'mon... how many shot clock buzzer beaters did the Rockets make tonight? What was the Rockets field goal percentage in this game? How often will we get a double-double from Griffin? How often will we get offensive help from Glen Rice? Not often.

Had it been any other team in the NBA last night... I'm not sure if the Rockets would have won. I'm just glad Rudy's not giving the team the next three days off (they're not playing again until Wednesday).

Also, why does Maurice Taylor have to start bickering with other player's on the opposing team? I wouldn't mind it so much if it were effective in getting in the opponent's head, but K-Mart kept dunking on his buttocks?

Oh well, let me stop the whinning... it was a win... I guess.

 

by the way, i'm sorry for the wrong use of punctuation, misspelling, and wrong use of words in the previous post. too lazy to use the preview function.

 

Who said we were going to lose? w00t~!
When the ZRB and sosorox say we are going to win, we will.
l33t d3wds=Rockets

 

Have you even seen NJ play before? They are not a jumpshooting team and that is all they had last night. They run the transition game but the rockets stopped that with their defense. Rudy prepared the rocks specifically for this game and was successful at taking away what the Nets like to do.

 

Sloppy game but we still won???

That never happens to the Rox so we got real lucky last night...

Let's not become complacent and lose to the Clips...

 

please, please, PLEASE attend EVERY single rox game from now on!

 

On a different note - did any one notice that Yao looks a little bigger/muscular? It looks to me that he must be around 310 - 315 pounds now. I understand Tony Feisen (sp), Rockets Trainer, have him on an in-season wait lifting program. Maybe it is my eyes but Yao looks a little bigger waist up. What do you think guys? Eddy also looks bigger and muscular as well - is it my eyes or is it for real? .......... Eddy calling for the ball in the paint area in recent games is a welcome developement as well.

Also his stamina has really increased but there is still room for improvement.

 

Nice recap Tango, I enjoyed reading it.

 

Well......this game must have been a real treat for the sellout crowd.

Lucky people!!!!!!!! A good win!!

Something must have been wrong or Jason Kidd...

Or maybe Rudy just had a great practice prepared on Friday.

 

Thank you very much for your game recap, Tango. It's exciting to see encouraging signs from the Rockets. Let's hope they'd keep it up and secure a play-off spot.