AZ Republic makes their case: AZ Republic website <b>Who's the Franchise? </b> The choice for the U.S. team could come down to Marbury and Houston's Steve Francis, voted by fans into the Western Conference starting lineup for the All-Star Game. The two square off Sunday in Houston with a playoff tiebreaker at stake. USA Basketball and future All-Star voters may want to look at how the two have matched up in the past. In seven games against each other since Marbury came to the Suns, Marbury has averaged 24.7 points and 7.6 assists while shooting 42.4 percent. Francis has averaged 15 points and 5.7 assists and has shot 34.2 percent. It's not just a Phoenix thing, either. While in New Jersey, Marbury averaged 23.9 points and 7.3 assists and shot 52.1 percent in three games against Francis and the Rockets. Stevie Franchise? He averaged 11.7 points and 2.7 assists and shot 50 percent in those games.
I'm more concerned about the team W/L record than one-on-one stat matchups. Although, I don't really know who got the best of who. Hey stat people, what's the record for Francis vs. Marbury?
Steve: 22.2 ppg 6.0 rpg 1.69 spg .48 bpg .436 fg% .803 ft% .374 3p% 41.7 mpg Marbury: 23.3 ppg 3.2 rpg 8.3 apg 1.35 spg .25 bpg .442 fg% .795 ft% .324 3p% 40.6 mpg This is head to head. In other words... it's a dead heat.
Then I hope Marbury gets mad an gets another tech, and the crowd chants "na na na na na na na na, hey hey hey, goodbye" as marbury leaves the court after his ejection.
according to this site i'm just a junior member, so cut me some slack guys/gals. go to the official nba site, choose the rockets team, choose players, select francis, choose opposing team and opposing player. francis assists per game against phoenix is 6.1. sorry, i think i left them out because i got francis confused with mobley or something.
Marbury is better then Francis right now...but he has been in the league longer. I still think Steve's attitude is better. DD
Yes. Marbury is definitely better. But he has a bad attitude...but Francis has more technicals. The best thing that can happen for the Rockets is Marbury driving and trying to dunk on Kelvin Cato. And hopefully Cato just gets all pissed off because of the occasion and his emotion and they start going at it. And they both get ejected... Marbury is better right now...but Francis has been playing pretty well in our 4 game winning streak. Hopefully it will continue!!
I don't want to start a new thread on this, but I just want to make sure EVERYBODY acknowledges Steve's improvement as a PG over the season: For the season, he's averaging 6.0 assists, and 3.8TO's. But to better measure his season, I think it's important to look at Steve's stats since the All Star break to include things such as incorporating Yao Ming, James Posey, getting used to a big man system, having to move off the ball slightly more, and having better options on offense. So over the second half of the season (after game #41), Steve's PG numbers are: 6.19 assists Vs 2.91 TO's per game That's better than 2:1, and over the last 10 games or so, he's better than 3:1, meaning he's been improving in these areas all season long. He's also averaging 20.5ppg and 1.99stls per game. I guess the ultimate goal is something along the lines of 6.6 assists and 2.8 TO's, while being joined in the backcourt with another PG, or maybe a SG, who has a great asst:TO ratio. To me, those numbers tell me that Steve is constantly improving the scoring/passing balance that he must eventually achieve.
He is gradually improving as a point guard and leader... And he is reducing the number of shots taken too!!! We have to be patient... I'm still thinking...even if we make the playoffs and beat Pheonix...it will be terrible if we get swept by the Mavs. But still...Marbury is better.
Man, after visiting all those other sports sites it really makes you appreciate how good Clutchcity.net really is. Most of those other sites are getting like 10-20 post a day, I think we get more than that in one hour. I'm so glad Clutch is a Rocket Fan!!!
I would say Marbury is a little better than Francis right now. People complain that the Rockets aren't a lock for the playoffs, and are thus underachieving, while teams like the Suns are challenging us, but the reality is the two teams' best players are near equal, with Marbury having 3 more years of experience. In fact the teams are so similar it's scary. People are talking about co-Rookies of the year b/t the two teams, and then you have Marion and Mobley (Marion is actually quite a bit better). It would be a little more understandable to be complaining if in 3 years, the Rockets were still struggling to get into the playoffs.
