[Chron]Gundy: Players should enjoy win + Spanoulis wasn't good

Do they have Spanoulis jersey/tshirt yet??

 

Here is the full text for everyone:

Nov. 23, 2006, 12:43AM
Rockets just warm enough
Shooting a bit better than Wizards will do in eighth victory

By JONATHAN FEIGEN
Copyright 2006 Houston Chronicle
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Finally, Rafer Alston came up with a plan to win this weird brickathon.

With the ball and the game in his hands in the last half-minute, the Rockets guard figured he'd fire away and do what everybody had been doing much of the night. He thought he'd miss.

"If you can get a shot up, you never know," Alston said. "Maybe Yao (Ming) or Shane (Battier) would get the rebound, and we could get a second opportunity."

They didn't have to. After all the shots he and pretty much everyone else missed Wednesday at Toyota Center, Alston nailed his 3-pointer with six seconds left to help lift the Rockets to an 86-82 win over the Washington Wizards.

At the time Alston launched, he had made three of 15 shots, which was just a little bit better than the Rockets as a whole had shot in the fourth quarter.

Another lead withers
That was enough for the Rockets to blow another hefty second-half lead, this time as much as 15. But having gotten so accustomed to that and emerged from a very strange night of basketball with their fourth win in five home games, they did not seem to worry about style.

"It would concern me if we were losing games," said guard Tracy McGrady, who had 13 points, 12 rebounds and eight assists. "I will take a win any way I can get it."

Even with a four-point lead with six seconds left after Alston's shot, the Rockets could not yet claim the win. There were still several oddities to go before that.

First, Washington's Gilbert Arenas, who had made one of 10 shots before knocking down his previous 3-pointer and three free throws, banged a 3 in off the backboard with 3.8 seconds left.

Then Luther Head — who had missed six of seven shots before his 3-pointer had been the first field goal either team managed for nearly four fourth-quarter minutes — was quickly fouled and made his first attempt to put the Rockets ahead 84-82.

Rockets coach Jeff Van Gundy had Head miss his second attempt with three seconds left, figuring the Wizards could not get a rebound and decent shot in that little time.

Instead, they could not get the rebound. Caron Butler wandered under the rim as the ball floated over his head. Head scooped it up on a bounce, was fouled with 1.3 seconds left, and made both attempts to seal the win.

"There is room for improvement, but I don't want our guys to get to the point they can't enjoy winning and are being graded on how pretty it is," Van Gundy said. "Sometimes it's like you're stuck in mud."

The Wizards were so caught in the muck that the Rockets spent the first half needing only to get a hand up and chase rebounds.

The Wizards not only made 11 of 44 shots — the worst shooting half against the Rockets this season — their 28 first-half points were one more than the fewest the Rockets had ever allowed in a half.

The Rockets misfired their way around the court, too, but got an enormous jolt from rookie guard Vassilis Spanoulis, who finished with 10 points, several strong defensive stops and rave reviews.

Raves for Spanoulis
"Billy wasn't good — he was outstanding," Van Gundy said. "He's not ready for Springfield yet. But I thought he was really good. Making the two 3s, you're going to always look good when the ball goes in, but if you watched him move his feet against some very hard guys to guard, he was able to stay in front of the ball, and that's one thing we've struggled with all year.

"I couldn't have been happier with how he played. I think that's his greatest strength right now: his defensive ability. He's gotten more disciplined. He gave us a great boost off the bench."

The Rockets had pushed the lead to its largest when Chuck Hayes, in his first game back from a hyperextended left knee, chased the rebound of a missed 3 and passed to McGrady at the top of the arc for a trey that put the Rockets up 65-50.

But with the Rockets leading by 12 in the fourth quarter, the Wizards rolled to a 13-2 run, beginning with a powerful Butler slam and ending with an Arenas 3-pointer that cut the Rockets' lead to 72-71 with 5:43 left.

It took more than three minutes for anyone to score. The Wizards missed their next six shots and two free throws. Over a span of more than seven minutes, the Rockets made one of eight attempts.

With that, Head sank three free throws and his late 3-pointer, Alston made his late 3, and the Rockets left with a win ... and without a care about how it looked.

jonathan.feigen@chron.com

 

I think I'm gonna cry

 

coming from jvg, that's really big. kill bill definitely deserved it though.

 

JVG's comments showed how wrong he was for sit Vspan on the bench. We might be 9-3 or 10-2 now.

My next question is, why not give Novak a try as well when nobody can make a shot?

 

he was outstanding... thank u jeff van gundy... now increase his minutes

 

fantastic that not only did VSPAN do very well, but Van Gundy acknowledges it. Sad it lose KSnyder to the injury, but it's nice to have someone come off the bench and play so well.

 

One down 2 to go!
Come on guys let's chant "JVG! Play Novak Play Bonzi"

 

Fock Bonzi!!!!

Dude thinks he's special, everyone from superstars to superschumps are required to give a certain amount of effort on this team. What makes Bonzi so special?

 

I agree. I think we're undefeated right now if Bonzi and Novak played, along with Vspan to start the year.

 

True! We don't need Bonzi

 

Where is that Greek dude who is updating V-span's blog? Please make a update thanks!!

 

Novak only please. Play Bonzi is a huge risk to team chemistry. Bad attitude is contagious, especially to those players who are working their butts off but get no playing time.

 

Until we get the NBA champion from Heat, we need everyone, including Sura!

 

Well, I wouldn't go that far. We could certainly use Bonzi but playing him when he doesn't deserve the minutes can blow up in our face. He's playing for a contract so his numbers are the only thing that matter to him. If we give into his demands now, he'll think he has control over this team and JVG.

First he'll want playing time while out of shape.
Then he'll complain about not enough minutes when he plays.
Then it'll be about not enough shots when you give him more minutes.

When does it end?

 

great thinking

 

The reason why you don't see any update is there's no update on VSpan's Greet blog site. I'm keeping a close eye on that website. If you go to Wikipedia, search for Spanoulis, you will find the link to his blog site on his entry page.

By the way, I'm not Greek so I'm too have to rely on translation from our friendly Greek fans.

 

misleading thread title!!!!!!!!!