ClutchCity.net Game Thread: Lakers @ Rockets 1/17/2003

Amazing! Magnificent! The Rockets showed the Lakers who's really in charge. The Rockets are on their way....Ming was fabulous...Shaq is a player who isn't blocked that often and our guys did a great job of ripping up the Big Aristotle to begin the contest.

We played inconsistently down the stretch, but Stevie and Cuttino were magnificent to bring us into overtime and ultimately, a significant victory! This moves us closer to our goals this season and the Lakers further from theirs.

STEVE FRANCIS WAS ABSOLUTELY SENSATIONAL! Cat was stupendous as well. In a couple of years, Francis, Cat and Dynasty will be known as THE BIG THREE. Just a matter of time. Be patient Rocket fans, the greatness has started and the best is yet to come!


HOUSTON RULES!

 

Posey is so money.

He's a perfect compliment between Steve and Yao.

 

my rims chop like the blades on a plane

 

Damn right. Could you imagine KT in this game shooting up his 18 foot bricks? Or, better yet, driving to the hoop with that cheap spin move, and getting swatted by Shaq.

Posey brings alot of energy to the floor, and he did a badass job helping out on double teams with Shaq. He's everything that G Rice isn't.

 

Our big man tradition continues...

 

Man! Moses and Akeem look small next to Yao!

I was hoping that Yao would be more aggressive, get fouls and make free throws. I don't think he had any at all tonite!

Great win! Even better game!

 

Great start by Yao. 6points and 3 blocks set the tone early. He defended Shaq very well uptil the late fourth quarter and in overtime but he didn't lose his confidence on defense even after that and came up with a important rebound.I wish he had shot better but his left index finger which got jammed bothered him for almost 3 quarters of the game. I think he would have gotten at least 14 points if it wasn't for that.He made that all important two handed dunk from Francis to set us up for the win which made a big diffrence down the clutch.
Francis was the star of the show and scored at will but he also played good defense against Kobe and came with good steals. Mobley shot well and made some good free throws down the stretch.
I was also happy to see Mo Taylor showing some hustle tonight.
Cato was ok but I thought that Posey could have done a better job on both ends tonight especially on offense but Griffin shot some bad airballs from the 3 point line which were unneccessary.If he hadn't gotten injured I think he would have done better tonight. Although I was getting goose bumps when Walton was saying we could be looking at a future rivalry for years big problems persisted,there were too many Iso's with Mobley taking bad shots out of them and Francis got in trouble a few times trying to do too much on his own which almost proved costly.If we don't do that we will get in trouble down the line.
It was a tight game which the Rockets deserved to win but we need to push the ball up the court to get more points and to move the ball around the court to get good shots.There will be times like tonight when shots are being missed but the guards still need to involve everyone in the game and the frontcourt players need to get better positions to score but it was a moral booster for us to win which helps a lot.

 

YAO BIG HEAD LOOKS REALLY SMALL ON THAT HUGEMONGOL BODY OF HIS!!! (is the helmet the "armor" that Yao said he outta wear in his 1st meeting with Shaq? DIDN'T NEED IT!!!)

Yao's bare bones minimalist double-double is HUGE TONIGHT!!! So many people thought he was gonna single-single .

 

plane, as in airplane. lil' flip is comparing the spinner rims on his car to the propeller on an airplane

 

Wow Yao makes Moses and Hakeem look like migets. Imagine how BIG he would be when he get bigger upper body.

 

It seemed like the refs were on the rockets' side. A big upset for the rocks.

 

a 6'11" miget?

 

Interesting...this song got alot of run in my CD player during the 12 hour drive to Lincoln. I guess all the tall-grass prairie around me led me to believe Lil Flip's rims chop like blades of grass on a plain...hmmm. Damn, that remote drive through Oklahoma and Kansas on I-35 does some strange things to your mind.

 

Wow! I'm still pumped about that game. Steve was unstoppable and Yao definitely showed that he'll be a challenge for Shaq and eventually overtake him. Kind of reminds me of when Shaq first played Olajuwon and the reverence he showed for him. I hope Yao doesn't respect the Big Shoulder too much though.

We've beaten some real quality teams this year!

LA 2-0
San Antonio 1-0
Sacramento 1-1
Portland 1-1
Phoenix 1-1
Minnesota 1-1

We've gotten a win over everyone except Dallas 0-1 and Utah 0-1. Over the next few weeks before the All Star break, we play Sacramento, San Antonio, and both Dallas & Minnesota twice. We really need to play strong in these games to improve our standing because it doesn't get any easier after the All Star Weekend.

That was definitely the most exciting game I've seen in quite awhile! I too hope Eddie is not hurt. He has stepped up a lot lately.

 

Perhaps w/ the exception of the way Franchise & Cat played tonight, the Rox have no choice but to step-up their game (which they totally are capable of) in order to beat the Lakers next time .

I'm listening to Lakers radio here in LA, and some fans have said that the Lakers were robbed of the "W" in this game w/ the flagrant... and Shaq was saying how he was fouled (hacked w/ arm 'round his neck) by Franchise, but SF didn't get the "F"... .....it all balances out! Yin & Yang u see!

 

Yeah, that's a loada bull cuz for every bad call that may have hurt the Lakers, it seemed to me that there were about 1.5 that favored them... dunno, maybe it was just my biased view during the game, but it seemed like a lot of pretty obvious crap was going the Lakers' way.

Anyways, I've said it before, and I'll say it again:
SUCK IT!!! SUCK IT LOOONG AND HARD, MOBLEY AND FRANCIS HATERS!!!

 

Yeah, we've got some tuff stuff coming up soon, and on the road, too. I really hope we can stay on top.

What was that about Eddie being hurt? Did you hear something after the game that that little neck thing may be lingering?

 

One hell freakin awesome game!!!

Everybody must be happy, right??

IMO we win this game by luck. Defensively, Rockets has done a great job. But the offense is terrible.
1. A lot of ISO from guards in the third and fourth quarter. At the end of the game, Lakers focused all the defense on Stevie, and nobody else from Rockets showed up.
2. Turnover problem. Ball movement is not good.
3. Yao's shooting needs to be fixed quickly. He needs to shoot closer to the basket.

 

I heard it was a back injury but I really hope that Griffin will be fine for the next game.

 

Yao continued his poor shooting of late, likely tired from the long season he has already played when you include this summer with the Chinese National Team and then the World Championships.But Yao did what he had to do to contain Shaq and the Rockets won.