ClutchCity.net Game Thread: Lakers @ Rockets 3/26/2003

Whenever Yao tries a post move against shaq, shaq pushes him off balance and is all up in his face. no call. Then when Yao applies similar pressure as shaq makes a move, its an immediate whistle. I wish they would call it both ways whenever the lakers are involved, but i guess thats why they have 3 rings.

 

without eddie griffin to help on the double team of shaq, there is no way yao can defend shaq by himself. to all those idiots who said, what good is eddie griffin? , there's your answer. when he's out of the game, there's no one to help yao defend shaq and no one to help absorb fouls to prevent yao from getting into foul trouble.

 

Wow Yao got destroyed. He needs to seriously get his strength training going this summer.

But Rockets offense is horrible down low. Everytime Yao got the ball, all 4 guys were just stand and watch. Yao has to go against Shaq one-on-one and it won't get him going like that.

 

Yeah, but if the Rockets slip to ninth, it won't be for long. The Suns will lose to the Pistons and Pacers ON THE ROAD.

 

Yao's elbow may be bothering him. He stunk, offensively. One question:what happen to the idea of double teaming Shaq?


The Refs stunk! Do these guys kiss Kobes ass or what? The Rockets were playing 5 on 6 out there.

If there is one thing that I learned from watching this game it's that the refs will see to it that the Lakers win the championship this year.

 

Not a loss to be terribly ashamed of considering the Rockets' shooting today, but I just despiiiiiise Shaq... he may be the most dominant center in the league, but not the most skilled by a longshot. I hate him more than any player in the league. I heard from a friend that has even less of a life than me that his non-dunking percentage for the game (and probably for pretty much his career) was 37%.

On a not-so-closely-related note, why is it that Dallas, SA, and Sacremento don't have x's by their name yet? From the math I know, they're locked in the West...

 

Why did Mean give Yao the hook late in the 4th and not get him back until the last minute? It's not like Cato was defending Shaq any better/worse.

I watched the game at a sports bar. People were pissed. Even if he was 0 for 20 he is still more of an offensive threat than Cato. Shaq could just sink in the paint on D.

 

For those of you who didnt notice in the past, shaq has bullied around the likes of Hakeem (in his later years) and Mutombo in a similar manner. Yao's offense was off tonight, but i've seen Shaq do worse to more respected players. He was playing nba finals basketball tonight (read: anything goes because the refs dont have the nuts to call a charge, unless its on Mo jump-stopping to the side)

 

Face it - this is one of the few games where we simply got outplayed. Lakers had more poise in the final 3 minutes. Shaq was unstoppable. Rockets actually played good defense but it just wasnt enough.

 

I've felt this way ever since before title number 2... remember the Rasheed tech for "looking at the ref the wrong way"?

 

How is Eddie's thumb? I hope that he doesn't miss any games. We really need him.

As for the game, well, I have to give it to Shaq. We had absolutely no answer for him. Yao was just abused out there. I hope this doesn't hurt his confidence because Shaq does that to the best of the them. I think we should have doubled Shaq more. No one can guard him one-on-one, simple as that.

Steve had another strong game. MoT and Rice played well off the bench again. I still believe that we'll hold off Phoenix for the last playoff spot. Let's forget this one and go out strong against the Spurs tomorrow.

 

Yao played terrible offensively tonight. He lost his confidance early
and never got it back. Rox's offense strategy also failed to set him up for some easy baskets to help him out, such as high pick and roll, pass the ball back to him for 15 footers; or let him roll into the middle for some jump hooks. Most of the times, we were using him in the low post position and his fade-way jumpers betrayed him.

Defensively, I thought he played ok, better than Cato. But
during the crunch time we need to doulbe him up. Nobody
can play Shaq one-on-one if officials allowed him use his shoulders.

 

Yeah, the defensive effort was there tonight. I thought the Rockets would win when Glen Rice hit that three to put us up four. I wish we didn't leave shooters open -- particularly Fox -- for threes, though. Seemed like whenever the Rockets hit a big shot to put a little space between them and the Lakers, LA would hit a big three or get an offensive board or something. That offensive board Yao didn't get that allowed Shaq to dunk was huge. We were up one @ the time with four minutes left I believe. Francis went down and hit a jumper to put us up back one, but it could've been three.


I guess hindsight is 20/20...a lot of "what if's" after a tough loss.

 

Refs suck! Why not just take the offensive 3-sec rule out of book to make sure Lakers will win another ring? The way they called the game tonight, nobody but a somo wrestler could stop Shaq! Fans in the game should count "1, 2, 3" loudly every time Shaq steps in the paint!

 

It's a tough time to get a loss right now, especially considering we could very well fall out of the playoffs come tomorrow night by a 1/2 game. The Spurs, who are my pick to win it all this year (They play good ball similar to the Mavericks and Kings, except they have a real go to player in Duncan down the stretch, and play much better D then both teams mentioned above), and we face them tomorrow, which doesn't look too well. As much as I like the fact that we play terrific on back to back nights, I have a feeling Yao's flat out exhausted after tonights game and will continue to shoot poorly tomorrow, and I can only hope Francis and Griffin will be back for tomorrow. As much as it pains me to say this, losing Griffin (He really helped set the tempo last time Yao and Shaq faced off. He got a couple of weakside blocks to help Yao on defense, that I think people tend to overlook.) tonight put us in poor position when Mr.Mean had to play Cato at C, Posey at PF, Rice at SF, Steve at SG, and Moochie at PG. We complain that Griffin doesn't have a big enough body, but look at Posey, and we'll probably be stuck using him tomorrow guarding Duncan. Francis tried his best tonight to get us a W, and I felt he should of had that final shot. He can get around a defender that steps out, like Shaq did on Rice tonight, and has been clutch for us in the past. I feel he might be mentally fatigued and won't control the tempo of the game too well tomorrow. He's been playing like a stud as of late though, so I hope I'm wrong. Tonights loss just really hurt us for tomorrow too, considering how many of our starters are banged up, and might miss tomorrows game, including our coach. However if they can win tomorrow, it'll mean a ton for us, because Phoenix plays Detroit Friday, and Detroit should shut them out with a good win.

All in all, if we find ourselves able to snag a win tomorrow, our schedule gets fairly easier from there on out. I'm not really too worried about the east coast road trip, because I think all east teams are overrated with the exception of the Pistons. They play the closest to west coast style ball in the sense that they rely on Big Ben to produce for them,despite it not being so much in the numbers department. None of the other East teams can say they have that.

Lastly to end this post on a positive note. Posey stepped up again with clutch perimeter shooting, and played decent defense as well. Francis again showed a lot heart, and were the Rockets able to get their offense in much faster check during those shot clock violations, we'd of had 4 more shot attempts. (It's ashame I even have to say that, but still, those are things that can more easily be fixed then worrying about lack of talent.) Taylor stepped up big in the 4th quarter again. Mobley despite not being a big offensive factor played decent defense with those steals, and very rarely got burned by Kobe. In fact most of Kobe's points were off player switches when Mobley had to switch guarding off Kobe during set picks for him. So despite Kobe scoring 30 tonight, when Mobley was able to face up to him, he held him to some tough perimeter buckets, and swiped some steals. Good props to Mobley.

I can't help but say, but I wish the officials would totally revamp their whistles on traveling, clear fouls, and violations. I realize they have to let the players play their game, but everyone in the NBA does a shuffle even on entry passes to the post. Francis does it a ton. Shaq does it a ton when he shoulders in on everybody. Yao does it as well switching pivot feet even when taking fadeaways. It'd be nice to see the officials call these things. Sure the first 20 or so games would be a pain in the ass to watch considering there'd be a whistle blown about every damn play, but the players would adjust and would actually play basketball the way it should be played. It would also cut down on all those controversial last second plays where fans would love to argue so and so traveled, but because it doesn't get called enough, it won't be called late in the game. Call the games according to the rules, and let the stars separate themselves from the rest of the group by playing without any favoritism.

 

Terrible job by Mr. Mean. Now not only Rox lost a game, but a rookie's confidence possibly got badly damaged which is not good for later games at all.
We should double-team Shaq as soon as Yao getting abused there.

For those who said Yao should not bulk up a lot, this game is for you. See my signature.

 

Does anyone know what is wrong with EG's thumb and how long he will be out?

My take on this game is that we got too much Shaq and Kobe, and we didn't play team ball tonight. Once again, too many iso's and three's. Our fastbreak looked awful, we didn't pass the ball well, but whatelse is new. I'm dissapointed, mainly because we seemed to lose all of our close games. It shows how immature we are at this point, and if we do make it to the playoffs I'll be content with just that. I don't expect us to do anything with this particular unit, until we stop playing for individual stature, but play as one unit with one goal... to win. That means the guards will probably have to give up some shots to get more touches for Yao and MoTay.

How about that airball by Griffin in the 1st quarter?

He needs to stop shooting 3's so much.
Get well RUDY!!!

 

Did you watch the game???? Seriously. Yao's confidence was shaken; the shots he got early didn't fall -- he was three for freakin' 13. And Mo-T was given the ball almost exclusively in the fourth quarter. And Yao was on the bench for most of the fourth so he can't get shots when he's SITTING DOWN! And when he did get the ball he was ready to pass, w/o even looking for his shot.


Watch the game!

 

Yawnnnn!!!

It's nice you point that out......AFTER IT HAPPENED!

Let's get with the program. You're a little late.

 

i thing you spoke the magic words..... Yao will finally have another breakthough game! Posey's gonna get his 2nd trip-doub.... and Eddie will finally breakthru also. This Rox team seem to follow a path of opposites and reverse logic and contradictions with their record and their fan/sports analyst predictions.... hmm... I'd say the Rox achieve a "W" tomorrow...... not exactly a guess.... but a feeling.... maybe an emotional guess.....