ClutchCity.net Game Thread: Mavericks @ Rockets 2/21/2003

Hey Deckard, lay off Yetti, he's an "analyst of the Rockets". haha

 

Horrible shooting, just horrible. Can I say we're out of the playoffs now?

 

We should worry about EVERYONE! all i know is...in the west, once you drop into 9th place, unless you are the lakers, it's nearly impossible to get back up. This is especially true since the rockets have a gazillion road games left. Not to say that they are any good at home lately either....lost 5 of last 7 at home.

Once again...with less emphasis...

IT'S OVER!!!

 

Well, what else is there to say? You believe Yao can handle playing a lot of minutes all the time, and the coaches and trainers don't.

I think Rudy understands that the Rockets are a better team with Yao Ming in the game, and I'm sure he would love it if he could play him 48 minutes every night.

I agree that the rotation needs to be "rebalanced," but I have know way of knowing how many minutes Yao Ming can handle every game...especially when you have games on back-to-back nights.

 

The only thing I saw that Yao didn't do well was get out and contest Bradly for those 15 foot jumpers. Yao did not respect his jumper and he burned him on 4 shots I believe. Yao will learn from that.

Yao needs to make a more concerted effort to drive the lane for that hook shot. It won't be blocked and he either seems to score on that move or get fouled. I would do that 3 or 4 times in a row if I was the Rockets. Then the defender will over compensate for that move and he can do his spin move to the basket. I just feel that EARLY in the game Yao looks for the more finesse moves but as the game wears on he gets more physical and plays better. This is something he has to adjust to and be more physical from the START.

Chris

 

We were down about 9 points at the end of 3 Q. Why didn't we just put our best players on the court and see what would happen?

 

I dont know, I was asking the same question. Rudy waited until we were down by 17 to put in Yao and Steve with 6 minutes left. I understand that Steve is hurt, but he obviously wanted to be out there, and there was no excuse for Yao to not be since Cato was a complete no show tonight.

 

Yao got owned by Bradley tonite. No fault of Rudy's.

Lakers will make the top 8 but the Suns won't. What the Rockets need to do is aim for the 7th spot and avoid the Mav.

Keep The Faith!

 

That makes the most sense to me. People say it all the time..."in the playoffs you have to put your best players on the court regardless of whether they are tired or not and hope they give their best effort." Well we are playing for our playoff lives right now so I don't see why we should treat any of the games remaining as "just another regular season game".

Forget about trying to keep all the players happy. Players like Rice or Moochie will just have to realize that they are there for the sole purpose of letting the starters rest. THEY DON"T HAVE TO GET 20-25 MINUTES EVERY GAME RUDY!!!

It's like Rudy sticks with a rotation and never changes it (except for that dallas game where he put yao in the starting line up). He thinks it keeps his players happy. How about leading them to wins rudy? That'll make them happy you idiot!

 

No S&^!. The bad officiating doesn't surprise or bother me so much. Hakeem overcame it many times. Yao needs to learn to fight like Hakeem. The bad coaching bothers me. We are consistantly outcoached, never adjust in game, have ridiculous sub patterns, no discipline, poor game planning, video editors for assistants and an apparent pigheaded fear to bring in others who might help.

 

Dude, please give me some of what you've been smoking.

 

I don't know? Because Rudy wanted to lose?

The thing is, you could say this exact same thing after every single game the Rockets lose, and that's exactly what happens. People complain about Yao's minutes after almost every game...well, except the ones we win.

 

i gues the Rox kinda suk eh? esp against the Mav for some friggin reason

i'm a sucka fer sayin this...... GO BLAZERS!!!!!


help the Rox suk their way into the playoffs please

 

SPEAKING OF DUNKS....Michael Finley dunking on Yao Ming?

Vicious.

 

Yao really got hacked all night. Granted he's a rookie and not the strongest player, but it seemed like he was getting hacked every trip down the floor. I think the Mavs figured the refs couldn't possibly call a foul every single play thus they could keep hacking Yao.

It seems like teams have really taken on the hack a Yao strategy, but he doesn't get calls consistently. Sometimes the refs give him a call when he isn't hacked, but it doesn't make up for all the calls he doesn't get. I know he's 7'6", but he's still more of a finesse player. Getting fouled every play can't be good. He's bound to get injured if they continue playing this strategy on him. He's not Shaq (who gets way more calls) and even Shaq hurts from the constant hacking.

 

DC,

I understand where youre coming from but some of Rudy's substitutions are ridiculous.

If Mo T isn't hitting, our bench just plain sucks.

You cannot have Franchise and Yao sitting at the same time when you pull within 8.

When Cato and Moochie is in at the same time I'm just praying Mo T has his game face on because otherwise we see 0 offense.

That's eactly what happened tonight. We get it close then Mo T gets hurt and all heck breaks loose until there's 6 minutes left and we're down by 14.

Why even bother putting Yao back in.

As far as the long term. We just need to find another guard. Moochie Norris is just plain terrible.

I can accept us losing to the better team. However we can't get blown away by the Mavericks every game. When you lose to the same team 3 straight times, and they aren't close, you have to try something different.

 

Yao was fired up because of that. Finely should have done that earlier.

 

Well Dallas didn't have a problem leaving their best players at the start of the 4Q even when they led by 9 points. I don't understand why Rudy seems to "cool off" his players when they are starting to heat up. He is the first Coach I see does this.

 

Yao is 7'6 and tires quicker than smaller players. Yao has never gone through an NBA season. Yao has already hit the "rookie wall" once.

You're comparing NBA veterans who are in great shape, to an NBA rookie who is not in great shape. The comparison doesn't work.

 

I agree with you on this. If the Rockets have to play with Steve and Yao on the bench, it should only be for a very short time. When neither of them are in I almost feel like we're helpless. However, Steve did play 5 minutes less than his season average tonight, which may have made it look worse than it was.