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

In regards to tonight's loss, listening to the game on 610 you can always tell if the Rockets are riding the precipice of throwing the game away by Gene's tone of voice. I am surprised Les hasn't ditched him (I love Gene even though he's totally biased in his game calling) since he's not kissing everyone's behind all the time. Good job to Calvin for chiding Stevie Franchise when he doesn't use whatever brain he might have! Rudy is proving he's a better mascot than a coach, but I say we really should have traded Franchise while the rest of the league still thinks he's the best point guard in the West (Hah!). I love the Rockets, but we will not make it to the playoffs this year because we don't deserve to get there. By the way, the Mavs are good, so give some cred where cred is due.

 

He wasn't playing well in the first half obviously, but that was largely due to the fact that he wasn't getting any calls from having Bradley hanging off him in the paint.

Did you even watch the 3rd quarter were he got us back into the game by scoring 9 straight points and dunking on Bradely 3 times?

Not entirely blamming the lost on him, but I thought it was Rudy's fault that he did not use his substitution well enough when we had an opportunity to close in on them. I am not saying that Yao should play more minutes, just that he should play more in the 4th, and its also not wise to leave both Francis and Yao out for half the 4th quarter. Our bench was ice cold tonight, and were clueless on offense and poor on defence without them, thus you just don't leave them in for half of the 4th quarter against the likes of Dirk, Nash, Finely and Van.

-G'day-

 

If that's true, we should have Moochie talk trash to Yao before every game to get him worked up. Remind Moochie to wear heavy pads though.

 

Rudy is totally responsible for the loss. When we play good offense first quarter, and Dallas had fault trouble guarding Yao. They do not even want put Bradley in against Yao. We should just keep Yao there for the beginning of second quater and put the game away.
He seems never has some creative plan based on the game. It always Yao 10-11 min, last 6 min second, 10-11 min 3rd and last 6-7 min 4th quarter. This plan does not work. If Yao did not play good in first, he should play Cato earlier. (I do think Rockets had best starting center and best backup center, but based on opponent we can play different stratgie)
I thought we could blow away Dallas this time after watching the first quarter, but it turned out to be another 15 point loss. When I watched the second quater, I saw Bradley build up with confidence, I know the game is over. So I did not watch the rest of the game.
I bet if Don Nelson had our player, we could win Championship this year without playoff experiences.

 

This is probably one of the worst officiated game I have watched. It looks like Mark Cuban's constant b****ing about Yao getting all the calls worked tonight because Yao did not get any calls in the 3rd quarter. Yao needs to sharpen up his elbows for all the teams are now tackling him as soon as he gets into lowpost. A little chin music will remind them who's the boss. Just go ask Clemens.

 

This is a ridiculous statement. You obviously overrated our team.

Dallas have more talent than us and they have Don Nelson. But I bet that they won't win the championship.

 

I agree with Dreamweaver. Ming needs to fight back. They try to rip his arms off when he has the ball.

I think Sean Elliott is a moron. He kept talking about how Ming is showing the ball. He talked about how Ming was keeping the ball up high...like its a bad thing. You are supposed to keep the ball high...the only reason why he kept fumbling it was because Dirk kept fouling him.

Talk about someone that gets all the damn calls. Nowitski gets every call, every time.

 

I think carayip's pessimism is overrated.

 

Anytime a Team Loses by a Wide Margin, on such a Consistent Basis, IMHO, Faulty STRATEGY is to Blame
This game highlighted a lot of things for me - things that are actually quite encourging as to why we have championship level talent while the Mavs face an unorthodox road to the Gold.

Talent-wise We are Just as Good if not Better
On matters of overall talent, depth of bench, coaching intelligence, and positional strength, I feel very strongly that the Rockets are as good if not better than the Mavs. Look at the talent and depth at each of our positions. While the pessimistic idiots on cc.net will keep crying about how we lack this or that. Fact is, we've got a pretty enviable roster of names. By controlling for the "talent and depth" factors, we're left with a team that is no doubt losing for some other reason. IMHO, that reason is STRATEGY.

In no way do I believe the Mavs should own the Rox. While we may have lost four times to them this season, I'm not convinced that it's b/c our roster is so much worse than theirs. With modern technology, basketball has become quite a thinking-mans' game. With tapes and instant replays, teams can make meaningful adjustments to meet the challenge of their competition. Nevertheless, to lose every game in the series is quite a feat - for both the victor and the victimized.

Though the Mavs clearly approach each game thinking "aggressor," they have their weaknesses too. For any given dependence on a certain strength, that source of strength also represents their achilles heel. And contrary to what many NBA analysts might think, IMHO, the true franchise player for the Mavs is not Nash and it's not Finley, but rather, NOWITSKI. if a team has an ANSWER to Nowitski, then it has an answer to defeating to Mavs.

To his credit Nowitski is a spectacular sharpshooter. Yet he has one very glaring competitive advantage. He's a 7 FOOTER playing the small forward position. This unorthodox set demands an unorthodox defensive strategy. And though not all, if any, teams HAVE 7 foot fowards to defend this position, you can more than likely find able bodied 6'10 and 6'11 guys to help out here.

Point being? GET A DAMN HAND IN THE FACE OF THAT GUY
That's all you need, IMO. Yes, Nowitski has made incredible shots, but again, He's 7 FEET TALL. Even when he looks like he's fading away, he still has an edge over his defender. With Nowitski + LaFrentz+ Bradley, we are talking not twin, but TRIPLE TOWERS here. Yet despite their size, the Rox still held their own for much of the game with a rebounding advantage.

However to defend Nowitski, we need tall guys, not simply jumpers. Nowitski is no Reggie Miller. Reggie Miller had size AND height disadvantages at his position at the 2 guard. Nowitski is a big guy who requires a big defender. Get a big defender to challenge Notwitski's shot, and I think the results of effectiveness will speak for themselves. By clamping down on his perimeter game, Nowitski will also be forced to put the ball on the floor. ]I'd rather have Nowitski drive to the hole and meet Yao face-to-face, where Nowitski's height is more or less neutralized, than have Nowitski shoot open 3s and 2s, b/c he's taller than his defender.

My Suggestions as to Possible Solutions
1) Use the yet untested Yao and Cato combination; Cato alone at Center can't get the job done. Yao can get some of the job done, but he ain't out there guarding Nowitski. Cato is mobile, tall, and a leaper. Give him the assignment and let him stand beside Yao. Unorthodox opposing offenses DEMAND unorthodox defensive assignments
2) Never take out Yao while Nowitski is on the floor. w/o our inside presence, Nowitski gains yet another advantage in "height" while driving to the hole
3) Force the other Mavs to beat us. Tonite the defenders on Finley did a great job. I also have the highest confidence in our guards ability to move step for step in defending Nash. The lone maverick who hurts us badly each of the four outings is Nowitski
4) While the Mavericks may like the idea of coming out as the aggressors on offense, our Rox can also come out as agressors on DEFENSE. Where is the full-court press? Where is the trapping? All these unpredictable elements to D help throw a "tuned offense" like the Mavs out of rhythm.

This game of basketball is a chess match and clearly our strategy is not working against Big Blue.

JMHO



thinkin'SAGE

 

On the radio, Gene Peterson said something to the effect of, 'sometimes you have to take the foul and show these guys who's boss'

...and I agree. yeah he would've gotten a foul, but think of the future intimidation factor it could've had!!! if yao had fouled finley, i bet it would be a long time before he tried to do that again... imagine mentally what that could do to a player from that point on out!?

sometimes you gotta get tough... make and take that foul.



GET TOUGH YAO! grrr!

and for the record... yao just backed away, he let finley go up there. gene mentioned that on the radio too!

 

I agree. My biggest fear is Yao is just way too laid back. He needs to have someone instill some intensity in his game. A dash of Kenyon Martin would be welcomed.

 

People are getting to worked up over this game. Did anyone really expect the rockets to beat the Mavs tonight. Now if they lose to the Grizz tomorrow......

 

I believe Mavs couldn't make the playoffs 2 years ago (or is it 3 years ago?) with Finley, Nash and Dirk in their roster and Nelson as the coach.

So even if we can't make it this year, we still have hope.

 

This goes back to what I said before about Yao's personality. He is too nice of a guy and you don't teach being a bad ass.

But Yao has enough upsides for us to overlook that glaring weakness. I'll bet that Yao will never get one single flagrant foul in his entire NBA career. Sigh.

 

I think that Mavs have a new Hack-a-Yao strategy. Everytime Yao received the ball in the low post, they go for the swipe with a single player or double team when Yao's either holding the ball low or dribbling. It seemed tonight that they believed they could get the steal or disrupt his rhythm this way without getting too many fouls called.

Those stupid quick swipes moves by Sadley and Dirk really pissed me off because it seemed like they kept hitting his hands and the refs weren't calling them at all, unless Yao got a shot off. I think the Mavs believe this is a better strategy than to contest Yao's shot when he gets it off. It definitely allows quicker, smaller guys to get involved with defensing Yao.

 

enfuegos and Decard I refere you to another posting on the same topic, for your perusal!


Member
Posts: 158
Joined: Feb 2003
Member: #10850

02-21-2003 11:09 PM

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.

 

I expected the Rockets to lose, but I expected them to show some resolve. The Mavs prior to tonight have never swept a season series against the Rockets. The Rockets were also very cocky against the Mavs earlier in the season. The Rockets also wanted to prove that they are truly a playoff contender. In other words, I expected the Rockets to keep the game close and to keep fighting for their lives. I simply did not see that fire in their eyes, or as Mario Elie put it, I did not see a sense of urgency.

The rest of the Rockets schedule is road heavy. The Rockets have proven they are a terrible road team (9-16 on the road so far this year). I just don't see how the Rockets will make the playoffs now.

 

SEPARATED AT BIRTH!




Boris Yeltsin - Coach Nelson---Leslie Nielsen - Del Harris




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any team can have an 'off' night!! anything was possible. yes, i felt we could've beat the mavs...

 

CAN ANYONE SEND THIS MSG TO RUDY T???