ClutchCity.net Game Thread: Raptors @ Rockets 11/2/2002

First thing...

Nolen, You Freakin Rock!!

best. post. EVER.

I was about ready to give up on this place...I was gonna hit the chat for games..but not come in here..I miss the good old days were I lurked and read..and didnt say anything (I'm sure some of you wish I would go back to that)
The quality of the discussions in here were the best...not now...

Two things I must bring up...

1)Great Game..Yao's minutes and touches are going up game by game..he looks much more comfortable out there and he is learning what he needs to do quickly..Yea, SF and Cat need to go ahead and make that passs when Yao is set in the post and open..but they will in time..just have patience. It's only been 3 freakin games people!! Can you learn to do things that you are not used to doing in one week??

2) Hawk....what a steal!! Thanks Earl and Scotty..This makes things wayy tough to decide who gets the sf minutes..We need Hawk's D skills (believe me, he has some serious D skills)...also, I watched every second of that game(and then watched the replay at 12) and I must say that EVERYONE'S defensive effort was soo much improved from last season..They are finally starting to buy into the team D concept..


I wonder, how many of you people with nothing positive to say *actually* watch all of the game(or any of it)? It seems like to me most of you (the haters) constantly gibber out the stat line to support your pet peeves without seeing the positive advances made that DONT show up on the stat line..or ESPN...This team looked alot better last nite..are they Finals-ready?...NO...are they even WCF-ready?? NO...but what I have seen in the last 3 games is a yopung team that is tryin like hell to incorporate some new pieces and a new offensive and defensive attitude that will in due time make us a contender...

but good things do not come overnight...IT TAKES TIME!!!!!!

Geeze...if anyone wants me(unlikely)..I'll be in chat...

btw...heypartner...I still owe ya that beer...see ya in the smoggin section during half time of the Cleveland game..

 

Can't agree with you about going one on ten since teammates with zero touches=zero motivation and=zero defense. But if you can make the statement that Stevie can shut down a whole other team's offense to just 48% shooting then I'll agree with you.

On the issue of Cuttino, Amen to you Jeff, finally some words of sense and wisdom. Cuttino is clearly sixth man type of player, all me me me me type of game. So as a clutch adminitrator do you have the power to organize a petition that we can file against the Rockets to force them to bench Cuttino? Cause he's the real reason for the riot that has pitted clutch brothers against clutch brothers.....man I should have whacked when I had the chance at Tonic....this is all my fault, it's all my fault!!!

 

<blockquote><hr>Originally posted by pasox2
Comment from my 5-yr old daughter, 3rd qtr.: Daddy, I want the purple team to score some, too. The white team already won.<hr></blockquote>
hehe. that's so cute.

re Kenny: surely that right thumb is still hurting...and probably hurting his shot. He still brought his tenacity, and he had a very slick pass off a spin move to a wide open Yao...who got hammered for a foul.

i love Kenny. he also gives a better pick than Griffin. I just wish Griffin would attack the basket more like Kenny, on both offense and defense. I don't like seeing Griffin just give up ground thinking he'll let his great timing and long arms win the day, everytime.

 

<blockquote><hr>Originally posted by Rockets2K
btw...heypartner...I still owe ya that beer...see ya in the smoggin section during half time of the Cleveland game.. <hr></blockquote>
woo hoo!! make sure you remind me, too.

btw: I seriously do think people either only see the boxscore or they don't really watch the basketball, rather they only watch out for their pet peeves, and will generally always find them.

that said, Steve has got to pass when the defense traps the PnR. Not as much to get the roller the ball, but to stop the traps from coming. Thing we should all note is that aggressive traps from Pippen stopped Stockton and Malone's PnR. It is not so easy to make that pass all the time (or effective). But it takes high caliber defenses to do it, so I just have to believe that he's not believing in the pass as much as he should.

 

will do...

I have to admit, I used to just watch whatever player had the ball in his hands..I had to learn to try to watch the whole court during the play so I could watch what the others were doin.
It wouldnt hurt some of these people to try and do the same. By only watching the ball, you miss some great movement and plays away from the ball..

Agreed abnout SF tho...too many times last night I was watching Steve tryin to break the defender's ankles with a double rushing up and then he would try to break the double instead of passing to the open man...who severla times was Yao mMing posted within 8 feet of the bucket..Jeeze...we all know Yao can score easily from that range...come on Steve..pass the rock!

But I must say..for the times I saw Steve do that...your boy Mobes did it more often...Cat just loves to bust his wasy thru doubles or just flat out shoot it with 2 guys in his face when it would have been easier to pass the ball instead...I really hope Steve and Cat start thinking about pasing at least half the time in those situations...I think the team would benefit from it...

 

As time goes by, Francis will start to use the team concept more and more.
Yao will be part of his options. Mobley, on the other will take longer.

Yes, he's a SG. And his job is to shoot (he's always a threat to the
other teams). We all know that there should be a limit...don't over do it!

Think about it. If everyone, except Mobley, accepts the team concept.
Then he starts jacking up shots and we lose the game...

He'll stick out like a sore thumb. So, he'll eventually come around. But it
will take a few "knuckle-head" loses for that to happen.

 

Nolen,

come join us for the last home game in April v Sonics, I'm coming over from Australia, whole bunch of us going, let HeyP know if you are interested... HeyP make sure you contact Nolen and get him in.

btw sensational post (clutch can you make everyone read that)... will try not to hide so much.

Smeg

 

Thanks! At least you realized it was "sunshine-ass homer" stuff!

But with all the flowery talk, and the "Joy to the world" attitude.
The Rockets need to break bad habits! And that requires an emotionless
point of view. None of that "Don't say bad things about my Rockets...
you might hurt their feelings!" Boo-hoo!

Regarding a change of mind-set...
The good news is that it's permeating throughout the team. So in reply
to Oski2005. Yes, I do think that Francis "hears" what we are saying.
So do the media and the local sports clubs. People talk...plain and simple.

Here's some proof of change....

"This is the team we want to be," said Cato, who had 11 rebounds and made three of four shots in 24 minutes. "We want to be a winning team, and when we pass the ball, when we make the ball move around, we look like a winning team.

"We ran the plays we wanted to run, and not because of a lack of defense, but just to get the job done. We came in not to be selfish this year, and that's what happened tonight."

 

whoa im too lazy to read all these posts so im just gonna say whatever. yao ming kinda showed it when he played against raptors. everyone did alright and we did a good job. too bad for carter though...it must suk for him to have his knee messed up AGAIN. oh well life isnt fair. anyways thats all i got to say for now

 

Choice, mate! I'll do it if I can. I'm in Canada now and may be in New York in April, but I won't know till later. We'll see! And thanks, btw.

 

Look! Look!

Here is a picture clearly illustrating the relative length of Yao's arms. They look about the same length as 6'9" Antonio Davis' arms. With the arms of a 6'9" player on a 7'6" frame, his reach should be good enough and should not be an issue. Now if Yao could only work on his vertical...

 

DavidS' post summed EXACTLY the reasons why I complained in the first place...

Nolen, very good post, after reading your post I feel like an old fart...Its all about giving the rockets some love here...BUT at the same time, this is a place where fans also can vent about <b>LEGITAMATE</b> concerns on the team...yes, it is boring to read and gets beaten to the ground here, and that negativity may have deterred great posters like theCabbage and Antisonic from posting here as much (I used to love reading their posts back then)...but you CAN'T just ignore your problems, some people just don't like the truth and label it as hating.

 

Thanks DVauthrin, Nolen (wow!), Jeff and the rest of you folks for pointing out what's wrong with the general negativity around here.

I'm also one of those who miss the regular posts of so many members who only lurk the BBS... finding that if they DO post a thread (or just post!), it's too often buried by the sea of threads that are reruns of topics already posted and discussed. I wouldn't mind the "crew" helping out a bit to encourage them in whatever fashion Clutch thinks appropriate. It'd be great if some of them could do an occasional column like Jeff does so well.

I lurked for years before joining in the discussions. I'm still learning. It'd be nice if some of the newer members would read the BBS awhile before starting another "new uniform" thread or "(fill in the blank) sux" diatribe. Many good discussions are being bumped to page 2 or 3 before many of us have seen them, much less get a chance to post in them.

It was a trip to hear the crowd react to Yao's play. I guess we appreciate a big man with skills. They'll learn to feed Yao when he get's hot. When the other team collapses on him he can pass to a wide open Steve or Cat, who have just been killing defenses. This game was a gas to watch!

 

Did anyone else see the one play where Ming was passed the ball into the post and as he extended his arm up to catch it, he also tried to pass the ball directly back out? He screwed up and didn't get a good grip on the ball and it resulted in a turnover, but I can see that move being a really good one for us. If Rudy tells a player to immediately cut into the lane just as someone passes Ming the ball, he can then whip the pass to them in the lane and we get an easy bucket or free throws.

I bet that could really catch some teams off guard. (ha ha, get it? It's a pun)

 

Fans are fans, there will always be blind positive ones and there will always be the realists to keep the blind positive ones in check. I do not want to see any of you girls crying when this problem worsten and cost us critical games in the future...

 

ChenZhen,

Did you just say that you are a "realist" who knows what is going on more than others, and if we disagree then we are "blind?"

<i>'some people just don't like the truth and label it as hating.'</i>

yep, I guess you did.

 

Yeah, Yao has really soft hands and a great knack for seeing the court
for passes.

The one thing that is going to surprise Francis/Mobley is that Yao will
actually pass the ball to cutters, AFTER he's already in his backdown motion
on the post.

Hakeem did NOT do this. What he did was get the ball in the post
and then throw it back out on the 3-point line so he could re-adjust.

But, Yao will do better than this. Yao will back down his opponent
and then make the pass off the dribble/post. Similar to what Divac/Kareem
do/did.

 

You're trying to put words into my mouth HeyP...I wasn't implying anything like that...who says I know more than fans like you? Note the words 'some people'...not the rest, just <b>SOME</b>...

 

OK, pointless question time, since every topic has been pretty much covered...

Does the PA operator still play the Barney theme song when the Raptors are being introduced? The first time I heard that, I just about lost it...

 

LOL!!!! GET OUT! No way?!?!