ClutchCity.net Game Thread: Rockets @ Clippers 11/24/2002

1. Francis played a great game tonight.
2. Yao got handed his arse tonight.

Both of them played against two of the top five players of their positions tonight.

BTW I guess since Glen has had to great games back to back, that hes' the best player on our team now. I mean after Yao had two really good games isn't that what so many on this web site were saying.

As I've been saying all alone it's going to take time.

 

really? kandi was held below average and was in early foul trouble. also brand was clearly slowed when yao guarded him compared to the rest. offensively he only took 4 shots so it's hard to say if he was off. surely not his best game but defensively he was a presence.

 

It's time to trade Mooch and KT for another backup PG.

Moochie has been horrible this season. The inconsistent minutes is obviously affecting our players' shooting %. Our F's don't know how many minutes they will get, and are almost never in the game long enough to get in the FLOW. getting rid of KT would help this a lot. As soon as MoT shakes off the rust, we need to make that trade. Mo T backed up by Griff at the 4, Rice backed up by T-Mo at the 3. Boki is the reserve F, while Cato and Ming can play 3rd string PF minutes.

Our players' FG%'s are terrible, and I'm convinced it's because of the overcrowded F spots.

We should've played Cato on brand a bit tonight, while letting Yao go to work against Kandi a little more.

A healthy Mobley in this game would've been a W. Even if they had Ely, Odom, and Q Richardson back. A healthy Mobley would've been a W.

Undermanned Rockets lose game because of poor late-game decisions. We come out of this game knowing we can beat them, and with the experience to do it next time if we're in the same situation.

 

Wang: I will let you score on me if I am the one guarding you but you need to do the same
Yao: that sounds good
Wang: If you can knock Kandi man out of the season, then I will be their starting center, and I will take you to a stripe club near LAX
Yao: I don't like that one, no asian

 

I REALLY hope I misread something there, or that you made some kind of mistake. Ming AND Cato playing 3rd string PF minutes!?!?!? A) They're both centers, not nearly PFs, and B) they're both good, not 3rd freaking string material. Maybe you meant in addition to player center, dunno...

Also, how could Cato have been on Brand? Maybe you were referring to another game where he would be available, but otherwise, you realize that he hasn't been playing because he's not rejoining the team until tomorrow, right?

And finally, the Rockets weren't really undermanned. They were without some players, but this was a game that could have been won, even in dominant fashion, with the players they had available (less even).

 

Uuuh, nope.

http://www.clutchcity.net/game_boxscore.cfm?GameID=308

Cato played 13 mins last night. And he should have been on Brand indeed. Mo and Eddie were abused...

 

TheClipper game shows that those who simple bash KT and Mobley and want them traded should reevaluate. Cuttino would have won the game for us. Moochie wouldn't have had to play the critical minutes when he clearly was having an off game. and was in the middle of a free throw problem. Cuttino has the quickness and size to guard a Dooling, which was asking too much of Moochie.

As Heypartner has pointed out, KT was the only one who could even contest Brand at all. Unfortunately KT was the only one who could really play Magette at all. The Clipppers as we saw last year are a tough match up for us. We need the talents of all our front court players to match up with them. When we played a zone to help out with the match up problems we were very effectively able to neutralize a team that we just don't match up with well.

Having an Artest and a Tinsley would not have won this game for us. Artest would be useless against Brand and Tinsley has limited effectiveness as an offensive player and I don't believe that he is the defensive player Cuttino is either. I guess you could argue that Artest would be a good defensive guard while Steve ran the point and Tinsley is a better backup point guard then, Moochie, which I agree.

Fortunately with Cuttino back and Yao in the zone we should be able to handle the Clippers in the future.

 

It's even worse watching us lose in a different language. I live in Austin and had to watch TELEMUNDO.

 

8 f**king turnovers. You got to be kidding. I don't care about the 31 pts because you're also giving 16+ pts away.

 

Actually, I think I heard Bill and Calvin said that the Clippers only got 13 points off all of Houston's turnovers, and we had 23 of them. I doubt that every single one of his turnovers resulted in a Clipper basket. The problem is that each turnover means a shot that we didn't get to take. If those turnovers mean even two extra field goals, then we win this game. Eight turnovers is still unacceptable for an NBA quality point guard...

 

SF was out of the line when he confronted Miller in the first half. He did it the second time this year. Regardless of the consequence, he took it to the referee and turned the ball over. This is not what a leader should do. I'm glad to see his assist# is going up but his maturity is under scrutiny. In the level he is playing right now, this behavior is not acceptable.

 

It is not every time an NBA player gets 8 steals in a game. It is okay when players are criticised, but please mention it too when they do well.

 

Yes, I meant Cato and Ming play C, and for the 2-5 minutes a game where we have to, for some reason, play without Griffin and Mo, they can stand in.

Cato played for Houston, and he has the size, shotblocking and strength to bother Brand more than Eddie, KT, and MoT.

The Rockets were undermanned. We were without Cuttino Mobley. With Mobley in the game, this would've been a win.

Before you start getting all "I told you we need Cuttino" on me, let me explain. The Rockets are a better team with Mobes, but they are even BETTER than THAT with the proposed trade.

Rockets last night = x
Rockets with Mobley = x + 1
Rockets after trading Mobley for OTHER players = x + 2


Get it? We were without Mobley, but in a trade, we'd have the replacements.

 

Exactly. I am completely dumbfounded as to why the Rockets were not in a zone for the entire game. This is a team made up of pretty bad individual defenders. They were going against an athletic team that doesn't hit the outside shot very well. To top it off, the Rockets have been very effective when playing zone in the past couple of games! WHERE THE HELL WAS THE DAMN ZONE!!! I don't get it. Stupid, stupid, stupid.

 

Wang grew 1 1/2 inches over the past year. Wang is now like
7 ft 1-2 inches.

 

Our big guy in the middle actually helped him to achive that
"steal" stat. In many occasions when the Clippers drove into the middle, got intimidated, didn't know what to do with the ball --
resulted in turnovers which were translated into Steve's steal.
But a steal is a steal.

 

There is no excuse for the loss. We outplayed them in the 2nd half and still lost because Moochie and his stupid ass habits. He really ticks me off. He looks like he should be playing in the YMCA league instead of the NBA. I'd be surprised if anyone in the league actually wanted his sorry ass. Too bad we've got his "sorry dribbling out the clock then turning the ball over then missing two crucial freethrow" ass.

KT, MoT, EG... One has to go. Seriously.

Rice looked good.
SF played hard as usual.

Overall, we sucked really really bad against the Clips. Like I had predicted, Brand killed us because we don't have anyone to bang down low. I miss Mobley... even though he sucked against Dallas... I think we would have won with him in the lineup.

 

That right there has got to be the single stupidest thing I've ever read on this board... at least top 5.

 

Not only do the 8 turnovers not nearly translate to 16+ points (incredibly horrid logic), but the 8 steals majorly offset the 8 turnovers, and they would any game. Sure, 8 turnovers is bad, but I would never ever complain even if he did that every game if he paired it with 8 steals. How many times do you see a player with a steal/turnover ratio of 1? Please stop looking for **** to dis ever player on this team with, especially our best.

And on another note, for those who think that Brand was the dominant factor in this game, please read for how much his production dropped off after the first quarter.

A lot of people may not have been on top of their game today, and we were without som players, but there's only one reason for this loss as far as I'm concerned: MOOCHIE.

 

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I agree dude..that is terrible.
Mobes is a big part of the rocks game, the two dangerous guards.