ClutchCity.net Game Thread: Rockets @ Hornets 12/6/2002

Thanks David S, my bad.

 

Same ol' Francis complaint... after the first few games of the season, the doors of opportunity to bash Francis this season have been busted through with a fury, and it's the same damn complaint it's always been. Have you not read all the articles and heard all the commentary about interviews with Francis and other people who've talked to him? He's learned a lot, and he's not interested in his own stats. You can't base that crap on one game. He's had so many this season where he took much fewer shots, he's just not making them. Maybe this was just an ill-advised attempt to get back into his rythym by taking every shot he thought he could. Heh, I know that feeling...

He just wants to win, that's all, and he wants to make his team and teammates (of course) better. He's working on it and will continue to. Do you really think everything he said was a lie?

 

Yetti&DJ,

We are asking Rudy to do things that he is not smart enough to see or the balls to take control of his deepest team ever.

 

Yao,

He would mess that up too!

 

Asiamaster & RocketGuy3:

I'm really tired of all these back and forth, and I believe plenty of others also. The Rockets win as a team and lose as a team. It's not fair to lay the blame on one player as long as he plays hard. After all, it's the coach who put them on the floor.

However, Steve being the leader on this team will be the first to shoulder the responsibility himself. I'm sure he's not the said selfish player, but he does have a lot to improve/adjust in his game. We believe he can be that player we all want him to be, but unfortunately he's not there yet. Some fans who frustrated by the loss will point to his mistakes, and fairly so. And He can take it. He is a man. However it's not fair to question his character. He needs more support through the rough moments.

Of course, yao makes mistakes also. His shots are not falling tonight (although still a respectable percentage, but I guess we are spoiled ). But people won't be laying blames on his, yet. he is still a rookie, and he's not "the man" on the team.

Asiamater may be a bit harsh, but 03 is a bit too sensitive and overboard also. Different people/fan has different favorite players. After all, we all want Rockets to win. Dividing people into Yao-only fans, when they gripe about a player won't help this board. (plenty of people gripe about KT, Moochie, etc all the time, but it seems only when it comes to Steve the sticker is tagged)

 

I must have watched a different game from some of you guys. I agree with HP, I thought the Rockets played a very good game today. Didn't shoot well but played a very good game. They do miss the Cat. Part of their problem is spacing. NO and others just don't respect the outside game of Moochie or Hawkins and are clogging the middle. Its really hurting Steve probably more than anyone because they are just taking away his drives. He's double teamed everytime he gets inside of 15 feet.

If Cat gets the same looks Hawkins and Moochie are getting he'll average 25 points a game easy. I'm not sure why anyone is blaming KennyT for anything in this game. It was by far the best performance not only by him but by any of our 4's the whole year. Played tough D throughout also.

Yao is for real. He didn't have a good shooting night but he is definetely a force in the middle. NO's game plan was to be very physical with him and he's holding up in that area much better than I would have thought. He still could use some upper body strength training but he's definetely not getting pushed around like a rag doll.

As for Steve, he still has those 2-3 minutes a game where it appears he's brain dead but man this guy plays hard every game and for the whole time he's on the floor. The energy he brings the team is incredible.

I do believe once Cat is back this team could take off. I don't think I've seen the D this good since 95'.

 

Anybody notice that Yao took 19 shots. Most as a Rocket. That's got to be a good sign.

We know he doesn't take bad shots. Even though he didn't make a high percentage last night, he did frequently get the ball in scoring position. If his shooting was anywhere close to his normal, we would've won the game.

 

Originally posted by A-Train
You sure do have low expectations...

Anybody remember that Paula Abdul song, "Opposites Attract"?

"I take two steps forward
I take two steps back"

Every time we take a step forward, we take about 15 steps back

...or the Boss' song, "One Step Up, and two Steps Back..." much better song

 

Anynody else notice that he line up that played so well together against the Spurs (Yao, EG, TMo, SF, MN), was never on the floor together last night?

 

actually Yao's shooting wasn't that bad at all last night. He missied a few tip in shot which was counted as attempts but he's really just trying to keep the ball alive. also there were shots he scored but was't counted, plus a shot tallied as black but actually he was fouled. more correctly he is 7-16 from the field which is still a bit off for his standard.

 

What do I want? I want to see the Rocks stop doing the low Bball IQ type of plays. They got great center who work hard on defense to alter shots/blocks/causing TO and they turn around given the ball right back with Moochi coma type play, what a waste. I'm frustrated at the rocks at the close min of the game...ahhh....but hey, they still learning this new offense and I expected them to lose to NO anyway....OK breath...

Lucky the Dallas and Lakers game are entertaining afterward...what's a come back.

 

That game SUCKED!!! Woulda been much more entertaining to see them get and run out of their own building and booed off the floor.

 

Even though they lost, it's amazing to see how easy the Mavs score. It's like pulling teeth for the Rockets when they are on offense.

 

One quick note that I'm wondering if anyone else caught -- How about that surrounding TV screen around the Arena? How freaking annoying was that!!?? It was reflecting off the floor REALLY badly, and off the backboards as well. I certainly hope we don't have something that atrocious in our new arena. I didn't hear any of the players say anything, so I suppose you couldn't see the reflections from down there, but on TV it was very noticable.

 

I understand everyone is kinda upset because we lost a close game last night. But we are still a young team. I know we will learn to win the close games sooner or later. Just give our young players some time.

Looking at the bright side, we are becoming a pretty good rebounding team. For the last three games, we outrebounded

Kings: 39-38
Spurs: 53-36
Hornets: 51-47

These are all playoff bound teams. We have also collected 36 offensive rebounds in the last two games. It was quite impressive. Quite a turnaround from the beginning of the season.

Go Rockets.

 

Coulda sworn I saw this exact post from you in another thread...