ClutchCity.net Game Thread: Rockets @ Jazz 4/9/2003

My Vote for Big Goat of the Game

EDDIE GRIFFIN
First he gets busted for weed and then he goes on to have two back to back lousy performances. And just so you don't think i'm singling him out (when in fact I am ), let me point to his prolific

ZERO for SIX, FIVE REBOUND, TWO TURNOVER NITE in 19 minutes!!!!!

You'd think that for whatever brain cells were left, he'd try to preserve them and lay off the green stuff. At least every other player on the Rox who got minutes scored (barring Tito). But a ZERO????!!!!! Eddie's IQ no doubt.



angrySAGE

 

Quote of the night.

Raven

 

Folded without a fight like Saddam's Republican Guard.

There's always next year I suppose...

It will be very interesting to see what off-seasons moves will be made to kick this team into action. If nothing is done, I am not getting League Pass!

 

it's officially over. the playoffs are not happening. i lost a bet with a friend, and now i owe him a dinner at pappas bros. steak house.

what people don't realize when looking at the remaining schedules of houston and phoenix is that while the rockets appear to be better off, if past performance is any indicator of how the teams will finish, the suns make the playoffs.

the dallas feed on nba league pass of the mavericks-suns game revealed that the suns have a great record against the top 7 teams in the western conference. that's who they play the rest of the way. the rockets, meanwhile, have played terribly against the bottom of the bunch, and based on their recent performances, that's not going to change.

between these two trends, coach mean should let yao take an early vacation.

 

And to think that Francis will be 27 next year.

Mobley? 28!

 

Suns 16 point lead. Amare 16-5-1-1-1. Marbury 12-3-5-1-1.

 

Wow, Francis will turn to 27 and never played in playoff, and Mobley will be 29.

How about Mo Tayler, Norris, Hawkins???

How young is no longer young???

 

Haha, sorry for being off topic but Raef threw a nasty dunk down, elbowed Bo Outlaw in the face, and Bo was called for the foul.

 

That's not fair. Suns have their coach and we don't.

Since Rudy went down, we were 4-9 (i.e. 30%). At least with Rudy, we were playing 50% ball.

 

GAME OVER!!!!!!!Kiss da playuffs gudbye!!!!! wonder if the traffic in this forum lessens now tha rox are goners.........

nobody deserves to be in the playoff if a team plays as bad as the rox in the last two games...total blowout, they lost the game before it even started

the way phoenix is playing.... they might just sweep their remaining games....

 

Unbelievable, the Rockets decided to fall apart with playoffs within reach.

True colors emerge facing adversities.

 

Griffin probably had to go cold-turkey off his drugs. Perhaps he wan't growing as a player before, because he was stoned, but now he's probably going through withdrawal, and is even worse! ...

But, its not just Giffin. Outside of Posey (who's playing for a contract) and then Rice/Taylor some of the time, no one can shoot the last couple games, including Ming. When the playoffs are on the line, you'd think they'd play harder, but they are clanking almost everything. At least Mobely has an excuse with his sprained finger. Francis keeps trying to get everyone involved, but almost everyone misses. He's got to be one very frustrated pup. No wonder he kicked the ball into the stands tonight ...

I guess this way they can blame it on losing Rudy as the coach ... maybe this will help Rudy realize we need some better assistant coaches this off-season (We need John Lucas and Moses Malone) ... and maybe Ming will get more needed rest before next season.

But, very frustrating to watch ...

 

It should surprise no one that this team, so lacking in discipline, structure, and IMO, character, fell apart in the stretch run. I have read hundreds of excuses on this board. Many folks here are well intentioned, but can't see what has been obvious for some time. This is not a young team that needs a few adjustments; this is a pack of clueless playground streetballers who need a major overhaul. Many need to be shipped out of town. If Les Alexander puts this same group on the floor next year he is not the businessman I thought him to be. Please, Mr. Alexander, bring "professional" basketball back to Houston.

 

Guys I just wanted to say thanks for being there. At least we have a place to vent our frustrations thanks to Clutch and crew.

I can't imagine not having CCnet and having nobody to share my anger, frustration, and bitter disappointment of a season completely wasted and gone down in flames with. It's at least nice to know somebody out there is feeling my pain,too!

Finally, I would like to offer a reminder of the one silver lining to an otherwise Titanic-like season...you guessed it...Yao Ming. Can you imagine the horror of enduring this crappy season an NOT having Yao on top of that!?!

So for those of you still feeling angry and disillusioned, here's advice on what I do to calm down. Rather than cry myself to sleep, I hum myself to sleep to the tune of......Yao Miiiiing,Yao Ming,Yao Ming,Yao Ming......Yao Miiing,Yao Miiing!

Try it. It works. Thanks Chance and good night everybody.

 

I'll be going with this tonight as I sleep....

http://www.clutchcity.net/images/mp3/ClutchCity-dot-NET_Houston_Rockets_Memory_Mix.mp3

 

Some thoughts on the game:

1) Is there ANYONE in the league who CAN'T beat glen rice off the dribble?

2) It's funny how the Jazz play by play guy goes crazy, talking super fast because the Jazz move the ball around so much and he likes to call out every pass/move. Then on the other end when the rockets are on offense, he's all quiet because there's no ball movement and we just stand around and run out the shot clock.

3) How many shot clock violations did we have from dribbling too much? I mean, sheesh, look up at the clock once in awhile you idiots!

4) Why does Yao jump over people's backs trying to grab offensive rebounds and then pull his hands back like he didn't touch the guy after he gets called for the loose ball foul? Does he think it actually changes the refs decision? He's a horrible rebounder...offensively anyways.

5) Why does Yao like to tap the ball back out when we're on the defensive end and trying to rebound? Doesn't he know that it almost always goes to the opposing team's point guard? This happens most of the time because we have rebounding guards and they're most likely inside trying to grab the rebound too. He needs to learn to tap the ball to himself instead of tapping it out and HOPING/PRAYING that one of our guards grab it.

6) Does mobley EVER pass on a pick and roll play?

7) Why does Rice/Norris get playing time? Rice can't run, jump, dribble, defend OR SHOOT...so he's pretty much useless. He should just retire. He bites into Posey's playing time for what? so he can put up a few bricks? At least posey can hit the open 3pt jumper. Norris is worse than some of the NBDL point guards. And I'm definitely sure that are lots of college guards who can play better than Mooch.

8) Lastly, does Larry Smith know how to coach? Does he realize we're fighting for the f*cking playoffs? Why does he like to sit our star players (i.e. Yao/Francis) and defer to the scrubs? Does he think that if he doesn't stick to the substitution pattern that he might upset the benchwarmers? What's a greater problem Larry: not making the playoffs or having unhappy SCRUBS?!?!?!

So much frustration...At least the Suns run their offense and plays like a team. We don't deserve to make the playoffs. We're playing every game like it's saturday morning at the park.

 

Disgusting. The Suns played incredibly last few games with the pressure on, against quality oponents (even though Dallas is without Finley), while the Rockets have folded.

We don't deserve to make the playoffs anymore, but we still actually have a scintilla of a chance. All of our remaining games our against non-playoff teams, 2 of 3 at home. If we win all 3, and Phoenix loses to BOTH Portland (in Portland) and SA (in Phoenix), AND drop one to either GS (home) or Seattle (on the road), we'll make it. It's doesn't sound too far fetched until you look at how the two teams have been playing lately.

Still, I won't give up until there's 8 x's by non-Rocket Western teams...

 

Bad Shooting IS Contagious

When one player is shooting poorly, other players feel the pressure to shoot and shoot more. When another player fails, then the pressure rises two-folk on the remaining 3..etc. and etc. Normally, in the first quarter, we can rely on Yao to get his fair share of made FGA. Yet he wasn't on on either of these two nights. And while Posey made his contribution, my biggest beef is with EG, who was a TOTAL NO SHOW. No contribution whatsover.

Mobley, I can forgive, b/c his finger on his shooting hand is injured. His shooting is a byproduct of his teammates failure to shoot well.

Francis??? I think he had a case of nerves. He's fast finding out how difficult it is to be clutch as a leader when it really counts. And clutch doesn't always mean taking the buzzer beater, but carrying a team through 48 minutes of play and plugging holes where leaks are found.

Yao. I honestly think Yao too is suffering from a case of nerves. But unlike Francis, one can argue that Yao is "young" and just learning the pressures of the NBA. Moreover, I can only speculate that there is probably something missing btw the Coach Mean and Yao relationship. Looking back the last few games, the substitutions are downright "bench Yao in favor and Cato and crew." Perhaps its a lack of confidence or comfort Coach Mean has in coaching Yao. Who knows??? But suffice it to say, Yao and RudyT seem to have the better communication going and consequently, the better player coach relationship.



theSAGE

 

And I give much of the blame for these losses lately to Francis... I've seen him play so much better when his team needed him too before, but his offense has all but disappeared lately. I don't know what happened, but it really, really, really sux ass. He can't make crap. If you graphed his PPG for the season, you'd see it steadily decreasing the entire way through.

What the hell is it? Is he injured? I just don't understand it. Just when it looked like he was about to tie Elgin Baylor's record...

 

SA Rocket:- Yao Ming might have been the cause of it! I have stated from the start of the season that both of these players would be the opposite to what a Star Center needed. The Team has been going in two directions at one time... Selfish ISO Guard play and deleloping a Team to have a future Dominent Center. They were never the Ying and Yang to each other( truly complementary). How could this seson ever become a great one with such confusion?