ClutchCity.net Game Thread: Rockets @ Suns 11/15/2002

You will be surprised to see Francis's new beard he has had for the past two years. That is some beard!!!

 

Awesome...that's all....just awesome....

Hey RocketGuy3, and I am talking from experience here, I think you will find that if you post on whatever recreational enhancer that you are on you will be a little embaressed when you read them the next day.

 

Wang took Jake to school during the summer legual game, hehehee

 

Yeaaa!!!

Battle of the wussy international centers!!! The global game is a success, thank you don nelson !! Maybe they can exchange jerseys before the game in accordance with Int'l custom.

 

Please. Matrix is a softie. He's all flash. Doesn't put the hurt on anyone, can't take a hit. Let's see him get up from that Rasheed foul. Great fantasy player.

Your boy KT could crush him, if RT would set the bounty. Just jump on his ankle, or hit him in the air. Fly now, sky boy.

Starbury is also paper-thin. Nickel is brittle. Googs is waiting to break. This team needs a beating. Esp. that ass Starbury.

 

I agree KT v. Marion should be an interesting matchup. Because of Marion alone, I'd limit Rice's minutes. We need someone who can make Marion work for his points. I wonder if Rudy will throw EG at Marion some?

 

The Suns are a tricky team.Penny,Johnson,Marbury,and Jacobson all can shoot. Francis must not get involved in a one on battle with Marbury but continue to look to score when he can and to make the pass to the open man. We still need better positioning and spacing from the other guys apart from Steve to score more easily.Mobley must come back strongly,no stupid shots,just try to hit open shots,drive to the basket and pass the ball to the open guy. Rebounding will be key,KT and Griffin will have to attack the boards to keep Marion,Stoudemire away from second chances and free throws.
Unfortunately Cato will be missing,Collier has to step up on the boards and try to push Jake away from the basket. Ming can step out and try to hit some mid range shots and continue looking to score in the low post like he did against the Blazers,but he will have to rebound better to make up for Cato's absence and avoid cheap fouls.

 

Let me guess...big fan of Kenyon Martin?

 

Hawkins neutralizing Starbury = another win for Stevie and this Franchise!

 

Question: I dont know the stats by heart, and havent the time at the moment to look it up...How well do you think Marion can matchupo against Hawk? Marion plays the 3? Imagine that..so does Hawk..
How outta line am I here yall? do you think Hawk could hold this guy in check?

Even without this piece of knowledge, I feel that if the Rox can bring their A game and remember the lessons of last game...we win handily...say by about 8-10..

99-90 Rox win

 

http://www.chron.com/cs/CDA/story.hts/sports/bk/bkn/1662960
-Cato to return-

Center Kelvin Cato is expected to rejoin the Rockets in Phoenix today after attending his grandmother's funeral in Atlanta. Cato missed Tuesday's game against Portland, and Jason Collier received his first home start.

 

Excellent news. as long as he is able to get over the grief Im sure he must be feeling and play like he has so far this season...

Welcome back big man, now get in the trenches and get me some boards!

 

This shows his desire to play for the team even during this difficult time for him and his family.I greatly admire him for that.
Hope he will have a good game.

 

Eh, probably not the next day, but maybe Saturday morning, until then, I'll be too excited to care.

 

Finally, someone who can take a little sh** and not get all pissy about it. There is hope.

 

Why does it say on the chronicle article that you can vote for allstars starting thursday. I looked on there I didnt see where it said you can vote.

 

Try nba.com: http://www.nba.com/allstar2003/AS_Daily.html

 

To me, this game is the hardest for the Rockets this season. Phoenix match up so well with us. I really have a bad feeling about this game.

I fear Amare will destroy Griffin. I know Griffin is my 2nd favourite player on the Rox, and I consider him incredibly talented. But Amare's skill set matches up very well against him. The guy's quick, and for his age, INCREDIBLY strong. Compared to the league, he's easily above average in strength. Forget that though. He's no Bryant Reeves. He's quick too. Griffin's jumper REALLY has to be on for us to win this matchup.

Another thing I'm worried about is Marion. Looking at his numbers, it seems he RARELY has 2 bad games in a row. I'm talking, 2 or 3 times his entire career. That's once every seaosn maybe. Also, KT can't stay with him, Rice can't stay with him, and Hawkins may be too small for him.

The guy's not the simple high flyer he used to be. He's a gym rat, and he's really wrked on his game. His handles and his jumpshot have both improved in the past 2 seasons. I'm hoping we bring T-Mo off the Injured List, because I feel T-Mo is the only guy on our team who has the ability to slow Marion down.

In the backcourt, it's difficult to see us dominating. These guys have a great backcour. Penny has been impressive so far this season, and Marbury, although slowed by an injury, has the assists up big time. Between them, they must be averaging over 15 assists the past 3 games. They are backed up by Joe Johnson who's just waiting to break out.

Here's what we got on them:

We have the advantage at C. Cato will make a huge contribution. Thank God he's back, we need him. Besides this, our bench will destroy theirs. I think this will be the first time our bench will show its value.

Here's what we need to win:

An efficient game from Francis. High% and Low TO's. We need Mobes to bounce back and carry us tonight. Other than that, a good game from either Griff, MoT, or Kenny could probably get us the win.

This is all, of course, assuming we play defense similar to the Portland game.

 

If Jauquin Hawkins or Jason Collier starts, the TV gets turned off and I once again look for Rudy T's address so that I may mail him my sincere hatred. The Suns small lineup is ideal to start Rice while EG and KT can stay in the 5. These other players can easily come off the bench. They're young and the immediate benching after warm-ups doesn't affect them. We need to start Rice and give him some shots. This 5 shots a game is only going to hurt the team along with Rice's ego and impressive career numbers. We're paying 9mil for the guy, we atleast need to give him the chance to do what he's done successfully for so many years...put the ball in the hoop from deep, the wing, and the post. He's the best shooter on the team and that's all there is to it, he needs shots. It's a simple as this. As Rice's role becomes more prominent the team flourishes? Why? Maybe you haven't been watching the games, but guys don't leave Rice open from anywhere on the floor. Running the two man game with him is ideal for Francis and Mobley. Rudy can't just assume Rice will get enough touches to get hot from broken drives, offensive rebounds, and double teams. LAst year, the only game Glen scored 20 points in, happened becasue we gave him the ball and let him work it in the post. He went 5-5 from the post, and can do nearly that everynight if we give him the chance. If we don't we can all get very used to missing the playoffs. Rice can help the Rockets endlessly. But he needs to be given the chance. Rudy T--wake up. FREE GLEN RICE!!

 

You are pathetic.

A win is a win and before the Nuggets game the Suns were leading the league in rebounds by far outrebounding their opponents by almost 8 despite shooting bad.

Amare Stoudemire doesn't get most of his points on junk plays and Rockets fans should know that since they saw him in preseason already. He is getting most of his points on post-ups , hook shot etc.
The player you describe seems to be your own Nene Hilario.

You can't just put a body on him and think he will be a non factor. He draw double teams against most teams but still was a huge factor with his defense alone, 6 BLOCKS against the Nuggets for example.

Kelvin Cato isn't better than Big Jake. Tsakalidis numbers might not look impressive because he doesn't get involved in the new offense right now, like last season when Steph was running the two man game with him and on defense he has trouble when the other team goes smaller, which most teams do, so he rides the bench a lot. But Cato should be a good matchup for him.

The Suns bench was a surprise so far, Amare is getting his 9/9 and 2 blocks either JJ or Casey get their 10 points and Dan Langhi believe it or not comes in and makes his jumpshots. Scott Williams and Bo Outlaw also always contribute.

If you stop Shawn Marion, he was just off the mark against the Nuggets, you still have Stephon to deal with and Penny who is playing very good. Googs is also playing solid and knocking down his shots.

I don't think there is any way the Rockets crack 100 points this game, because the Suns are holding their opponents to the lowest ppg so far.

And if you saw the Nuggets game, when the Suns turned it on in the second half they flat out dominated the Nuggets much the same way they did with Detroit, Atlanta and Portland in the second half.

The trouble the suns have right now is that Marbury, Marion and Joe Johnson are somewhat in a shooting slump which might have to do with their new offense that isn't working well right now.

Should be a good game, between two similar talented teams that could surprise the West , especially Phoenix because they were talked down so much.