ClutchCity.net Game Thread: Rockets vs. Nuggets 3/29/2003

I have a feeling Cato will be the starting center from the next game on. Oh... and there'll be no playoff off course.

 

If Cato will lead the team to the playoffs and the champs, then there was no need to draft Yao in the first place. Yao remains one of the most efficient rookie. Yao's stats are better than Cato's career average in every category. People tend to bash whenever there are a couple of bad games.

 

It all began with Larry taking over. He changed the whole game plan.

 

Are you an idiot? People who eat rice does not mean they don't eat steak at all.

 

He was just kidding. Calm down.

 

Are you an idiot? Ever since Larry took over, he changed the team back to perimeter oriented. You can see clearly why Possey
was shooting a large number of 3pointers. Yao was told to hang around a lot more on the outside. Yao has proven all the bashers wrong already. This team sucked big time last year and will not be successful until there is a big change in coaching and/or players.

 

umm does anyone really think we're going for a championship right now?? does anyone think the yao we have this year (even before getting tired) was gonna get us a title. no. it's all about the playoffs right now (not building toward the future, that's what the first 65-70 games were for). and the only way to do that is to win the games being played right now, and the only way to win those is to play the people who are playing the best. clearly yao is not. if playing a guy who is tired, getting beat on defense, and showing little aggression on offense is your vision of the playoffs or a championship, then keep dreaming.


as for why cuttino keeps playing, b/c his backup is poor relative to cato as a backup, he is in extremely good condition and can handle a lot of minutes, he puts forth effort on defense and isn't gonna hurt us as much as ming on nights like this, and he's proven himself enough over 5 years that he's earned the right to stay in games when he's struggling b/c he usually will find his shot at some point. the same things cannot be said of ming.

better watch out now, maldini might call me an idiot. it is nice to really see who all the yao-only fans are. all the people overlooking the win to complain about ming's minutes.

 

Do u think u r a ROX fun? Do u think u can coach a team? Definitely u r not. U r only a Yao hater, that is it!
U know what, there was a game Cato was hot too, but Rudy T still let Yao played in the fourth Q(ROX won, I wont use we anymore unless there is a coach like Rudy T to coach ROX). Last Lakers game, in the first half, Shaq was only 1for7 or 1for8, and u would let him sit down right? U r the same as Mrs. Mean in this point. Anyway, enjoy your hating, and see what will happen to ROX.

 

Yes. I remember there are a couple of games Yao didn't play well in the first 3 quarter but Rudy still trusted him and Yao rewarded with a big 4th quarter. He performed very well down the stretch even he didn't play well before. This has happened quite a few times! If Mr. Mean continue to bench Yao whenever he cannot make some shots, Yao will only turn to a poorer player and gradually lose his confidence. This is definitely not a way you develop a rookie, especially a rookie with good potential, who left his home thousand miles away and come to a entire new background. This will ruin Yao's career as well as the Rockets as a team!

 

If Yao is too weak-minded to handle a cut in his minutes (which I doubt) then we don't need him anyway. There are going to be times where he doesn't play well, and isn't going to play as much. If that's too much for him to handle, he should just go straight back to China.

 

Here's an interesting stat mentioned in the Denver Post:

With 9:20 left in the third and Houston ahead 56-52, Yao fouled Camby, picked up his fourth foul and went to the bench. Without Yao, the Rockets finished the third quarter with a 25-16 run to vault ahead 81-68.

You can try and argue against that all you want, but that says enough to me to justify the amount of minutes between Yao and Cato

 

Teams now are starting to figure out that Yao has very slow lateral movement and it's easy to draw fouls on Yao this way. Even Nene and Camby have no trouble driving around Yao last night.

 

wow...a lot of angry fans. Must not of seen what they liked in the win last night.

 

I don’t understand something. How long have people been complaining that Rudy’s substitution patterns were far too rigid? He sticks with it regardless of who is playing well and who is playing terrible. So now you have a new coach who’s much more flexible. If you play well (like Cato did), he sticks with you, if you don’t play well (like Yao), he takes you out. And people still complain?

 

Why everyone think Yao played much worse than Cato last night?

Yao, 11 pts, 2 blocks in 15 minutes.
Cato, 14 pts, 6 rebs (only), 4 blocks in 33 minutes.

Well Yao played better than Cato in Stats!

 

When Yao isn't playing well, he plays 15 minutes and then gets benched. When Cuttino doesn't play well, he still logs in 44 minutes. Why?