ClutchCity.net Game Thread: Rockets @ Warriors 3/21/2003

I was at the game last night, guess I picked a great game to go to.

Lots of Asians at the game. The true warrior fans were booing Yao everytime he did something, or shot free throws. It was really funny when Yao shot free throws, the would be loud boos before, followed by loud cheers after he makes it.

Impressions of the game, (remember I don't get chance to watch Rockets on TV a lot, being from the Bay Area):

Francis is great. He's got mad skills man, no one can guard him. Those who wanted to trade him are crazy.

Mobley definitely thinks he's MJ. I saw many times he would drive to the basket, draw several defenders, have some team mate wide open, and would not pass.

During the game Mobley seems pretty hard on YM. I saw once when Mobley had the ball, and Yao would try to post up, and Mobley simply waved Yao to a different spot, maybe to set a pick or something.

On the other hand, when the game was almost over, YM and Mobley were standing under their own basket while everyone else were on the other side of the court (Warrior free throw), YM / Mobley were smiling and hugging each other, strange.

YM played a solidy game. He doesn't seem tired at all, so I think he can play longer. The defense on him was very hard. They would give him very very hard bumps at different times to upset his balance. YM definitely need to get stronger. If he's as strong as Cato he would be unstoppable. He could already shoot over the defense at will last night, but the bumps could drastically move his body.

Cato is strong. When he was in he would be bumping other people rather than the other way around. He evey have a smooth jump shot that was a suprise.

Overall, Rockets have a great team and I see them making title runs in a few years. The only player I would consider changing is Mobley, but only if we get significant value back in return.

 

Maybe Yao can coach the team also.

 

That's tight you was @ the game, hotair. I want to ask, so Yao didn't seem tired to you when playing? B/c most of us couldn't believe how long Coach Mean kept Yao on the bench (especially for the ENTIREE second' it seems and most of the fourth). I understand the Rockets/Rudy T wanted to monitor Yao's minutes earlier in the season, especially in the first-half of the season. But I would think that "monitoring" thing doesn't need to be as closely watched now.

 

Wow, what a novel concept..our ALL STARS stepping up and playing like all-stars!
Great win for the Rockets, some awesome highlights on SportsCenter tonight. This is the type of effort the Rockets need to put out on a more consistant basis. This is the kind of effort our STARS need to put out to cary this team to the playoffs. Glad our stars stepped up. Glad the role players made plays.

The Rockets played with a sense of urgency tonight. I kind of had a feeling they would.

I hope to see this same effort against the Kings and Clippers to round out this road trip. The Rockets have to win one out of the next two games. That would make their road trip 2-3 which is what I expected going into this trip.

 

hotair........that was a great summary of the game.

Very interesting......

Now if Francis and Yao and Mobley and Posey and Griffin and Cato and Moochie could play like last night all the time. We would be great. And if Mo Taylor and Glen Rice can play like they WERE playing along with how the rest of the team was playing last night......we would be awesome. BUT OF COURSE.....that's not going to happen. And of course.......we won cuz Golden State cannot play defense.

But hopefully.....more experience.....and we can play like this all the time. I dont' like it when they have to win when there's urgency. They will never be an elite team if they don't think that they should win every game.

I can understand if we lose to the Kings......but please beat the Clippers.

Yao sat out the whole 2nd quarter. But that was pretty much it. I think he deserved to sit out because we were winning by like 15 points...and yeah. Cato has been doing great. Cato deserves to play too. They have both been doing fabulous. Yao needs to rest......for the big games coming up!

 

hotair, a good summary. I got to agree with you on Mobley. You don't even need to watch a live game to see his problem. At this stage, Mobley is the LCL (Last Cancer Left) in Rockets. There were multiple times when Yao tried or posted down low, Mobley either wave Yao off or completely ignore wide-open Yao after a screen and were taking to 2 or 3 defenders. Yao was clearly frustrated and showed up big in the offensive boards, cuz he couldn't get ball otherwise. Mobley still thinks he is the 2nd option and Yao is a rookie.

Rockets need to make major changes with regarding to Mobley in the summer. Management need to tell him to be a freaking role player or just trade him. Rockets will not be a championship team with a cancer hogging the ball.

 

Steve Francis has six career triple doubles.

 

please... mobley is too stubborn to see himself as the 3rd option on any team. He is indeed talented, but still a cancer to this team. Trade his a@#$#!!! The lakers traded plenty of talented players (Eddie Jones, Nick Van Exel) to allow their true superstar, Kobe, to develop ...seems like it worked out pretty well for them.

 

And soon, I hope the Lakers will regret trading away so many good players. I don't think Cat as a cancer, he's learning.