ClutchCity.net Game Thread: Spurs @ Rockets 12/3/2002

Just curious, how was the attendance tonight?

 

Looks like I might have been right about Francis' defense. For those of you that said Parker would explode on Francis: Parker, 3-13. SUCK IT HARD, Francis-bashers. Yet another gaurd has an off-night against the Rockets. (yeah, yeah, I know, having Ming down there doesn't hurt...) Oh, and his offense WILL return shortly...

 

Most Steve bashers here are not bashing his defenes/points. They are mostly focus on his play making, basketball IQ, and how to make the whole team play better, not just about putting up big numbers himself night after night.

 

If some players include SF, Im a little bit concerned about all the rumors from some threads (which I did not think were true then). hope the two best players on this team get along..

 

Well I hope it is about being competitive and not selfishness. I think Steve and Cuttino will come around. I mean this guy comes over from another world and becomes the Rockets main focas (at times) in just 8 games into the season. They will come around. I think SF and Cat like him.

 

I worried about the relationship b/w yao and steve
steve has his pride, that he was the best player in the team
now that the rookie came out of no where and making some noise
same goes with CATO after losing his starting job

it seems moochie and taylor are the guys who like yao (compared their interviews with sf's when asked about yao)

hope steve can realize that yao is an important integral part of the rockets and feed off and compliment each other



GO YAO GO

 

Yao = Twin tower combined

 

Just from reading the gamechats and the posts here, I say this lineup could have some potential fire-power to it:

PG - Mooch
SG - Francis
SF - Tmo
PF - Griffin
C - Ming

Have Cat and Mo come off the bench and we have a solid lineup. Now where would I put KT...

 

I've read repeatedly about how Francis just wants to win, and doesn't care about putting up big numbers. He says he just wants to get better and make his teammates better and get them involved in doing so. I don't know to exactly what extent he plans to hold up to all of that, but he's definitely given us reason to believe he's trying to do that. And given all that, I don't think it's fair to still be saying that Francis would be so selfish as to be mad if Yao becomes the focus of the team. (I personally don't think he will for a little bit). He, nor most anybody else on the team who matters, will care as long as we're winning.

 

Twin tower: 10-29 FG 32 points 18 rebounds 2 assit, 3 stl, 2 blks
Yao: 10-18 FG 27 points, 18 rebounds, 3 assist, 0 stl, 3 blks
man, I got give Twin tower some credit for holding Yao shoot 56%
Yao hold twin tower around 33% FG
scary, isn't it?

 

No. Don't like small ball. It worked tonight, that's why some of
you are giddy about Mochie.

You guys have short memories.

 

Around 11,000.

The fair-weather fans aren't out yet.

 

Do you also like him when he has bad games? Or only when he has
good games?

 

cato likes to be in the shadow of a better center,his comments when Ming came were al positive,and Francis wants to win.and we need him and Yao to do so,and he knows that

 

i feel happy

 

Well, it's finally happened! After 4 years I finally saw a Rockets game! And a win against the Spurs- what a bonus!!

I really like the way Steve and Ming played today. Although Ming should get closer to the basket, and stop doing so many turn around jump shots. But hey, he made most of them, so I'm not totally against him. Francis did well, not his best stat-wise, but he was once again an important piece to the win. His 7 turnovers though ranged from the stupidity of the refs, to absolute stupidity from him (PLEASE DON'T FLAME ME FOR THIS!).
Griffin played excelent D on Duncan in the 4th- I was really impressed, and when he hit the 3 late in the 4th I literally jumped out of my seat. Moochie finally found his shot, great performance. Thomas had his moments (the multiple pump fake of Duncan in the 3rd comes to mind). Cato looked pretty ugly, as did Taylor. Or though that may be due to injury and foul trouble. T-Mo had a good game, hitting some long range jumpers which have been missing for a while. J-Hawk played some good D. Rice was, well.....Rice. I suppose.


A great game, and a great win. The ESPN commentators really like Yao Ming (the writers at ESPN.com musn't listen to their own games!), complementing him all the time, and not getting on his back about the mistakes he did make.
Besides an ugly 3rd quarter when the Spurs applied some really good D to our guards, I really enjoyed this game.

I hope this goes in the clutchcity BBS vault, because it is my first Houston Rockets game report, and probably the only one for a few years!

 

I'm not sure if anyone else noticed, but I liked the way Kevin Willis acted toward Yao Ming. He was always patting his back and talking to him. Then at the end of the game he put his arm around Rudy - all smiles.

Hopefully this will be the same thing that Shaq does to Ming... I hope he realizes that Ming is here to stay, and that there is no use in trying to bully him.

 

Steve's defence on Tony Parker was not good, the fact Parker went 3 for 13 didn't have much to do with Steve, rather than the shot blockers altering his shots and Parker just plain missing shots he should have made. Steve was getting consistently burnt, although in his defence he had to fight through an awful lot of high picks the whole game since he had no teammates helping on the screens. Parker's D on Stevie was much better than Steve's D on Parker, and SF looked a lot better when Moochie was in the game and he shifted to the 2. He played better D on the Spurs' two-guards and created more from the two on offence.

With Cat out it was important to have a ball handler like Moochie in the backcourt, since as you saw there was no-one to help take the ball handling pressure off Steve when the Spurs pressed in the 3rd.

Obviously Yao was immense and Moochie also. Cato, Mo T and sometimes KT made some poor decisions and were pretty lazy out on the floor. KT did a couple of nice things though. I guess Rice is not 100% but didn't like the easy offensive boards and buckets he gave up to Bruce Bowen. Griffin and Morris did pretty well. I thought Hawkins was not best utilized out there since he didn't really provide much offense or ball handling and only had to defend Steve Smith for the most part.

 

Me to!


The lineup of:
PG - Mooch
SG - Francis
SF - Tmo
PF - Griffin
C - Ming

was working last night but the Spurs were playing Ming strait up without double teams. Ming is going to get doubled most of the time and thats when Rice and Mobley should tear it up. Hopefully Mooch can keep his shot going.