ClutchFans Game Thread: Blazers @ Rockets 12/9/2003

another solid three quarters for the Rockets, but I am proud that they held on for the win.

i predicted if they held portland to under 20 points in the 2nd and the 3rd, they would go into the 4th with an 11 point lead and hold on for the win.

sure enough, a 12 point lead going into the 4th, and a 14- o run by the blazers will put a scare in you. but we needed this win and we will take it.


oh and it was great running ZRB out of chat!

 

Another thing, while I'm concerned with the collapse in the middle of the 4th, teams like the T-Wolves, Kings, and even the Mavs have suffered with closing out games the right way. Kings have been notorious in their losses with blowing 20+ point halftime leads to only lose by the games end. The T-Wolves lost tonight due to a clutch 3 from Richardson, and the Mavs are notorious for giving up game winning baskets in the 4th because of their defense. Winning in the clutch isn't just a problem for the Rockets. It's a problem for even the elite teams in the Western Conference.

 

You guys didn't run me out of the chat. The Rockets did. I gave up on the team at that point.

It was a lucky win. Let's just leave it at that.

 

Our biggest problem against Portland remains the perimeter defence against 3-pointers, allowing .562 3-point FG%. That must be something to do with both our point guard and power forward defence against pick play.

 

I meant guards, not confined to point guard.

 

Forget about the fourth quarter slack, we did show signs of improvement. I do think we are going to improve further and have a great season.

 

it was moochie's fault. on nba fastbreak i saw him run into picks and get stuck for 5 seconds, leave stoudemire wide open 2x when our lead was at 10. those two 3's are what started the blazers run, cos when fastbreak checked in again we were down 3. moochie is such a liability on both ends of the court...

 

hey ZBR, 0% chance? END OF STORY



if u havent noticed, every team in the league plays bad in stretched. not every team is 13-7.

but u do add much flavor to this community so i praise u for that.

 

Anyone else impressed by Zach Randolph? He completely outplayed our entire frontline.

How can he go from a bench player to the go-to guy on his team in just one year?

Too bad he's just going to end up being another thug on the Jailblazers.

 

Why must you be so annoying

 

LOL

 

if ZRB didn't pick us to lose, we might not have won
we have to thank him for that ^_^

 

The reason he improved so much is because he worked on his game and was focused, although he has had a little run in with the law, name one team whose players haven't. If EG had worked as hard or focused as well as Zach, I believe many would be wondering how the rockets got SOOOOO awesome over the summer with no extra picks .

 

I said before we had problem with agile PFs, given our stronghold was held by Cato and Mobley. You could check out in the past twenty games, how many times we were burnt by the other team's PF! It also created a problem for our PG before our PFs are not quick enough to defend picks.

 

You mean the 5th or 6th seed.

 

That's rare against the Rockets this year. We are second in the league allowing only 29% from the three-point line.

We do struggle in the pick-and-roll, but, truthfully, it is one of the hardest plays to defend which is why it is used so much. The guard has to go in front of the screen quickly and the big man has to come out on the guard while still having enough time to retreat back to cover his own man.

It's tough to guard when the two guys running it are both scorers. It's why Stockton and Malone ran it for 15 years with such tremendous success.

 

Only took em to the Finals, Never could quite win it

 

Wow, the Rockets second on SportsCenter; even after the choke!

 

the tackle got them to the finals

 

it's good win. But next two games will be true test. If get one out of two, I will be very happy. Play like tonight, Th chance will be not high.