Sports Center is full of ****! They said Yao have been schooled by Shaq, and only showed the clips of Shaq scoring on Yao and Mutombo!
IF you're basing that claim with your starters playing less than 20 minutes, then you're just beyond reach of reality. It's pre-season. Go troll another board for a while. We have a completely new system with guards that work with the system. I love winning, don't you?
great game even though it was preseason i had alot of fun toyota center was rockin every1 held their breath and went crazy on a few jumpers i think tonites crowd was louder then a bunch of teams' crowds during the season o and reece gaines man i noticed this yesterday at the practice damn that guy is fast he has alot of speed and can shake alot of defenders, he also sets up people beatifully, tryonne lue did well against wade, so did ward i think individiually our pgs arent that good but they fit well with the rox, tmac played a lil and scored 10 or more sumtin quiet points i think if he wanted to he could of taken over the game, he came down court passed down to yao instead of coming down court jackin up a 3 like he did in orlando, this proves that he doesnt have to ball hog to get his share.
Lets recap... You said that this years pre-season looked like last season's mid-season (which implies improvement to me). Then, you throw in that this years pre-season looked the same as last years pre-season (trying to change your story a bit. Too late! Ha!). Which is crazy, since Tmac and Yao got limited minutes today. Like you think this wont have an effect whatsoever?! Either way, we're still talking about role players playing most of the minutes in pre-season. This will always result in limited output. That's why we have pre-seasons in the first place; to see what kind of role players we have on the roster (for player cuts and contracts). Then you seem to derive that since last years pre-season is "similar" to this years pre-season that it will result in the same outcome this mid-season (completely contradicting your *this-year-pre* to *last-years-mid* comparison. LOL!). Still with me? You say all this completely ignoring the additions of new players like Tmac, Howad and Lue. Guess you think that TMac/Lue/Ward are the same as Francis... And that Cato is the same as Howard. See how this works? Now sit tight, drink a beer, and chill...
boki disappointed yet again, but bowen and gaines were looking nice....gaines reminds me a little of mike dickerson
Heat Loses to Rockets but Shaq Dominates By CHRIS SHERIDAN AP Basketball Writer HOUSTON (AP) -- New uniform, same Shaq. It took Shaquille O'Neal a mere 22 minutes to show how several NBA norms remain the same despite his recent change of address. Specifically, he can still dominate Yao Ming and Dikembe Mutombo, and his touch around the basket is as good as his foul shooting is poor. http://hosted.ap.org/dynamic/stories/B/BKN_SHAQS_DEBUT?SITE=NYBIN&SECTION=HOME&TEMPLATE=DEFAULT
That's why I stopped watching SportsCenter a year ago. They've also got it in the espn recap: http://sports.espn.go.com/nba/recap?gameId=241010010 "It took Shaquille O'Neal a mere 22 minutes to show how several NBA norms remain the same despite his recent change of address. Specifically, he can still dominate Yao Ming and Dikembe Mutombo, and his touch around the basket is as good as his foul shooting is poor." Huh? Well, first off, it's a meaningless preseason game, 2nd, the stats seem pretty even to me. Shaq: 22 min, 17/7/1 Yao/Mutombo: 25 min, 19/9/2 Whatever you say, espn.
I was at the game tonight and here are some of my thoughts: Charlie Ward - I thought this was a terrible signing by the Rockets at the time. However, Ward does just what the Rockets need at the point - he protects the ball (although he did force a couple of bad passes), plays good defense (he had a couple of nice hustle steals) and most importantly, he gets the offense started quickly. Lue may have scored more points, but I think the offense moved better with Ward in the lineup. Ward gets the ball up the floor fast and doesn't dribble much at all - he gets everything moving. Yao and McGrady showed flashes of their brilliance, but didn't play enough minutes to really register. Jim Jackson - One thing I noticed is that Jackson missed a wide-open Yao on the pick and roll a couple of times. I think this can be rectified if the coaching staff brings it to his attention. Otherwise, we are going to see more of the same crap we saw with Francis and Mobley. Juwan Howard - Played the most minutes and had a quiet performance. His skills seem very similar to Mo Taylors (although he seems like a slightly better rebounder) and having them both seems somewhat redundant. His over-the-back pass to Yao for the dunk was very nice however. Tyrone Lue - I hope people don't mistake his shooting/scoring ability as starter-worthy. He doesn't run the offense well at all (too much dribbling and indecisive) and his defensive quickness is negated by his small size. However, off the bench, he will be a perfect sparkplug with his excellent shooting and hustle (he was diving for the the ball) Ryan Bowen - Pretty much as advertised, but showed shooting range I didn't think he had. Bostjan Nachbar - Other than his nice layup in traffic, a terrible night. Shows no ability to dribble or shoot from the outside. I'll give him a pass on defense since Wade was an abnormally (I hope) tough assignment Mutumbo - As advertised, but hit a few shots as well. Is left open alot by opposing defense and thus gets the ball alot (Van Gundy probably needs to adjust his offensive scheme so that Mutumbo only gets the ball near the basket - otherwise, its a wasted possession). Reece Gaines - I love this kid. Seriously, he showed the best court vision of anyone on the court. Great passes to the TRULY open man (by that, I mean the guy getting the ball had plenty of time to shoot or keep the ball moving), a decent stroke (seems to prefer midrange shot to 3PT) and a good ballhandler in general. In fact, it seemed like the Rockets running the offense through him precisely because of his smart play (he didn't score alot, but made one great setup after another - too bad the other players didn't hit their shots). If he can play a little more aggressively (especially if he gets time against starter quality players), he will be a great contributer to the team. I don't think he can be a PG all the time, but he can help start the offense the way Jim Jackson did last year. Scott Padgett - The perfect 3d string PF. He makes smart plays, rebounds well (I think he had several offensive rebounds) and of course can hit the outside shot. The shot was off tonight, but I have no doubt it will return. Scales, Hawkins and Zimmerman - Not alot to say except that Scales took advantage of the nice passes he received from the other players. Hawkins had a nice drive to the hoop around Wang Zhi Zhi and Zimmerman ran the offense OK. Play of the night - the aforementioned over the back pass by Howard to Yao for the dunk Flub of the night - Howard gets the rebound and proceeds to throw it off the back of not one, but two Rockets (Lue and Nachbar I believe). Most schizophrenic player - Miami's Udonis Haslem was hitting everything in the 14-20ft range but got the crap blocked out of him anytime he went to the hoop.
I have to agree w/ subatomic's game assessment. and i also must admit i was guilty of bashing the charlie ward signing this summer. it appears so far that he will in fact be quite efficient as our PG. as long he stays healthy, we are looking solid now at the 1 spot w/ him and lue. shame on me for doubting JVG
We get no respect: Check out this Yahoo title: http://sports.yahoo.com/nba;_ylc=X3oDMTBpbjllZDY5BF9TAzI1NjY0ODI1BHNlYwN0bg-- "If Sunday were any indication, Yao Ming and Dikembe Mutombo will be happy Shaquille O'Neal is in the other conference. In his first game in a Heat uniform, Shaq looked surprisingly nimble as he led Miami to an 85-75 win at the Rockets on Sunday in the first game of the preseason..." WHAT?????????????
I agree. If Steve had problems in an offense designed around Yao in the middle, I can't see how Wade will be successful in an offense revolving around Shaq, who has less range than Yao.
http://www.nba.com/games/20041010/MIAHOU/recap.html Houston 85, Miami 75 Yao and Co. Spoil Shaq’s Preseason Heat Debut HOUSTON, Oct. 10 (Ticker) -- Shaquille O'Neal collected 17 points and seven rebounds in his debut for the Miami Heat, but Yao Ming and Tracy McGrady had 10 points apiece as the Houston Rockets posted an 85-75 triumph in the exhibition opener for both teams. Yao and McGrady, the Rockets' prized offseason acquisition, sat the entire second half in anticipation of the team's flight to China later Sunday evening. The Rockets and the Sacramento Kings will play exhibition games in Shanghai on October 14 and in Beijing two days later. Heat coach Stan Van Gundy played O'Neal - who led the team in both points and rebounds - into the third quarter, but sat him in the fourth, along with the rest of his starters. With Miami leading, 72-69, with 8:49 left to go in the game, Houston scored 16 straight points. Point guard Tyronn Lue came off the bench to lead Houston with 14 points. He is vying for playing time with veterans Charlie Ward and Bob Sura.
LOL! What a screw up! The writer had it right. The guy that picked the headline screwed up! "Heat is on: Shaq leads win in preseason opener"
