Yeah, I meant to type 20pts. I got it mixed up with SF's score I think. It was a good all round game. Go ROckets!
Wild Wild West. All Eastern teams are beaten by Western teams today. Phoenix is now the worst team in Western Conference. Denver wins 5 games in a row and is now the 4th place in Western Conference. Spurs has a losing record and ranks last in Midwest Division. Magic has a 17 losing streak. Cavaliers can't win on the road even against pathetic Clippers. Lebron plays poorly. Randolph got 34 points and 9 boards despite smoking weeds before the game. (Why E. Griffin can't do this?) Raptors suddenly becomes one of the best offensive team after the trade for Rose, Marshall and Baxter. Rockets show that they have heart. But please cut down the TURNOVERS!!!
Well the Jazz still need to figure out how to close it out on the road. IMO both teams played like utter crap, except the Rockets pulled it out when it counted. Good game, congrats to ya' guys on the win. I'm still hurting over that missed free throw, which probably would have won the game for the Jazz. But oh well, Utah needs to lick their wounds and move on to the next game.
I wouldn't call it a fun game to watch, but the Rockets hung on to win a close game instead of self-destructing. There was also a nice 11-0 run that got us in the game before things got out of hand. Cuttino Mobely showing up as Cool Hand Cat to quietly guide the team was odd, but welcome. Crucial win, dude. Croosh!
Post Game Quotes Rockets 107, Jazz 101 - OT December 3, 2003 Player of the Game Andrei Kirilenko 19 points 5 rebounds 5 blocks# 7 assists* 8 steals* #season high *career high Utah Jazz Head Coach Jerry Sloan (on the end of regulation .09 sec.) "We shouldn¡¦t have been in that position if we do the right things earlier. There really wasn¡¦t much time to get off a catch and shoot shot." (on the key to the game) "It made a big difference when Taylor (Mo) came into the game. The ball game came down to a couple of tough possessions and Houston got the job done and we didn¡¦t. Hopefully, we¡¦ll do better next game. We had the opportunities but we didn¡¦t take advantage of them. It comes down to how tough you want to be. We have to learn how to be tougher and we have to defend better at the end of the game. Houston did what they had to do to win the game." -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Andrei Kirilenko (on the game) "We should have won the game in regulation if I had made the free throw. We weren¡¦t so aggressive in the overtime and we have to concentrate better. Cuttino (Mobley) played his game and it is very hard to stop him one-on-one and we have to help out better as a team. Houston was tired at the end and it was a very tough game for them." (on Utah¡¦s play this season) "I like to be a part of this team and I am proud of this team and the way we play together. -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Matt Harpring (on the key to the game) "Houston got to the foul line a lot and made it easy on themselves and we didn¡¦t shoot many free throws and we didn¡¦t make the shots at the end. I felt like we had the opportunity to win and there is no question about that. What can you say, this is life on the road in the NBA." -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Greg Ostertag (on the game) "I¡¦ll take the blame for what happened. I had a piss-poor performance and I apologize to my teammates for that. It was a hard fought game back and fourth and I was so worried about Yao (Ming) (at the end) and I didn¡¦t help out my teammates a t the end. I never should have allowed Mobley (Cuttino) to drive to the basket like that." (on the Jazz play this season) "It¡¦s just been an outstanding effort by our team and it is all about how well we play together. It¡¦s been a lot of fun to watch us play and execute and do the things we have to do to win." -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Houston Rockets Head Coach Jeff Van Gundy (on whether the team played with the desperation necessary to win) "Actually, I saw better execution offensively; they got good shots; we still couldn¡¦t get a rebound when we needed to late, things like that. For the most part, though, we executed well. We got good shots, I thought they got good shots. We made a couple more than they did, obviously." (on whether the passing led to good shots) "In a couple of situations, I thought so. In the first pass of the overtime, I thought that Yao (Ming) put it on target to Eric (Piatowski). But when you have 23 turnovers, you can¡¦t talk too much about your passing." (on whether there¡¦s something to winning a game after a losing road trip and not worrying about what needs to be worked on until after) "Yes, there is something to that. You want to win and improve every day or every night, and in some ways we improved. Which is good and we did win, which is good." (on whether one win will help with the misery) "You know what, I¡¦m always painted as whatever I¡¦m painted as and I just find myself very realistic¡KI don¡¦t waver between optimistic and negative. I stay right in the middle at realistic¡Kwhere others are swayed by emotion.¡¦ (on whether he has good feelings after this win) "Yeah¡KI was just saying¡Kit¡¦s good to win. Don¡¦t expect me to do cartwheels up here, though, when you win a home game. I¡¦ve lost 4 games in a row one time in my life, I¡¦ve lost 3 in a row a few times, so I don¡¦t come in here thinking¡KI mean I¡¦m happy we won, but I just think that our whole group needs to get¡Kit¡¦s not about winning. I mean, I¡¦m happy. You can tell. (joking) I guess I don¡¦t know what people expect on a given night. You guys come in here every night we win, you know great job on everything and then when we lose, there¡¦s some good and bad in every win and loss and it¡¦s up to me to paint a picture of what it¡¦s going to take to win consistently. I think as a whole group, as the Rockets, sometimes you can get used to not your best, and like I said, 4 years in a row the lottery and 9-7, I¡¦m just¡Kit shouldn¡¦t be just me that needs it¡KI thought we saw some guys make some really physical plays. I thought Cutino (Mobley) gutted it out¡Khe played 51 minutes, made big shots, got a critical rebound late; Yao (Ming) made a couple big plays; Eric (Piatowski) a couple of big shots; I thought Steve (Francis) willed himself to the free throw line. Mo (Maurice Taylor) I thought came up with a critical rebound. So, I mean there¡¦s a lot of good things and I think we should do good things. I think we should win. I don¡¦t think accept anything less than that. That first quarter was a deplorable effort. You can lose an NBA game at many different points. Some rudimentary fan thinks every game is decided in the 4th quarter. You can win it or lose it in the 1st 5 minutes or in the middle 5, whatever it is. I just think that if you start accepting things in wins that you wouldn¡¦t accept in defeat, you¡¦re doing your team a disservice. I¡¦m not trying to be positive or negative, I¡¦m trying to be realistic. And I think that¡¦s the only way you can coach. So, I¡¦m not going to fluctuate between everything¡¦s terrible¡Klike when we left here 8-3¡Kparades¡Kmost improved team in the NBA¡Kwe come back 9-7 same old Rockets. I¡¦m not going to fluctuate as many do. I know there¡¦s things that can be improved and should be improved and things that are really out of our control that we can¡¦t improve." (on the calls down the stretch) "Yeah, we took a couple of tough calls. I didn¡¦t see Yao¡¦s block, but the officials assured me that they were correct in the call." (on the importance of a win after a poor road trip and a few good days of practice) "I didn¡¦t say they were good days of practice. There were some good things in practice. If you watched our one-on-one defense, our competitive nature has to be much greater to get one-on-one stops and it was apparent tonight and it was apparent yesterday. So am I disheartened? I don¡¦t want to characterize it. It was a bad start and we can¡¦t accept those types of starts, hopefully." (on the importance of the bench¡¦s role in the 14-point comeback) "You¡¦ve got to give them credit. Many times this year, they let the lead go the other way. I thought Moochie (Norris)did a good job, getting us a little bit of energy in the game and I thought Mo (Maurice Taylor) coming in did a good job. I thought the bench, as bad as the starters were to start the game, I thought the bench getting us back into the game, was a critical factor in us winning. They did a good job." -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Yao Ming (on the Rockets slow start tonight) "In the first quarter we didn¡¦t move the ball well at all. There wasn¡¦t a lot of communication between players on offense. I think that affected our defense. I thought we were working hard on the defensive end but we were just kind of out of rhythm." (on the Rockets comeback) "We just did what we were supposed to do and we played hard. If we move the ball, we have an opportunity (to be successful)."
Useless stat of the day: Rox now 5-1 in games where Cat was the leading scorer. 5-3 with Francis 1-3 with Yao 0-1 with Jackson
Actually, it's quite relevant, imo. That shows that when Mobley can be effective as the third option on offense other defenses have a much harder time defending everyone. On a nightly basis, the general key to any defense against the Rox is to focus on Yao and Steve and let somebody else beat them. When Mobley is on his game, however, it opens up the floor b/c now the opposing squad has to worry about him too.
Not a useless thread at all. This implies Cat is a X factor for every Rockets game. We could win more games if he plays consistently well. GO ROCKETS!
Trade Francis? Sorry but remember last season, a streak win with "the franchise" and a loss streak without him? I think that a intelligent trade it regards player like Cato,Taylor and Norris. Steve-Cat and Yao are the hurt of his team. Sorry for my english; i'm just an italian Rockets fan, and I like this forum too. Ciao a tutti e miraccomando forza ROCKETS!!! Jazz sucks!!!
Except the "hurt" (should be "heart"), your English is very understandable. You are very welcome to share your thoughts here.
No, that stat means that this team NEEDs a 3RD STAR to compete in the West in the NBA. If Francis and Yao have solid games AND Mobley is hitting his shots we do well. When Mobley isn't playing well then Yao and Steve are NOT ENOUGH offense at this stage of their careers. Cat is not the longterm answer for the Rockets as the 3rd Star player because he is too inconsistant, but when he is ON and plays like a star we win games.
Sigh... a win's a win... and I'll definitely take the score. But can't help having flashbacks of some really comical events in last night's game: 1) In the first part of the 3rd quarter, Mobley literally dribbling the ball off his ass and almost losing it. 2) Francis jumping up into the arms of 2-3 Jazz defenders with no chance of a basket or a decent pass to another Rox 3) Ming being shoved aside by Cato as he went up for a jam. aiyaiyai...!!
I just don't understand why Steve cannot defend the opposing guard's dribble penetration. Lopez was penetrating at will last night, and also last week. And he is not the only guard doing this to Steve. I know that Steve is working hard on D, but it's painful to see the opposing PG abuse him and generate easy baskets for other people. AK really impressed me. I have watched him play only about 7-8 times this season, but he is shaping up to be a better player than Dirk. AK is very athletic, and he can definitely shoot, penetrate, defend, and pass. He is gonna be an all star in the very near future.
