ClutchFans Game Thread: Jazz @ Rockets 4/19/2008 (Playoffs Round 1, Game 1)

One side note, Yoyo's 18 win streak ends tonight.

 

I think you have to give some credit to AK47 for his defense on TMac and you also have to look at the fact that we were down double-digits for the majority of the final quarter. At that point everyone on our team was throwing up bombs.

 

Eh, I don't know if I agree that they are "that" much more talented than us. Offensively they have Williams and Boozer. AK47 was good on offense tonight, but I think he can be shut down fairly easily.

If Deke can play around 30 min and we can execute on FTs and layups we can make it interesting. The intensity on defense and on the glass needs to be there throughout though during the rest of the series.

 

If you look at our roster, there is really lacking of talents.
If you take out TMAC, the salary of our other active players add up to about 20M.

And then you look at Utah's starters, Boozer is max player,
DW is a max player, Okur is close to max player, Ak is max player.

It is really amazing we have won 55 games.

 

This game really hurt. Unfortunately, the way we played tonight was embarrassing; the game was pretty much called by the middle of the fourth. It hurts even more that those "experts" might really be right, saying the lack of Yao's interior presence of and no first round series wins would be the reason we won't advance in the playoffs. We missed Yao in rebounding the ball in the first half and having a solid scoring option, and also Utah having had deep playoff experience exposed our lack of experience. We had to resort to our rookies for most of the game.

But the truth is, this team did play jittery tonight. They were definitely nervous. Bobby Jackson I also thought did a poor job guarding Deron Williams. Hopefully after they get this first game behind them, they'll get rid of the jitters and play the way they should. And when Rafer comes back, he will play better defense on Williams. We can still win this series for sure.

 

Scola spin moved way too much

 

each year that passes, we get older and further removed from the championship years. I want to experience that feeling of victory as an adult, I was 12 then.

 

Kiri was hot tonight..that shouldnt happen in game 2. We expected Booz and Dwill to kill us but Kiri was the surprise

 

The amount of money a player makes does not necessarily mean he's going to be talented. Look at Starbury. Williams and Boozer are max players. AK and Okur are not.

 

*sigh*
Tip off was at 4:30 AM for me. Kudos to my friends who let me watch the game at their place, fed me, gave me vodka AND watched it with me.

Scola, Battier, Deke, Brooks, for all their shortcomings played with some heart. As for everyone else, I'd be making them run laps.

This was Sloan-ball at its finest. Scrappy, dirty and playing to win. There was nothing terribly spectacular about the Jazz in this game, and I hate them, but they owned this game and they deserved to win. Deron was supposedly injured, but the kid has some serious heart, and I have to respect that.

The Rockets were seriously undermanned and at times it looks like they were coach-less. They didn't have a prayer, much less an answer for the Jazz. I'd love to blame the result on Jazz dirtiness or bad officiating, or the other usual suspects, but this wasn't 1997. The Rockets just had a serious deficit in the urge to win department, and I wouldn't have minded the loss if it had looked like they cared.

I'd say this is going to be a short series, but the Rockets always seem to do best when their backs are against the wall. I don't know what to say about McGrady, but damn...he looked downright geriatric out there. Maybe Mutumbo needs to give him a map to the fountain of youth.

Another game like this and I'll be missing Matt Maloney, much less Skip. It's almost 8 AM here and I'm beat, but i'm drinking with ya'll in spirit. Asking Bobby Jackson to carry this team to a playoff win is asking a bit too much.

I hate to join the whiny masses on this bbs, but Tracy, your legacy is seriously on the line.

 

AK is paid a max salary, but the other 3 aren't. In fact, Williams is still covered by his original rookie contract.

 

Our problem is (STILL) that we have no solid point OR shooting guards. People are saying that Brooks should be playing more. Well, I guess I can't come up with anyone else who would be better, but Brooks speed is his only consistant asset at this point. BJax should be a spark off of the bench. Brooks should be a spark off of the bench. Same for Head. Alston had a nice stretch, but he's not the answer either. We have nobody. McGrady had a subpar shooting night, but he is playing well enough for us to win, if we can get other contributors. TMac said it right in the post game. We have nobody who can create their own shot on any sort of regular basis. So what do we do??!?! We can't just package these guys up and expect someone to give us a superstar in return. I don't know what to do.

On to the big men. Mutumbo....still playing great defense, but he is so slow on the offensive end. Even when he gets an open lane to the basket, he's getting stuffed by much smaller players. Landry, Scola, and Hayes...combined, would make a great player. Separately, they are all lacking. I dont' blame them. 2/3 are young, and I am willing to give them time to develop, but they aren't going to get it done in the HERE and NOW. Just when I thought Scola had made it to the next level, he misses layup after layup. Landry...what happened. Hasn't come close to playing how he did before the injury. CHayes....we know what to expect..it's all on the defensive end.

I don't know what we can do to improve this team this year. We are going to have to make some moves to get to that next level. I'm not one of the "trade TMac" folks, but if that's what needs to happen to fill multiple needs on this team, then unfortunately, that's what we need to do. I hope we can find ways to keep him.

 

The Rockets will get it going in the next game. I believe they can win one game in Utah to get the home court back. Monday the Rockets will win. Man the league sure wants Shaq and Duncan to be rested, they don't play till Tuesday while the Rockets are back at it on Monday.

 

Bobby Jackson was horrible. I didn't agree with the trade when it happened, then I started to warmup to him being here, now I'm back to square one, don't agree with the trade.

 

Ihad to turn away from ESPN for having that chic announcer. But you are right, TMAC is weak and stupid

 

Rafer might play better than Bobby, but he was proved to be a poor player last playoffs. To go any further, Rocket needs big reform in summer.

 

he played well when he was with the Heat and made the 2nd round.

 

Don't complain about him...he was 7-7 and 4-4 for 22 points.

 

There will be more hard fouls, more elbows in game 2. They will punish the fxcking Jass.

 

Regular Starters:
D-Will >>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>> Rafer
Boozer >>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>> Scolandry
Okur >>>>>>>> Mutombo
Brewer <<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<< McGrady
Kirilenko > Battier

Bench:
Millsap >>>>>>>> Hayes
Korver >>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>> Novak/Head
Harpring >>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>> Harris