ClutchFans Game Thread: Kings @ Rockets 4/4/2004 - 12:00PM CST

Yao needs to toughen up and give 100% every sec he is on court. I am frustrated with him from time to time too. But the last 3 plays, the way SF screwed up, that is the worst. Your star point guard can not do it right. Actually, how many times SF did right in those situation, I can only recall once this year, hitting that 3 against Hawks. How can anybody trust this guy to have the ball to lead the charge down the strech?

 

You are welcome.

 

I would just like to take this opportunity to thank the Rockets for continually disappointing me...

 

The refs can decide the game only if you let them. If the Rox hit their close shots and stopped the incesant turnovers, the game would not be close.

Until the Rox learn to play thru the bad calls and show that the refs can't cause them to lose games, they will continue to get the short end of the stick.

 

He did it twice in three games last week against the Blazers and Bucks...

Of course I didn't like SF3's play in the final minutes... but in a close game, anything can happen... and if the Sacramento Kings are in a close game, I'm takeing them to win almost every single time.

The key is that this shouldn't have been a close game. The Kings were flat, injured, and looked tremendously out of sync at times. Dallas killed them by playing their game... SA did the same. I just wish we could have beaten them by playing OUR game... as they have no defense for Yao.

Our defense will also continue to suffer as long as Cato is out. For what its worth, he is our best defensive big man out there... and without him, we're a below average defensive team... check that, we're just a below average team in general.

 

I said it once, I said it again, our two all-star players are not true all-star players. To make it worse, their games conflict with each other.

I just don't know what to say, for the rest 6 games, we have to win at least 2 or 3 to secure the playoff spot.

Let's hope it won't be a total collapse.

 

Weren't we down by 3 at that time? I'm not saying we should've just jacked one up, but at least try to get an open 3 before driving to the basket. Everyone knows how well the Kings shoot free throws. All a layup does in that instance is give the Rockets shorter time to hit a 3 pointer the next trip.

 

You must be kidding. Seattle's owned us all year. Utah (and Sloan, as much as it pains me to say it) understands stepping it up when it counts. They do not wilt under pressure. We do. Plain and simple. Same goes for Denver, to a lesser extent than Utah. There hasn't been a more important game this season than our last one with DEN. They understood that, we didn't. And the Clippers and GS are bad matchups for us. If the Rockets understood, like pretty much every other team in the league, that the regular season is the preseason of the real season, that there are no moral victories in the stretch run and that you don't get points for martyring yourself about the officiating, I'd agree that all five games were winnable. But they don't. They don't understand any of that. As such, I'd favor us against GS OR LAC and make us underdogs in the other four. I don't know what's said in the locker room or what happens in practice, so I continue to hold out hope, every single game, that we'll field a team that plays hard and plays smart. But that's just cause I'm a homer.

 

There was still 25 seconds on the clock if i remember correctly. If you can get a quick basket to cut it to one with that much time left you take it. There is absolutely no guarantee the Kings would have made the free throws. I realize they are a very good free throw shooting team but nothing is etched in stone. Remember Nick Anderson

 

Cato is a big part of our defensive system, no question about it. But I just dont buy that we suck so much right now because of his absense. You gotta give spoon, taylor and Paddget credits. They collectively did nice job on that 4 spot. I seriouly doubt, Cato would've helped us turned the outcome the game we lost witout him.

Our big three, and maybe including JJ are not showing up at same time. That is the problem. You will have Yao is hitting big one night(the sun's game), then fade away in the next(the gs game after sun's game). Cat will show up in one game and then be quite like today's. JJ's been struggling lately more than he showed up, and we need him to give us 10+ points evey game.

Aaah, then SF, isnt he supposed to be the Franchise. I dont what that nick name means anymore. Does this team have a leader like other elite teams. Is he a Franchise player?

 

yeah, refs are calling the games fairly
Believe me, i am not happy with the way Rox are playing. I am not all the blame on refs. the fact is fakers and queens didn't play well either. Why did they get the benefit of doubt from refs, not us? fakers compain all the time, and so does Divac.
Remember how Yao got his first foul against fakers? he didn't touch anyone even. Then Shaq fell on his own fat ass and yao was called a foul. Today, we should get the ball back with 12 sec left. Replay shows Padgett was 2 feet away from the ball when it bounced off Peja's body. The ref was right there.
Be objective when you criticize the team. It is true the calls wouldn't matter if they played the 3rd quarter differently. It is also true the calls wouldn't matter if Kings played 4th quarter differently. we were not the only team that sucks today.

 

#1 17 seconds left.
#2 setup a quick 3 is better than a 2 with this King's team. You gotta know your opponent. Bad job by JVG too.

 

broken record

 

Cato is a 7 foot Power Foward. He can crash the boards and he's a hell of a shot blocker. When you go into the lane not only are you faced with 7'6 Yao Ming but you've gotta deal with Cato. Remember this guy could easily start at center for half the teams in the league. I didn't fully appreciate what he has done this season for us until he went out with the injury. Defensively we are nowhere near the same team.

 

Stats wise, we can't lose all for the rest of games, and we only need 2 - 3 games to secure one spot in playoff, forget about the magic number, Utah, Portland and Denver can't win the rest of games of their own.

But , But , But this team can easily collapse under pressure, do you still remember last year? Forget about that we were only one game short for the playoff, we WON three meanless games in the end, that made us only one game short. Other than that, it was a total meltdown.

 

And if Kings hit their shots consistently, the game would not be close either. Few games are blown out. You make mistakes, and the other team also do something wrong. what I don't understand is why when both teams suck in a game, we always get the short end of the stick.

 

Did Sac kill us 3 times when Cato was on, none of them was as close as this one. They were having feild day trips cutting into the middle.

Just dont over-estimate Cato's presense on this team. It's nice to have him back asap, but no means he will provide you with any offensive power. By losing him, we probably lost some defense, but we gain some offense, it balance out eventually.

 

There's really no point arguing with you, so hopefully this'll be my last direct post to you (after that, I'll just report your constant violations to the mods).

We lost today because Yao played soft and Steve played dumb. It had nothing to do with the refs ("be objective?" Whatever, dude. I give the Rockets the benefit of the doubt on every single call -- I'm just sick of know-nothing newbies constantly blaming our bad play on the officiating when the team's flaws are so damned obvious.). We would have lost a lot worse if it weren't for Mark Jackson, Padgett and Spoon. They and JJ were the only ones who played any kind of smart ball for us today. As soon as Steve, Cat and Yao came back, we started sucking it up all over again. Our bench is thin and unexceptional (especially with Cato out and Mo leaving the game early). We have one of the thinnest, worst benches in the league. But today our starters were much worse.

But since all you know how to do is toss around curse words and blame everything on the refs, that's what you do. Have you figured out a way to blame them for our turnovers yet? Cause that's where we've been losing.

 

I am with ya Jones. But Please dont call someone with over 1000 posts a newbie anymore. Let's discuss the matter. Arrogance kills it.

 

Who cares if we limp into the playoffs, the way we're playing now? We're doing everything we can to lose over the last few weeks. If we "succeed" in limping past Utah, Denver and Portland -- three teams that shouldn't even be in the hunt -- and play in the playoffs the way we've been playing in the most crucial stretch of the regular season, it will be a step backwards from last year, not forwards. Phoenix ceded the eighth seed to us. We didn't earn it -- they gave it up. And Utah and Portland, who were both there last year, are playing without the stars they had last year. If we played only just as well as we did last year, considering Phoenix devolving and Utah and Portland blowing up their teams, we should be a sixth seed. Considering Memphis' rise, we should be a solid seventh. As it stands, we'll be lucky to make 7 and could possibly even miss the playoffs.

The way they're playing now is no better than last year at this time. And it's no kind of victory to limp into the postseason, with no signs of improvement.