ClutchFans Game Thread: Magic @ Rockets 11/08/2003

I caught that one....

 

i don't care how good or how tall yao is, if you have 6-10 to 7' guys pushing both their hands into his back EVERY SINGLE TIME he touches the ball, he's going to need some kind of help from the refs.

 

As Calvin Murphy says:

"If it's free, it's for me. And give me three."

 

I am again impressed with the defensive intensity, especially in the 2nd half. We rotated, helped and challenged every outside shot. Many times the Majic swung the ball quickly to the 4th or 5 th guy and we always had people rushed out and challenge the shot. It was a marked difference from yr past.

On the other hand, Jeff needs to change the way Yao plays his own man. Yao is asked to back off his man to shadow the cutter and cover the basket which is a good thing. Trouble is his own man knows that he does not come out and challenge the 15, 18 ft shot, they have been taking those shots with confidence and making a lot of them.

I am not asking Yao to come out away from the basket every time but he should do so once in a while. Go after a few shots and block some. Mix them up. Make the opp. think. Don't let them get comfortable. Make them look for you when they shoot the ball.

 

EXACTLY. How do people think a guy like Shaq gets alot of his points? From his defender doing the Hack-a-Shaq

 

Nevermind....I forgot Shaq cant hit free throws to save his own fat a$$......but Yao sure as hell can and he didnt get no calls tonite from those refs

 

yao is horrible, he's a part time player and should be sent to the NBDL, look at the almighty shooting percentage stats for the following players who will not make it in the nba. All of them should spend 5 years in the NBDL before they are allowed to step foot on an nba court.

Saturday's games:

Y. Ming. 6-18
T. Mcgrady. 5-21
D. Nowitski. 7-18 (1-7 3's)

Friday's games:

T. Mcgrady. 2-10
K. Bryant. 4-14

Thursday:

D. Nowitski. 1-7

There u go, in fact Tmac and Nowitski shold just be banned from the league cause they had 2 bad shooting games in a row.

 

I agree completely. The scrubs you just mentioned should be sent to Europe to refine their skills.

 

This game just gets all those dogging our guards to back off and see the light. JVG may have been born at night but it was not last night. He is not going to drop all the things that a 40 something win team did. In fact he is broadening the team on both sides of the ball which were glaringly absent. I have said that the team's margin of error is larger this year and last night is as good an example of that that you can find. In fact the season to date is proof of that. How on earth can we be leading the league defensively and be #3 offensively, from a fg standpoint with so many distractions and injuries. If that is not a reflection of a fairly large margin for error, I do not know what is.

What is the basis for that margin? Ball movement, player movement, intensity, focus, preparation, conditioning, hunger, talent, inside out game, versatility, speed, size, depth, coaching, and a tendency to impose their will to name a few.

In my mind there are 3 20pt scorers on this team which when coupled with the defense the discussion should move from whether or not the rox make the playoffs to how are they going to be kept out of the top 4.

 

From what I saw last night, Yao did more of those aggressively. He changed quite a few shots from the perimeter. If you check out how many perimeter shots Hunter made: None. In fact, he came out challenging TMAC almost at the three-point line once. And of course TMAC missed that too.

Mind you, sometime he did hesitate, debating whether he should stay or come out to cover for his teammates. And that at least cause a couple of basket. That will improve as a system with time.

 

This is another example of Yao doing below his standard but better than the league average. He got 66% FT last night, that was right on the team average and much higher than most centre. And now we are saying he can't shoot the damn ball. Haha.

If you were physically abused without much help from the ref the whole game, even an angel will be angry and off her coldness. That show on Yao's face several times when he shot his FT. On one occasion, he slammed the ball so hard on the floor with his teeth biting himself.

 

Yes, I agree. It is apparent the Magic strategy was to push Yao with both hands even before he touches the ball all the way to the point he released the shot. The push actually followed Yao whichever side he ran in the paint. Several times, Yao switched side by running around to avoid the push; but his back ended up in another both hands push.

 

DR.... thanks for the optimistic POV. IMHO, JVG is the smartest man to coach the Rockets in a long time, no offense RUDY. He is clever and uses the media very well. His coaching speaks for itself for those who has spent last 4 years hoping.... now those wishes will be answered.

Steve was very impressive.

 

Yao is definitely more aggressive on both ends of the floor last night. He got 6 offensive rebounds which is more than he got in the all previous 4 games. His shot is off but I guess that Hunter's two hand back pushing had sth to do with it. The ref needs to begin to call some fouls to give Yao some slack. And the first offensive fou on Yao, I really thought that was a cheap call.

Steve is awesome. Cat plays within the flow of the game. And we are 4:1!

Cannot ask for more of that. If we keeps playing like that, and with Ming picking up his game gradually, I can smell a #4 or #5 seed in the west.

Go Rockets!

 

I would liker to clear the air. I am, like all Fans happy that we are 4-1 and best in the Mid West. Especially when you realise our condition, JVG has only installed his defence and passing Game which we are just learning. We are without Mo Taylor and Eddie Griffin who have messed up a little![just being kind].We are without A.Griffin a defencive specialist through injury and also Piatowski our three point specialist for the same reason. We shout about noy having a traditional Point Guard, we groan about the lack of inside outside game, we moan about the Game not going through the Center, like JVG told us prior to him taking over. How on earth can he implement his offence till he gets the parts assembled. We just need to sitback and await the return of our players, then when we get about 15 games into the season , we should be in a position to make our analysis of the apples and pears. Our Team has a way to go yet!

 

your solution has been to use multiple IDs (TS78, Ex-NBAcoach, BeijingBoy2003, Tsujjiian, guest, Caijiiong, mollywood, et al); some male, some female.

the quintessential SheMale !

 

Your signature makes you look stupid...

 

Maybe Yao should tell the refs to watch his defender for the handchecks and stuff.

If the refs have been told, they should call it.

 

Early in the game, I thought he did that by reading his lips when walked off the left side of the paint. But the ref appeared to give him either a verbal warning or harassment on that. Yao was talking to himself all the way back to his post.

 

Who is this "we" of which you speak?