ClutchFans Game Thread: Magic @ Rockets 12/19/2007

I agree with you, except that it won't happen until they either bench or trade away T-mac. Other players need to get touches to gain their confidence. Seeing your leader quit after 1 of 10 isn't helping.

 

he said they wanted either a quick 2 or the 3. Thought luther head had a good shot early in the play, but passed on it. He liked the effort.

I don't get it. 3 days off and this is as prepared as you can get them. Free throws are killin them.

 

Yao is not as fast as Howard is, and he can't dunk like Howard. If you think that means Howard's dominance over Yao, that's fine. If that's your dominance standard, there are tons of big guys who is faster and dunking stronger than Yao is. You could call all of them are dominating Yao. But, that's your opinion.

The fact is, no player can handle Yao one on one down low, even your beloved Howard, who had to resort to lots of double team help.

If you want to talk about dominance comparing 2 centers, then we talk about facts. If you say they win, and Howard had better FG%, it's dominance. Then I can give you the example of Magic win, and Evans' 75% FG in this game. So he dominated even more, according to your logic.

Howard outplayed Yao in this game? ESPN said so doesn't make it so. I have different opinion. Turkelo was their go-to guy in critical time. Howard is very good and has improved a lot, but I am not too impressed with his offensive game, not yet. Again, you are entitled to your opinion. But your reasoning is really shady. Howard's biggest strength is in rebounding, and Yao beat him on that more than 50% tonight, but you don't want to mention it. Howard shot better FTs tonight, for once, hey, you call that dominance.

The Magic won, sure Howard ended up with upper hand, but to call that dominance over Yao? Far-fetched to say the least.

 

Did you watch the game?? Howard scored four or more times one on one. His "space-making" shot when he barrelled into Yao's chest and made the shot, a couple of shots off the glass on the right side of the rim and at least one on the left side of the rim. Yao lost Howard on defense and he paid when Howard made a rim rattling DUNK. Howard was way more efficient than Yao who took a bunch of bad shots.

Yao did have a good rebounding night, though.

One thing that really bothered me about tonight's game is when Howard picked up his first foul on Yao early. Why didn't the Rockets keep going to Yao. If Howard picks up two fouls, he might only play 25 minutes or so. Instead, we had TChuck....

 

This is a rockets fan site. Why do you criticize your own star who gave you 19pt and 17rebound? Why don't you ask other players to make their OPEN shots created by Yao?

I would still take Yao over Howard at this point. Just think about what if they didn't double/triple Yao. Yao would easily score like 27pt. Did you see a lot double team of Howard tonight? No. It was only Yao to cover him.

 

TRACIE... Would quit on that team as well...


problem is Tracie is a jump shooter who hasnt hit his shots on a consistant basis for a few years now...

moving Yao to the highpost just exposes it more.... since the excuse on Tmac not driving to the hoop last year was Yao clogged up the lanes...


please MOVE YAO back to the paint... putting the big stiff 15 feet from the basket... is a big mistake

 

In the end, who cares? I'm sure Yao would trade all 17 of those boards for a W.

 

Yeah, I'll take Yao, Dhoward is good, but he was guarded 1 on 1 all night by Yao. Yao got doubled almost every time. Adleman needs to give Yao some rest so he is fresh for the second half.
DHoward is pre-microfracture Amare with better D. That's pretty good, but he is no where near Young Shaq dominant....but neither is Yao too....

 

I seriously doubt if you watched the game - down the stretch, Yao did all the scoring - Yao doesn't need to get in 2 feet from the rim to score. tonight he had a bad shooting night, but he crashed the board. If you really want to argue, Yao's biggest problem this season is his hesitation - probably due to the new system, Yao just hold the ball too long before he makes a decision. BTW, the Turk won the game for Magic, or you could say the Rox as a team gave the game away.

 

LMAO. We lost to the Magic?! Glad I forgot about this game, would hate to sit through that.

Looks like it wasn't JVG's fault. This team is just not a high powered offense.

 

You are right. That's why I said, if you want to compare their plays and games, then let's talk about actual plays and players.

If you just want to talk about win or loss, sure, who cares. Magic won, there is no need to talk about dominance.

 

LOL 21pts vs single team and tons of spacing.

Yao 19pts vs doubles and tipple team and poor spacing.

17 board 5 offensive boards

DH could even get a board in the 4th quarter.

Who suppose to be a monster rebounder and and excellent defender but can guard one to one and get outrebound and allow the other center to get 5 off. boards.

And Yao 2 asst. (Should be 10 if Rockets make their shoots) thats minimum 4 more points.

I'm sorry but Howard did not impresses me at all. Same last yeard Howard just with more touches to him.

 

Yao didn't double him, but Dwight gets double teamed by pretty much every other team in the league, sans San Antonio who sticks Duncan on him. Yao is probably the only player who can Howard one-on-one thanks to his immense size, but make no mistake: Howard does get double teamed... a lot.

Howard leads the league in FT attempts per game, RPG, dunks, is second in FG percentage, top 5 in blocks, and averages 23 and 15 (which, might I add, only three other players in leauge history have done). He's an amazing talent and taking away from him is foolish. Yao's great, but Howard, IMHO, has a greater impact on the game.

Do you know how bad Orlando would be without Howard? He's that whole damn team.

 

Pal, read my posts. I watched the game.

Did you see his fade away which was sandwiched between Rafer's missed layup and James' horrible teardrop? Yao was clearly affected by Howard as he faded away like 5 feet. It was a horrible shot, but there were two reasons: 1. Howard kept Yao far from the hoop. 2. Yao was afraid of getting his turnaround fadeaway blocked so he faded away way more than usual.

Yes, he made a few big hoops down the stretch (as did Bonzi) which made it close. His offensive rebound with the potential 3 point play was huge, but he missed the FT. But at the end of the day, it wasn't enough. Also, in the third and early fourth, why did Yao hold the ball in the post waiting for the double team? If he isn't going to attack, then why play in the post?

 

Dwight Howard is a far better rebounder than Yao.

If Howard doesn't impress you, then you don't get impressed by anything.

Howard has been incredible all year and was even solid tonight.

 

Howard's much, much better than last season. He gets way better position, blocks more shots, is rebounding better, and has a better overall understanding of the game. He has nine 30+ points, 15+ rebound games... the kid is tremendous.

 

I was at work and told my folks to DVR it and now I dont even want to bother watching it. Tmac leaves in the second quarter and Steve doesn't play AT ALL!?? Against his old team. I was hoping he'd stick it to Orlando. Geez when will we see a winning streak!

 

Don't blame Tmac too much.You guys forget his performance last season when Yao's hurt.

Just see my signature.

 

i've been a rockets fan for years... last year they broke my heart with a game 7 loss but this is worse. they look like a lottery team! wtf is up with this team... full of players with 100% hustle but 0% athleticism and skill.

plus watching rudy gay light up oponnents with his slashing, mid range and 3pt shooting, puts a tear to my eye!

i'm officially hating on...
luther "nothing but air" head
shane "elmer's glue" battier
chuck "there is no "O" in" hayes
mike "no game" james
rafer "LAY-UP" alston

 

The 'space-making' shot can easily be called an offensive foul (i'm sure if it were Yao doing it they've have called it, just like when he was taken down by DH), and it was off a rebound, the dunk (other than the alley-oop) was off a dribble penetration. I don't remember the bank shots, but I do remember a few shots that completely missed the rim when DH went 1-on-1 on Yao. Anyway, these are not important - as another poster pointed out, you are entitiled to your opinion, but one thing is clear, put DH on the Rox side in tonight's game, I don't think he'd have won.