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

Howard is a great great young talent, and improving really fast. I like him, a lot. But I do have problem with the sudden man-crush from some Rockets fans on Howard, but consider Yao garbage. Howard is having a great impact in games, but with head-to-head comparison, especially the single cover vs. double team at defensive end, and head to head matchups. I just want to say, that Howard hasn't officially passed Yao, and lots of things Yao does night over night, isn't really appreciated.

 

Yao definitely has extremely soft hands.

It may not be fair to call him a soft player, but he certainly has struggled throughout his career at holding onto the ball. This ability is critical for a big man. If there is one thing Yao needs to improve, it is his court awareness and hand strength. After 5 years, he still gets stripped way too easily. This usually occurs at least a couple of times each game.

 

What killa3312 posted. Don't get me wrong, I'm a huge Yao fan, but I have to admit that Howard is a superior player. One game doesn't prove anything, but look at their respective seasons....

 

The center matchup was a push. Neither got the better of the other, in my view. And RA is murdering Yao with the PT. 43 minutes for him tonight? Come on, RA! Yao's issue has always been his stamina and now he's battling guys like Howard, Howard's backup, and Howard's backup's backup for 40+ minutes? He won't last all year at this rate. 36 - 38 minutes for the big guy and as fresh as possible for the last 8 minutes. Anything more is playing with fire.

 

The infatuation with Howard extends well beyond Rockets fans. He is leading the MVP race and is regularly putting out eye-popping stats for a team that is winning.

Howard is a great asset that any team would love to have.

 

Now, no accusations that I didn't watch the game?? I think I watched the game with more objectivity than most ....

 

Man, I wish we had Howard. He is a BEAST!!!

 

Ummm, you are asking RA to play Yao for 36-38 mpg...

Yao's season average is 37.1 mpg. What's your next invalid complaint?

 

Wouldn't that mean he has stone hands or hard hands? Soft hands indicate you catch nearly everything thrown to you.

 

No, I wasn't talking about catching the ball.

I am talking about maintaining possession of the ball. That is a different concept.

Let me fix it for you since you were unable to get the point.

Opponents are easily able to knock the ball out of Yao's hands when he is in the post. Yao has had this problem since day 1 and has shown little to no improvement. Yao also lacks court vision and rarely detects an opposing defender cheating off his man to come up on Yao's blind side and strip the ball.

Satisfied?

 

Why? Idleman is still trying to teach the Rockets how to play basketball. Also, it is way before the All Star Game.

 

Code:

Southwest 	W 	L 	PCT 	GB 	CONF 	DIV 	HOME 	ROAD 	L 10 	STREAK
San Antonio 	18 	7 	0.720 	0.0 	13-7 	5-3 	13-1 	5-6 	6-4 	L 2
Dallas 	        18 	9 	0.667 	1.0 	12-4 	6-2 	12-2 	6-7 	7-3 	W 4
New Orleans 	16 	10 	0.615 	2.5 	12-7 	3-2 	7-5 	9-5 	6-4 	W 1

[b]Houston 	12 	13 	0.480 	6.0 	8-9 	2-5 	6-5 	6-8 	4-6 	[/b]L 2


Memphis 	8 	17 	0.320 	10.0 	5-11 	2-6 	5-8 	3-9 	3-7 	W 1

So much promise to start this season, and we are now dipping below .500. I still believe we can turn this around. But man this sucks.

 

Sure every team would love to have Howard, and you could say that about Yao too. The team is winning, and he's getting tons of props, rightfully so. Just look at it this way, if the Rockets is winning, Yao with the same 20-10 number, would anyone claim Howard is dominating Yao? I don't think so. All I am saying is, as good as Howard is right now, as bad as Yao maybe playing or the Rockets as a whole is playing, Howard isn't really dominating Yao. It's just more perception than reality. Today's game proved that, Howard can't really dominate Yao.

Winning cures all. If Rockets can start to win, nobody is going to call Yao soft, and nobody is going to accuse TMac of quitting.

 

Winning?? What the heck is that??

 

Chill, I wasn't attacking you or your post.

 

It's a concept our star players not accustomed to, and we Rockets fans forgot about long long time ago.

 

PLEASE!!!!

put the big stiff back in the paint 90% of the time...

 

I didn't say Howard was dominating Yao.

Go back and read the message I was replying to.

Beyond that, I will be honest with you. I am a Rockets fan but I would take Howard over Yao. Howard is built for today's game and should have a longer career due to his body type.

Both are good but I like Howard's athleticism over Yao's shooting skills. Howard brings me more of what I expect out of a big man.

 

wow the first losing record for the year for the rox


did yall know that t mac came to my high school football game this year...


maybe something screwed him up...

 

Chill, I don't care if you were attacking my post.

I was correcting your interpretation of what I was trying to say.