ClutchFans Game Thread: Mavericks @ Rockets 2/15/2007

Ah man, i can see the game live and the rockets lose damn. Anyway bad loss, but IF we face this Dallas team in the playoffs and the Rockets are healthy the Rockets will win. 6 or 7 games, but the Rockets will win. We need 2 options to beat these Mavs and right now we have only one. Further Luther, Rafer and bonzi ( right that bycicle after the game and workout with Dick B ) need to work on their game (defense, decision making).

 

^^ i forgot to add this:

(Avery Jonhson on the Rockets and Tracy McGrady) "You don't want to get too stretched out as a team when Tracy (McGrady) gets on one of his rolls. They will be very dangerous in the playoffs and nobody wants to play them."

Like i stated in a previous post Avery knows what's up.

 

Tracy was perfect in that 4 th quatr, but Jonhson knew what to do. Adn we sucked at the end. Good game, but should be a win

 

I doubt that we can win a series against Dallas in 6 games, 7 games is much more likely. Knownig Avery Johnson's mind, if the Rockets get another 2 game lead, rest assured that he will be studying the games until 2:00 am the next day. we can't underestimate the Mavericks, heck look at Jason Terry. Cold all game and suddenly he makes the game winning basket. The Mavericks can pop up any time, and in the third quarter I was waiting for the inevitable Dallas run.

 

I just wonder why luther play such bad every time against the mavs

 

We were playing good basketball in the first quatr when Tracy sat on the bench. But than the second half only McGrady was playin at the hihg level, not the 1st time with mavs, but i hope we win with heat.

 

There were a couple of questionable coaching decisions in my eyes. Such as why the starters played so long before being subbed, and also why Snyder hardly even played (did he play?) was another. Snyder would of been good in spurts to take on guarding Howard and Stackhouse - to at least wear them out a little. He could of also helped with his slashing to draw fouls from Dallas's bigs.

Why JVG doesn't fully utilize his squad is beyond me. Last year I can understand... we were completely depleted. But this year, we actually have different pieces to make use of.

Dallas was impressive though in the last few minutes, and during their run in the third quarter. If they don't win the title this year, I would be surprised.

Having said that, we still could of won last night. It was an impressive display up until the last minute or so. If we had Yao, then the game would of been a lot easier, especially at the end, when we soley relyied on T-mac.

 

ugh...that was disappointing.

but they won't be able to clog up on Tracy like that when Yao gets back. nothing but good things coming.

 

That was the worst final 2 minutes I have ever seen from us offensively. Luther Head is really not a decision maker with that ball.

 

A loss by only 3 points, without Yao, to the best team in the league? I'll take it.

The worst part of our game right now is decision making in crunch time.

 

I enjoyed the game last night. LOTS of turnovers on both sides, but also some great plays, fastbreaks, etc. I really wanted to beat the Mavs though, I was disappointed for the guys. We'll get Dirk next time!

BattiersBaby.

 

Let me get this straight...

People want VSPAN in the game...in A GAME that was high-pressure, high intensity and playoff type game and he would of done better? Really? No seriously? The proof he has showed when he plays justifies that thought?

Ok...

Let me get this straight...

We lose by 3 to a team that is considered the favorite to win the ring this year without Yao. Yet, we mentioned that Devan George was out for the other team? So, he is a starting two in the NBA that is considered the best at his position?

Ok...

Let me get this straight...

T-Mac gets hit in the head by an elbow and then hit in the face, goes up to the line and should hit his free-throws? As if you didn't know that was coming since getting popped in the nose should REFOCUS you even more to hit those free-throws?

Hmm...

Ok. So, the Coach did misuse his time outs. The guy is not perfect. Yet, nobody talks about how he switched T-Mac on Dirk at the close of the game which was genius. Worked perfectly. Nobody mentions that Gundy held a high scoring offense to 80pts. Nobody mentions the team hustled and fought a team that is loaded with talent. Oh, and Yao is not even in the game? And that is being outcoached?

Really? Really, really?

Listen people.

Even with Yao healthy, Dallas is a better team on paper. What we have to hope for is that Yao comes back, gets in shape, and is ready to open up our shooters. Yao is the key to the offense. In the post, no one can stop him. It creates so many easy opportunities on offense and allows our defense to be EVEN BETTER because we can be more aggressive due to the fact that Yao is back there to clean up mistakes.

I understand that we practically gave the game away. I understand that we could of went into the break with the same amount of wins as last year...feel good story if you ask me. I understand we all hate Dallas and their flopping ways.

But guys and gals....

Tell me at the beginning of the year that Yao would break his leg, T-Mac would be out about 8 games and Dallas, SA, Phoenix and the Lakers would be in our conference winning consistantly but yet, we are #5 overall in the NBA, the best defense in the league, and hardly ever never not show up in any game...I would of signed up for that in a NYC MINUTE!

People lose focus in this short-sighted world. Concentrate on catching SA, getting the 3 seed and getting healthy. That should be the focus of this team until the playoffs.

 

Head was ok, even his performance was clearly not good last night. However, Head at least had the confidence to take a shot, unlike Battier and Howard, well, forget about Alston. I think it is unfair to blame him for his miss shot as Tmac was under heavy traffic and the clock was ticking, there was no way (at least to me) that Tmac could get the ball. Nobody else was gonna take the shot, so I had no problem with that. To say Head was a ballhog was absurd.
For people saying we will beat them when Yao gets back, I don't know what to say. Yao certainly gives us a huge advantage in the offense, but don't draw a line based on the close lose last night. Mavs had a very bad game, for people complaining about Tmac's FT, Mavs were not good either. It was painful to watch the final minute when Rockets looked like a headless chicken as Tmac was doubleteamed and nobody else could do any damage. JVG had zero answer when Tmac was unable to get the ball. It was a shame that we didn't bag this win when Mavs had an off night.

 

just read the post-game quotes and TMac said it - rox lack players who can create their shots. That's the difference between Dallas and Rockets now when Yao's not playing, but when Yao comes back, if the role players can keep playing like they are now, they can beat anyone.

Last night it was so obvious that Dallas needed only one thing in the last couple minutes to defeat rox - deny TMac the ball. I was so mad becuase there is nothing they could do to counter unless Yao was there. I thought Bozi should have been put in instead of Head - when TMac deosn't get the ball, Bozi can at least make a post play rather than Head's running 15-footer that had no chance to go in.

 

I think the Rockets gave this one away at the line for starters, but the ref's sure did help with the B.S. screen calls against J.Howard and the phantom foul on Stackhouse by Wells. Granted we should have taken this game even with the bad calls, but I am encouraged to see that we can keep up with the Mav's without Yao. It just burnt my soul to watch Cuban walk off our court shaking hands with that smile of his! Go get your pedicure and facial tody Mav fan you won, but dont believe for a moment that the Rockets wont stomp you in the playoffs! Rockets up, Mavs down!

 

A few observations:

1) You are correct with your analysis of the Mavs defense. In fact, that's the way everyone will defend the Rockets with or without Yao. Think back over the past 3 years on how many times we have seen this defensive scheme used against them and how they have yet to come up an effective counter which is a penetrating player who can take it to the hoop when Yao & TMac are tied up. No, I take that back, Bonzi Wells' game was supposed to be the answer but we can all see that he's just here passing time until free agency beckons once more.

2) Even when Yao comes back, they (Rockets) will still be vulnerable to this defense because it puts great pressure on your guards to step up and make smart offensive decisions and that's the Achilles heel of Alston & Co.. Snyder could have been part of the answer but he got hurt and is now out of the rotation so to speak. It's still too easy for other teams to collapse in on Yao and Tmac and force Alston, Battier & Head to make something happen. Quite often what we see is Alston dribbling out the clock while looking for some way to get the ball to Yao & Tmac which ends up resulting in a poor shot attempt.

3) Am I the only person who is concerned about Tmac having to play 3 positions: SF, PG & PF? That's asking a bit much of this guy. Now at the end of the game he was playing Dirk because we don't have anyone else who can match up with the big PFs and that had to take an awful lot out of him having to guard a much bigger player. I think that had a lot to do with his missing those free throws.

4) Before the game on the Maverick pregame show, all of the talk was about how AJ was preaching to them about not taking this game for granted. His exact words were: "the all-star break starts at 10:00PM". His team approached this game lightly and it showed in the poor play of the Mavericks. The attitude I saw up here was that they really did not consider the Rockets to be much of a threat and played the game accordingly. Yes, they have beaten the Rockets without Yao but even with Yao present, the Mavericks still manage to create mismatches in their favor because of their depth and offensive talent. That, to me, is what really separates these two teams right now.

 

The Rockets can take the Mavs in a 7 game series even without home court, they can close it out in 6 games, if Yao is healthy.

However, I am baffled why Spanoulis and Snyder never play.

 

What's happen with Snyder. He only played with Bobcats, and that was his great game. I hope he is really healthly

 

we had no timeout

 

"I still believe if we meet Dallas in a 7 game playoff series this year, we got them. Maybe Tracy needs that playoff spotlight to bring that "elite" out of him. I would've thought all this talk about Kobe, LeBron, Wade, and no mention of him as their once was, would motivate him. But only time will tell..."

Yeah, kinda like game 7 of the 2005 playoffs.