ClutchFans Game Thread: Nuggets @ Rockets 1/20/2007

Take a look at our schedule, it becomes much easier for us for the rest of this month and Feb. We will be in the playoff, period.

What I am really concerned is when Yao comes back, whether we have enough time to gel to be ready for playoffs. It is more and more likely that Yao won't return until late March, so the team only has only 2-3 weeks to play all together, good or bad, we have to live with it.

 

I think Rafer's current woes also attribute to Yao not being there. For one, Rafer is afraid of contact when he is in the paint then with Yao not there taking out the shot blocker, he settles way too much for the floater.

Not trying to give Rafer an out tonight cuz he bombed it, but when Yao is back Rafer should improve. We'll keep on seeing this Rafer till then

 

Here's JVG's press conference from Rockets.com:

http://www.nba.com/media/rockets/pressconference012007.wmv

 

Rafer looked even worse if thats possible before yao's injury. i dont know what the hell you're talking about.

 

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I am pretty confident that we will be in playoff this year. But what I really want is that they get into the second round and beyond. I am not seeing that happening.

 

Chicken JVG dares not even admit his offensive plan sucked the whole 4th and OT. Man, we did ok with the defense (at least for most time), the major flaw, is the offense. Did you know that your team score 0 in the final 2 minutes and 2 in the OT before a meaningless 3?

 

richter911, thanks for posting this.

JVG sure is a weird guy...comes across as really stubborn and unwilling to give other players a chance...when you are not in the rotation, this must be so frustrating because I think you could get the feeling that whatever you do and how badly the guys in front of you do, he will still think he picked the right guys, they just need to execute his philosophy better.

 

I was at the game....did anyone see TMAC get angry at alston when TMAC took the last shot and missed during the last 26 seconds of the fourth quarter? seems like TMAC was angry because rafer was out of position...not just for that play but in almost every time on offense during the fourth and OT.

 

Also, why can't the Rockets give the journalists who ask the questions proper microphones.

 

Wow - I DVRed the game, and just watched it.....I can't believe what I just saw.

I thought JVG liked the way Rafer controlled the tempo of the game.

There is no way the Rockets should have lost that game, except they played without any sense of urgency and were far too passive..

They cruised through this game and it burned them.

They really need a fiery guy to ignite some passion......

Why didn't any backup PGs play tonight? Head is certainly NOT a PG....

DD

 

What am I talking about???

Before Yao's injury? 38.5%

After Yao's injury? 33%. There was a string of 8 games right after Yao's injury where Rafer shot 28%

 

this is not a slump guys (ALSTON)...he really sucks big time!

 

Worst,or one of worst PG in 30 NBA teams.

 

Only good news is the Lakers also lost, we are still one game behind them.

 

I'm gonna settle for worst.

 

From that interview, it looks like JVG doesn't even have a reason for not playing the other players on our bench. He thinks our 7-8 man is enough, and he POINTS OUT THEY ARE NOT PLAYING HARD ENOUGH. If they aren't playing hard according to you, why do you follow that up by saying, i don't think i am going to change the rotation? THere are 3-4 guys on the bench waiting to contribute, don't you think they can spark some flare up to wake this team up? JVG, you are on stubborn man.

 

JVG was, IMO, the main culprit for losing this game in OT. Everyone knows that I am not a JVG 'hater' by any stretch of the imagination, but he was absolutely destroyed by George Karl tonight; I will just say he was part of the problem. The OT period was the absolute worse display of offensive competence in recent memory. I am just baffled by the fact that we could not get a SINGLE good play going on offense in the ENTIRE overtime period...are you freakin' kidding me? If that's not coaching, I don't know what is.

As for McGrady, he seemed to be 'cruising' during a stretch or two in this game and I didn't like that. back or no back, I thought he didn't give it his all tonight. Very disappointing. This was classic 'LazyMac' who takes possessions or plays off like he's one of the guys instead of stepping up and at least trying to put the team on his back.

As for O-fer...he continued to show us all why he is one of the worst -- if not the worst -- starting PG in the league. So I will just continue to annoy all of you and repeat what I always say: the PG position is in dire need of an upgrade, and no the solution isn't sitting on the bench. Rafer would be 'serviceable' (I am being generous) as a backup PG, but he is absolutely, positively not a starting-calibre position player. He tries hard so I can't fault his work ethics or his commitment...he just can't help but suck.

Anyways, we deserved to lose the game tonight, we didn't work smart enough to win this one. It's OK, you will have nights like this in a long season, but the key is to learn from it and bounce back to get better results next time.

The only positive from tonight is that the Lakers lost again, this time from the Hornets.

 

Yes, that's exactly what I don't understand. I am not pro- or anti-JVG, I just don't understand his logic.

And I asked Fran Blinebury the same question in his blog, his response was rather defensive and funny .

http://blogs.chron.com/franblinebury/2007/01/call_a_plumber_the_defense_is.html

 

I think Tmac comes back today, then you have Wells, that is the seven and a half men rotation. If you put another backup PG, you will have one more person on the rotation, then you are against the rule. TMac and Head were used as PGs in the game.