ClutchFans Game Thread: Rockets @ Bobcats 11/11/2007

I don't know about you guys, but whenever Alston shoots, it no longer sends a chill down to my spinal cord. It used to, but not any more. I guess my expectation for that shot to go in is 0, so I will assume the shot is a miss when it goes off.

 

but RA chose alston cause it was the clutch final seconds and he didnt want to lose the game on our ga-jillionth turnover for the evening.

rafer had 1 turnover in 29 minutes

mike james had 3 turnovers in 22 minutes

 

mac was handling the ball in that situation the hwole times. james would just have to shoot like alston did. so turnover => would never happen. if it did, it's on tmac.

 

sure..

 

Tmac is my favorite player, but I love all the other Rockets too. Tmac kicked it into the next gear in the final minutes. But do NOT use it as a chance to diss Yao Ming. Yao has played a great overall game and he has been very clutch this season. Did you watch the other games that he hit those final minutes shots to close the game for us? We are 6-1. Both of our superstars are playing at the MVP level. Give credit when it is due. Don't try to bash them with any chance.

 

But Yao missed 2 whole shots today! I mean, come on. If you're playing down low, you're not that far from the rim. You shouldn't be missing any! T-Mac's misses were at least sexy. Plus that block was a foul. And Yao had 6, count them, 6 turnovers! That's more turnover than at my grandma's house for Thanksgiving!!

 

Thats the definition of a TOF

 

he's being sarcastic dude.

 

Well, Jazz as a team had the perfect 3-0 record last week and Yao's closest POW rival is none other than Carlos Boozer. In fact, the two WC players have similar stats:

Code:

[size=1]PLAYER	TM_RCD	OPP_W/L	Min   FGM-FGA   FG%  FTA-FTM  FT%    STL  BLK  TO  PF    REB   AST  PTS
Yao	3-1	10-5	40.0  10.3-16.8 0.61  7.3-8.0  0.91  0.0  2.8  3.8  3.3  10.5  4.0  27.8
Boozer	3-0	3-10	34.3  11.0-19.3 0.57  5.0-6.7  0.75  0.7  1.0  2.0  3.7  11.3  2.7  27.0[/size]

The pro-Yao bias in me eagerly points out that opponent strength should be a key factor when looking at team record. Indeed, at the time of competition, none of the four teams Rockets faced had a losing record (DAL 2-1, SAS 3-0, MIL 2-2, CHA 3-2) and the combined W-L ratio for Rockets' opponents was 10-5. On the other hand, none of the teams Utah beat had a winning record (CLE 2-2, SEA 0-5, MEM 1-3) and the combined W-L ratio for Jazz's opponents was 3-10. Of course, bball stats guys like durvasa would objectively argue that due to the heavy minutes Yao played, Yao's per 40-minute numbers (pts, rebs, etc) are inferior to those of Boozer. So I guess it'll be a tight call.

 

Yao played bad at Utah because of that travesty of a foul in "moving screen". He was getting it going before he got that foul and had to go back to the bench, and never got the rhyme back after that. Horrible ref calls that game. Yao will step up vs Utah again. He usually plays better after a bad game vs that particular team.

 

I'm not a strict per-minute stats guy for awards like POW, POM, or MVP, actually. Playing 40 quality minutes for your team should earn you some credit over playing 34 quality minutes for your team.

I haven't followed Boozer's performances closely this past week, but Yao has obviously been fantastic. I love how he's been playing in the fourth quarters. He just needs to cut down the turnovers. It would be pretty cool to have T-Mac and Yao go back-to-back with POW awards.

 

Your wish has been granted.

 

You dont understand the basis for this statement? It isn't a question of mental comprehension, it's a matter of visual comprehension. After riding him the entire game, the Rockets did not look for Yao inside and Yao himself stopped fighting for position and cleared out the lane. I dont understand you not understanding the basis of that statement. Simply watching the game during the last 3 minutes leads you there.

Define what is "the norm." On this team Tmac's carried so much of the load physically and mentally that he hasn't had enough in the tank to drive the lane to close out games. The "norm" this year for Tmac has been much more aggressive. It's a consequence of Tmac feeling good about his game again and Adelman having the subs to keep Mac fresh enough to drive hard at the finish.

What does your favorite player have to do with my post? I pointed out that despite going 13/15 or w/e Yao didn't call for the ball the last 5-6 possessions and the Rockets didn't look for him. if you want to be taken seriously dont project your own insecurities into other's posts and dont bring up irrelevancies. like the other poster, if you watched the game you saw that paradigm shift in the offense at the end of the game. Yao was out, Tmac was in. It was very clear, esp in contrast to what had happened the rest of the game.

We won but we were more lucky than good. Standing around waiting for Tmac to make something happen at the end of the game resulted in a double team at the top of the key and dump to Rafer behind the 3 with a couple ticks on the shot clock. If we'd looked inside to Yao we'd be looking at a 87% shot instead of a hail mary 3 under pressure. I'll give you a tissue if that makes you sad but (like we've seen previously aka versus the Mavs) that's a structural deficiency for this team and I'll point it out.

Be confident enough in your team to logically examine each game. Tmac delivered big, yao played well (got that board, hit the 2 FTs) but it neither are above reproach. Be aware of what happened and take that as a lesson for the next game

 

I didn't see the game.How did Yao overcome the fronting and cut down on turnovers?

 

I will tell you what. if Yao didn't play like a MVP in first 3 quarters, T-mac will never "deliver big". The game will be over after 3 quarters. if T-mac didn't choke in first 3 quarters, T-mac will never have to "deliver big". Dont be such a Yao hater. It's quite obvious that it was coach A's strategy to isolate t-mac attaching the rim.

 

There were a couple of things that they did, which I thought was pretty clever of Adelman.

1) Have Yao move from the high to low post in the same possession so that his man can't front him.

2) Yao-Tmac pick and roll.

 

Team always ride the player who is hot. Tmac was hot at the end of the game. What's your problem with calling the plays for him? Are you a YOF who wants Yao to hit all the winning shots and be the hero in every game? Did you watch the other games this season? Unless you have selective memory, you must be happy with how Yao performed at the end and made those clutch shots, right? You are the insecure one who got all worked up when someone pointed out the fallacies in your post. You need to have thicker skin.

 

blooper, I'm pretty sure few could comprehend the basis for your post.

Yao stopped fighting for position and cleared out the lane, but with divine intervention the final rebound magically fell on his head, so much so he nonchalantly collected it?

You must have some serious visual imagination that only a TOF would possess.

 

i think he's a YOH

 

Man some of you guys are like a bunch of van gundy's, never satisfied, only happy when miserable. I saw numerous posts about the Rox are not going to get very far if this were the playoffs; ***NEWSFLASH*** it's freaking NOVEMBER!!! This team is not even running alot of the offensive sets that Rick has in his playbook, and the Rox are not playing consistently great ball and we're 6-1! The season is a marathon and championships are NOT won blowing out the bobcats in November! It's a process and hopefully by May and june we will be peaking. Personally I'd rather we struggle now and have this record rather than blowing teams out of the water and struggle come the finish line. It's a long season and every team has bad nights, they are only human. The fact that the Rox dug deep, played hardnose D (especially our superstars) and won the game says alot about them.

GO ROCKETS!!!!!