ClutchFans Game Thread: Rockets @ Cavaliers 12/29/2004

T-mac taking over 30 shots and the guards only take about 5? What's the difference from Orlando? He's not even 50% on his shots, why did Yao play 20 minutes? I really don't understand what da hell is Van Gundy or Dawson doing with this team...! JJ and Boki traded for who? JJ was the only consistent guy out there. Seeing him traded to the team at the bottom of the *%#@ list was sick.

 

Lebron is a prepackaged superstar. It's not like he walked into the perfect situation when he got drafted by cleveland. It's just that players like him, like shaq, like duncan, etc.. are going to get their numbers no matter what team they play on. So, I would have to think that if he played for the rockets, he would still get 23-24 ppg and 7 rebs a game. I mean even TMac, for all the criticism that he is passive, still looks like he's going to finish with 25 ppg at the end of the season.

Yao might be a star, but he's not a self-reliant type of star like the others. He needs to play in the right system, and he needs to play with the right players.

 

nope...they get no love for that.

half the people here dont watch on the defensive side...

Wesley and Tmac were playing some really good D tonight..

Tmac doesnt surprise me...he can play some great D when he wants to...Wesley has been a bit of a unknown to me since I dont make a habit of watching Hornets games....but his defens is a pleasant surprise....constantly moving hands...great positioning...really quick coming around picks...

once he gets acclimated to the team...he should be a valuable addition...

hey generalhadewhatever....you know there is aproblem when half the posts on any given page are yours...how bout saving up your comments and saying them all at one time?

or are you just a postcount w****?

 

EXACTLY! Everyone pointed to Wesley's shooting when we acquired him, but few failed to mention or remember he is a pretty good defender as well. That stretch at the end of the 3rd/beginning of the 4th was just a great display of team defense and Wesley was a huge part of that. They just would not allow a Cav to get a shot in the lane. Losing JJ was a little depressing, but Barry & Wesley bring alot more to the team and court than just a good shooting touch.

 

I though Wes played good, his D was fun to watch, his quickness really makes a difference out their. He'd squeeze through picks and make it tough for his player to make a easy pass or shot. He'll help this team a lot if he continues this.

 

Sadly, like someone said, at least half on this board don't watch defense. I wish he was here a day earlier.

 

I'm pretty sure the majority of NBA fans don't watch that kind of stuff either but it does add a whole new element to the game, entertainment wise.

Oh yea, I had 2 horrible typos in my post, though = thought and their = there.

 

Made the drive from Pittsburgh to Cleveland tonight with a couple of my buddies to see my first ever Rocket game.

Anyways, liked what I saw. I don't care what anybody says about Sura. This guy is a solid and he knows his role. How many starters in the league can play nearly the entire game, and not care about scoring? He does all the little things for ya and doesn't need shots to be effective like some other combo guards. 12 assists, 0 turnovers


Not to overshadow solid play from T-Mac, Yao and hell...even Juwan Howard though. Just felt like Sura needed some love. Great game, had a great time.

 

sigh......... time for the letdown "back to .500" game :\

 

Man if they dont win on friday then we are NEVER getting back to .500 this season.

 

Does anyone know why Van Grumpy didnt put Yao back in the game till about the 5 min mark in the 4th quarter. I didnt get the move especially when Yao was having a good game.

 

Probably just to rest him because he plays so much through the year. We had a good lead and didn't really need him to be in there.

Kind of smart in a lot of ways. We are winning so don't get Yao in there to get even more fatigued or risk and injury when you don't need it.

 

Yao could not rebound and didn't defend well on the defensive end. Deke was just better.

 

Deke was better because he let the opposing PFs doing several facials on him. Yep, I will take that any day.

 

Yao was benched because he missed 3 shots in a row. TMac would not have been taken out if he had missed 8 shots in a row.

Luckily we won the game. Otherwise all the blame would have gone to Yao for pulling down 7 boards even if he played only 26 min.

Remember in the 4th quarter, when they tied the game, the f**king ******* was still benching Yao all the way until under 6 mins to play. Even the Cleveland annoucers were clueless about it.

Maybe JVG wanted to let big Z to take advantage of Deke's slow D to pad his stats, and big Z just did that.

 

Yao left in the 3rd for his usual rest. Deke came in. Then Deke ended up playing pretty well, especially defensively. The Rockets were holding their own at that point as Juwan Howard was showing some nice post moves. JVG probably felt that he could buy some extra time with Yao on the bench if the team was playing well, scoring and defending. Personally I agreed with the move. JVG brought Yao back when the team started to do too many isos for Tmac and the offense stopped flowing. He came back at the right time. JVG was just going with the "hot" rotation at the time.

 

I agreed with you, jopatmc. When things go south, you always blame the easiest target, since Yao's such a nice guy, Van Gundy is blaming Yao in subtle jabs. Something is definitely wrong between JVG and Yao. We could start a whole other thread for discuss this.

 

Didn't defend well? I don't call 4 blocks and multiple altered shots bad defense.

 

About time someone who actually watched the game said something.

 

I think that lots of people watched the game last night, including me via NBA league pass.

Since stats don't lie, let's compare Z's stats when he was playing against Yao and Deke:

Against Yao, 2-10 from the floor, 5 boards, at least 2 TOs.
Against Deke, 5-7 from the floor, 6 boards.

Unless Gumpy cannot do math like our dear president, or Deke is bringing so much intangibles on the court, like drawing double/triple teams, I don't understand why Yao was benched.

Of course it could be that Gumpy was so mad that he would rather have Cleaveland win the game. Then he made the absolutely correct choice.