Games like tonight's game goes to show that Steve and Cuttino aren't going to relinquish their hold on this team that easily. Yao is probably best as a roleplayer. He should get his touches when he is actually getting a good percentage of his shots to fall. I don't know if he can shoulder the burden of having to the be go-to guy every game.
if we lose both of those games ( I think we will split) we will still be 6 games over 500. I will take that since we should have lost to the bulls and hawks.
please let someone else use your sig, BECAUSE YOU DONT DESERVE IT!!! But seriously, we won the game. Lets feel good about it, and worry about the spurs on monday.
Wow, this board is really loosing its spice. Usually by now, the game threads would be at its 8th page!!!!!!!
Nice win. As one who often watch Hawk's games, they usually get a big lead in the first three quarters and then get lost in the 4th quarter. Today's game is no exception. Usually almost every superstar such as vince carter, iverson and T-Mac got career highs at the game with hawks.
I don't think go-to guys should be having 2 for 12 nights. However, I've seen Steve have these kinds of games too like against the Kings. The fact is the Rockets really do not have a dependable go-to guy like the Spurs have. It's best to be spreading the ball around and finding out who is on that night. The Rockets do not have the luxury of just utilizing one player for a majority of the offensive plays.
Good win. Great comeback. Small ball worked to close out the game and D was tenacious. They had absolutely no good looks at all til that broken pass in play that resulted in SAR dunking one handed and by that time the game was pretty much over. Francis played under control really well to close out the game and made all the right decisions barring one where the Rockets had a 24 second shot clock violation. Other then that one though, he really stepped it up. Mobley was clutch in the 4th. Three 3-pointers in the 4th quarter, some FTs and I think even a layup. It was really beautiful to watch the team push the ball down the court so fast with the kickout passes Weatherspoon made to our guards and watching them run like gazelle's past the Hawks defense. It resulted in a ton of FTs down the stretch that not only helped make up the deficit but also stopped the clock. And the instances where we didn't drive in the lane and force the tempo with the kick out passes after missed shots, we took the FIRST good open look around the perimeter. One that resulted in JJ hitting a baseline midrange jumper wide open, and a couple of 3s that came from Mobley. One off a tipped out offensive rebound from Weatherspoon after a missed shot from JJ when pushing the ball down the court quick that led to an open look from Mobley after the tipped board. The other good look was just a nice 3 with no one around Mobley because Weatherspoon and MoT made great kick out passes to our guards who were running the floor well. That was probably one of the most fun quarters to watch this season because of the shut down defense, and the fact that we forced the tempo by letting our guards just run down the court for open looks due to not letting the Hawks defense get in transition after this missed shots. In saying that, there's something alarming to think about as well. It seems everytime Francis has a good game, Yao doesn't. Everytime Yao has a good game, Francis plays a minimal role. The few games if any where both of our franchise players share good games together are far and few in between the ones where either is in a slump and the other is playing well. Granted the Rockets just faced a bad Hawks team, the Rockets could flourish so much if they ran an uptempo offense more often and tried running it every possession. As long as Francis shows the same good decision making skills it'd be a beautiful game of basketball to watch oppose to the lethargic paced ones we've all had to watch this season. Probably the most impressive thing about these wins the past couple of nights is the Rockets actually closed out the games the right way, and showed a lot of heart in doing so. If there was ever a time to take advantage of an easy schedule, now is definitely the time, since the March and April schedule don't bode too well for the Rockets.
i honestly think steve is good enough to utilize as a goto guy. He was that for 4 years. Even though it hasnt gotten us to the playoffs, it was good enough to get us above .500.
I got off work just in time to come home and catch the final 4 minutes... seems like it was quite a comeback! I really liked the team I saw in those final four minutes, though!
Makes me miss Otis Thorpe that much more. The man could throw one arm bullet passes down the court like a quarterback to our guards back in the championship days. He was such a perfect complement to Hakeem back then.
What a dominating 4th quarter performance by Cat Mobley. The steal and going end to end was like the whipped cream, and the block on Dickau was the cherry on top.
Yao had a lot of good looks and just plain missed. Probably over half his misses were in and out. JVG stuck with him as long as he could. The lineup at the end had great chemistry on offense and defense. Definitely ought to be a lineup JVG should consider when Yao isn't in the game - Cat, JJ, SF, Mo, and Spoon. Anyway, I think Yao needs to keep doing what he's doing. He only took one bad fadeaway. His other moves were power moves to the basket which will pay off in the long term.
finally someone saw what i saw, i was arguging with some people on the other page. He was backing in but just kept missing.
A fine win. This Rockets team doesn't share the habit of its non playoff predecessors these last three years of folding up at the first sign of adversity. Though we shouldn't need a buzzer beater to beat the Bulls at home or a furious 4th quarter charge to beat the hapless Hawks, its better than the alternative, losing to the above sad sacks and making excuses. This is a team that can make noise in the playoffs if we can keep our Fock-Ass.
Visagial, Exactly. There was nothing wrong with Yao's game other than his shot wasn't falling so JVG replaced him with more productive players.
