http://www.nba.com/heat/chat/quotes_061112.html HEAT Head Coach Pat Riley On the game: “It was two different halves for us. I thought our defense and schemes were good in the first half. They weren’t shooting the ball well and then when it got into the 60’s is when the game was decided. They got three hoops in a row and got it to 10. From 10 on, Tracy (McGrady) and Yao (Ming) made every single play and it just went. Tracy was great in the fourth and Yao was a load. We got our heads handed to us in the second half.” On the performance of Yao Ming and Tracy McGrady: “They do a great job. It’s a little bit like watching Shaq and Dwyane (Wade) when they are on their game. The one thing (Yao) has is that he makes turn around jumpers. In the fourth quarter we over reacted to Tracy’s pick-and-roll plays. Instead of playing him like we normally play him, we started to change up things.” On the HEAT’s defensive effort: “Defensively we weren’t as sharp as we were against New Jersey and I’m just saying that Houston was very, very good in the second half. They’re hard to score on anyhow. They don’t give you anything in the paint.” HEAT Forward James Posey On the game: “You have to give them a lot of credit. They executed on both ends and got stops when they needed to. They made plays down the stretch. They made some adjustments and executed. We just didn’t do a good job on the defensive end. We didn’t make plays when we had the chance. We just have to come ready to work tomorrow and practice a little bit and correct some of those mistakes.” HEAT Center Shaquille O'Neal On the game: “We just kind of had some lapses in our defense. I think when the game was 70-66, we had a chance to buckle down and tighten up but we had some lapses in our defense. We let T-Mac (Tracy McGrady) get into the lane and he just kicked it out to Luther Head a couple times and Yao Ming hit a couple tough shots. We just need to pick our defense up, especially in the fourth quarter.” On Yao Ming: “He’s still pretty much the same. He hit a lot of tough shots tonight and when you’re playing against a guy like that, 7’6”, 7’8”, you’re not going to block his shot. You just got to try and push him out and play him tough.” HEAT Guard Dwyane Wade On the game: “We were a little flat on offense. They did a good job of running their offense. Yao (Ming) hit some tough shots to help give them the lead. They played good.” “I just couldn’t really get into the flow offensively. I missed shots that I normally hit.” On Tracy McGrady’s comment that Yao Ming is the best center in the league: “We know who the best center in the league is.” -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Houston Rockets Head Coach Jeff Van Gundy On Dwyane Wade: “Dwyane Wade is hard to guard as anybody in the league. I don’t know if there is a good way to guard him, except try hard.” On Tracy McGrady: “Some nights he shoots a lot. Some nights he passes a lot. I am not sure how he sees what he sees. I am just glad he sees what he sees. I can’t see what he sees. That vision is incredible.” Rockets Forward Shane Battier On the game: “We did a good job defensively. We did a good job keeping them out of the lane and keeping them off the free-throw line. If you can do that against a good team you have a better shot of winning.” On defending Dwyane Wade: “If I have to do that every night, I’ll be an old man quick. He’s really good. There’s a reason why he is all NBA. He’s tough. He keeps coming at you every single night. The best you can do is just keep chasing him around and putting a hand in his face and hope he misses the next time down the floor.” Rockets Forward Yao Ming On defending Shaquille O’Neal: “It’s a hard job. He’s a dominant center in this league. Between the playoff’s and the regular season last year, he was a totally different Shaq. Obviously, the regular season there is one level. One day I can match up against him.” On the fourth quarter and the team’s energy: “That is our mindset. My only chance against Shaq is to keep him on the run. Shaq is much stronger and bigger than me. My only chance on beating him is to keep running and running against him.” Rockets Forward Tracy McGrady On the second half of the game: “That is a sign of a good team. When you struggle offensively in the first half, and you come out in the fourth quarter and you do everything right. We played good defensive. We did all the little things. You go down and you execute on offense. That’s what a great team has to do. Tonight we made a couple strides forward.”
This has to be THE day loyal diehard Yao Ming fans all over the world have been waiting for since Day 1 of Yao Ming entering NBA. In my opinion, he had finally surpassed that "Eternal Mountain" blocking in his way.....and has officially dethroned Shaquille O'Neal as the #1 NBA Centre. I don't remember any other centres putting away 34 points/14 rebounds over the head of Shaq in the past decade. What a joyous day !!!
Dwayne Wade, “We know who the best center in the league is.” Thanks Wade. Apparently everyone except Shaq and ESPN folks know the truth! Even Wade, Shaq's teammate isnt afraid to admit that Yao is league's best center!
hmmm i dunno about that.. wade might still be referring to shaq.. . it could mean either yao or shaq... wade was pretty vague and probably being smart.. dont wnat to piss off his own team mate since shaq does have a fragile ego.. he needs to retire before he gets even more crappy like hakeem did in his later years.. it was sad to see the dream become a shell of his former self and then get shipped to toronto where he sucked he even more.. anyways GOO YAO GOO ROCKETS!
Dwade was clearly referring to Shaq, but none the less Yao has really come into his own. I just feel like he's not timid anymore, he's not worried about missing shots or making mistakes. He was aggressive against Shaq, I think he believes he belongs in that class now. Confidence makes a tremendous difference on the floor. Speaking of confidence, I beginning to believe Luther Head has it, kid is stepping up and drilling some big shots in tough spots for the Rockets. Van Gundy seems to be gaining more and more belief in Head and is putting him out there with the starting unit in crucial situations. He's proved he can handle it. I thought the Rockets played a very focused 2nd half, and frankly when I watch these two teams, I just believe the Rockets have more all around talent period. Other than Wade nobody on Miami really scares me. Anyways just my thoughts.
Yao is starting to believe that he is "the one"...Seeing how Yao progressed is like watching the movie "Matrix"
yeah i have to agree that wade is probably referring to shaq. he's not about to abandon his team mate and say yao is better judging from one game. it wouldnt be very 15 strongish..haha aside from that, i think that what riley said about tmac and yao being a bit like shaq and wade kinda diminishes how good they (tmac and yao) really are when they are on their game...i mean tmac was shooting the ball like he had no depth perception and we still murdered them... props to that unstoppable p'n'r tmac and yao ran for majority of the closing minutes, wish they would run that more often...it really opens up the court
Damn! People always miss the sarcasm in my posts! yeah yeah...i know he was referring to Shaq, but i wanted to cut Wade some slack. Atleast Yaofan and uneek got it! Thanks you two!
hopefully, the Rox can get another win from the Spurs, if the Rox can win over Spur, that we have very good chance this year. Wish T-Mac can come back to normal, The Rox really need him bcs we can't expect Yao to carry the whole team to the ultimate goal of NBA- the Champ all by himself, we will need another reliable, efficient scorer to accomplish the journey. This year, the role palyers are doing their jobs n hope Bonzi well will come back fast n contribute to the success of the Rox By the way, anybody know what happen to the rocketredrockers.net:6969, look like technical difficulty or what, just can't get into it
WOW! 47 pages of replies...WHAT A GAME!!! Sorry if I'm repetitive, but there were sooo many Rockets fans there...INCREDIBLE!!! Best NBA game I've been to outside of the '95 WCF. Here are some pics and vids: I was sitting in the lower bowl (great seats from a friend, but I wish I was upstairs with the Houston fans!) Videos (quality is terrible, but hey, it's a Sony) <object width="425" height="350"><param name="movie" value="http://www.youtube.com/v/cG9ny1uz7aA"></param><param name="wmode" value="transparent"></param><embed src="http://www.youtube.com/v/cG9ny1uz7aA" type="application/x-shockwave-flash" wmode="transparent" width="425" height="350"></embed></object> TMAC with the LAYUP <object width="425" height="350"><param name="movie" value="http://www.youtube.com/v/gAHZdDwzUEQ"></param><param name="wmode" value="transparent"></param><embed src="http://www.youtube.com/v/gAHZdDwzUEQ" type="application/x-shockwave-flash" wmode="transparent" width="425" height="350"></embed></object> Let's Go Rockets chant...LOUD!!! <object width="425" height="350"><param name="movie" value="http://www.youtube.com/v/KlkpTx6dQks"></param><param name="wmode" value="transparent"></param><embed src="http://www.youtube.com/v/KlkpTx6dQks" type="application/x-shockwave-flash" wmode="transparent" width="425" height="350"></embed></object> Yes, all that cheering is just the Houston fans. <object width="425" height="350"><param name="movie" value="http://www.youtube.com/v/FCzEQpLviG0"></param><param name="wmode" value="transparent"></param><embed src="http://www.youtube.com/v/FCzEQpLviG0" type="application/x-shockwave-flash" wmode="transparent" width="425" height="350"></embed></object> Luther Head for THREE!!! <object width="425" height="350"><param name="movie" value="http://www.youtube.com/v/meoPYmvU5uk"></param><param name="wmode" value="transparent"></param><embed src="http://www.youtube.com/v/meoPYmvU5uk" type="application/x-shockwave-flash" wmode="transparent" width="425" height="350"></embed></object> "Staaaaaaand up and make some noise for your...HOUSTON ROCKETS"
