No Deron Williams. Must win for the Rockets if there ever was one this season. Control the boards and keep Jefferson/Milsap away from the basket and it should be a very winnable game.
On paper, Rockets got this big time! But who knows.... Lowry>Watson Martin>Bell Battier>Hayward (he is going to start for them, according to utah news) Scola=Millsap Hayes<Jefferson Brooks>Price Lee/Bud>Miles Patterson>Fresenko Only 2 guys are important: Jefferson and Millsap... put either one of them in foul trouble or contain them, we will be able to pull a W. Of course, it won't be a surprise if a bench player or a rookie has a career night tonight Also think that Portland will lose to Denver. Denver has lots 2 in a row, they will bounce back tonight. Denver is a good home team... If rocks win and blazers lose... it will balance out us losing to lakers and them winning to spurs yesterday.
Hayes is on record saying Z-Bo and Al Jeff are his most difficult matchups, and he has the unfortunate task of locking down both in the next 3 days. On paper, I like out chances against Utah, but they're notoriously tough at home, and Jefferson and Millsap are enough to give this team fits. I'm surprised Hayward's getting the nod over CJ Miles...
Me too. Watson averages 3.4 ppg and Hayward 3.2 ppg (I know both play less minutes too). To play those 2 guys along with Bell (8 ppg), is going to make it a little easier for us to defend. Millsap and Jefferson are going to be our main threats at the defensive end. We need to double both of them from start and let other 3 score on us.
Agreed And even Millsap might be out... it's a game time decision. Even though Williams did not play really good offensively against us last game, he still had 15 assits. More importantly, Williams and Mill-Jeff combo gives them outside-inside combo. With Williams out and lack of outside shooters, I feel we will be able to concentrate more on inside guys. But.... who knows.. may be Bell will have a career night with us or so.... still, our game plan is good and if we execute properly, this game is all ours.
We better win this game. last time, this guy kill us "Forward Paul Millsap is probable with a dislocated left little finger and bruised right thumb. " I hope he is not going to play.
Ish is not with the team. And they are not too tall, I feel Hayes/Scola/Patterson will handle 4/5 positions. I don't know how Watson plays... Last time, it was Williams doing a good job creating shots for Millsap... if watson is not good wit that, then Millsap will not cause as much problems as he did last time.
We'll beat this depleted Jazz team if we put in the same amount of effort we have these past three games. We've played hard on this road trip, but ended up getting beat by the more talented teams; no shame in that. Now, if we lose this game with no D-Will and Kirilenko, there is PLENTY of shame in that. I was beginning to think this team had lost their fighting spirit during that back-to-back with Memphis and Orlando...hanging their heads, playing with no life. But they seem to be fighting again. They can win any game against a non-elite team if they fight. Go Rockets and let's start winning again TONIGHT!
Agreed! I think we played really hard against the Lakers and Spurs... and against Dallas in the second half. Dallas and Lakers were nightmare for us matchup wise. We matched up well against spurs, but they have lots of big time players. None of those losses really surprised me. NBA is all about (for playoff position fighting teams) beating good and bad teams at home, beating bad teams on the road and sometimes winning a road against good teams. This is one of those games where they can grab a win against a good team on the road because they have been struggling lately and tonight, they are without good players. We will need to beat these same teams when they visit us (Dallas and Denver soon this month).. and beat bad teams on the road like we did in december.
Williams and AK47 are out of tonights game, so this should be a easy win... right? Somehow I doubt it...
another one of these?? hmmm.... I just put that above statement to reflect my post after another loss that looks like the rest of the carbon copy losses. Get it out of the way.
