ClutchFans Game Thread: Rockets @ Lakers 4/17/2004 (Playoffs Round 1, Game 1)

Yao needs to learn how to foul hard..no more of this slapping stuff. If he's just going to do a touch foul, just let the guy go to the hoop.

 

I do not think Yao was trying to foul out himself at this clutch moment. He was trying to block or knock the ball from Shaq.

 

If Yao doesn't come back in game 2 and have a monster game and victory, the Rockets will be swept.

Aside from Jim Jackson's horrendous performance, Yao is the reason the Rockets lost. This was a painful one. Hours later and the pain lingers. Game 2 is going to be the biggest game for this team since 1998, but I fear a blowout.

My only hope is that the Lakers continue to show signs of being injured. Will the Rockets be able to improve the offense and still play great D? Will any team ever learn to guard the Laker role players?

Kareem Rush and Devean George combined for three 3pt daggers in the fourth. That is just crushing...

Monday can't get here soon enough. Now we will find out what the Rockets- especially Yao- are made of.

 

tough loss, but i was real worried that the team would be more jittery, due to playoff inexperience. i thought the rockets did a good job of staying with the lakers. we even had a chance to win it at the end. so overall, could have been much worse...

bring on game 2!!

 

I agree. That was a wuss foul by Yao. In that situation, he should have wrapped the diesel up to prevent the dunk. The whole point of HACK-A-SHAQ defense is to send him to the line and not give up the easy 2 (in fact, the worst thing you can do in that situation is give up the easy 2 and 1 - which is what Yao did). I saw JJ in the replay tell Yao he should have wrapped the guy up ... too little too late, though. Yao and the Rockets' play-off inexperience hurt them in this one, but the effort was great.

On a side note, I think the refs let this game get way out of hand. Geeez, what an ugly game.

 

Yep, when Yao plays good we give ourselve a better than average chance to win any game, when he pulls his disappearing act we do not have the talent to consistenly be a winning team.

 

.... yeah, but it could have been much better too

 

I feel your pain since I'm not be able to sleep either after the lost. I have a feeling that the Roxs is going to be aggresive on both end of the floor on Monday. I think they will shoot the three with more success. Look for a big game from JJ .

 

I thought this was a great game. The TOs really hurt us but we been having that all year so it isn't anything really new. The missed layup and FT's down the stretch really hurt us also. I'm just gonna chalk this one up to Playoff experience. At least the Rox showed why they're a dangerous first round opponent. Yao needs to show up for game 2

 

I have to tell you how painful the loss is coz I couldn't get into sleep and come back to my computer at freaking 5am in the morning to post this...

As of those who blame Yao disappearing, though I saw Yao passed ball more in the 2nd half, he still fought very hard to get those clutch rebounds and deserved the credits. I believe it was designed to have Yao draw Shaq out and give Steve all the spaces to abuse older Payton and Steve actually did. I am ok with the plan since Shaq is probably the only player Yao couldn't overpower.

I see the problem is

1. Could have put Cato earlier on Shaq to save Yao for more offense energy.

2. Could have tried more Steve penetration earlier.

Both will get Shaq into earlier foul trouble.

Plus cutting down turn overs, I like our chance on Monday.

Now that I let it out and hopefully get back into sleep.

 

Yep, not doubt in my mind he should've foul Shaq hard in that situation.

 

if Yao had extra 30 pounds of pure muscle, he could of easily foul Shaq without letting him getting that easy dunk. BULK UP YAO!!!!!!!

 

Hell no. Bulking up Yao now is stupid. His strength is soft touch and finesse. If Yao is 350 pounds, he can hardly make a spin move or pump fake.

 

You can say what you want, but 20 points from shaq is not as offensively dominant over Yao as you think. Think about this: Shaq had 16 points in the first half and only 4 in the second. Yao had 10 points total. In the end his rebound and basket proved costly, but still. Yao can play better than this and We did a good job on Shaq.

 

I agree with that to an extent. We did a good effort on team defense, but Yao cannot continue to let Shaq get position so deep or he'll get burned 9 out of 10 times by a score and/or a foul.

Another thing I wanted to touch base on, the refs let ALOT of stuff go in this game. There were a number of times Shaq should have gone to the line, but there was no call. Yao had a chance or two as well, but overall it was an extremely physical game, that I'm afraid the Rockets don't have the mentality to play in a 7 game series. They can't be concerned with how they are being grabbed, pushed or hit. They have to brush each play aside and keep going strong at the Lakers. Francis gets rattled real easily when he is forced to play a physical game. He handled it well in the second half, so there is hope. Yao also has to play smarter. He cannot continue to allow himself to get stripped of the ball. If there is any letup or sign of frustration, the Lakers veterans will sense it and pounce all over it.

I still believe the Rockets can take the next game. They just have to stay focused and learn from game 1. Game 2 could swing to Houston in a major way if they don't allow LA to get in their heads.

 

The real mistake was Yao's letting Shaq get inside position on Kobe's airball. Yao got bullied and intimitated last nite, so Rox went to spread offense with Steve breaking down defenses down the stretch. Still, for us to have a chance in this series, Yao has to show up.

Team defense was great & Cat did an incredible job on Kobe. But we can't have 20 turnovers and over 2/3 of them are from your "veteran" guards. Where have I heard this broken record before??

We can all be proud of the effort, but sheer athletic ability could not overcome our lack of court smarts. How can you unlearn "dumb?"

D R

 

I like Rockets' defence very much. Although they lost, JVG won the fight against Philly. With arguable two best players and two more top of 50 greatest players in NbA history, Phyilly's trianglau attack completely disappeared. I really like JVG's defence system. I think after this game, his players should enjoy his system too. If they do, they have a chance! They will win as long as doing as last night's game defence, and play a little bit relax at offence, they wil beat Lakers. Steve and Yao were too nervous. Otherwise I like their fight. Beat fakers!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

 

Were you guys freakin watching the same game as me???

Yao was in position for a "Normal" rebound, but the ball was like 2 feet short of the rim. And if anyone of you have ever seen shaw play before. its pretty hard to foul him when hes under the rim and has the ball at shoulder level. Hes just too strong.
The play also happened so quickly that I think everyone was surprised shaq caught it and where he caught it...

There was no way to foul shaq there and have him just miss the shot for sure without getting a flagrant foul

 

Which game did you watch? Francis made some spectacular "look at me" plays alright but he completely stopped running any sembalance of an offense. Both starting guards tried to take over the game by themselves which cost this team a chance to win. Together they had 14 TOs. Their one-on-one play froze out Yao the entire 2nd half. They reduced their biggest asset, Yao, to setting picks for the entire 2nd half. Walton was dead on when he pointed out that the Rockets were not running any plays at all but were trying to win the game one-on-one. Compare this to the Lakers who always go to the big guy during crunch time when they need a basket.

They did not lose this game because of nerves, youth or the refs - they lost because once again, while they played hard, they played stupid. This was not a "good" loss at all. They wasted a superb defensive effort from Cato & Witherspoon. If you were to have told me that the Rockets would hold the Lakers scoreless for over 5 minutes in the 3rd period, I would have thought that they were blowing the Lakers out the Staples Center. Instead, the Rockets couldn't capitalize on a great defensive effort because as usual, SF & Co. stopped playing team offense and started jacking up bad shot after shot while JJ was cold as ice.

With Yao, the Rockets have the one guy that forces Shaq to play on both ends of the court - something no other team can do save for SA. With these two guards, he comes the invisible man. Unless these two boneheads get a F'ing clue, this will be a very short ugly series. (Actually it's too late for this to happen because if they haven't caught on in 82 games, why should they start now?)

 

do you want us all to die from alcohol poisoning?