ClutchFans Game Thread: Rockets @ Mavericks 2/21/2004

I personally think that the "Rockets beat the Rockets" today. It seemed as if Yao Ming was building upon his confidence early in the game and after that it just went downhill from there.

You have to credit the Mavericks for mixing up the D (zone/man to man) but some of the Rockets also did a pretty damn good job in preventing the ball from going in to Yao Ming!

Nomaan

 

i know, i know man, and they werent the best shots.

da boyz nutted up once again.

these dudes better start coming through.

 

Whenever a team is dominating another... as the Rockets were in the 1st quarter, and Dallas was in the 2nd and 3rd... you always have to assume two things:

1. The team that's dominating isn't that good.
2. The team that's losing isn't that bad.

Its always a combination of those two. The Rockets big lead was just as much of a product of their great ball movement, as it was Dallas' sleepwalking.

Likewise, the Rockets' collapse wasn't ALL due to their horrible play, as Dallas did a great job of doing their best to FORCE US in to horrible decisions, bad passing, turnovers, etc... its not like the Rockets just decided to play stupidly after the 1st quarter... Dallas got their s*** together.

Basically, I'm saying don't bash the Rockets completely over this loss... give Dallas some credit. (although, I'll still take our "tougher" team anyday, over their flopping, gunslinging, paper zone team)

 

You don't shoot that much 3s against the Mavericks, period.

 

cat is an *******
if you're not making shots....quit shooting and pass the ball

francis ... i don't know man, not much you could say about him....relies solely on athelicism with no fundamental skills (shooting/ passing)

i thought after the lakers game, we kind of turning the corner.
Well, we haven't changed a bit

the game is to painful to watch, giving the fact that i led by 10+points in the 1st quarter. and we still lose

they should be kicking themselves

 

real_egal, we were not playing any type of ball. Your "half-court" solution is not the main problem. It's the incompetence of the team as a whole to use good ball movement with any sort of consistency. We can't. Patients, like you said, has a lot to do with it. But then we might as well look at our court leadership, or lack of....heh..

Smart team ball works both with up-tempo ball and half-court. We can't play smart either way.

 

That what i thought JVG wax bought in to do, help yao get more shots. But it aint working. Either JVG is not yelling at the players enough or the players are not listening or are dumb.

 

Ok they lost but at least they staged a comeback in the end. As long as they gave the effort and weren't blown out against a team that has owned us, I'm happy.
Look on the bright side, Denver was routed by the Heat and Memphis stilll has a close game with the Bulls .

 

Sure, we don't have guys with the mentality that "I'm just going to stand here and wait for them to pass to me, so I'll nail this shot." (ala Bullard).

They all want to get invovled, get layups, get rebounds, get tough.

Sometimes it helps, sometimes it hurts. Nobody ever said this was a great shooting team... but when they get "good" shots, most of the time, they'll go in.

 

It is all JVG's fault. Mob must have the green light to shoot.

 

Too bad we couldnt capitalize on that.

 

I'll buy that...

Kinda like what the Chronicle was talking about (and JVG)?

Feb. 21, 2004, 12:40AM
Rockets continue to look at ways to catch Mavericks
By MEGAN MANFULL
Copyright 2004 Houston Chronicle

"We've got to get to Dallas' level, which is hard to do," Rockets coach Jeff Van Gundy said. "They have
been a very good team for quite a period of time.

"We have a level to get to before we get to Dallas'. We've got to get in the playoffs. That would be a
start. Dallas is at that, you know, Western Conference final (level). Right there."

 

some post game quotes:

refs to yao: "PWNED!!!"

rox players to yao (particularly the guards): "PWNED!!!"

rox are their own worst enemy. dallas' so called dominance against them is psychological.

 

The Mavericks are a horrible matchup for the rockets. They love to run the floor and at any given time have 5 guys on the floor who can spot up from just about anywhere.

They played zone which forced Houston to play a perimeter game. The rockets have struggled with their outside shot all year long and we all knew eventually they would go cold. The biggest mistake was abandoning the inside game. There were certainly times where Yao Ming had one on one coverage and was completely ignored. It was just an ugly game, and a terrible matchup for Houston.

 

just lookeed at the box scores. HOW THE HELL DOES CUTTINO GET 21 shots while YAO only 10.

 

Dirk after the game:

"We switched to zone and they couldn't score."

 

Dirk Nowitzki is a true all-star. He is a legit gunner from outside. His ability to make an outside shot even with a hand in his face is what makes him dangerous. Rockets' shooters can't even shoot consistently wide-ass open shots. Even Piatkowski was bricking it.

 

I think JVG should know how to use Yao efficently.When Bradly defend Yao,yes Yao cannot perform as before.But Why not give Yao enough time to knick Bradly ass?

 

THE EXPLANATION TO END ALL:

Had Dallas continued to play Yao with the traditional post defense... the Rockets WOULD have won by 30.

The fact that they changed up their defense is WHY Yao couldn't shoot, and why our outside shooters (Jackson, Mobley) had more shots than him.

If this game was played before the zone defense rule was implemented, the Rockets would have won.

Hell... if there were no zone defenses, Yao would lead this league in SCORING. That's how much the zone hurts his game.

I'd bet money that he scores more against Shaq and Duncan (traditional low post defenders) than the likes of Stromile Swift (memphis) and whoever Dallas throws out there.

Until the Rockets learn how to break the zone (as a team... not just with Yao), these small scrappy teams will frustrate them, and keep Yao's shot attempts down.

 

No need to bash any player. They are who they are.

Let's hope we will have a better team of players next season