ClutchFans Game Thread: Rockets @ Mavericks 2/9/2007

This may sound cliched, but the key to beating Dallas isn't shooting, its rebounding on both ends of the floor.

Dallas is a very underrated rebounding team, and is 31-1 when it out-rebounds the other team (and considering they've done it 32 times, their pretty good). This is also the key to beating the Suns.

So no Dampier will be big IMO, and Hayes and Deke will be important in keeping Dirk and the Dallas bigs off the glass. Juwan will have a big night I think, but we'll need him to help on the boards as well as Deke doesn't match up well against Dallas unless they have Diop in the game.

 

no one likes posters who pads their stats sheesh

 

Who would you guys rather have playing against dallas Yao or T-Mac.
I think our chances are better with T-Mac. What do you guys think?

 

i think keeping stackhouse house on lock down is key, he tore us apart last game. we did keep dirk to a pretty average game tho


first post btw, been reading these boards for over a year now and i finally got in =D

 

correction: it was devean george. you know, 5 threes in a row?

 

games still 24 hours away, and yet we have over 100 posts on the game already.

is this a record or what?

is Damp def. not playing? We can edge them out if he's not there I reckon. His presence is huge for them.

Go Rockets, not getting to excited though.

 

i hope bonzi will play

 

i'm new!!!

onto the game,

to beat this team, we need these 3 things to happen:

1) REBOUNDING - this is huge. the reason we lost the 13pt lead earlier in the previous game was b/c of 2nd chance points => i remember perfectly that george hit two or three 3s off of offensive rebounds. if we win the rebounding part, we have a great chance
2) defense - defend the 3 pt line. this is one of the best 3pt shooting teams. JVG has to trust the man defense, maybe help out alston b/c terry can get by him easily.
3) offense - we need to score to weather their runs. tmac needs to have a great night. he doesn't need to score 30+. if he doesn't, he needs to rack up the assists. what i want tmac to do is get his teammates involved early. even if we're down 5-8 pts, as long as tmac has the energy for the 2nd half, we're good.

predictions (i want to be unbiased so i would say dallas has a better chance of winning this game b/c they'e at home) but i just want a close game in he 4th. if it is, i trust tmac

stats
tmac - 32, 7, 9

dirk - 27, 9, 2

the darkhorses will be 3pt shooting. who shoots better from the 3pt line => good chance and rebounding of course

 

I don't know what Damp's status is, but the Mavs 3rd string center, D.J. Mbenga, is out for the year with a torn ACL.

link

If Damp and DJ are out they are running low on big men.

 

Look, no one hates the Mavs on here more than I do. I'll be honest it will take a much better defensive effort plus, T-Mac this time finishing what he started.

Based on that, I'll T-Mac over No-sheis-ski any day of the week. The problem is their cast as a whole is more complete than ours except for Damp-whoosier, what a loser!

Prediction: Rockets Win, Rockets Win, Rockets Win! ... but it won't be easy.

Rockets 101, Savs 90. T-Mac to the rack down the stretch and break their backs assists and buckets. Gitter done, Tracy!

 

seeing as how we dont even have a 3rd string center, and our 1st center is out, i have no pity on them and also am not sure Mbenga OR Dampier are that important to how well the Mavs perform. they are especially dangerous with a small lineup, which means Dirk is their 5.

 

Don't think many of ya know this, but I just stumbled upon this interesting fact...we're the only team to lose every game when trailing after three quarters (0-11). Sure hope we're ahead by the time the 4th quarter starts...

http://www.nba.com/standings/team_record_comparison/conferenceNew_Ahd_Div.html

 

It would be great to end Dallas' 16-Game Home winning streak.

 

Yeah I've been keeping this stat in the back of my mind in basically every game for the past month or so, I always hope we lead after the 3rd. That's what happened in Dallas last game against Mavs. We had a lead at the half then ended up goin into the 4th behind. I was hoping our record would change, but it remained true. This is something that needs to be addressed by the team, maybe they need more motivation going into the 4th?

 

Why the hell is this game not on ESPN instead of Chicago-Golden State?

 

I hope bonzi plays, we have a better chance of winning with him in the game..besides his turnovers...

 

I think we can win this! for some odd reason dallas doesn't scare me though phx does but I've always thought this season that we are capable of winning against dallas. We'll see...

 

Exactly what I was wondering.

 

Eric Dampier missed the last game with sore knee and Mbenga is out for the season. If Dampier does not return tomorrow, watch for the Mavs to go small!

Can someone update me the status of Kirk Synder? The last time i heard about him, he was having respitory infection but that was almost ten days ago... what type of infection can keep a sport guy out so long??? Is he in the doghouse for whatever f**king reasons????