Ha, I was wondering when one of my nemeses would catch on to that. I expect it to be in somebody's signature before long. Damn you nobody is supposed to read the sticky game threads.
I know this is not directed at me. But actually if I eat too much crab I just might die, or at least end up in a hospital. I have this elergy thing you know, rashes and swelling all over my body. Ooopps... this crab is not that crap I think.
Not many fans here used the existing fact to make their predictions. How could you predict the scores in the 90+ range for Houston's opponent? Houston is leading the NBA in holding the opponent's scoring. 76 point per game. JVG, oh man, a really good coach to teach defense.
Cuz it's very negative. Call me superstious but in my family and a lot of Chinese families I know, you don't speak of bad things cuz they might come true. (There is no discussion of death ever) The same superstion is the same in sports, like don't talk to the pitcher about a no hitter etc etc. So why must you say the Rox will lose so early, especially this early while we obviously have a better team. As Rocket fan, I just don't understand other Rox fans calling and say the team will lose, especially against a sub - par team. Unless you're not a Rox, in which case carry on with your delusional thinking. The Rox are #1 la la la (I know that sounde a little childish).
I just watched a tape of the game on the YES network and saw a bunch of postgame interviews. Byron Scott did his typical spiel after a Nets loss - "Bottom line, they executed and we didn't, our shots weren't falling." Jason Kidd said that the defensive attention paid to Yao Ming created openings for Houston's perimeter players who were all knocking down shots ... basically attributing the double teams on Yao for the Rockets high FG% in the 4th quarter. The YES reporter asked Richard Jefferson about the Nets' (relative) shutdown on Yao, and he scoffed: "Yao Ming is up-and-coming but Steve Francis is a two-time All-Star and is still the best player on that team." R.Jeff actually called Houston a "great" squad in his interview. Guess he harbors no ill feelings from draft day 2001. The YES reporter interviewed Van Gundy last ... he immediately put the win in perspective: "Though we're really happy with the win, we have to acknowledge that they were shorthanded without three offensive options (Martin, Harris, R.Rogers) ... take three key players from any team and they're gonna be hurt." I love Van Gundy. The reporter asked if VG had any feeligns about coming back to the Tri-State area, and he said: "While I obviously have a lot of memories in NEw York, and the Garden, and with Knicks players, the Meadowlands is no different from any other NBA arena to me." Ha ha! NJ will always be the stepson of the city's team. Note: Mobley played well but a lot of his shots were of the "No No No No ...YES YES YES!" variety.
I am loving this balanced attack that the Rockets are bringing, really shows that they are buying into the TEAM concept. Just makes my mouth watter thinking about what kind of offensive output we can have if we could cut down on all those nasty turnovers.
I loved the 4th quarter grit. The Denver game showed our offense at its best, but in this game... the team showed some resilience when things weren't working so well. .
Arguably our defence is improved, but our team play is still virtually non-existent. TO's are still rampant (I think at one point we went 5 possessions w/o one shot). We still don't know how to feed the post. And we were still doing the ISO offence. Tonight we shot 53% and 50% from 3 point range. How many times do you think that's going to happen? We're fortunate that NJ shot way worse than us. The way you counter a normal shooting night (as supposed to a bloated one) is by playing good team offence and I just didn't see it tonight. It's like Chi Bears and Cle Browns, who wins? Both suck as hell but there's still a winner when they play. Next time we might not be so lucky. But enough of me raining on the parade. Enjoy the win.
I just had to post this cause I know some of you might get a kick out of the way Steve looks in this pic............courtesy of NY Post. Steve definitely had his game face on tonight!
``I was frustrated,'' said Francis, who finished with 17 points, 10 rebounds and six assists after going 0-for-8 in the first half. ``When you're not making shots, you're going to be upset about it,'' Francis added. ``Coach calmed down. He told me he wouldn't play me the rest of the game if I kept acting like a fool. He told me winners forget the first half and come back in the second half.'' The coach Francis was talking about was Jeff Van Gundy.
I kinda disagree with you there. Sometimes great defense can dictate your offense. Maybe our strong defense is helping us on the offensive end to get better shots. It's still too early to tell but I hope I'm right.
