ClutchFans Game Thread: Rockets @ Nuggets 12/26/2003

That play came pretty close to working if Taylor could've sunk the shot. Otherwise from a coaching standpoint and execution by everyone but Taylor it worked.

 

I wouldn't describe Bird as shooting 39% from the field and 32% from 3-point land. Let's be realistic, Carmelo is a great player, and will continue to get better, but he is never going to be the shooter that Bird was.

 

I just have two things to say:

1.) I think it was Channel 51 that ran the game, but they should never be allowed to cover an NBA game again. I almost needed dramamine in the first half the way the camera was zooming and swooping. But hey, having the basketball IN the screen is overrated anyway.

2.) Calvin Murphy is awful. I'm sorry, I know you guys love him, and I know he was a great player, but someone needs to get him a sedative. Good God.

 

Funny you should say this. It doesn't matter if it's with the shot clock running down, at the end of the first quarter, or at the end of the game we're going to do the same thing. I'm soooooooooo tired of seeing the shot clock at around 5-7 seconds and Steve with the ball at the top of 3 point line....you know exactly what he's going to do, dribble for 2-3 seconds then launch a 3 pointer. I know I see that at least a couple times each game and it's driving me crazy. Are you telling me he can't get a better shot than that, or at least pass it? I have to admit I was SHOCKED when Mo took the last shot last night instead of Steve jacking up the 3 pointer that he always does. If you haven't noticed this be sure to watch for it the next game, I have no doubt it's coming.

Pugs

 

Effort, shmeffort. Two huge crucial mistakes sealed the fate of that game. You could maybe make an argument for Mo's foul being effort, but in moments like that where you have you never give the other team an opportunity to score at the line. You'd think after that momentum turning foul that every Rocket on the floor would be focused and know they can't do anything stupid or risky to put the other team at the line, especially beyond the three point arc. Mobley's play was plain dumb and he knew it the moment he commited the foul.

 

Well Leonard shooting 45-50% three, but you still couldn't foul him because he shoot FT for 76%.

I need Cat might think Refs usually wouldn¡¯t call a last second foul but unfortunately the foul was too obvious.

Just too bad, we could have gone 17-12 and taken Denver's 2nd seat in Midwest, instead we 16-12 now and lost another game to Midwest playoff oppenents.

 

i don't really think it was chan 51. i don't remember this ever happening. if i could recall correctly, i think this was the first time.

 

What else could it have been? I've been in the media center of the Pepsi Center, there is nothing around the cameras that could have caused the guy filming the game to zoom in and out like a drunken baffoon.

 

dude reread my post. i said i don't think it was chan 51. i never said anything about how the cameraman didn't "zoom in and out like a drunken baffoon"

 

Yes, we lost the game because of the TO, the third quarter collapse and a series of mistakes at the end:
- Francis missed a FT,
- Taylor fouled,
- Francis missed a FT, and
- Cat fouled.

But we still had a final shot in 8 seconds. It was that stupid set play that caused us the game. Why positioned Yao at 20 ft instead of at the low post? Why Francis dribbled and not penetrated? Why positioned Taylor at 18 ft and asked him to take a jump shot from that distance?

I would blame the coach more than anybody, knowing the players have been tired in the second half.

 

I never meant that MELO was Bird

just that
Melo reminds me of when Small Forwards ruled the NBA



Rocket River

 

I think the players were tired.. I dont like to make excuses but the ball movement was still good but turnovers killed us.. the game shouldnt have gone to the wire.

J

 

Just a note...

Channel 51 could not have caused the screen to look as it did. They way it was zoomed and framed is solely the responsibility of the cameraman and his crew. I don't know if they got knocked out of position or what, but they did get it figured out by the end of the first quarter.

 

http://www.channelnewsasia.com/stories/afp_sports/view/63764/1/.html

Time is GMT + 8 hours
Posted: 27 December 2003 1651 hrs

Basketball: Chinese goliath Yao copes with highs and lows of NBA grind


DENVER, Colorado : Chinese center Yao Ming and the Houston Rockets are learning the hard way about the grind of playing road games on back-to-back nights in the National Basketball Association.

Just 24 hours after a thrilling 99-87 upset of the Los Angeles Lakers, the Rockets squandered a 16-point lead and lost to Denver 95-94 here Friday, the Nuggets taking their only lead of the game with eight seconds remaining.

Yao, who was in foul trouble much of the time in a solid showing against Shaquille O'Neal and the Lakers, committed only two fouls against the Nuggets, contributing 12 points and 10 rebounds in 32 minutes.

But Yao was critical of himself after the game, unhappy about a game0high five turnovers and downplaying his leadership role on a team that has not reached the playoffs since 1999 but has been revived by his stellar play.

"I'm not playing well enough yet to be a leader so I'm not in a position to say at this point how I'll go about becoming one," Yao said.

A weary Yao sat with ice on his right knee, complaining that "it feels like something is stuck in there" and claiming that he was not tired entering his third game in four nights.

"I was able to rest during the day," Yao said through translator Colin Pine, who handles media dealings while Yao speaks English to teammates, coaches and most fans.

The Rockets are an enviable 5-3 in games played the night after another game, but have been stung for the second time in a week after a fiery start, having also lost at Phoenix 102-87 in the second game of a back-to-back run.

Houston led 94-92 before Cuttino Mobley fouled Voshon Lenard's 3-point attempt and the Denver guard made all three free throws to give the Nuggets the deciding points.

"I went after him to try and contend the shot and just caught him on the wrist," Mobley said.

Several groups of fans waved Chinese flags in support of Yao, who signed some autographs for fans after a pre-game warmup session.

As Yao was walking to the team bus after the game, he stopped to chat with Nuggets' assistant coach Jarinn Akana, a friend of Yao's for several years.

"Yao is stronger than he was last year and he's a force to be reckoned with," Akana said. "We have to spend more time preparing for going up against him."

Yao's 7-foot-5 frame includes much more muscle thanks to workout sessions and some help from Anthony Falsone, the Rockets' strength and conditioning coach.

"Yao is much stonger this season," Falsone said. "Last year, he played at about 290 pounds. This season, he came to training camp at 304 and he had added some solid muscle.

"We have him on a maintenance schedule during the season, and he lifts weights two or three times a week. He's at about 318 now and he's very strong."

Retired Rockets' star Calvin Murphy said Yao's unselfish play and dedication to improvement ensure he will take the Rockets far in their quest to regain the championship form they enjoyed in the 1990s.

"The players are learning that there's a new sheriff in town, " Murphy said. "Yao is the sheriff and he's fun to watch because he's continuing to learn. I don't think he realizes yet just how great he can be.

"He's not there yet, but he's coming along and I'm a real fan of his because he's a team player."

Murphy, now a television commentator, compared Yao to another former Rockets' great, Moses Malone, who leaped from high school into the NBA and like Murphy reached the Hall of Fame - a status Murphy can see for Yao someday.

"Malone came to us as a shy kid and he was a Hall of Fame center when he retired. Yao has got that kind of potential," Murphy said. "In time, he will be up to 11 or twelve rebounds a night, once his game comes completely together."

- AFP

 

This right knee pain sounds dangerous. Yao needs to be fit for every game for us to have any chance of winning.
I hope it's nothing serious.

 

This is new to me. We heard that he gained ~15 lbs since last season. This says he gained 28 lbs. No wonder he looks slower.