ClutchFans Game Thread: Rockets @ Pacers 1/23/2004

ATrain and ZRB are always extremely negative about the Rockets, it's one of the great traditions on the GARM.

 

Except that ZRB used to be schizo... he finally settled on pessimism .

 

WOW! Simply nice and a great performance by both teams but .. I would like to say this is the first game where I have seen the Rockets play REAL NBA BASKETBALL. Reason:

Yao: Had a great block but unfortunately it went straight to the hands of Johnson (Pacers), but the block was very aggressive almost as if he wanted to rip the Pacers heart out. Great passing by the big guy. A really nice showcase and smart from the get go. JUST SO NICE!!! and what really impressed me was he DUNKED IT! A+

Cato: Getting into the offense with the picks for Steve, and running straight to the basket. Great! You get an A Cato.

JJ: Nice defense and hustled for the rebound nice today. The 3's were just nice! A+

Cuttino: Lighting the offense and breaking the defense apart. Turning up the team when needed. Cuttino is great! Got kinda crazy but its ok. B+ for today

Steve: Excellent! The passing from Steve had good timing and it was great to see him play like a true point guard. I'll give him an E. Plus the mid-range jumpers he was taking rather than just inside the 3


Mo: Didn't seem like he fits well with the team passing and hustle..... but.. uhhh.... I like your tattoos. C+

Others: C+ Padgett did well with his time, great hustle dude!


GOOD WIN ROCKETS!

I can finally figure out how the offense is set up. AND IiIIIIIiiIIIii LIKE IT WOOHOO!

 

The rampaging Rockets won 78-74 Friday in Indiana, but the Pacers' Rick Carlisle still clinched the right to coach the East All-Stars.

- taken from nba.com..

yes we are rampaging!

J

 

He should get an A+ just for the D he put on Reggie and Artest.

 

My favorite moment was Yao congratulating Cuttino when he nailed those free throws.

Great picture. I'd love to see Yao and Cat sync up. All season I've said it can't happen. Cat plays in his world, Yao plays in another world. I saw competing agendae, zero sum solution. But not at that moment. Great picture. What a team they could be, if only they'd sync up.

 

We killed Knicks when they r onr of thr hottest in east.

The next is Kings!

 

Truly a monumental win. It was one I never expected, and it had a playoff feeling to it.

Now the Rockets will lose the next two games on the road against the worst the league (and country) has to offer, Florida.

Then they'll beat the Kings.

 

A-train and ZRB are butt buddies. They both hang out in seattle and sip tea together on the space needle. Tracy Murray is their favorite player in some strange space needle coffee sipping way. And the thing about it is, ZRB he's a clutchity.net fan before he's a Houston Rocket fan. If there was no clutchity.net he would be calling a-train on his cell phone after every seattle sonics victory and talking about bigfoot and grundge music and how their favorite player tracy murray has nicer man boobs than amaechi.

 

And get your tickets now ... when I left the office today, there were about 1300 tickets left, which means it's just about a sure thing the Kings game will be a sellout. (We sold 600 today alone).

We still had about 600 tickets left for New Jersey next Saturday (Super Bowl Saturday), but those will be gone by the end of this weekend as well.

Tim

 

That was hilarious, Texas Stroke. I like my lattes with coconut syrup.

 

just a question. what's with the news ultra-fixation on steve and cat lately in your posts? it seems the better yao plays the more you nitpick what they do. like your signature from the day before about them taking 3 shots while yao was on even though it's something the lakers did regularly during their title runs. and shaq is way better than yao and the scrubs taking away his shots, fisher and fox usually, aren't as good as steve and cat (and they had many years to work together). it's just something that happens in an nba game.

and steve and cat have on several occasions seemed elated with yao's play (cat taking a ride on yao's back last year after he hit a big shot, may have even been indy again, steve during the lakers game this year).

is this just some latent frustration you're finally bringing to the fore b/c you actually seem to be nitpicking the more things get better.

after the packers should have qb sneaked thread, the tom brady is overrated by the media thread, and you saying that actually offense wins championships more than defense, don't make me disagree with you on something.

oh well, just a question.

 

well...this is a pleasant surprise..

a game thread not full of nitpicky posts criticizing the players that were struggling.

positivity and excitement over the teams play?

what alternate universe have I stumbled upon here?

 

Come to think of it.. You;re right! A+ CAT!!

 

Mostly? Because Houston is really close to having a truly good basketball team. IMO, the focus on the playoffs is kind of silly. The Rockets are almost guaranteed that, unless there's an injury. I don't think they're title contenders - but I think they're closer than some here realize.

You say that Yao isn't as good as Shaq. That's utterly true. And our guards aren't as good as Kobe. I'm not saying this to insult either - but to point out that we can afford stupid play, less. The Rockets haven't got quite the talent that some great teams have had, which makes smart play even more necessary.

As long as the Rockets were merely average, or chasing the playoffs... I could take the occasional stupidity. One game all the way back from spring 2000 will always define what's best and worst about Francis for me. The Rockets were losing to some team by 20 - Phoenix, I think, but I might be wrong. Steve went berserk - hit shot... after shot... after shot. Then with the game close in the dying minutes, he ISO'd up, turned it over, and missed a couple of shots. He'd brought the team back all the way - and then when it was there for the taking, blew it. It was greatness... but in a losing effort... that was a losing effort, in the end, because of the very player who almost won it.

That was ok for a couple of years. After that, I got used to it. Now, I've got my expectations back up.

IMO, Yao is clearly the best player on the team. Right now, it's still close - but in 2 years, I think that only the biggest fans of dunking and guard play are going to think otherwise. I don't really think that Yao has to take more shots than Steve/Mobley. They're both excellent offensive players and necessary for the team to succeed. But I do think that both have to be absolutely dedicated to putting the team in the best position to succeed - which, to me, is playing inside-out... which should make things easier on everyone, them included.

Playing inside-out with a genuinely excellent post player opens up the perimeter. Playing the perimeter game with an excellent post player merely wastes space and personnel. I don't think Francis/Mobley truly realize this yet, despite their willingness to try.

 

"Mark Jackson uses the "Force" to levitate the ball vs. Indiana."

 

Not like old times

Friday's game was Yao Ming's first at the fieldhouse since he made his NBA debut here in last season's opener.

Yao played 11 scoreless minutes off the bench that night, which was hardly an indication of things to come for the center who has become one of the NBA's most potent weapons.

"The time has gone so fast," Yao said before the game. "But in China there is a saying: 'Everything starts at zero.'

"I did that. But I had zero for a score. I don't think anybody wants to start at zero if it means scoring zero."

http://www.indystar.com/articles/0/114361-9980-039.html

 

fair enough i guess.

and i can only hope in 2 years yao is so much better than francis it's not even a debate, because then i can start figuring out what size i want my replica championship ring to be.