ClutchFans Game Thread: Rockets @ Pacers 12/26/2006

even more than Battier?

I'll keep an eye on it.

 

It sounds like a good way to force
a) T Mac retirement or b) JVG being sent on his way.
The mind set of JVG and his 'win now' senario [to save his job] should be all thrown out of the window. Mc Grady should have been under control of the Coaches and limited to 10mins playing time, as a precaution to stress and strain after a long layoff. Having McGrady play so much time in this game gives an indication of the quality of our coaching staff.

 

The Rockets might of looked the WORSE that I have ever seen them tonight.. EVER

and the Pacers.. they played like a decent NBDL team, I am embaressed to of lossed to them tonight.

 

dude,

just went to the tape - and im sorry but Hayes did not go to the floor on the play.
He had to bend down to catch Battiers low pass (on his ass) but there was no hustle involved from Chuck.

 

You sound very proud of that signature. What a shame.

 

is Dallas really that good and deep? outside of the Diggler, who do they have that is bona fide star? Howard? he's pretty good, maybe a top 15 swingman. maybe. Terry's only a top 30 guard, and Devin Harris is better than Rafer, yes, but that doesn't say much. Erick Dampier is more like the 12th best center in the league.

as for the bench, who do they have besides Stackhouse and maybe Diop who can possibly start for another team? any team. Croshere? Buckner? Anthony Johnson or Devean George?

i can't stand Avery Johnson, but the fact that he can lead such a "deep" and "talented" team to be among the best in the league is a testament of his coaching abilities.

 

Alright. It was a loose ball that he came up with that resulted in a score for us. Like Battier, he has a knack for coming up with those loose balls. Again, if you watch the team regularly you'd know this.

And as "invisible" as Chuck was in the game, we were +5 with him on the court. It's funny how we usually seem to outscore other teams when he's in the game.

 

Tough loss tonight.Pacers played so bad yet we couldn't pull out a win.Well,at least Tmac was playing,hopefully he felt OK after this game,we really need him in the next 6 weeks.

And I really miss Yao Ming.Get well soon,big fella.

 

courtside experience:

Positives:
1) You get to be at the game to really appreciate Battier. I now fully understand why he was selected to represent team USA and JVG likes him so much. Man, he is so good at defense, changing the passing direction, blocking/altering shots with good position, grabing rebounds. He is going after EVERY ball (well, on the defensive end...). He actually had more touches than Tmac in the first half.
2) Even we lose, it was close to the last second. We could have won this one like several previous ones. What this really means: we have enough talents to win even Yao is not there, and Tmac is so rusty.
3) JL3 can really shoot, a conclusion I draw from the pregame practice. I don't understand why JVG doesn't give him some more minutes, he is probably a better outside scorer than Alston, who does nothing but bring the ball to the front and shoot from outside anyway.
4) JHo played well. Better than Hayes.
5) JVG is not screaming.

Negatives:
1) too many TOs. Mainly because Tmac is rusty, Bonzi is still looking for his form, Head and alston made some stupid play. FT is yet another problem. TO and FT killed the game.
2) It is clearly that the morale of the team is not high. On a night that both teams went ice cold, Rockets sucked more than Pacers.
3) Tmac, Tmac. Well, of course he is rusty...the real negative here is that he didn't boost the team spirit, one thing a superstar should do even he is still not back in his form;
4) Bonzi, come on, you can provide more... I am not sure, but did Head stop his continuous 3 point strikes?
5) Novak, Bill and JL3, sticking to the bench while Deke shot air ball, twice... Man, somebody please tell Deke do not shoot, and JL3, no layup please.
6) JVG is not good at motivate his players. I have a really good binocular so I followed JVG closely after every timeout. He drawed about 4 offensive plans after every timeout, but he is not talking to the players, he is talking to the game plan; we had a great start at the third quarter but the pacers made a run, JVG called a timeout but just sit there, didn't draw or say anything, just sit there the entire time, slurred some words when the time was up, Alston sunk down a 3, maybe he said "Rafer, let's try some 3"... But my impression is the team spirit is really low and JVG is not motivating his players.

My wife screamed so hard that a pacers fan came over and said "sorry about the lose" after the game, but his following words pretty much summerized the game: "if the team was playing with Yao, not Tmac, this was an easy win for rockets"

 

So you were just back from gym ?

 

CHILL OUT PEOPLE! tmac just got back and he said he was 'test driving' the back so to say. but as long as we go .500 for these games that yao is out. AND WE ARE CAPABLE! we will be okay. GO ROCKETS! am i the only one with spirit?

 

Post game quotes:

http://www.nba.com/pacers/news/quotes_061226.html

ROCKETS COACH JEFF VAN GUNDY
“We didn’t play well, offensively. You can’t turn the ball over like we did tonight and expect to win, especially on the road."
"We were discombobulated out there. We were trying to think about our spacing too much.”

ROCKETS GUARD TRACY McGRADY
(On losing Yao Ming as he is coming back) "This is just like last year. Exactly the same thing as last year, it seems like. Both Yao and me going out with injuries. This year I go out and then he goes out right as I am coming back. It’s almost eerie how it’s like last year. "
(On his first game back from injury) "Because I was fatigued tonight down the stretch, I didn’t recognize their double teams. That is how I got stripped a few times by them. That’s the biggest thing, being fatigued and not being in basketball shape. I was nervous going into tonight’s game wondering whether or not the injury was going to flare up. But right now I feel well, just fatigued. When I get into game shape, that will help me get rid of some of those turnovers like I had at the end. I pretty much cost us this game tonight."
(on the last play of the game) "Yes, it was drawn up for me. But like I said before, because I was fatigued I didn’t see anything there and so I handed the ball off to Luther (Head) and we just got mixed up there and didn’t get a good look.”

ROCKETS FORWARD SHANE BATTIER
(on team’s struggles due to lack of chemistry) "Yes, we had a different lineup out there tonight. There is no question about it. That will only come with repetition. In the last couple of minutes we just didn’t make enough plays to win. We had a lot of careless turnovers, especially in the first half trying to make basketball plays. They did a good job of taking advantage of our turnovers; rather it was getting things in transition or creating second chance opportunities."
(On having Tracy McGrady back) "It’s definitely nice to have T-Mac back. We missed his play making ability and his shot making ability. Yes, it is definitely nice to have him back.”

 

Looks like T-Mac is taking the heat for the loss. Hopefully the problem is just his fatigue, and as he gets back into the flow we'll play better.

 

I actually like the fact that Mac is pointing out how bad he played tonight. He really did cost us the game

 

Tmac sucked tonight...he is not a leader of men.

I wish he had an iron will but he doesn't.

DD

 

This game was so hard to watch. It's so sad to see Rockets got out-rebounded and abused in the paint by Jeff Foster and Al Harrington. Foster is usually worthless and Harrington is not even a real center - he only plays center on that sorry Pacers team out of necessity because O'neal refused to. It's gonna be a long 6 weeks before Yao comes back. I am so depressed now.

 

We will win our next 3 games watch I called it

 

t-MAC, the million dollar leader of boys. <-- all of whom qualify for the boy scouts b/c they're such darn good samaritans and so easily coached.

jk i love tmac.. i want to cheer for him, i really do. this goes for the rockets as well. but they are just making it so difficult. why.. why all the pain for being a rocket's fan??

 

this was a terrible game but t-mac was obviously not in game shape. i don't know what to expect from him but if he does get the bounce in his step that he had the week before he went out, he'll carry the team just fine. we need yao but t-mac has proven he can lead a team atleast to the playoffs all by himself. lets see if he can do it again.

 

I'm waiting for Tmac to destroy the league.