My prediction for the game with my own ode to Daryl Morrey statistical analysis: Rockets Starters Yao - 10 Hayes – 4 Battier - 5 McGrady - 8 Alston - 4 6th man Head - 4 Bench V-Span - 2 Mutombo – 1 Howard - 2 Suns Starters Stoudemire – 7 Marion - 9 Diaw - 5 Bell - 5 Nash - 10 6th man Barbosa - 5 Bench Banks - 2 Kurt Thomas - 3 James Jones - 2 Formula: (Starters x 2) + (6th man x 1.5) + (Bench x 1) + 3 for home court advantage + number of wins in last 10 games (momentum factor) Rockets total: 81.0 Suns total: 95.5 Therefore, Suns win. Matador prediction record to date: 6-3 Hopefully Barbosa is still out with his ankle injury.
This one is a tough one for the Rockets. The Suns strengths - mainly penetrating PG and good 3 pt shooting are the Rockets biggest weakness. JVG has always liked to pack the paint and force the team to beat you from the outside....well, the Suns are good at that. It is a classic matchup problem for the Rockets. If the Suns get out early, it could get ugly. I predict the Suns will beat the Rockets 103-92. DD
Don't make uncontested turn over becuase they will turn them in the easy baskets! Don't give them Offense rebounds becuase they will turn them in to second chance points. I belive if you can keep thought to down to a minimum you will win the game.
Thats a nice box score. McGrady dropping 38, Yao with 27. Wesley with 20 You know thats too good to be true now. Maybe Shane can have that kinda game, just like yesterday.
The key to tonights game is not letting Phoenix score more than 25 points in the first quarter. they have scored 30 + in their 4 game winning streak.
I gotta say tonight will be a disaster for us , last year scenario can still be recalled in my mind .
Talk about a bunch of pessimistic fans. Rockets have won 10 out of 12 4 in a row. Why can't they take care of the sun? Rockets 110-105.
i think suns will do their best to deny yao the ball, so it will turn into a 3pts contest: suns 3pts: 30% open by ball movements; 30% from fast break; 40% contested rox 3pts: 80% open; 20% the last second rush shot
I wanna see rox win,but Two banged up tired cores and crappy production from guards facing the fastest team , good denfense from bell and geting vertiginous by nash...I really don't see any hope here !
I don't see how we win this. It's a disaster. Suns will go on a 3 pt shooting spree and bury us. Yao will dominate Amare in points and rebounds, but then they will send 3 players at Yao in the 4th. They will dare us to shoot the 3 and go on a fast break when we miss. McGrady will keep launching bricks from outside the arc.
This is an easy game: Houston is holding opponents to 88 points Phoenix opponents are scoring 104 points on them Final score: Houston 104 Phoenix 88 Any status on T-Mac?
I hate to say it, but I think the Suns are our worst matchup. I feel the same way about them that I felt about the Sonics in '96. Sure you can beat them, but it just seems that they have a way to ignore your strengths. The heart of our defense is our ability to deny the inside, and Phoenix has the capability to go right over the top. The biggest factor in this game is going to be keeping Yao out of foul trouble. They're going to be penetrating all over the place and taking a lot of outside shots, forcing Yao away from the basket. Even without conditioning as a factor, that spells all kinds of trouble for Yao. And you know on a back to back against the Suns he's going to be winded. I'm just going to keep my fingers crossed all night. I'll leave it at that.
This will be a tough game but if we can pull it out it will be a big win for us, i see yao having huge numbers in the first half and in the second half the shooters are gonna have to hit alot more than they did last game (with exception to battier) and think they will pull through so we get the W 99 - 91