Man....Yao Ming is back for only what, 5 games.....strength, speed and stamina wise not yet anywhere close to 100% of his old self And he still has to play with his brace supporter; he had 2 of his fingers on his shooting right hand taped together he has to play on both end of the court it was a back-to-back after dumping 37 points over the head of the Monster Dwight Howard and he was double-teamed and triple-teamed from start to finish and most importantly, with him double-teamed and triple-teamed, his team mates, in particularly, Tracy McGrady, were laying bricks. So what can you expect ?? A win over the Phoenix Suns ?? Just like the Adidas Ad said: It takes 5 !! You fool.
Typical Rockets under JVG. They can have some success against the scrub teams but let them play a decent team and they fold like a house of cards.
decent team? Doesn't this team have a couple impressive streaks this season? A perennial MVP candidate? Today's suns are to today's rockets as the sonics are to the 90s rockets
We should have won this game handily. You could see the lack of effort out there on our part. We didn't want it at all. Bad loss.
Hey, good point. Nice first post. I agree, lets not forget that even the championship Rockets had a certain team that they seemed incapable of beating. It happens. The Rockets just need to pick themselves off the floor, readjust a few things and give it another go next time. Besides, the Suns have been beating everyone like this. There is no need to overreact.
Fine. Continue making excuses everytime the Rockets lose to the Suns, Spurs, Mavericks, Jazz, etc... Who do you think we're going to be playing in the playoffs? We're not going to be playing the scrubs of the league. This team definitely has the talent to go all the way, but with the JVG coaching, it's not likely they'll get out of the first round. They'll need lots of luck. It just bothers me because the Rockets haven't been an elite team since the mid-90's. Now, we've finally got the talent to be an elite team and we're saddled with a horrible coach who is all wrong for this team. (JVG was brought in to bring discipline to the Francis, Mobley types). The team and it's personnel are different and JVG is only holding us back now.
Look, like you said, it take five. That five include Yao, who is as good a brick layer as TMac last night (1 for 9 or 10?). Those lay ups he missed/got blocked, there is just no excuses. Rox still had a chance until Yao had 4 consective turn overs. I am not trying to blame everything on Yao. Granted he is still not 100%. But if he gets glory for the 37pts performance against Magic, he will get blame for poor poor performance against Suns.
Just read from the ************.com site the following: March 13th, 2007 by John As expected, the Rockets lost last night to the Phoenix Suns 102-83. Not much of a surprise there. What was surprising was Yao’s 1-for-9 shooting night. I’ll have more later this morning (or afternoon) on the game. The game ended around 11:30pm last night (the game was played in the Pacific time zone), I had to work late last night on a project, and I have to go to some meetings early this morning. I’ll get to it, though. As a hint on what I’ll blog about, I was flabbergasted last night as I watched the worst officiating of Yao that I have ever seen. More to come… Let's hear what John will say about Yao's performance.
I absolutely agree, this is what's going to happen in playoffs, and these same guys will be here to say the same thing
Don't get me wrong. Of course, Yao Ming played sub-par, and he admitted it himself after the game, saying he still lacked strength, speed and stamina, as he is still on his comeback trail. But when he got double-teamed and triple-teamed by the opponents, does it mean there are at least 1 to 2 Rockets free from defenders and left open ? If Juwan Howard and Chuck Hayes were not the only beneficiaries due to Yao Ming being double- or triple-teamed, and if the guards, say Rafer Alston, or Tracy McGrady or Luther Head be more selective or sharper in their shots, or do more penetration, or repost Yao Ming, insteads of launching desperate, almost panicked long-range bricks after bricks, would the result be different??
The Rockets are what they are. They can beat the hell out of the scrub teams but that is not good enough. Period. No excuses.
Man you said what I was screaming during the game! It just shows why JVG will never win a title in Houston, or anywhere in the league - he doesn't adjust, especially on the offensive end. Suns had one thing to do defensively the whole night - swarm Yao and that clogged the entire offensive effort of the Rox. JHo and Chuck or Snyder can easily have a career night if JVG brought Yao out on the high post. Even Amare was knocking down jumpers after jumpers and Yao was doing nothing - he could've served at least a better decoy by bringing defenders out of the paint. I was more amazed than angry at the inability of JVG to make simple adjustment. A coach of the year candidate? You've got to be kidding me. I beg, on my knees, that they don't entend his contract. We should start a petition to get Rick Adleman, PLEASE!!! And by the way, I'm really annoyed by the YOF's who come here only to praise/defend Yao. Please stay in your ************ land and leave this board to Rox BASKETBALL fans, PLEASE!!!
I think people should calm down a tad here. We did lose to Phoenix in Phoenix. There isn't a team in the NBA who would be favored to win that game. No question we played bad. The whole team was awful except Hayes, Howard and Lucas. Look at the 3 players I just named. We won't have too many games were yao and TMac play that bad. We were also on a back to back. In terms of Snyder, I think we should play him more. However, he makes so many mistakes and stupid fouls that I understand why he doesn't play. he also has obviously had attitude problems not only this year but with every team he's been with. It's easy to see his athleticism and get pissed he's not playing because you see those glimpses of his potential (which he certainly has) and as a fan you want to see him get a chance. As I said, as a fan I want to see him get a chance too. However, you have to earn you pt and you can't continue to mouth off, get in trouble, ect and expect to play anywhere. That's why all those teams have got rid of him. VSpan is terrible (that's why Lucas played last night instead). He isn't the player some of you think he is. He can't shoot, is an average ball handler, an overrated defender, ect..... He's just not an NBA player. If you want to blem the Rockets for screwing up you should. They made a terrible descision with him. We haven't heard or seen anything from Badiane lately either. It's a case of us getting over excited over prospects who didn't pan out. I will agree with the JVG criticism last night. Rafer, Lucas, Battier couldn't guard Barbosa. If they went under the pick he drained a 3 and if they went over the pick he drove for an uncontested layup. No defensive help, just wide open layups and 3's. They were so concerned about shutting down Nash and Amare that they let LB kill them. What JVG failed to realize was that LB just assumed Nash's role last night. His failure to adjust is on him. All that being said, we still lost to Phoenix in Phoenix on a back to back. This is only Yao's 5th game back and he was noticeably tired. I don't like TMac's shot selection either. He's proven he can be a good playmaker and he should use those talents to get his teammates good shots instead of jacking up 30 hideous shots. Yao has to play more agressive. Amare muscled him up last night and he let him push him out of the paint. He let KT do the same thing. I know he was fatigued but he has to establish himself early. They had Amare in foul trouble, if it had been a close game that would have been a huge factor. Unfortunately, it didn't matter.
Since when has Snyder became an idiot here? He doesn't even play When the team needs him he doesn't play. All of this best players that give us the best chance to win talk is nothing more than a JVG lie. He allows Rafer to stay in plenty of games jacking up low percentage 3's with 20 seconds on the clock yet he never rides the pine. Get out of here with the apologies for this junk coaching.
The problem is we don't have a backup for Rafer. Lucas is as good as it gets unfortunately. If we play TMac at pg for an extended period it will wear him down so that's not an option.
Dear lord. after readig some of the Knee jerk reaction post here. when tracy our best player shoots like that, it will spread like wildfire. this loss is on mcGrady. as the teams best player and megastar, better things were expected.
The problem is we didn't develop or (use) what we have, so we're stuck with sub par play at that position. I blame the Gm also for not making the proper decisions on this one. No sense in using your MLE in brining in a guy the coach has a personal grudge against and tyron lue -lite.
