ClutchFans Game Thread: Rockets @ Warriors 4/5/2005

A warrior fan: "Yao, I wish you had a coach who knows how to use you".

They now start their ritual again -- drooling over Yao.

 

just checked the standings:

we are only 2 games ahead of memphis and the 8th spot. with the suns, grizz, nuggz, and seattlex2 left to play.

we are in a nose dive!

 

This is JVG's fault. We scored plenty of points, even with wesley, james, padgett playing like idiots. JVG needed to make some defensive changes way earlier, before their whole F*cking team got into a rhythm... by the its too darn late...

Mike James has not yet gotten this offense. With the night that Yao was having, there were plenty of times that he should of passed it in and didn't.... and what the hell is up with the free throw discrepancy.... they shot a sh*tload more then us....

i'm freaking pisssssssed.

 

Man, please just TRY and make an effor to watch the game

Yao was NOT open for a SECOND the whole damn game, nor was T-Mac (except when Yao sat a couple of picks for him).

And YES, I think our D wasn't great, but it wasn't as bad as the final score. How many fT did they get? How hot were their shooting this game?

For a hubbled, injured team, I think tonight was a VERY gutsy effort by the Rockets, with exception of Wesley and Padgett, IMHO.

But to address another poster's point about the Rockets being a team that has no depth, he id DEAD-ON.

Quick, tell me which playoff-bound team has the caliber of players like Weatherspoon, Padgett, and Ryan Bowen getting major minutes?

Those are three crappy players that would likely not see any minutes on any other team. Three crappy players, plain and simple, and their presence on the court makes it Oh so easy for our opponents to double/triple team our star players.

There is NO denying that. Again, considering the circumstances, I think the Rockets played well tonight, but the GS Warriors played even better, there is a reason they are one of the hottest teams in the league, you know.

And yes, sometimes you can play well and STILL lose, usually when the other team is playing just a bit better than you are, which the Warriors were.

A loss is still a loss, but that doesn't take away from my respect for our guys for playing hard and showing up despite everything, and not feeling sorry for themselves because they are severly shorthanded.

That was my point...

 

Tiger, I like the way you view things positively, but this recent stretch, the Rox shouldnt get any excuses at all. Whatever you can say about their opponent or other excuses, the end result is the Rox are not performing ta all right now

 

Wesley missing 3 after 3... sad.. ridiculous!

 

Wow, McGrady and Yao with superb games of 44 and 23 and they still lose. We need to find our shooting quick! Does anyone know if Barry is playing the next game?

 

The refs wore out their whistles tonight. Our defense sucked.

 

If it is open, they should shoot it. Players must keep their confidence and believe in the system. This is not the time to doubt the system. They just have to hang in there and believe in themselves.

In fact, if you look at the box score, Sura and James are out of the shooting slump now. Wesley is not yet. So the three guards combine for 14-34, that's average performance, not bad. Tmac got 18-34, 6-6, definitely out of the slump.

I think Rockets lost due to the free throws. Warrior has 22 more free throws, so even Rockets shot 19-19 free throws, that is too much to compensate.

The good news is, Rockets are out of the offensive slump now and they sounded (I listened to NBA audio league pass) fired up. So, I am going to make a bold prediction here: Rockets will only lose one more game in the rest of the season.

 

Our role players play like sh*t tonight.

T-mac has a good shooting night, but he made quite a few careless turnovers. I am ok with that. Yao has a really good night. Even though, he didn't get enough pass. I know he was doubled and surounded all night, but still you can give him the ball at the first moment he holds hisposition, don't wait him wrestle, wrestle, and wrestle from one side to another.

Gradually jvg changed this team to a jump shooting team with some internal defense/offense. So we have to live or die with our shooters. It is really sad.

 

One good sign is that TMac and Yao play good basketball, Sura also got a little bit his touch back, later on, James also hit his shot. It is only D Wesley missed everything. Jon Barry had a rest and will be back next game.

I always think David-Jim Jackson trade is not a good one, although David play hard defense, but he just gave up to much height, right now the other team 's shooters are much higher than him. Jim could play the sg position instead of the small forward which TMac will play. On the other hand, Jon Barry and Jame trade are all good trades.

Once evrybody get his touch back, we will start winning again. I predict we will win over laker.

 

Yao was NOT open for a SECOND the whole damn game, nor was T-Mac (except when Yao sat a couple of picks for him).

yet they manage to score 23 and 44? What's your point?

And YES, I think our D wasn't great, but it wasn't as bad as the final score. How many fT did they get? How hot were their shooting this game?

Yes it is as bad as the final score. If you have to ask, they shoot 49% and have 41 FTA, yes 41, that how bad it is.

I'm not going to waste time with you look-at-me-I'm-so-right-the-rest-of-you-shut-up guy, but I stand by my comment.

 

I absolutely agree about that as far as the Hornets game is concerned. The Suns were a better, much healthier team and beat us fair and square, while we struggled to make shots (yet again) and just couldn't possibly beat a healthy, better Suns team while we were suffering health wise.

Want more optimism? Dirk Nowitzki went down in the 4th quarter today, and he says his knees "feel weird". I don't wish injury on any other team, but you know what? the way we are now, I can't feel sorry for the other teams.

 

This is one thing that I do not like about JVG's coach style. It damned wear out Yao. Yao is so wrongly used. The time span for yao to establish should be short and the pointer guard has to capture that moment to pass the ball to Yao. Otherwise, yao have to try to establish him again and agian, from one side to another, no wonder Yao wear out so quick.

Also Yao have to set up pick for the shooter all times, but right now we do not have a choice, if Juwan Howard is in, he can set up the pick and get the pass and make the middle range jump

 

Hope you're right. My take: Rox will win 4 games in the rest of the season.

 

Wesley always has very tough defensive job, this is clear tonight (guarding the red hot Baron). I suppose when one spends so much energy on defense, it is harder for him than for others to go out of the slump. As to Jim, my impression is he didn't do well on defensive end and his position was kind of overlapped with Tmac. Besides, Rockets didn't have very good record when he was here.

Also, I think Wesley contributed as much as other role players during Rockets' winning streak. So we shouldn't just look at the recent slump and pick him out among others.

As I said in my other post, there are good signs in this loss, so I predict Rockets will lose no more than ONE game for the rest of the regular season.

 

How does the fact that they shot tons of FTs mean that our "D" sucked? If anything, doesn't it mean that the Rox were aggressive neough on defense and fouling the Warriors and forcing them to earn it from the line? Of course, you can twist it whichever way you want.

But fine, we will agree to disagree.

 

I coulnn't watch the game. So don't know if Wesley did too poor D or just BDavis is unstoppable recently. Seems that is the key of this game.
But anyway, Wesley, come back soon!

 

I disagree on the Yao part, I think youa re expecting a bit too much from our guards, they are not Jason Kidd to be able to throw in the perfect pass to Yao everytime he gets possession quickly before he loses it, it is his responsibility to hold that position until the ball can be swung over to him. The entry pass to the inside player is one of the most difficult passes to make, you would need Jason Kidd if you want great passers, which we can't afford at this point. so it is either DW or Sura or MJ, Barry is not a bad entry passer.

As for the Juown Howard setting picks for t-Mac point, that is an excellent point I think that has not been addressed much. If you remember, the T-Mac/JHo pick was one of the most effective plays the Rockets had before his injury. They used this play (along with, sometimes, the t-Mac/Padgett PnR that resulted in so many threes for Padgett) to excellent effect.

That also took pressure off Yao to have to go out and do that.

So again, that is why B-ball is a team game, and NOW we know and understand how crucial every piece is (especially Howard/Sura) to our game plan/strategy. His mid-range jumper to open up the inside AND his PnR with T-Mac were some of the main plays the Rockets ran.

J Ho is sorely missed on this team right now. I think he is the 3rd most crucial player to the system. DW can be replaced by another jump shooter (although you might suffer slightly in defense), even as important as Sura is, his rebounding might be made up for with a little more hustle from our other guys (or playing Bowen at 3 and moving t-Mac to the 2 or something). Howard, on the other hand, has no other replacement on the team that can do exactly what he does for the Rockets.

 

i beg to differ on this point. if anything, the ball is swung away once he has established position. thats just madness.