ClutchFans Game Thread: Sonics @ Rockets 2/29/2004

francis 4 prez posted:

First, I can't help if you have something against Texas A&M, colleges are higher education in general. Secondly, it can be very easy for guards to affect other parts of a basketball team, offense and general basketball leadership usually and is supposed to flow through the guards. That said, not too many people would believe that SF is a true extension of his coach nor much of a floor general. Thirdly, I'm not sure how many people would really consider the Rockets backcourt among the top 5 in the NBA as you have stated above.

As for Maurice Taylor, he is one of the better forwards coming off the bench in the league today. Jim Jackson is by far one of the Rockets' toughest players in terms of hustle and intensity. Can't comment much on Pike as I don't really consider him an integral part of the rotation or significant contributer to the Rox frontcourt. But I will say that on the whole and without categorizing Yao or Cato's play this year in great detail, the Rox frontcourt has been vastly more consistent than the starting backcourt. I am dissappointed in SF's play this year as most people are but I would still want the Rockets to keep him. I just want him to play smarter, pass better, shoot better than 33%, and generally show better leadership as I believe he is capable.

Finally, based on your SFOF moniker, you are obviously not going to accept any criticism of the Rockets backcourt especially Steve Francis so any more debate/discussion with you would be moot.

 

yes, considering that they have the second best rec in the wc, dada.

not trying to be optimistic. i just don't think the pups can beat the rox in a seven game series... unlike the mavs and *s. cuttino and yao would have field days.

 

What's up with our defense? on and off.. on and off..

 

Best Picture: Definitely SHOULD BE LORD OF THE RINGS: THE RETURN OF THE KING. The first two of this magnificent trilogy should have been Oscar winners for Best Picture, but perhaps tonight, there will finally be justice.

LOTR: RETURN OF THE KING should sweep the nominations.

PETER JACKSON rocks!!!!!

 

Well, SF is the max guy. Shouldn't be he a leader by example on the court? He is not getting it done, period! Trade him at all cost! I would be disappointed to see him wear the Rocket uniform again next season. He has demonstrated his worth through 5 seasons, no more waste of time. Can anyone expect a dramatic change in his play? Very unlikely.

 

Uh, today the crappy team on the floor was the one getting blown out...

 

You got that right. The Seattle announcers were positively giddy...

Give credit where credit is due. Seattle knows as does the rest of the NBA that the way to beat the Rockets is to speed up the game and force their guards to make quick decisions with the ball. More often than not, the Rockets guards will make the wrong decision as evidenced by their abysmal play today. This is why I am still not calling them a playoff team - their level of play against the Western Conference leaves an awful lot to be desired.

 

This is a truly pathetic performance.

That's all I have to say.

 

I got so frustrated watching the game that I kept standing up and walking out of the room. I did that after Taylor fouled Lewis (it was Lewis, right?) taking a 3. Did the dude make the 3 foul shots? I didn't make it back for awhile, since it took some time to cool off.

Inconsistancy... thy name is Rockets.

 

With Lakers, Wolves, and Mavs on the horizon??? TERRIBLE LOSS!

 

Let me guess, you want the Rockets to focus strictly on Yao. Well, Yao isn't setting too great of an example by shooting 2-9 and grabbing 2 rebounds. 2 REBOUNDS- YOU'RE 8 FEET TALL!!

 

Man the start of the 4th quarter looked like the Rockets were going to turn up their defense and kick their gameplan into high gear. Easy jam for Francis to start it off, then a Flagrant 1 foul from Potapenko on Yao that resulted in a 5 point play from the two Yao FTs and the Francis 3 on the in bound possession. Then all of a sudden the Rockets forgot their gameplan, and MoT started making careless fouls on Lewis down the stretch. I mean careless fouls. A touch foul that resulted in a 3 point play, then a flagrant 1 that resulted in two Lewis FTs then an Allen 3 to make it a 5 point play, then a foul on a jumpshot from Lewis by MoT to practically giftwrap the momentum back to the Sonics. Then the careless turnover over JJ's head that went out of bounds that could of swung momentum back in the Rockets favor. I've been really displeased with MoT's decision making abilities down the stretch lately. Offensively he's capable all around but then he'll do stupid things like grabbing a defenseive rebound dribbling down past the halfcourt mark, and make a careless telegraph pass that'll result in a turnover, or he'll dribble in the paint and telegraph where he's moving and get called for a charge in the process. Or he'll get frustrated defensively like he did with Lewis in the 4th and make stupid fouls down the stretch. And he'll always have the same goofy smile with his black chew guard in his mouth b****ing at the refs over a foul that he clearly committed.

Yao was non existent til the 4th where at the start he appeared to have shown signs of life by grabbing 3 rebounds in the first few minutes at the start, fighting for position in the paint and getting to the charity stripe, and having a solid block on Antonio Daniels on the defensive end.

Francis shooting was terrible the whole game except for the start of the 4th when he made that 3 to cut the lead to 4 after being down by 12 at the start of the 4th quarter. He was blowing layups all game that he normally would make, and shot a miserable 2-11 from the floor before I finally lost track of the game because I was talking to my family about something. Yao didn't shoot any better, but was atleast getting to the charity stripe a lot with the 3 centers that were hacking at him almost every time down the court. His rebounding has dissapeared since the All-star break barring that Hawks game where he played huge in every aspect of the game. I dunno whether it's fatigue after the 4 games in 5 nights trip, but he's just not showing the same poise offensively with his shot and not the same intensity to try and grab rebounds. Not that he's ever really had much intensity to try and fight for boards in his short going on 2 year stay with the Rockets. I swear as much as I b**** about him not getting enough shots in the game he could create his own touches by fighting for rebounds more.

 

I didn't expect us to win but there is no excuse for the collapse after gettiing even in the 4th. We have no clue how to play against them.
This defeat will hurt us mentally with the very tough stretch of games that we have to face.
I have never been convinced that we are headed for the playoffs.

 

i did a little bit of search on 3 pt and 2 pt shots.

Rox has .366 of 3pt and .458 of 2pt. Rox takes 17.2 3pt shots pg. based on the %, rox makes 6.29. that converts to 18.87 points. if all 17.2 shots were 2pt shots, then we would make 7.87 based on .458 fg% of 2pt. that would equal 15.74 points. that is about 3 points different.

If we let yao take more shots, for example taking a third of 17.2 shots. it means 5.72 extra shots yao would take. based on his fg% of .536, we will get 6.13 points. And rest of 17.2 is still 3pt shots, then we will make 4.2 3pt. that means 12.06. if rox shoots less 3pt and let yao take a little bit of shots. the result is same as we take so many 3pts.

The conclusion:
1) we need take 3 pt shots even only generate 3 points different (pathetic <a href='http://www.smileycentral.com/?partner=ZSzeb008' target='_blank'><img src='http://smileys.smileycentral.com/cat/4/4_6_6.gif' border=0></a>).
2) if we don't take so many 3pt shots, we have to let yao take 2pt shots instead other guys. it will give us same result as 3pt shots.
3) clearly, we need one or two better jumper shooters or better 3pt shooters. otherwise, we only have 3 points different. double-teaming yao and penetrating by sf should give us a lot of very good open 3pts, but we didn't take that advantage. we have ONLY 3 points better than we don't take 3pt shots. plain and simple, it wastes our two stars hard work.

 

He had 5 rebounds today.

 

You know, that Anna Nichole is like , THE perfect woman.


stacked, rich and stupid


Oh the Rockets 2004, are they still playing?

 

based on this, our D is key for us to win the game. most time, we lost when the opponent shoots light out due to either our poor D or their ridiculous shooting accuracy no matter how you defend. it happens occansionally.

 

One of the top 5 backcourts?? HAHAHAHAHAHA!!!! Okay, now I feel a little bit better after that humiliating loss the Rockets came up with today. HAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA!!!!!!!!!

 

You know, your arguments would have so much more credibility if you actually get the facts straight.

 

How do you deduce we have the top 5 backcourt? Is it stats wise? Performance wise? What is it?