So my post ¡§Musings from behind the bench at the Raptors vs Rockets game¡¨ drew quite a bit of interesting feedback, which I¡¦ll address after talking about tonight¡¦s game. So tonight, I was in Philly for the game against the Sixers and yes, was close enough to hear a good deal of the action. I swear, the Wachovia Center is not very loud, especially when their beloved Sixers are being blanked once again by Rocket defense. Sixers a 1.5 point favorite after the Rockets have dismantled them this past year? C¡¦mon!!! Easy Money! Observations that you may not have had at home: Foul Language ¡V My God, Allen Iverson has got a potty mouth. He argues on EVERY single non call and even swears at the officials when he gets calls. Kenny Thomas is no different. This guy has no business thinking he can talk to officials like he¡¦s a top 10 player. Maybe it¡¦s that fat contract he signed, but at one point he was T-d up. Steve was no different at times, but he was playing cheerleader to his teammates all game. Yao ¡V Maybe some folks who have seen the Rocks up close at the Toyota Center can share this same thought, but everytime the guy shoots out to 15 fit, he looks like he¡¦s shooting a layup ¡V HE¡¦s THAT BIG. I guess he¡¦ll just have to practice a little more, because these look like point blank shots. Scouts talk about creating space to get your shot off, but when Yao shoots it, there is nothing but space between his release and the rim, except when he loads that shot up like an 18th century musket and Samuel Dalembert slaps it away. ƒº Soundbites: Jim Jackson - The guy that really impressed me yet again was Jimmy Jackson. When the team was struggling, he was really the calming factor, telling these guys to: ¡§Let¡¦s get some ball movement¡¨, ¡§Swing the ball¡¨, ¡§Don¡¦t worry, all perimeter! (after the Rockets tapped the ball out of bounds on the defensive end)¡¨, ¡§Yao, keep it going, play big!¡¨ JVG ¡V All night long, he was screaming ¡§High Low!, Kelvin you have to show!¡¨, ¡§High Pick and Roll!¡¨, ¡§Good spacing guys!¡¨ All night long I heard this out of JVG. He was also screaming ¡§Don¡¦t foul, Don¡¦t foul¡¨ everytime the Sixers were on any sort of secondary break, fast break or when Sixers were driving the lane. Maybe he knew A. The Sixers couldn¡¦t finish B. Yao was protecting the lane. Out of the timeout, JVG called a few plays ¡V 4-2, which I think is a pick and roll ¡V this time Steve and Cat finally passed Yao the ball out of a Pick & Roll ¡V hallelujah! Cuttino ¡V I was heckling Cat all night. He had a great game, but I was really on him for passing tonight and one time when he made a good pass to Yao (finally!), I got up and clapped and he sort of gave me this look of, ¡§Man, is that good enough for you!¡¨ Good times. Yao said about 10 words all night. One sound bite was to the ref: ¡§Actually, I did not foul him. Next time.¡¨ LOL! Randy Ayers ¡V He was imploring his guys to ¡§D-up¡¨, ¡§Smother the Right¡¨ pretty much all night. He called very few plays. Anyways, there you have it. With regards to the other deregotory comments on the other thread: I can¡¦t believe I¡¦m even taking the time to write this, but in response to the responses in the previous thread vs. Toronto from folks like: Danjojo, DonKnutts, Wrath of Khan, sweetie (not so sweet) making accusations of lying because I didn¡¦t know exactly where I was sitting in the Air Cananda Ctr and not being able to hear the action or questioning whether I drove from Toronto (LOL!!!) , I have the following comments: 1. Man, you guys need to chill out..for your own good. Have a drink, play with your dog, plant a tree, life¡¦s short, don¡¦t be so angry. I really have no reason to lie, but hey, if you don¡¦t wanna believe the post, that¡¦s cool too, but I say keep it to yourself. Accusing someone of lying is pretty lame, bad form and bad kharma. 2. If you must know, I drove to Philly AFTER flying to D.C. 3. My tickets for the game? ¡V Toronto: Section 120 Row B, Seat 2 (roughly 3 rows behind the bench) and for: Philly Section 112, row 2, seat 3 ¡V Yea, baby!!! 4. And yes, I don¡¦t post very often, which is why I have this Junior status, but I don¡¦t feel it necessary to post 1 word comments or stuff that¡¦s not relevant and only posts where I¡¦d like to see comments. But no worries, I¡¦m not mad atcha. I¡¦m lucky enough to go where I please, whenever I please to watch basketball up close and personal and quite frankly, even though the Rockets are frustrating as hell, they crushed tonight when they weren¡¦t favored and life¡¦s just too good¡KSo, suck it!!! LOL!!! ƒº Anyways, if the administrator or other senior members think these posts on game observations are causing more harm than good, just let me know and I¡¦ll stop. I won¡¦t be going to another road game until the Seattle game post Thanksgiving. Good night - Peace and Love.
thanks, I appreciate your posts, good to hear a bit of inside info. Too many haters on the clutch site.
Are you kidding me? You're going to let those (insert derogatory term for people who use lots of words, but say virtually nothing) chase you off the board? I'm sure most of us quiet lurkers who don't feel like arguing with the trolls appreciate your posts. Thanks for the insight. I dunno about this one. He's a sensitive guy (see his TNT interview?), and it's his hometown. Take it easy on him man. Good to hear Yao has a sense of humor with the refs. Heh.
Thanks again for yet another excellent summary, Tranmerica34. Enjoyed reading it and appreciate you taking the time to do it for us.
Good post. Glad you had a safe trip. Of course if they had blown another I would have questioned your bad mojo. Re: JJax. On TV he appears to be doing exactly what you described. He's also walking to the bench at a time out with a hand on a teammate saying seemingly positive words. He may be a better teammate than player, and he's a pretty good player. You are a pretty good poster, no lie.
Hey, no hard feelings dude. If you're really at these games, then more power to you. Call me a natural skeptic.
I really like the up and personal recap. Too bad you wont be doing anymore...Maybe we can set up a donation fund so that people can get behind-the-bench seats for every away game?
I usually lurk more than post. If you must know, I appreciate your post and believe you. Thank you very much for taking your time writing and sharing experience with us who could not go to the game. Please keep posting.
Tranmerica34, I believe you. Thank you very much for taking time out of your busy schedule to give us some insight game info, PLEASE continue to inform us. You are sooo lucky to go to most away games with the rockets on the road. If you have any extra tickets or would like some company let me know. I will go for sure.......
You're getting 35 posts a month (more than one a day) as a lurker! You'd be a scary 'poster' Looks like JJax leadership is making a difference!
I for one would be interested in reading the admins take on your posts. I've been called a prick, a moron, and some other niceties for pointing out that your Toronto musings where most likely entirely made up. I've had someone using modern mathematics to demonstrate by X+Y, that the guy initiating a thread had his sympathy over the guy pointing out complete inconsistencies in the initiator's thread. Come on ! Here's a guy that nobody knows, putting words in JVG's mouth, and now in all the players' too, and everyone is eating his words as gospel. Putting words in somebody else's mouth seems quite unethical to me. I clearly remember Clutch on this site saying to people that would post trade rumors/resignations a couple years ago that he would not believe them until he actually saw it happen because too many people just want attention. Why does he deserve any credibility ? Wouldn't you want to know if he was even there before repeating like sheep "Great Posts", "Great to have inside information". The guy doesn't know how many rows from the bench he was sitting and to top it off, he's now giving seating information that doesn't seem to exist. Section 120 has row numbers not letters at Air Canada. Anyway, this would make for very interesting reading if we had a shred of evidence it were actually true...and to me everything points to the contrary...but i guess it's all about the show...forget the truth, forget ethics, as long as it's entertaining... Peace and Love...
Danjojo: Confirmed. Check out the official website of the Air Canada Centre. It has a seat finder at the top. If you type in Section 120 Row B into the seat finder for Raptors games, it responds: The row "B" does not exist for the section "120". I wanted to believe you Tranmerica34, but this is just too much.
